What’s New
In June 2018, Skava released version 7.5 of its Commerce platform. The Inventory microservice was impacted in the following ways with the 7.5 release:
- Stores has been set up as a separate microservice; accordingly, Admins are no longer required to select a store within Product Information Management (PIM) to access the Inventory, User, Promotions, and Order Management Service (OMS) microservices.
- A well-defined error log is set up for Inventory.
- An Admin has the ability to view all default data for product, promotions, and inventory in the default store.
- An Admin has the ability to create and configure a new instance of Inventory microservices such that customers can use inventory with their stores.
- A user with valid credentials can now preview a store for a future date.
- A user with valid credentials can now preview a commerce site for a future date.
See below for the current Admin User Guide for Inventory updated for the 7.5 Skava Commerce release. See Inventory Microservice under the Skava Commerce 7.5 section of this portal for an overview of the microservice.
Introduction
Skava’s Inventory microservice allows a Store Manager or Admin to monitor and manage inventory available for sale in the client’s storefront (Skava Store).
The Inventory microservice administrator console (Inventory Admin) presents tools for creating and managing bins (containers) and their contents (bin items). Inventory Admin gives Store Admins the ability to:
- Search and view bins associated with different stores and channels
- Search and view bin items and transaction details
- Create bins within a store
- Create bin items within a bin
- Create transactions for a bin item
- Upload bulk inventory data
- Configure role-based access control
Intended Users
This page is intended for use by Store Managers or Admins to manage and monitor stock by store or location using the Inventory Admin.
About Inventory
Skava’s Inventory microservice mirrors inventory management in a physical store. The Inventory Admin assists operational managers in managing and monitoring stock by location or store.
Inventory contains a collection of bins, identified by a unique system-generated Bin IDs. Each Inventory Bin is associated to one (and only one) Store. A Bin is a container for Bin Items. A bin item is a product Stock Keeping Unit (SKU), identified by a unique SKU ID, that represents an actual product available for sale to end-users on the client’s storefront. For each Bin Item, a Store Admin must specify:
- Quantity of a product available in its bin
- Threshold limit for a low stock
- Threshold limit for out of stock
Inventory transactions impact Available-to-Promise (ATP) and backordered quantity for a product. When an end-user places an order on the customer’s Skava Store storefront, the available stock in the associated bin for the purchased product reduces. Likewise, when products are returned, the available stock in the bin increases.
Key Terms
| Term | Definition |
| Available to Promise (ATP) | ATP means the quantity of a specific SKU in the specific bin actually available for sale. This quantity is updated upon any transaction from the storefront, and may also be updated by Inventory administrators upon receipt and validation of any new quantities. |
| Backorder Quantity | The quantity of a SKU has been ordered and is expected to be back in stock at a later date. |
| Bin/Bins | Bins are containers for bin items or SKUs. An instance of the Inventory microservice may have as many bins as necessary and supports the bin parent-child hierarchy. |
| Bin Items | Bin Items are SKUs, allocated to bins, that represent products available for sale on a Skava client’s storefront. |
| Business/Businesses | Businesses refers to the business(es) owned and managed by a Skava Commerce client.
For example, a worldwide retailer running stores across the United States, Europe, and Australia can have three (3) different businesses created under one Skava Commerce instance. |
| Client | A Skava Commerce customer. |
| Instance | A full deployment of Skava Commerce platform that is used to host one (1) or more client businesses.
An Instance is a dedicated environment in which a client manages ALL of its Businesses. |
| Service | A service is an Instance of a microservice associated with a Business. A Business can have multiple Service Instances of a microservice. |
| Skava Commerce | Skava Commerce is a microservice-based architecture in which all capabilities are served by individual microservices (i.e. Customers, Stores, OMS, PIM, Inventory, Lists, Promotion, Search, Segmentation, Reporting, and Recommendations), which plug-and-plays into other systems cohesively.
For more details about Skava Commerce microservices, see the Skava Microservices 7.5 section of this portal. |
| Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) | SKU refers to a particular variant of a product. For example, Oxford Classic Casual Shoe could be a product that comes in multiple colors and sizes. A variant of the product is a black pair of shoes in size 9 and it would be recognized as a SKU in Skava Commerce. |
Inventory Admin User Interface (UI)
Access the Inventory Admin Tool
1. Navigate to the Skava Commerce Log In screen (https://<domain>/mcadmin/v2/login.jsp).
2. Enter a valid Email address and Password.
3. Click 
.
