Stock Management in SciNote ELN
4min read
SciNote’s built-in lab inventory management system already offers a list of columns for organizing all kinds of information about the items you use in your company. The stock management feature simplifies the monitoring of item stocks via SciNote inventories and assigned items in tasks.
Here’s a short guide on how to set and keep track of the stock of any consumable items in your laboratory (e.g., reagents, samples, chromatography columns).
Adding the stock column to your inventory
To insert the stock column in a selected inventory, use the “Manage columns” button in the toolbar to open a list of your existing inventory columns. Click on the “+ Add column” button at the bottom of the list and a window will display options for the new column. Select “Stock” from the “Column types” dropdown options and name the column.
After selecting “Stock” as the column type, you’ll see the additional field for defining the decimals and a list of stock units. The most frequently used units are already available in the list for you. Add the extra ones if needed and preview the units in the section below. Click the “Save column” button to add the stock column to your inventory.
Setting the item’s stock
Setting the stock for each item in the newly created stock column is easily available with one click on the “Set stock” button. This opens a window for setting the amount and the unit.
When you are setting the stock of an item for the first time, it is important to fill out the amount and the unit fields. Additionally, you can add a comment and create a low stock reminder that will notify everyone who is using this item when it’s running low.
Editing the item’s stock
To edit the item’s stock, you’ll find two more operation options in the stock window that’ll do the math for you. Selecting the “Add” operation adds the entered value in the amount field to the existing stock. Selecting the “Remove” operation subtracts the entered value in the amount field from the existing stock. At the bottom of the window, you can preview the current stock and the new stock when changes are applied.
Note that the units can’t be changed when you are adding or subtracting the amount from the existing stock of the item.
Track consumption in a task
Once you have the stocks set for inventory items, you can track their consumption in the assigned items in tasks.
Click on the “Consume” button in the Consumed column in the assigned items table, and enter the used amount in the window that opens for you.
To edit the already recorded consumption of assigned items, click on the displayed amount. Every consumption of an assigned item recorded in a task is automatically deducted from the item stock in your inventory when you click save. The consumption of assigned items is also displayed in reports and in the task snapshots, and tracked in the activities and audit trails.
Setting low stock and date reminders in an inventory
Creating a low stock reminder can be especially useful for your team to avoid the unwanted “out of stock” situation. You can easily set the reminder when you are updating or setting the item stocks.
For example, if you want to have an expiration date reminder set for your chemicals, search for the reminder option in Date and Date & Time column types in your inventory. Selecting the reminder option will enable the fields where you can enter how soon before the set date you want to be reminded.
When the reminder is triggered, you and your teammates will see a bell icon next to the item this reminder is assigned to. If the item is low in stock, a warning icon will appear in the stock column. If it is nearing the expiration date, a red dot will appear in the Date or Date & Time column. Clicking on the bell icon will open additional information about the reminder and offer you the option to clear the reminder for yourself. If you want to clear all of them at once, simply click the “Clear all reminders” button in the inventory toolbar. Don’t worry, this clears the reminders only for you.
Generate Stock Consumption Export
Utilizing the Stock management feature, you will have a chance to export details for individual inventory items, specifying vital information such as when an item was consumed, by whom, and on which task.
The Stock consumption export functionality will be available through the Inventory bottom toolbar. There will be a secondary dropdown option called “Consumption” available on the current “Export” button for those using the Stock management feature. Upon request, a .csv file will be generated, allowing users to seamlessly analyze and manage inventory data.
The exported file will offer a detailed breakdown of consumption events, including consumption type, item name, item ID, consumed amount, added amount, consumer’s name, consumption date, associated Team, Project, Experiment, Task, and stock amount after the update (balance).
Now that you are equipped with the tips on how to manage stock, give it a try in your SciNote Premium account. A free trial period is only available for a month starting on the 11th of May 2022. Talk to our team if you want to secure promotional pricing on this feature!
