Inventory Elements

The NCAS Inventory Module uses a large number of data elements for processing inventory transactions and maintaining warehouse integrity. The following three elements are the foundation upon which inventory is established.

Warehouse ID: A warehouse is a space defined by a user for recording and managing stock item transactions. This space may be an entire building, a portion of a building or more than one building. The Inventory system allows the warehouse manager to define multiple Receiving Areas, Storage Areas and Staging Areas to help manage the inventory. Once a warehouse and its areas have been defined, Pick Paths and Cycle Counting Paths can be established to guide warehouse personnel through the most efficient route for picking inventory and counting inventory, respectively.

Stock Item ID: Stock items are established and maintained centrally by the Office of the State Controller (OSC) at the request of the warehouse manager. Items are first created in the NCAS Inventory Module. Once an item has been associated with at least one warehouse, the item record is passed to the NCAS Purchasing Module, so that inventory can be replenished via NCAS (and E-Procurement) purchasing and receipt transactions. For each warehouse location, an item can have a different Average Cost, Selling Price, Markup and Reorder Point. Item Status can be changed to make items inactive and therefore unavailable for distribution.

Group Account ID: All inventory items are assigned a Group Account ID that links the item with other like items for accounting purposes. Each group account ID represents a series of accounts and centers to be applied to line items of the various inventory processes. In addition to the default accounting distributions provided by the Group Account ID, NCAS applies Accounting Rules to each transaction line for added flexibility in posting desired entries to the General Ledger.