Questions
The questions we get asked before every stocktake.
If yours is not here, ring us. We would rather answer it now than have you find out on count day.
Running a count
Do we need wifi everywhere we count?
Yes, and we would rather be blunt about it. Every scan is a live
call to the portal, which is what keeps one version of the truth.
Test it before you buy. Print the
scanner check sheet, scan the barcode on it to
load the portal address, then walk the aisles you will be counting. If the
sign-in page comes up at the back of the racking, it will count there. We do not
install or repair wifi — that is your network or your IT people — but
it takes twenty minutes to find out, and it is a much better thing to discover
in advance than mid-count.
What happens if the wifi drops mid-count?
The operator is told immediately, on the spot, and that count is
not recorded. Nothing is silently queued and nothing is lost later. They step back
into coverage and re-scan. Counts already accepted are safely on the portal.
Can two people count the same area?
They can, and both counts stand separately. That is a discrepancy
worth seeing on a report rather than something the software should quietly average.
The reports show who counted what, so it can be settled.
What if the same part is in two places in one bin?
Count both. A bay can be big enough that the same item sits ten
metres apart, and each pile is counted where it is found. When an operator counts a
part they have already counted in that bin, the device asks whether it is a second
pile or a correction to the first.
How do we record a bin that is empty?
Scan the bin and enter part number 0. That records the bin as
checked and holding nothing, which is a different fact from never having been
visited — and the reports keep those two separate, because reconciling needs
to tell them apart.
Can an operator fix a mistake?
Their own, yes — amend the quantity or withdraw the count
entirely. They cannot see or touch anybody else's. A withdrawn count leaves every
total immediately but stays visible to an administrator, so a figure that was
entered and taken back can still be looked into.
Devices
Can we use our phones instead?
The software is built for Zebra Android devices with a real scan
engine and a trigger. A phone camera reads a barcode in about a second, held still,
in good light. Over a shift of thousands of scans that difference is hours —
and phones do not survive warehouses. There is
a longer answer about when a phone
genuinely is the right tool, and why our app will not run on one.
Do we have to buy the scanners?
No. Hire is usually the better answer for an annual count: the
devices arrive staged and configured for your site, and go back afterwards. Buy
them if you count regularly through the year. We keep six for hire at $110 a day
each, or $440 each for four days up to seven — charging cradles and spare
batteries included, and one spare access point on request.
What hiring involves.
Will it run on the scanners we already have?
Very likely, and older than you would expect —
Android 5.1 or newer, not the model or the
scan engine. We have run it on TC8000s from 2015.
The surest check takes two minutes and installs nothing: open the browser on the
scanner and go to app.stocktakesonline.com.au. If the sign-in page loads,
the app will run on that device — that tests the one thing that actually
fails on an old scanner, which is not the app but whether the device still
recognises our security certificate. If it does not load, call us on
0414 53 53 95
with the model and we will tell you what your options are — many devices in
the field are still on whatever they shipped with, and can go higher. There is
more on the
compatibility page.
How do we get the app onto a scanner?
From stocktakesonline.com.au/app
— download it on the device and install. Devices we supply arrive with it on
already. There is a barcode on that page you can scan straight off a monitor with
the scanner, and a printable
sheet for older devices with a laser, which cannot read a screen. Updating is
the same as installing: the new version goes over the top and nothing is lost,
because the device holds no data.
How many scanners do we need?
It depends on how long you can afford to be counting and how many
people you can spare. Tell us the size of the site and the window you have, and we
will suggest a number — over-ordering is the usual mistake.
Data and reporting
How do we get our parts and locations in?
Two CSV files, loaded through the portal. It parses them in your
browser and shows what it found — row counts, a preview and any lines it had
to skip — before anything is saved, so a mangled header is caught before it
replaces a live catalogue.
Can we get the results into our accounting or ERP system?
Every report exports to CSV with the same columns you see on
screen, which imports into spreadsheets and most inventory systems. If you need a
specific file layout, tell us what it expects. We do not write anything back into
your system — no sync, no posting adjustments, no login to anything of
yours. You get a report and a file; entering it is your decision and your audit
trail.
Can you compare our count against what our system expected?