4. Click a Business Name on the Business landing page to navigate to the Business Instance that displays the Business’ available microservices.
5. Click 
for the required Service Instance on the Inventory microservice card, to launch the Inventory Admin.
The Inventory microservice is launched in the next tab of your browser.
Inventory Admin Page
Admins can configure inventory bins and feeds by clicking the following options in the left panel of the Inventory Admin for the Service Instance.
| Option | Available Task |
| Bin |
|
| Feed |
|
Managing Inventory
This section covers:
- Managing Bin
- Managing Bin Items
- Working with Inventory Transactions
Managing Bins
Admins can automatically land on the Bin landing page upon entering the Inventory Admin console.
Creating a New Bin
Admins can create new bins and associate them to a store within the Inventory Admin. Optionally, they have the ability to associate a new bin to a parent bin during the bin creation process.
To Create a New Bin:
1. Click 
at the top right side of the Bins page and the Add Bin page display appears.
2. Complete the Add Bin screen fields with the following information.
| Form Field | Description |
| Bin Name | Descriptive name for the new bin. |
| Description | Description for the new bin. |
| Channel | Channel name for the bin (i.e. Online, Retail, etc.) |
| Type | Select from the bin type drop-down list. Note: The bin type values are configurable per business need. |
| Parent Bin | To associate the new bin with a parent bin, select the parent’s bin identifier (ID) from the drop-down list. |
3. Click 
and the Bin Details page displays.
4. Set the Bin Status to Active on the Bin Detail page and click to create the new Bin.
Activating/Deactivating a Bin
Bins must be in active status to be functional.
- Active – Admins are able to add bin items and perform transactions against bin items.
- Inactive – Admins are not able to add bin items or perform transactions against bin items.
To edit the Status of a Bin:
1. On the Bin landing page of the Inventory Admin console, click for the required Bin on the Inventory Admin landing page.
2. Set the Bin Status to Active on the Bin Detail page.
3. Click to apply the change.
Managing Bin Items
On the Bin Items landing page, Admins can:
- View the details of the associated SKUs within a Bin.
- Add more Bin Items to the current Bin (if the bin status is active).
- Search for a SKU within a Bin.
Adding a Bin Item
Once a Bin has been created, Bin Items or SKUs must be allocated to the Bin.
To Add a Bin Item to the Current Bin:
1. Click for the desired Bin.
2. Click 
and the Add Bin Item page displays with the bin identifier (ID) for the desired bin.
3. Complete the Add Bin Item form with the following information.
| Form Field | Description |
| Bin ID | Autofilled by the system (not editable). |
| SKU ID | SKU ID to associate the product to the bin. |
| ATP Quantity | Quantity of SKU available in the bin. |
| BackOrder Quantity | Quantity when the item has low stock or is out of stock. |
| Threshold Limit | Quantity for limit for low stock. |
| Out of Stock Limit | Quantity for limit for out of stock. |
4. Click to associate the bin item (product) to the Bin.
Bin Item Detail
In the Bin Item Detail page, you can set the status of the Bin Item and search and manage transactions for the current SKU. To activate or deactivate a Bin Item:
1. Click Bin Item in the left panel of the Inventory Admin console.
2. Click the required Bin Item and the Bin Item Detail page appears.
3. Set the Bin Status to Active or Inactive.
4. Click 
to apply the change.
| Note: To view the list of bin items associated with a Bin, click Bin Item in the left panel of the Inventory Admin console. |
Working with Inventory Transactions
The Inventory microservice manages the following transactions, which impact ATP and backordered quantities for a Bin Item:
- Adding quantities
- Removing quantities
- Transferring quantities from one bin to another bin
- Reconciling quantities if the case of discrepancies
Managing Inventory Transactions
To Add, Remove, Transfer, or Reconcile Quantity Differences:
1. Click Bin Item in the left panel of the Inventory Admin console.
2. Click on the required Bin Item and the Bin Item Detail page appears.
3. Click 
and the Add Transaction page appears.
