What’s the Inventory Module?

Smart Service has an additional module which helps you track, manage, and order new inventory items. In order to use this module, you must have inventory in QuickBooks, any items not labeled as inventory in QuickBooks will not be recognized or available in this module.

QuickBooks also offers a specialized inventory module you might be interested in, which you can learn more about here. The QuickBooks inventory module can be used in conjunction with Smart Service, but not with our inventory module.

QuickBooks vs. Smart Service Inventory

So if you’re wondering which inventory module is right for your business, there are a few key differences that you might want to consider. Check out the section below 

QuickBooks Inventory

  • Great for warehouse inventory
  • Supports multi-level inventory sites
  • Items are removed from inventory only when an invoice is made
  • Inventory counts are visible in Smart Service’s job items
  • Reportable
  • Cannot support partial quantities

Smart Service Inventory

  • Great for truck inventory
  • Does not support multi-level inventory sites
  • Removes items from inventory when items are placed on work orders
  • Inventory counts are visible within the module
  • Inventory counts are exportable to excel
  • Supports partial quantities of items

Setting Up Smart Service Inventory

To get started, make sure you have all of your inventory items in QuickBooks and have run a “Get Lists” in Smart Service. If you haven’t brought your inventory into QuickBooks yet, you may do so by creating the items individually, or using the excel import utility in QuickBooks. Make sure that inventory parts are enabled in QuickBooks by going to Edit>Preferences>Items and Inventory, and clicking the “Inventory and purchase orders are active” option.

When everything is ready, go into “Office” in Smart Service and click on “Inventory” towards the bottom of the list.

At the top of the screen are a few options you need to run through before the module is usable. Follow the sections below to get your inventory module up to spec.

Set Up Locations

This should be your first stop when preparing the inventory module for your company. This option is used to enter the names and users of each inventory storage location.

Begin by selecting a “Location Name” for your new storage location. You can also write a custom name into this field if you’d like.

You must also select a “Type” from the list, which can be either a truck or a warehouse. Finally, you must assign a Smart Service user to the location.  Keep in mind a given user can only be assigned to one location at a time.

Edit On Hand Quantity

The next step is to tell Smart Service what inventory and how many parts are available on the locations you’ve set up. Click on “Edit On Hand Qty” and start adding what you have at each location.

Begin by selecting a location, a part name, and entering the quantity at that location. Smart Service’s inventory can support partial quantities, so if there’s half a can of paint left, you can enter a decimal.

Restock Point

Lastly, set up some restock points so Smart Service knows when to notify you if a particular item is nearly sold out. 

In this window, choose a location, item, and the restock point for the item.

Great! When using Smart Service, if one of the locations adds an inventory item to a work order, the on hand quantity will decrease immediately in this screen. IF the decide to remove the item from the work order, the count will increase. 

Assign an office user to visit this screen every so often to make sure inventory counts are maintained. If an item falls below the restock point, the yellow sticky note button to the right of each item can be clicked to generate a reminder for the individual responsible for inventory at that location.

Purchase Orders for Inventory

This module also provides the ability to create and manage purchase orders for more inventory. Clicking the “PO” button will open the following window where you can create a purchase order. Since Smart Service is integrated with QuickBooks, creating the order here will also instantaneously create this PO in QuickBooks for you in the background.

To create your purchase order, select one of your QuickBooks vendors and verify the PO number automatically generated by QuickBooks. Next, add the items you wish to order from that vendor along with the proper quantities. You do not need to select a Customer/Job if you aren’t ordering these parts for a specific service. The “Closed” button on the far right should be used if you have already received this item from your vendor. Once everything you need is on your new purchase order, click “Save” at the top right so Smart Service can send the order to QuickBooks for processing.

If you’re ready to receive inventory from a previous purchase order you can do so by clicking “Receive” at the top of the inventory screen. 

This will open the “Enter Bills” window where you will need to select a vendor you placed an order with and click “Select PO” at the top right of the screen. Alternatively, you can enter a bill using this window without a PO being placed.

Choose a vendor and click "Select PO"
Choose a vendor and click "Select PO"
Select one of the vendor's purchase orders
Select one of the vendor's purchase orders
Assign an inventory site to each item
Assign an inventory site to each item

Select which of that vendor’s purchase orders you would like to import by checking the box on the left. After you click OK each inventory item will be displayed so you can assign an inventory site in the yellow field. Doing so will add those inventory parts to the desired inventory sites.

Transferring Inventory Between Locations

Our inventory module also supports transferring inventory between your various locations. Once you have inventory set up for each location, to the right of each item is a “Transfer Qty” box where you can specify the number of items to be transferred. You can transfer multiple items in various quantities to a given location.

Once you have all of the quantities set for the items you wish to transfer, you can select a destination for the new items and click “Transfer at the bottom of the window. 

Export to Microsoft Excel

In the bottom left-hand corner is an “Export” option that will export a .csv file for review in Excel. This sheet will contain all of the information visible from the inventory screen above. If you need to see where the parts went, or what day they were used. We recommend running a “History Item” report from the reporting section of Smart Service.