Yes, and it is the one report that is built per customer rather
than shipped with the rest. Send us a real stock export from your package —
Xero, QuickBooks, Reckon, Hnry, MYOB — with the part number and the quantity it
thinks is on hand, in CSV or Excel, exactly as it comes out. We write a reader for
that package and version, and you get expected against counted, line by line, on
screen, printed, or exported to CSV. MYOB is already built, and
a page of its own says exactly what happens to an
AccountRight count sheet. For anything else we will tell you within a day whether it is straightforward, and if it is, building it is
part of setting you up rather than an extra. Ten rows is enough to work from, and we
do not keep the file.
How do we know when a count is actually finished?
The unscanned reports. They list the parts and bin locations
nobody has touched, which is the half of a stocktake the totals cannot show you.
When those lists are empty or explained, you are finished.
Where is our data held?
In Sydney, on managed PostgreSQL with automated nightly backups
and point-in-time recovery. Each company's data is separated by keys the
database itself enforces, so a cross-company reference is refused by Postgres rather
than merely avoided by the application, and every read is scoped to your company from
the signed session token. One client cannot see another's stock.
Do we keep our data after the stocktake?
Yes. Closed stocktakes stay reportable — a report on a
finished count is the one most often wanted, sometimes months later when an auditor
asks.
Commercial
What does it cost?
A one-off charge for one counting event. $110 inc GST
for one scanner, $495 for five, $880 for ten — the rate steps down at five, ten
and twenty
— and the licence runs seven days from the moment you activate the
stocktake. There is no subscription. Count quarterly and you buy four
licences a year; your closed stocktakes stay on the portal and reportable
between counts at no charge. See Pricing, and ask
us for a fixed number — we quote on sites, part numbers and the window
you have.
How long does setup take?
If your parts and locations are in a clean file, an afternoon. The
long pole is almost never the software — it is getting the racking labelled
and the location scheme right, which is worth starting weeks before the count.
Can we try it first?
Yes, and it is free — no card and no
commitment. Send us a parts file and a bin list and we will load them into an account
so you are looking at your own warehouse rather than a sample one. Load the data, add
your operators, count on your own scanners, read the reports — it runs for
fourteen days, and we set it up by hand and email you the sign-in.
It counts for real, and it stops short in one place. A thousand scans per stocktake, and every report shows twenty rows — on screen, printed, and in the CSV alike. The totals beside them are the real ones, so you read 20 of 347 rather than a number we invented for the demo. What the trial cannot do is let you take the answer away, which is the part you are paying for. If fourteen days is not enough, ask and we will extend it.
It counts for real, and it stops short in one place. A thousand scans per stocktake, and every report shows twenty rows — on screen, printed, and in the CSV alike. The totals beside them are the real ones, so you read 20 of 347 rather than a number we invented for the demo. What the trial cannot do is let you take the answer away, which is the part you are paying for. If fourteen days is not enough, ask and we will extend it.
What support do we get on the day?
Someone who knows both the software and the hardware, reachable
while you are counting. Because the labels, the scanners and the software all come
from us, there is nobody to pass you to.
Counts do not happen between nine and five, so the office hours at the foot of this page are not the answer to this question. Andrei's mobile is 0414 53 53 95 and it is on. Tell us the date you are counting and we will be expecting it — a 5am start or a Saturday is normal for a stocktake, and it is the only time the software has to work.
Counts do not happen between nine and five, so the office hours at the foot of this page are not the answer to this question. Andrei's mobile is 0414 53 53 95 and it is on. Tell us the date you are counting and we will be expecting it — a 5am start or a Saturday is normal for a stocktake, and it is the only time the software has to work.
Does it do warehouse management as well?
No. Stocktakes Online counts stock and reports on it. It does not
receive goods, put them away, move them between bins or pick orders.
That is ScanTrack Systems, the product this one was split out of, and it is back — rewritten in house for Zebra Android, covering goods in, putaway, moves between locations, goods out and sales. Same portal, same parts, same bin locations, and it carries the stocktaking with it, so a business on ScanTrack does not pay for counting twice. Its prices are published on its own pricing page at scantracksystems.com.au, which also says plainly where it is up to.
That is ScanTrack Systems, the product this one was split out of, and it is back — rewritten in house for Zebra Android, covering goods in, putaway, moves between locations, goods out and sales. Same portal, same parts, same bin locations, and it carries the stocktaking with it, so a business on ScanTrack does not pay for counting twice. Its prices are published on its own pricing page at scantracksystems.com.au, which also says plainly where it is up to.
Still got a question?
Ask it. We have set up enough of these that the awkward ones are usually the interesting ones.