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ThomasHarwood's avatar
ThomasHarwood
Qrew Member
2 months ago

Subject: Seeking Advice for Inventory App Design in QuickBase

Hello QuickBase Community,
 
I am developing an inventory management application in QuickBase and facing challenges in showing inventory levels across various warehouse locations and vehicles. Despite having set up a Transactions join table and establishing relationships to track movements, I feel there might be more efficient ways to structure this application.
 
Current App Structure:
Tables: Items, Boxes, Bins, Pallets, Locations, and Transactions.
Transactions Table: Acts as a join table, connected twice to Locations (once as "To Location" and once as "From Location"). I use this to manage and track inventory movement.
Summary Fields: Created to add and deduct quantities from locations based on transactions, but I'm struggling to get a comprehensive view of inventory levels, especially in the Bins table.
Key Challenges:
Bin Count Visibility: Despite setting up summary fields to reflect the total inventory within bins (including items directly in bins or within boxes), the 'Bin Count' is not displaying as expected in either the Transactions or Bins tables.
Complex Hierarchy: With the current multi-level structure (Items in Boxes, Boxes in Bins, etc.), I'm finding it difficult to manage and accurately reflect the inventory across all levels.
Inventory Levels Across Locations: I need to show inventory levels not just in warehouses but also in various vehicles, and the process has been cumbersome.
What I'm Looking For:
Alternative App Structures: Has anyone designed a similar inventory system in QuickBase and can share insights or templates?
Simplifying Inventory Tracking: Ideas on simplifying the tracking of inventory levels, especially when dealing with multiple container types and locations.
Displaying Aggregate Inventory: Tips on how to effectively display aggregate inventory levels in parent containers (like Bins) that automatically update based on item movements.
I am open to restructuring the app or adopting new strategies to make inventory management more intuitive and less error-prone. Any advice, examples, or guidance on best practices would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thank you in advance for your help and looking forward to your suggestions!


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Thomas Harwood
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1 Reply

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  • MikeTamoush's avatar
    MikeTamoush
    Qrew Commander
    2 months ago

    I don't know how much help I will be, but I have tried to use our Apps for Inventory tracking. The problem we kept running into is, someone needs to be in charge of consistently updating Quickbase. So there has a to be a consistent system where every time something is removed from a bin, placed in a bin, placed in a vehicle, removed from a vehicle, etc - there must be some way to update that in Quickbase.

    It is not an easy task, especially since this relies on field personnel (assuming they have the vehicles) also updating as needed. This can be easier for big ticket items (things like tools you may be able to make qr codes, so you scan it and it perhaps takes you to a QB form and asks you, where is this item going). However, we always ran into issues because we were working with inventory such as screws, valves, gaskets, etc. We couldn't realistically tag everything. So we have abandoned the inventory tracking at the vehicle level.

    I'm curious to see if anyone else chimes in, and has some good advice for this use case. We looked into stand alone inventory management software, and they are pretty amazing, but expensive. And they are very niche, so obviously only do that one task. And they still rely on bar codes on every item (which I would think is the only way to really track at all levels).

    In short, for big ticket items, I would possibly consider QR codes. But those really track where the single item is located. For bulk inventory tracking, I am not sure and am curious to see what others have come up with.



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    Mike Tamoush
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