Create Databases -> Inventory->Custom->Stock Classes

Creating Stock Classes

Stock classes let you organize items into groups. You can then use these groups in a variety of ways. On this page, we explain:

• Understanding stock classes
• Assigning stock classes to individual items
• Assigning stock classes to groups of items
• Maintaining stock classes after loading O/PUS.

Understanding Stock Classes

Most dealers use stock classes to separate items they purchase from wholesalers from items they buy directly from manufacturers. You can also use stock classes for a variety of other purposes: indicate which items will be affected by O/PUS updates, indicate which items you want to maintain extensive sales history for, specify which items can be included on a short-buy, and sort and limit inventory reports.

Stock classes have more uses than those listed here. For a complete list of the purposes you can use stock classes for, click here.

You define your own stock classes in a way that suits your business. You can use any single numeral or letter (from 0-9 and from A-Z). A typical dealer may organize stock classes like this:

Stock class	Type of item
A	stocked; bought directly
B	stocked; bought directly; needs price labels
C	stocked; bought from a wholesaler; needs price labels
D	stocked; bought from a wholesaler
E	dated or seasonal items, such as calendars
N	non-stock items

After you define stock classes for your business, you assign a stock class to each item in your inventory database. You can assign stock classes to individual items or to groups of items.

Assigning Stock Classes to Individual Items

To assign a stock class to an individual item, follow these steps:

1. Open the Inventory window, and retrieve the item record you want to assign a stock class to. (For instructions, see Changing and Deleting Items.)
2. In the Master tab, click the Class box. Specify the new class for this item.

This box indicates the master stock class for the item. You can also specify different stock classes for specific general ledger locations. If you stock an item at location one, for example, but do not stock it at location two, you may want to specify a different stock class for the item in location two. To do this, click the Settings tab. Under Pricing, click the Loc box and specify the other location (location two in our example). In the Class box here, specify the stock class for this location.

3. Save your changes by clicking the button.

Assigning Stock Classes to Groups of Items

To learn how to set stock classes for a number of items at once, watch the Assigning Stock Classes to Groups of Items online tutorial.

Maintaining Stock Classes after Loading O/PUS

You will load item file updates from O/PUS each quarter. After you do so, any new items that were added to your inventory database will be assigned to stock class W.

After you finish loading the update, you need to assign these new items to the appropriate stock classes. You can do this by changing individual items or by changing groups of items. (If all or most of the new items will go into one stock class, you could use the instructions above, but limit to stock class W instead of limiting to a particular company.)