Inventory Overview｜Business Flow & Features

Inventory is the module that governs master data and logistics in iDempiere. It covers the entire inventory lifecycle — from defining the product master, through warehouse/locator management, inventory moves, to physical inventory.

Business Flow

graph TD
    A["Product master"] --> C["Material Receipt (in)"]
    A --> D["Shipment (out)"]
    B["Warehouse & Locator"] --> C
    B --> D
    C -->|increase| H["On-hand"]
    D -->|decrease| H
    E["Inventory Move"] -->|relocate| H
    F["Physical Inventory"] -->|adjust| H

Product master Material Receipt (in) Shipment (out) Warehouse & Locator Inventory Move Physical Inventory

Features & Roles

#	Function	Window	Main role
①	Product Master	Product	Basic info for products (items / services / resources)
②	Warehouse & Locators	Warehouse & Locators	Define warehouses and bin locations (locators)
③	Inventory Move	Inventory Move	Move stock between warehouses / locators
④	Physical Inventory	Physical Inventory	Count and reconcile book vs actual stock

💡 Related modules: Receipts are managed under Purchasing, shipments under Sales, and BOM under Manufacturing.

When inventory changes

Event	Stock effect	Source
Material Receipt completed	+ increase	Purchasing
Shipment completed	- decrease	Sales
Inventory Move completed	source - / target +	Inventory
Physical-inventory adjustment	+ or -	Inventory
Internal use / adjustment	+ or -	Inventory
Production completed	finished good + / materials -	Manufacturing
Sales Order completed	reservation only	Sales

Inventory hierarchy

graph TD
    ORG["Organization (AD_Org)"]
    WH["Warehouse (M_Warehouse)"]
    LOC["Locator (M_Locator)"]
    PROD["Product (M_Product)"]
    ASI["Attribute Set Instance"]
    STK["On-hand (M_StorageOnHand)"]
    ORG --> WH
    WH --> LOC
    LOC --> STK
    PROD --> STK
    ASI --> STK

Organization (AD_Org) Warehouse (M_Warehouse) Locator (M_Locator) Product (M_Product) Attribute Set Instance On-hand (M_StorageOnHand)

⚠️ Note: Stock is tracked per locator (bin). The same product with a different lot/serial (attribute set instance) is held as a separate stock record.

Typical Scenarios

1. Monthly physical inventory

Create a Physical Inventory document → run Generate Inventory Count Lines (book quantity loads) → enter actual counts → differences auto-calculate → Complete to adjust stock to the counted quantity.

2. Inter-warehouse move

Create an Inventory Move → enter source/target locators, product and quantity → Complete → source stock decreases, target stock increases.

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About OSS ERP adoption

iDempiere inventory management supports multi-warehouse, lot management and attributes. As-Link Inc. provides iDempiere implementation support and customization development.

Learn more about our OSS ERP services