The following table describes the fields in the Add Transaction page.
| Form Field | Description |
| Transaction Type | Drop-down options:
|
| Bin ID | Autofilled by the system (not editable). |
| From Bin ID | The origin bin when transferring bin items between bins. |
| To Bin ID | The receiving bin when transferring bin items between bins. |
| ATP Quantity | Quantity of SKU available in the bin. |
| BackOrdered Quantity | Quantity when the item has low stock or is out of stock. |
| Notes | Transaction notes. |
4. Click to save the Transaction and return to the Bin Item Detail page with the transaction appearing at the bottom of the page.
To View or Edit Transactions:
1. Click for the desired Transaction to launch the Transaction details.
2. Edit desired transactions details and click to apply changes and return to the Bin Items page.
Working with Feeds
The Feed option of the Inventory Admin allows Admins to import an Excel file (in .xls or .xlsx format) containing Bin and Bin Item data into the Inventory Service Instance for a Business.
Sample Import Spreadsheet
A sample import file (INVENTORY_IMPORT_FEED) that can be used as a template is available for download from the Feed page of Inventory Admin.
To Download the Sample Import Spreadsheet:
1. Click Feed in the left panel of Inventory Admin console to navigate to the Feed Import Bin & Bin Item Data page.
2. Click the Sample Import Spreadsheet link on the page to download the sample file to your hard drive.
|
The sample workbook file contains two (2) spreadsheets, bin and bin item.
- Columns available in the bin sheet:
| Column Name | Description |
| name | A name that describes the bin. |
| description | A description for the specified bin. |
| channel | The channel name for the bin (i.e. Online, Retail, etc.). |
| storied | The store ID for the bin. |
| parentbinid | This is a parent bin identifier in which the bin identifier is associated (optional). |
| status | This signifies whether the bin is Active or Inactive:
|
- Columns available in the binitem sheet:
| Column Name | Description |
| binid | Refers to a bin identifier. |
| skuid | Refers to a SKU identifier. |
| status | The status of a bin item where:
|
| type | Refers to the inventory transaction type where:
|
| atpqty | Specify the ATP quantity. |
| backorderedqty | Specify the backorder quantity. |
| lowstockthreshold | Specify the threshold limit for a low stock. |
| outofstockthreshold | Specify the threshold limit for the out of stock. The out of stock threshold should be less than the low stock threshold. |
| binidfrom | The source bin identifier for transferring the quantities as specified in the ATP and/or Back Ordered quantity. |
| binidto | The target bin identifier for transferring the quantities as specified in the ATP and/or Back Ordered quantity. |
| notes | The description of the transaction. |
| consignmentcost | The consignment cost of the transaction. |
| displaystatus | This signifies the display status such as IN STOCK, OUT OF STOCK, LOW STOCK, or BACKORDERED. Note: This is applicable only for exporting inventory details to your local computer. |
Uploading Inventory Details
To Upload Bulk Inventory Data Into the Inventory Microservice:
1. Click Feed in the left panel of Inventory Admin console to navigate to the Feed Import Bin & Bin Item Data page.
2. Select the Import Type:
- Incremental – to add bins and bin items to preexisting bins and bin items.
- Full – to add bins and bin items to Inventory, overwriting preexisting bin items. In other words, only bin items listed in the import file exists within Inventory.
Note: When importing bins, only Incremental imports are supported, even if the Full import type is selected.
3. Select the Data Import type:
- Bin – import bin details into the Inventory Service Instance.
- Bin Item – import bin item details into the Inventory Service Instance.
4. Click the Browse button to select the data file from your drive.
5. Click 
to upload the bin and bin item data from the Excel file.
Inventory Admin Privileges
A user role must have the appropriate privileges in order to use or manage the Inventory microservice. See the Commerce Admin Guide for details about setting up Commerce users and roles.
Below is the list of available Inventory privileges that can be assigned to a user role.
|
Privilege |
Description |
|
|
To enable Inventory Admin at SkavaADMIN |
|
|
To run feed for bulk inventory updates |
|
|
To get stores from PIM |
|
|
To create a new bin |
|
|
To update an existing bin |
|
|
To remove the bins |
|
|
To view the bins |
|
|
To create a new bin item for an existing bin |
|
|
To update an existing bin item |
|
|
To remove the bin items |
|
|
To view the bin items |
|
|
To perform a transaction on an existing bin item |
|
|
To update an existing transaction |
|
|
To view the existing transactions |
Revision History
2020-03-30 | AM – Minor copyedit.
2019-06-23 | PLK – Content uploaded.
2019-06-15 | PLK – Page created.
