# 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.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/repairs/resources/item-inventory.png)

*One item, two stock figures. The committed column is where a repair shows up.*

*The columns on the stock summary*

## 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 |

> **Note:**
>
> **This is why the two rows disagree**
>
> Physical and accounting stock are the same count read two ways: one asks what is on the shelf, the other asks what the books say. A part received but not yet billed makes the physical figure the higher of the two, and nothing is wrong. Reconcile against the physical row and treat a persistent gap as an unrecorded bill rather than a miscount.

## 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.

> **Warning:**
>
> **A part committed to a cancelled ticket stays committed**
>
> Cancelling a job does not always release what it reserved. If available for sale looks lower than the shelf suggests, look for open tickets holding parts that nobody is going to fit.