Instead of Stress at the End of the Year: Use the Year-Round Digital Inventory

• How Can We Digitise the Inventory?
• Can Good Inventory Software Be Free?
• The Advantages of the Digital Inventory Programme With Qr Code
• Location-Independent Data Processing: Asset Management App
• Do We Need Special Inventory Software Scanners?

How Can We Digitise the Inventory?

No matter in which industry you ask, the annual inventory is a process that is always associated with considerable effort and sometimes also with some problems. Not every company already uses a modern digital inventory programme. However, such a programme can be a great relief for the employees.

According to the German Commercial Code (HGB), stocktaking is mandatory for all companies that are obliged to keep double-entry accounts. This is comparable to the obligations for companies in the UK. It is customary to view and document all inventory items at the end of each business year. Within certain limits, this inventory may also be postponed. The prerequisite for such a “pre- or post-postponed inventory” is the complete update or write-back of the inventory on the balance sheet date. But why so complicated?

Isn’t there an inventory software that helps to manage the inventory throughout the year? In fact, a professional digital inventory programme like Timly takes care of exactly this concern. Those responsible from company departments such as management, controlling, accounting, IT or facility management should therefore take a closer look at permanent, digital inventory.

The prerequisite for this is that employees enter new additions, location changes, defects and other information about the inventory and consumables into the software database in a timely manner. This data is then directly visible to all authorised colleagues with a mouse click or smartphone gesture.

Can Good Inventory Software Be Free?

Questions about the condition, quantity or location of vehicles, equipment, protective material, furniture and more move the employees of many companies every day. Without a digital inventory programme, the search for answers regularly consumes a lot of time. In many places, the annual stocktaking is still carried out in a time-consuming, manual manner. Actual and target states are manually compared on paper lists and in self-made Excel tables.

You may therefore be right to ask yourself whether there is not an inexpensive or even free digital solution. In fact, there are many freeware inventory programmes that offer individual functions for special sectors. However, asset tracking software that is specifically tailored to your needs should be configured by specialists and be able to do more than just solve detailed problems. The data collected should be processed and used in the digital inventory programme in the way that is most helpful for your company.

The Advantages of the Digital Inventory Programme With Qr Code

Our digital inventory programme also works with labels, but instead of barcodes, QR codes are already printed on them. This means that existing mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets can be used to scan the inventory items.

After the scan, the data record of the inventory item can be displayed. If the inventory mode is activated, just scanning the item is enough to record it and check it off in the digital inventory list.

Location-Independent Data Processing: Asset Management App

The decentralised recording of inventory goods via a mobile phone app enables a quick inventory even of objects located at other company sites or remote employees. In the cloud-based asset management software Timly, the person in charge can send a digital request to colleagues in the home office or on field duty.

In response, those contacted scan the QR codes of their assets and thus enter the objects they are using (and optionally their condition) into the inventory database. This location-independent and clear functionality reduces failures and losses of inventory in the long term.