Introduction

There is no better way to understand the process flow of a business than to draw it on a blueprint that depicts the facility layout. Many inventory movement transactions occur in most business processes. As data accuracy improvement is initiated, it is important to understand the number of transaction collection points, to understand the complexity of the transaction design, and to search for ways to simplify it.

In inventory record accuracy classes I have been involved with, attendees are asked how many different transaction types exist in their business systems to track and account for inventory movement. The answer is often twelve to fifteen different transaction types. Thinking about this concept, it might be valuable to assess how many transactions are really required to track inventory. The answers can range, but in reality the minimum is not controversial. There can be as few as two transactions in the simplest systems. While two probably does not make sense in most organizations, it does give one pause to think about the possibilities. In class, I jokingly refer to these as inies and outies. Receipts and issues are all that really happens in affecting inventory balances. The fact that companies actually utilize a dozen different transactions just allows companies to do those two functions in...