Stock, and what a repair consumes

What happens to your count when a part is committed to a ticket and then fitted, and why two stock figures disagree.

A part on a ticket is not the same thing as a part off the shelf. Between promising a component to a repair and actually fitting it, the number you hold and the number you can promise to somebody else move apart. The Inventory tab on an item is where that gap is visible.

Highlights

Committed means spoken for, not gone.
Available for sale is the useful number when somebody asks what you can promise.
Two stock figures are kept: what is physically there, and what has been billed.
A reorder level warns you before the shelf empties.
Services have no stock at all, which is why theirs reads zero.

Read the inventory tab

The Inventory tab of the item Hydraulic Oil ISO VG46, with an Adjust Stock button in the header. Two tiles read Opening Stock 46 with a total of 1,803.20 pounds, and Reorder Level 12 with a note reading total 56 on hand. A Stock summary panel below explains that physical reflects real-world stock and accounting reflects invoiced and billed positions, gives a valuation of Weighted Average and an inventory account of Inventory Asset, and holds a table with columns Type, Stock on Hand, Committed and Available for Sale. The Physical Stock row reads 56, minus 2 and 58. The Accounting Stock row reads 56, 2 and 54. — One item, two stock figures. The committed column is where a repair shows up.

The columns on the stock summary
Field	What it does
Stock on Hand	How many you hold, before anything is set aside. It changes when goods are received, transferred, adjusted or shipped.
Committed	How many are already spoken for by open documents. A part promised to a repair is committed before anybody unwraps it.
Available for Sale	Stock on hand less what is committed. The number to quote when somebody asks whether you have one.
Physical Stock	What is really on the shelf, whatever the paperwork says.
Accounting Stock	The same count read through what has been invoiced and billed. The two disagree while goods have arrived and the bill has not, or the reverse.

What a repair does to the count

A part's journey through one repair
When	What moves
The part is added to a ticket	It becomes committed. Stock on hand does not change, and available for sale falls
The part is ordered from a supplier	Nothing, until the goods arrive
The delivery is received	Stock on hand rises
The technician fits it	It is consumed, and stock on hand falls
The repair is invoiced	The accounting figure catches up with the physical one

Keeping the shelf stocked

Set a reorder level on the parts you fit regularly
It is on the item's inventory tab, and it is what turns an empty shelf into a warning you get in advance.
Watch available for sale rather than stock on hand
Six on the shelf with five committed to open repairs is one, and quoting six to a customer is how a job stalls.
Use Adjust Stock when the count is simply wrong
Breakage, a miscount or a part used without a ticket. Record a reason, because an adjustment with no explanation is indistinguishable from a mistake later.