When managing a warehouse, accurate inventory management is essential. Journals play a crucial role in this. They ensure that all stock movements are recorded correctly and give you complete control over what is happening in the warehouse. But how does a journal work and how does it affect your inventory management? In this blog, we will explain how to create a journal, the different types of journals, and how they help to correct errors and optimize inventory.

Two ways to create a journal

There are two ways to create a journal: automatically through stock movements or manually when you want to make specific changes.

1. Automatically through inventory movements

Journals are created automatically when inventory changes occur. For example, during inbound, outbound or when items are moved. These changes are recorded in the item ledger entries, which you can think of as the “hard drive” of your system. When tracking a change, it is therefore important to consult the item ledger entries.

Tip: Item ledger entries provide a complete overview of all inventory changes. Want to know what happened to your inventory? Always check the item records for a detailed view.

2. Creating a journal manually

Sometimes it is necessary to create a journal manually. For example, you may want to change a field in the lot content or carrier content, perform a physical inventory, or record an administrative movement.

When do I use a journal?

There are several types of journals, each with a specific function.

Physical Inventory Carrier Journal (3PL)

You use this journal when you want to keep track of the weight or number of items in your inventory. For example, if you discover that there are more boxes or pieces on a pallet than administratively recorded, you can use the “Number (Inventory)” field to correct the numbers.

Item Transfer Journal

This journal is useful when you want to physically move inventory or change fields in inventory data. For example, if a mistake was made when entering a container number, you can correct it through the Item Transfer Journal by adjusting the “New Container No.” field.

Item Journal

The Item Journal allows you to easily add new inventory to the system. You can do this by importing inventory from Excel or by entering it directly from the item journal. Be sure to create a carrier in the system before posting inventory.

In addition, the Item Journal provides the ability to correct previously charged off inventory. For example, if you accidentally charged off a carrier, you can easily correct it by making the appropriate adjustment in the Item Journal.

How are Lot Content Rules created?

A lot can consist of several pallets (carriers). When you change fields in a journal and the system does not find existing inventory that matches the change, a new lot content rule is created. By default, the system looks at the following fields:

  1. Customer Item No.
  2. Retention Loan No.
  3. Production date
  4. Expiration date
  5. External lot number
  6. Carrier Type Code
  7. Customs Code
  8. All characteristics
  9. Item condition
  10. Quantity per carrier
  11. Vessel number
  12. Container number
  13. Date of freezing
  14. Country of origin
  15. DG Feature set ID
  16. Document Feature set ID
  17. Assignment Feature set ID
  18. Branch Code
  19. Unit Code

For example, if you change a field such as container number in the transaction journal and it does not match the existing lot, a new row is created.

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