Use Physical Inventory to freeze, enter counts, and update on-hand inventory values for selected products in a warehouse.
You can run Physical Inventory on Active Items, Negative On Hand Only, Cycle Counts, or All Products.
Important: Only one person at a time should enter inventory counts into Inform. If multiple people try to enter counts for the same product at the same time, their entries will overwrite each other.

The following settings impact physical inventory counting. Please review and configure these settings before continuing. If you are not sure how to configure these settings, contact DDI System. Go to File > Company > Master:
- Use Live On-Hands for Physical Inventory Variance (Y)es/(N)o : Enable this setting if you want to count inventory based on live on-hand quantities rather than frozen quantities. When you run the Exceptions Worksheet or Physical Inventory Variance Report, on-hand quantities will account for products sold or received after inventory was frozen.
- Physical Inventory Using Primary Bin Only (Y)es/(N)o: Enable this setting to count by warehouse rather than bin location. Products linked to multiple bin locations will be consolidated into a single line item on count sheets, the Exceptions Worksheet, and the Physical Inventory Variance Report. Bin locations may not be added for a product during the counting process.
- Include Active Non-Stock Products on Physical Inventory Freeze (Y)es/(N)o: Enable this setting to include non-stock products with an on-hand value when you freeze active items.
- On Physical - Remove Bins With Zero Qty (Y)es/(N)o/(S)econdary Only: Enable this setting to have the system delete any bin locations with zero on-hand quantities when you update physical inventory. The Secondary Only option deletes only secondary bins with zero on-hand quantities (the primary bin remains in the system whether it has on-hand quantities or not). This option is not compatible with the setting "Physical Inventory Using Primary Bin Only" (described above).
- Physical Inventory Worksheet Show (C)ommitted or (S)hip Confirmed: Determines whether the product quantity committed or the quantity ship confirmed is listed on the Physical Inventory Entry & Worksheet. If this setting is left blank, the worksheet will list the ship confirmed quantity.
- Pre-Load Serial Numbers on Physical Inventory: Loads Serial Numbers into the count at the time of the freeze, preventing the need to manually key in serials. You may use this setting in conjunction with Use Live On-Hands for Physical Inventory Variance; however, note that serial numbers are not refreshed. You must manually add/remove serials prior to updating.
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Serial Number Entry Required for Applicable Items: Forces your serial numbered item count to match the number onhand.
To run a physical inventory
- Go to Inventory > Physical Inventory.
- Make sure the correct Warehouse is selected.
- From the Type list, choose the type of count that you want to run.
- Active Items Only: All on hand products in the warehouse plus all regular stock items.
- Negative On Hand Only: All products that have a negative on hand quantity.
- Cycle Count Only: Only those products configured for this cycle count. For more information on configuring cycle counting, see Configure and run cycle counting.
- All Products: All products, including those with positive and negative on hand quantities as well as regular stock.
- Click Freeze. If disabled, then the warehouse has been frozen for another count. Click Unfreeze, and then click Freeze.
- On the Selection Criteria page that appears, you can choose options to select only groups of products to include in the inventory count.
In the sample below, products will be selected for inventory based on a specific bin location.
- If you are running a Cycle Count, make no selections, and then click OK. On the "No Selection Specific: Would you like to select all Products?" confirmation message that appears, click Yes.
- You will return to the Physical Inventory Entry & Worksheet page; click Go.
Inform ERP populates the Physical Inventory Entry & Worksheet page with all the products that meet the ranking criteria.
- To add products to this list, click Add. On the Add Physical Inventory Card that appears, type the Product, and then click Save. Inform ERP adds the product to the list to be counted.
- You can now print the inventory sheet as a worksheet for warehouse personnel to count and track their inventory. Click Print Worksheet. On the Print Document pop-up that appears, click Print. A document such as the following prints, enabling warehouse workers to log their counts.
- Once all counts are logged manually, return to the Physical Inventory Entry & Worksheet page and type the actual counts into the Count column.
- Click Save.
You will return to the Physical Inventory page with your last count logged.
- Double-check your counts before updating by running the Physical Inventory Variance Report. Click Report. To see changes only, select the Exceptions Only check box. Review dollar values and differences to determine whether you need to recount.
- Click Update.
Count dates are tracked for each item. After you update inventory for a cycle, the system removes counted items from the recommended count list. Any items not counted remain on the list for the next cycle count.