5 | "Non-Stocked Purchase Only" & "Consumables" Stock Modes

This article discusses the Stock Modes of "Non-Stocked Purchase Only" and "Consumables", and explains why and when these Stock Modes are used and their limitations.

In Bepoz, there are 6 Stock Modes that can be selected when a Product is being created. The Stock Mode selected may determine whether other settings are applicable for the Product and whether or not certain data is recorded. It is not advised (and in most cases not permitted by the System) to change a Product's Stock Mode after it has been used within the database, e.g., Purchased, Transferred, Manufactured, etc.

This article focuses on the Non-Stocked Purchase Only and the Consumables Stock Modes.

Non-Stocked Purchase Only

In contrast to both Stocked and Non-Stocked modes, Non-Stocked Purchase Only Products cannot be Sold, Transferred, or Adjusted in any way, or be counted for Stocktakes -- as the name implies, they can only be Purchased

As a precaution to prevent these Products from being Sold, measures have been implemented to prevent them from even being able to be added to KeyMaps

Products of this Stock Mode can be purchased & received using the standard Purchase Order procedure, however, limited to PO types that do not involve Sales history or Quantities as these Products technically do not have any
These Products can be credited/refunded; in other words, we can process negative purchases for them
Since these Products are intended to be intangible or at least cannot be sold, transferred, etc., no Cost or Quantity on Hand is recorded for them
Some examples include:

Utilities such as electricity, gas, water, etc.
Subscription services such as TV providers, internet providers, music/entertainment subscriptions
Standing/recurring services; e.g., weekly linen or floor mat rentals/cleaning, fryer oil cleaning/exchange, florist, etc.

Non-Stocked Purchase Only Reporting

The Products that use the Non-Stocked Purchase Only Stock Mode, when Purchased, will appear on the Period Summary Report as a monetary total

This allows for basic Purchase reporting of this Stock Mode

Additional Reporting per Non-Stocked Purchase Only Product can be seen on other related Purchase reports such as the Stock Purchase Report, however since Quantities and Costs aren't recorded for these Products, they won't appear in Stock Summaries and other reports that summarize that type of data

Consumables

Just like Non-Stocked Purchase Only, Consumable Products can be Purchased and Received, however, they cannot be sold

Measures are in place to prevent them from being added to KeyMaps

However, similar to Stocked Products, Consumables can be Transferred, Qty Adjusted, counted for Stocktakes and so on
Products with the Consumable Stock Mode do have Quantity on Hand and Cost on Hand recorded and reported on
Consumables aren’t sold but rather used as part of daily operations and as such we account for their costs by reporting on their Usage Quantity and Usage Costs
Some possible examples may include the following:

Napkins, single-use cutlery, straws, etc.
Take-away containers & bags (although these may be managed as Stocked Products and included as ingredients for a Non-Stocked or Manufactured Product)
Back-of-house disposable goods; e.g., plastic wrap, baking paper, aluminum foil, gloves, etc.
Equipment/supplies that the business would like to count & track quantity/costs such as bar supplies, cut gloves, etc.

Consumable Usage Reporting

As Consumables aren't sold, their Reporting is based on Usage rather than Sales data
Usage data is calculated as follows:

Qty Usage = Quantity on Hand - Quantity Counted
CostEx Usage = Usage * CostEx

To be able to view and analyse Usage Data for Consumables, Reporting data columns for Qty Usage, CostEx Usage, and Cost Variance % can be found on the following Reports:

Stocktake
Stock Summaries
COGs by Stocktake
COGs by Period

Having access to this data will help to make decisions around purchasing consumables and perhaps aid in implementing procedural changes in the workplace if we notice that usage is way out of line with that we would expect
Additionally, it may help us to realise when an investigation into Usage should begin, for example:

If napkin usage trends for a 1 Month period is typically around 2 cases and then usage spikes to 5 cases for 1 Month, this may have occurred for a number of reasons that could be looked into:

Justified abnormal usage; e.g., power towels have been out of stock so napkins have been used instead
Theft -- someone might be sneaking napkins out the back door
An incorrect amount has been entered into the system for a Purchase, Transfer, Adjustment, etc. during the period in question
An incorrect amount has been counted and/or entered for the Period's ending Stocktake
The starting Quantity on Hand for the napkins at the beginning of the Period was incorrect, therefore skewing the Usage numbers at the end of the Period