Theory5. Characteristics of stock control systems
Stock costs money.
So a business does not want to hold a huge amount of stock, but neither nor do they want to run out of stock, so losing business and annoying customers.
The way this balance between too much and too little stock is handled is to make use of a stock control system
A stock control system is a database application.
There are many commercial stock control systems you can buy off the shelf.
On the other hand if it needs to handle the stocks of a huge complicated company then they may invest in a bespoke database system.
And if you only handle a few stock items, perhaps a simple hand-managed spreadsheet would be sufficient
Computerised stock control systems share the following characteristics
| Characterisitcs of a stock control system: |
|---|
| They are able to record how many of a particular item is in stock |
| Have a record of when new orders of a specified product are due to be delivered |
| Can be used to search for the details of the supplier e.g. name, address, phone number |
| Used for Just in Time (JIT) ordering (items only ordered as they are needed) |
| They can produce lists of products stocked and suppliers |
| Hold minimum and maximum stock levels (can warn when minimum stock level reached) |
| Automatic reordering when minimum stock level reached |
| Automatic ordering can be overridden by staff if necessary |
| Look up delivery times for products ordered |
| Update stock records when deliveries are made |
| Predict stock levels needed based on previous sales |
| Produce reports of sales of different items |
| Can be used to change the price or description of a product |
challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you
Click on this link: Stock Control Systems