From spreadsheet to ERPNext: what a small shop's stock looks like

Many small shops keep their stock in a spreadsheet: one row per item, a quantity column, sometimes price and notes. This article shows what the same information looks like in ERPNext, the open-source ERP that M&C ERP is built on.

In a spreadsheet: one figure, edited again and again

In a spreadsheet, the quantity is one cell. A sale changes that cell, a delivery from a supplier changes it, a stocktake difference changes it too. After a month the cell holds only the last figure; to find out why it is that figure you have to dig back through your records.

In ERPNext: stock is the result of documents

ERPNext splits the information into three parts:

• Items: code, name, unit, item group. One record per product, shared by purchasing, sales and stock.
• Warehouses: where goods are kept. A shop may need only one; a storeroom becomes a second warehouse.
• Documents that change stock: receipts from suppliers, deliveries or sales invoices (an invoice reduces stock only when its Update Stock option is on, or when the sale is made through POS), transfers between warehouses, adjustments after a stocktake.

Nobody types the stock quantity: it is the sum of every submitted document. The stock ledger records each increase and decrease with the document that caused it. When a figure looks wrong, open that item’s stock ledger to see which change caused it.

Bringing in opening stock

On the day you switch to ERPNext you need opening stock you can trust:

1. Build the item list from your spreadsheet, with one unique code per item. ERPNext has a data import tool that reads files, so you do not type items one by one.
2. Do a physical stocktake.
3. Record the stocktake with a stock reconciliation document; the system’s stock then equals what you counted.

From that day on every change goes through a document, and nobody edits the figure directly.

What you gain after switching

• You know why stock changed, not only how much is left.
• Stock reports for any date, not just today.
• Reorder levels: set a minimum per item to see when more needs ordering.
• Several warehouses without several spreadsheets.

In return you need discipline: every movement in or out needs a document. If the shop is not ready for that yet, see “When not to use ERPNext yet” in the same group.

Seeing it in the demo

The M&C ERP demo is currently set up for import and sales work, not for small shops. Even so, its warehouse receipt, serial number and list screens show how ERPNext records stock through documents. Information for small shops in Japan is in preparation; you can register for updates through the inquiry form on this site.