Exploring Physical Inventory - Inventory Count and Adjustment (BML)

During the annual physical count, which typically takes place at year-end, you may want to create collective physical inventory documents for specific material categories.

For instance, you might group all raw materials in unrestricted-use stock within a particular storage location, or all materials in blocked stock in a specific location.

Collective creation is one of the available options for generating physical inventory documents efficiently.

Watch the interactive demo to learn how to create inventory documents collectively.

Even outside of the annual count, there may be situations where you need to create an individual physical inventory document for a specific material - for example, to verify stock after discrepancies or adjustments.

Watch the interactive demo to learn how to create a single inventory document.

Watch the interactive demo to learn how to schedule a background job for the automatic creation of physical inventory documents.

The Manage Inventory Documents app offers flexible printing options:

• You can print a single inventory document or selected items from a document.
• Alternatively, you can opt for background printing to efficiently process multiple inventory documents.

Watch the interactive demo to learn how to print physical inventory documents efficiently.

The Job Scheduling and Mass Processing – Physical Inventory app supports the mass printing of physical inventory documents. To learn how to schedule a background job for this process, view the interactive demonstration below.

Once the materials have been counted in the warehouse, the counting results are entered into the system using the Manage Inventory Count app. This app allows users to record count quantities for existing inventory document items, as well as to create a new inventory document and enter count quantities in a single step - known as an ad hoc count. This functionality is particularly useful when materials need to be counted spontaneously during the year.

View the interactive demo to learn how to record counted quantities in the system.

View the interactive demo to learn how to manage physical inventory differences.

The following brief dialogue serves as an introduction to Situation Handling in the context of physical inventory.

In general, the Situation Handling framework allows you to notify designated users about important issues. These users receive notifications directly on their SAP Fiori launchpad.

The notification appears in the launchpad’s notification area immediately after login, allowing users to take timely action.

When a user selects a notification, they are presented with detailed information about the specific critical situation identified by the system and are guided to the relevant app where they can take corrective action.

Below are two examples of physical inventory use cases that can be monitored using Situation Handling:

• Use Case 1: Open Physical Inventory Document Items Ready to Be Counted

  This scenario focuses on inventory document items that are prepared for counting but have not yet been processed.

  Example:

  You may want to notify a group of warehouse clerks responsible for a specific storage location that certain inventory document items are still pending counting. Situation Handling can trigger a reminder when a planned count is scheduled within the next three days, helping ensure timely completion of the task.

• Use Case 2: Counted Physical Inventory Document Items with Unposted Differences

  This scenario addresses inventory document items that have already been counted but where the differences between the counted and book quantities have not yet been posted.

  Example:

  You may want to notify an inventory manager when certain inventory documents - already counted but not yet posted - show a difference that exceeds a defined threshold. This helps ensure that significant discrepancies are reviewed and resolved promptly.

  Upon receiving the notification (displayed via the bell icon on the SAP Fiori launchpad), the user can select it to view more details. They are then directed to the Manage Physical Inventory Documents app, where they can choose from the following actions:

  • Recount – if the difference between the count quantity and the book quantity is not accepted.
  • Post – if the difference is approved and ready to be recorded.

View the interactive demo to learn how to use Situation Handling in a physical inventory process.

The following dialogue introduces Intelligent Situation Automation as an additional option to further streamline and automate the physical inventory process.