Stock assignment allows stock to be given to field staff so that they can promote, sell and fulfill products, and provides managers with visibility of where their stock is.
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Moving stock is assigning stock from a fulfillment center to a field staff, from a field staff to a field staff, and from a field staff to a fulfillment center. Moving stock to a field staff helps a shop manager to keep track of the stock that has been taken by a field staff and for the shop manager to record new installations done by that field staff.
In this module, it includes:
Move stock procedures
Configuring who can hold stock
Assigning and un-assigning stock from field staff
Completing actions and related stock movements
What’s not included in stock assignment
Stock assignment outline
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Move stock procedures
New features for moving stock include:
Immediate, single-stage stock move (origin > destination)
Negative stock is not allowed
Stock assignments managed in Pulse Web
Move stock from: shop<>field staff, field staff<>field staff, field staff<>shop
Assign stock to/from technicians (agents coming soon)
Out of scope: stock assignment in apps, confirm receipt step
Configuring who can hold stock
By default - all users with the role of Field Technician can hold stock
Coming soon – configure sales agents as allowed to hold stock
Further instructions on how to configure which users can hold stock will be added here once that functionality is released (in the coming weeks)
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Assigning stock to a field staff
By choosing “Add Product“
Navigate to the inventory module by clicking on 9 dots then click on the inventory icon.
Choose the location
Click the Move stock button in the top-right-hand corner
Choose Move type = Send stock
Select the stock move origin and destination from the drop-downsdown
Add products to the stock move:
Product name
Quantity
Type (for sale, replacement, returned)
Add a comment to describe the purpose of the stock move (optional)
Click save to submit the stock move
A confirmation message will be shown if the move is successful
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By choosing “Add package“
Navigate to the inventory module by clicking on 9 dots then click on the inventory icon.
Choose the location
Click the Move stock button in the top-right-hand corner
Choose Send stock
Select the stock move origin and destination from the drop-down
Click on “Add package“
A displayed box SM should search for package needed to be assigned to the field staff and then click on Add.
Each product in a package is added with it’s own respective quantity, SM should choose which type of stock that product belongs to, Either it is from for sale, replacement or returned.
After adding on each product it’s type then click on save to submit the stock move.
A confirmation box will be displayed asking to confirm or to cancel the stock move created.
Stock move type | Origin | Destination |
Assign stock | Shop | Field staff |
Un-assign stock | Field staff | Shop |
Transfer stock | Field staff | Field staff |
Transfer stock
Shop
Un-Assigning stock from a field staff
The procedure repeats itself as the same on assigning stock to a field staff, the only difference in the procedure if on choosing an origin and a destination. From this an origin is should be a field staff and a destination should be a shop.
Viewing stock levels
In the inventory module, all fulfillment centres and field staff can be viewed
When viewing stock levels at a fulfillment centre, two values are shown:
Stock at the shop
Stock at all field staff locations beneath the parent fulfillment centreWhen viewing stock levels for a field staff location, only one value shown
a chosen fulfillment center means any chosen location displays what is included in their stock for each sub-location. Each sub-location displays stock quantity at the shop and the quantity of the stock assigned to the field staff.
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it displays based on which stock has been assigned to the staff.
Completing actions and related stock movements
Fulfilments now pick stock from Technician who completed the action
If they do not have enough stock for the fulfillment, the fulfillment will fail
In this case, you will need to assign sufficient stock and try againIn the case of recording a new pending fulfillment, a shop manager needs to move or send stock to a field staff member who made that installation to be able to record it. This action is done in case there is available stock for sale, by the time there is insufficient stock for sale, an action of completing a pending fulfillment can’t be done.
For replacements and repossessions, you can choose:
By default, use the fulfillment center for stock moves. This option should be used if the action is recorded when stock is already at the shop
If desired, use the field staff location for stock moves. This option should be used if the action is recorded before the stock is returned to the shop
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The table below explains changes in the actions forms and related stock movements:
Action type | Changes to the form | Stock moves |
Fulfilment (delivery) | None | From field staff location |
Fulfilment (collection) | None | From fulfilment centre |
Repossession | You can now choose whether to move returned stock to fulfilment centre or field staff locations | By default returns stock fulfilment centre, but can be returned to field staff location if the repossession is recorded before stock reaches the shop |
Replacement | You can choose whether to use the fulfilment centre or field staff locations for stock moves (replacement out, returned in) | By default fulfilment centre, but can pick and return stock to/from the field staff location the replacement happened at the customers house (stock needs to be assigned before the swap and returned stock will go to the field staff location) |
Contract cancellation | None | Returns to fulfilment centre |
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What’s not included in the stock assignment (out of scope)
The following items are not included in the current stock assignment release, as communicated during the research and design sessions with OpCos in May:
Item
Description
Planned?
Assign stock to Agents & RS
We will be releasing stock assignment for sales agents and retails supervisors in the coming weeks
Q3
History of stock assignments
We will be releasing a stock move history list that includes all completed stock moves by type, date, origin, destination that will allow users to filter for relevant moves
Q3
View stock levels in-app
We plan to add visibility of current stock levels to the Agent and Tech Apps in the near future (e.g. Q4 2023)
Yes
Send stock from in-app
For now, all stock assignment and un-assignment, or movements between field staff, should be recorded by management staff in Pulse Web. We plan to add this functionality to the Agent and Tech App
Yes
Accept/receive stock in-app
We have heard requests to add the ability to accept stock assignments in the tech app to ensure accountability. We will look at this but not in the short-term due
Later
Activate device on assignment
No credit will be issued to control units/metered devices when they are assigned to field staff. There is no plan to add this functionality
No
Limits on products/qtys
How much stock should be assigned to field staff is an operational decision. We do not plan to add limits to Pulse. OpCos are free to set limits outside of Pulse and can easily run regular checks on stock levels to check compliance
No
Time product assigned
We do not have plans to show how long each product has been assigned as without universal serial number tracking, this would require a first-in, first-out calculation and we don not see the complexity as worthwhile considering other priorities