Advanced Inventory: Item Groups

This article will describe how to use Item Groups to manage more advanced inventory needs.

Definition

Item Groups are a pattern for a bundle of Inventory Items, set at specific quantities. Admins set up Item Groups for two basic uses:

• "Lunch Boxes" on Visit Distributions. Staff can distribute an Item Group like 1 Lunch Box Group to a pantry client. This saves them from laboriously adding an identical host of items during a Visit (e.g. 1 Apple, 2 Granola Bar, 1 Juice Box, 1 Lunchable).
• "Cases" on Receives/ Transfers/ Source Distributions. Staff can receive "Cases" of a single item at a set quantity. This saves them from laboriously receiving 12 individual Can of Soda Items; instead they can receive a single "Case of 12 Sodas". Under the hood, PantrySoft will consider this 12 individual Soda Can items when it comes time to hand them out to clients.

Creating Item Groups

There are two methods for creating Item Groups; manually and as "Quick-Add" on the item itself:

• Method A: Manual Item Group. Add one or more items to a group, specifying quantities.
• Method B: "Item Case" / Quick-Add. While building an Inventory Item, quickly auto-create a "case" version of that single item; for instance while building a Pasta Box item, auto-build an item Group for "Case of (12) Pasta Boxes".

Method A: Creating an Item Group Manually

Navigate to Item Groups by going to Inventory -> Item Groups.

You can add groups directly from the Item Groups page by clicking on in the upper right corner of the page and then selecting the individual items and quantities that belong in the group (ie. case, bag, box, etc.):

Method B: Quick-Add a "Case" inside Item Creation.

When adding a new item you can also create a case (group) for that item by entering a case and the quantity of the item within the case. On the New Inventory Item screen you will see this just below item limits one you have Item Groups enabled:

Once you have added a new item and a case for that item, you will now be able to receive that item individually or, as a case and you can do the same with distributions. 

Viewing Item Groups in Reports

Inventory Groups are a "record" in PantrySoft in and of themselves. But so are the items they represent. This means that on Inventory Reports (Reports-> Inventory Reports ), you can choose which "fact" you care about: the outgoing or incoming Group... or the incoming/ outgoing Items the Group(s) represented. You can see reports showing Inventory Group activity in two different views:

• By Item. Monitor counts of incoming or outgoing Inventory Items created/ added via Inventory Groups (i.e. the actual items in the Lunchbox Group, or the 12 actual Can of Soup Items in the Case of (12) Soup Group. 
  (Most Inventory Reports are Item-based; to see these reports, just use any Item-based reports you're already using, for instance Visit Distributions by Item.)
  
  
• By Group. Monitor counts of incoming or outgoing Inventory Groups that were attached to various (Client) Visits as well as (bulk item) Movements.
  (To see Group-based reports, run Visit Distribution by Item Group or Movements by Item Group.)