Learn how HotWax Commerce's Cycle Count App synchronizes the latest inventory counts to NetSuite for consistent records.
Managing inventory accuracy in a retail business is a perpetual challenge. Retailers often encounter discrepancies between their systemic inventory and the actual physical stock on hand. To address these inventory discrepancies, operations teams periodically conduct inventory cycle counts at stores.
An inventory cycle count involves periodically counting a specific subset of items. Unlike a full physical inventory count, which requires tallying every item at once, cycle counts distribute the counting process over time, improving efficiency.
HotWax Commerce simplifies the cycle count process with its directed Cycle Count App, which enables operations teams to assign and schedule counts across multiple stores. The app notifies store staff when a count is assigned to them and lets them scan products to complete the cycle count efficiently. Once finished, the store can submit its count for review, allowing operations teams to review discrepancies and, if necessary, request a recount.
By conducting these periodic checks, retailers can resolve discrepancies in real-time, maintaining alignment between the systemic inventory and what is physically present in stores.
The main goal of this integration is to keep in-store product inventory counts consistent between NetSuite and HotWax Commerce.
NetSuite functions as the system of record for inventory in the retailer's technology ecosystem, making it essential to update NetSuite about any inventory changes within the stores.
Synchronizing in-store inventory variances from HotWax Commerce to NetSuite ensures consistent and accurate inventory data, enhancing operational efficiency and inventory accuracy for systems dependent on NetSuite.
The Cycle Count App's interface adapts for different user roles. Operations teams assign cycle counts to specific stores through the app. Once assigned, store associates leverage the app to conduct the cycle count, recording and submitting their counting results for review by the operations team.
The Cycle Count App streamlines inventory reconciliation by automatically displaying submitted cycle count results along with the variances between counted and systemic invetory levels. This allows operations teams to review variances with clarity and accuracy.
Upon approval, HotWax Commerce automatically updates the inventory count of the products. Inventory levels for counts that are either rejected or flagged for recount remain unchanged in HotWax Commerce.
Suppose a store associate has submitted the cycle count results for multiple products and only some of the inventory variances are approved while others are rejected. In that event, HotWax Commerce will adjust the inventory count only for the products for which the inventory variance has been approved and is now in the "Completed" status. The rejected variances will have their status updated from "Created" to "Rejected."
Once inventory cycle count variances are successfully logged in HotWax Commerce OMS, a scheduled job in HotWax Commerce Integration Platform generates a CSV file containing products for which inventory variance recorded that are in the “Completed” status.
This means that when exporting inventory adjustments, only the variances that have been approved and are marked as "Completed" will be included in the CSV file, while those that are rejected or still in the "Created" status will be excluded.
For example, suppose we have three products: Product A, Product B, and Product C. If variances for Product A and Product B are approved and marked as "Completed," while the variance for Product C is rejected, only the inventory adjustments for Product A and Product B will be synced.
This generated CSV file is then placed in an SFTP location, ensuring that it is readily accessible for further processing.
Successful logging of an inventory count is indicated by its status being "INV_COUNT_COMPLETED"
Jobs in HotWax Commerce
Create Cycle Count Inventory Variance CSV:
SFTP Locations
Inventory Cycle Count CSV:
Cycle Count Inventory Variance of Actual vs Systemic:
In NetSuite, a Scheduled Suite Script is employed to download and import the CSV files from the SFTP location. This script leverages the native CSV Import tool provided by NetSuite to create Inventory Adjustment records. The use of the NetSuite CSV Import tool for Inventory Adjustments eliminates the need for the N/record module in this specific integration, offering an efficient and accurate synchronization method.
SuiteScripts
Import Inventory Cycle Count Variance from SFTP:
While cycle counting in stores follows a periodic schedule, stores frequently encounter sudden inventory discrepancies in various scenarios. For example, if store associates identify 5 damaged units at their location, they’d want to record a variance of -5 for the damaged inventory. Similarly, if they discover 2 units of previously missing inventory, they’d want to record +2 for the newly found items.
To address these unexpected inventory changes, store managers can directly record these identified inventory variances, and these variances are pushed into HotWax Commerce.
Unlike cycle counting, where an inventory count is conducted periodically, this process involves store managers directly recording the variance amount without physically counting the entire store inventory.
Store managers log the inventory variances through the app, along with providing the relevant reasons, these recorded inventory variances automatically update the inventory in HotWax Commerce.
Once inventory variances are successfully updated in HotWax Commerce, a scheduled job within HotWax Commerce integration platform generates a CSV file containing updated inventory data with all the inventory variance records. This file is then placed in an SFTP location from where NetSuite can read it.
Jobs in HotWax Commerce
Create Inventory Variance CSV:
SFTP Locations
Inventory Variance CSV:
Inventory Variance:
Retailers learn a lot about their product and operations using the reasons for variance in inventory but NetSuite’s Inventory Adjustment function only provides limited information relating to variance, mostly restricted to a “Comments” free text field. When trying to perform analytics on variance reasons, the free text nature of the comments field makes it difficult to obtain predictable results.
To circumvent this issue, retailers can set up variance locations in NetSuite. These locations are set up as “undefined” type locations, meaning that they are neither a retail location nor a warehouse, rather just a holding location. Retailers can set up as many variance locations as they need to help accurately segregate types of variances in their operations.
When variances are tracked using variance locations in NetSuite, variances logged by HotWax Commerce are actually registered as an Inventory Transfer from the affected store location to the variance location. For example, if a store wants to damage out 5 units of a product, they’d log an inventory transfer of that product from their store to the Damaged location. This reduces the inventory from the store and increments that inventory at the Damaged location. Now retailers can use this movement to analyze which facilities are logging damaged inventory at higher rates than others and potentially track down operational and planning issues.
The CSV file containing inventory item variance feed is also stored in the designated SFTP location for NetSuite as invenotry trasfer file:
In NetSuite, another Scheduled Suite Script is employed to import the CSV files from the SFTP location and update the inventory records. This script leverages the native CSV Import tool provided by NetSuite to create Inventory Adjustment records.
SuiteScripts
Import Inventory Variance from SFTP:
The automated synchronization of inventory variances from HotWax Commerce to NetSuite offers numerous advantages:
Efficiency: The process minimizes manual effort and reduces the time required for manual data entry.
Error Reduction: Automation eliminates potential human errors, ensuring data consistency and accuracy.
Operational Transparency: With near real-time synchronization, retailers gain insight into inventory variances as they occur, facilitating quicker decision-making and enhanced operational transparency.
This integration not only simplifies the process of managing in-store inventory but also plays a vital role in maintaining consistency across multiple systems, ultimately improving operational efficiency and inventory accuracy in the omnichannel retail environment.
HotWax Commerce provides out-of-the-box reports to get an overview of inventory cycle counts, which you can read here
