End of Month Process

End of Month Process

YD  Yellow Dog Software

Inventory Management

OPERATIONS GUIDE

End of Month

Process

 

A step-by-step guide to physical inventory counts — from preparation through final reporting.

10 Days of Preparation

Workflows can and should be tailored to your specific operations. Use this document as a starting framework.


 

Pre-Inventory Preparation

Complete all setup and review tasks before counting begins. Changes made after counting starts may compromise accuracy. The timeline below spans 10 days — starting with count sheet review, a hard deadline at day 8, a final check two days out, and last-minute prep the day before.

 

1

10 DAYS  Before

 

Count Sheet Review Begins

  Managers begin reviewing current inventory count sheets

  Missing Items: Add new items or request additions through the appropriate channels if an item is not available to your store

  Missing Items: Create new items or request new items be created through the appropriate channels if an item does not exist yet

  Additional Sizes / References Needed: Create any new sizes or request additional sizes or reference (pack size) information to be created or added

 

Deadline — 8 Days Prior to Inventory Day: All item additions and change requests must be submitted. Items should not be edited during the Physical Inventory process — updates must be completed before counting begins to ensure accuracy. Items added to a session and then edited will retain the previous configuration in the physical.

 

2

2 DAYS  Before

 

Final Count Sheet Review

  Verify “sheet-to-shelf” accuracy — confirm that all countable items are listed

  Ensure all relevant departments have reviewed and updated their count sheets

  Tidy up areas to be counted; inventory locations should be organized and easily counted

  Ensure all staff are aware of the plan for the physical:

  Who will be counting

  Areas to be counted

  Where each person is responsible for counting product

  Staff should not overlap in counted areas

  Ensure any users that will count in mobile have correct access:

  Test logging in and selecting stores and count sheets

 

3

DAY  Before

 

Final Pre-Count Tasks

  Manual Adjustments — Submit all waste, spoilage, or breakage adjustments that have not already been input

  Transfer Completion — All item transfers must be completed and committed in Yellow Dog; verify all requests are in Transferred status via the Request List

  Invoices — All invoices representing product that will be counted must be committed in Yellow Dog

  Confirm all expected stores are showing sales

  Ensure all COGS departments are mapped to:

  Inventory Items

  POS Menu Items

  Hardware

  If handheld devices will be used, ensure they are charged and ready; mobile apps should be on the latest version

 

Physical Inventory Execution

Last day of the period — all counting takes place on this day.

Counting Day Checklist

  All assigned personnel count their respective areas; counters check in with managers as they finish

  Best practice: count when the store is closed so product is not moving or being used during the count

  Exclude any product that should not be counted based on the invoicing period

  Sessions should be created for printed count sheets in Yellow Dog

  Mobile sessions should be finalized

  Verify that all count sheets or counted locations have a corresponding session in Yellow Dog

 

Post-Inventory Process

Complete these steps immediately after counts are finished, before committing the physical.

 

1

IMMEDIATELY  After Count

 

Build the Physical Inventory Document

  Managers (per Yellow Dog store) should create a Full Physical Inventory document — each outlet should be represented by one physical inventory

  Add all relevant counting sessions to the physical

  Set the Effective Date and Time — this should be consistent across stores (typically last day of period, 11:59 PM)

  Review counts and make adjustments as needed:

  Check for items with exact same counts

  Check for items with no counts

  Spot check several items for correctness

 

2

RUN &  Review Reports

 

Resulting On-Hand Report Review

  Review high counted cost or quantity items

  Review low or zero counts for expected items

  Review overall total counted cost — should be in line with seasonal/monthly usage expectations

  Variance (difference between expected and counted values) should reflect actual usage — unusual variances may require further investigation

 

Final Review & Commit

Before Committing the Physical

  Complete final review for correctness

  Consider your POS system and when sales for the day are posted — some POS systems send sales the next day; the physical should be committed after those sales have been confirmed in Yellow Dog

  Commit the Physical Inventory

 

Uncommit Window: Admin users have seven days to uncommit the physical if corrections need to be made after committing.

 

Questions? Contact Yellow Dog Support for assistance with any step in this process.

 


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