> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Track stock and supplies

> Keep a catalogue of what you hold, receive stock into lots with expiry dates, and let alerts tell you what is running low or running out of time.

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['clinic']} plans="All plans — Free is capped at 20 items" roles="Owners and managers; staff a clinic has not restricted" note="The Inventory care area controls whether it appears in the sidebar" />

Inventory is the ledger for everything physical your practice holds: "Stock, lots, and expiry across your rooms and devices."

<Path steps={['Sidebar', 'Inventory']} />

<TaskHeader before="Nothing. Add a location first if you want somewhere specific to receive stock into" time="Two minutes to add an item; a minute to receive a lot" after="An item with stock on hand, tracked by lot and expiry, that warns you before it runs out" />

## What you're looking at

The toolbar carries **Receive**, **Dispense**, **Transfer**, **Reports**, **Import**, **Opening stock**, **Export** and **Add item**. The tabs split the module by question:

| Tab                | Answers                                              |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Catalog**        | What do we stock at all?                             |
| **Stock**          | How much is on hand, and where?                      |
| **Ledger**         | Every movement in and out                            |
| **Counts**         | Physical counts and what they corrected              |
| **Fill Rx**        | Prescriptions waiting to be filled                   |
| **Purchasing**     | What is on order from a supplier                     |
| **Vouchers**       | Stock issued against a funding source                |
| **Recalls**        | Batches pulled from use                              |
| **Locations**      | The rooms, cabinets and fridges stock lives in       |
| **Alerts (\{n})**  | Low stock and approaching expiry, counted in the tab |
| **Reconciliation** | Where the ledger and the shelf disagree              |

Three more appear only when your own stock calls for them, not because of your plan: **Validation** for reagent lots, **Vaccines** once you hold a vaccine-type item, and **Ward MAR** if you run wards. A banner sits above the tabs when something needs attention: "\{n} open inventory alerts — see the Alerts tab."

A brand-new module shows empty states, not an error: "No items yet. Add your first product (e.g. Botox 100U vial).", "No stock on hand. Receive a lot to get started." and "No open alerts. You're all stocked up."

On the **Free plan** a strip across the top counts you against each limit — **20 items**, **5 locations**, **2 vendors**, **5 purchase orders** — as badges like "12/20 items", with **Upgrade for unlimited** beside them.

## Add a catalogue item

An item is the *thing*; stock is the quantity of it: "A catalog entry — e.g. 'Botox 100U vial'. Stock is tracked per lot."

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Add item and name it">
    **Name** is required — write it the way your team says it out loud, not as a supplier's code. **Barcode / UPC (optional)** lets a scanner find it later, and **Look up drug (NDC or name)** pre-fills a medication.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Classify it">
    Set the **Type** — Injectable, Skincare / Cosmetic, Medication, Vaccine, Consumable, Supply, Device, Reagent or Kit — the **Unit** you count it in (required), and a **Category (optional)**. The unit is the one decision that hurts to change later: vials and millilitres are not the same thing.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Seed the shelf if you already hold some">
    **Opening stock (optional)** with **Into location** puts what is already there into the ledger — "Received at the cost price above." **SKU (optional)** is your own reference.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the reorder rules">
    **Low-stock threshold** — "Alerts at/below this on-hand." — is what makes the **Alerts** tab useful. **Reorder qty**, **Unit cost** and **Sale price** feed purchasing, valuation and the store.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the handling switches">
    **Refrigerated**, **Track by lot / expiry** for anything with a shelf life, and **Witness required (controlled)** for anything a second person must countersign.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Receive stock

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Receive">
    The **Receive stock** sheet — "Add a delivered lot to a location." Choose the **Item** and the **Location**, and enter the **Quantity**, labelled with the item's own unit.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name the funding source">
    **Funding source** records who paid — **Private stock**, **VFC (Vaccines for Children)**, **Section 317** or **State-supplied**. It is what makes the **Vouchers** tab meaningful.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter the lot and expiry">
    **Lot number** and **Expiry** identify the batch. **Scan package (GS1)** reads both off the supplier's barcode instead — "Auto-fills item, lot & expiry from the package barcode."
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    On-hand rises on the **Stock** tab and a receipt line appears in the **Ledger**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Stock leaves the same way it arrives: **Dispense** draws it for a client, **Transfer** moves it between locations, and both say how they pick — "(earliest-expiring lot first)".

<Warning>
  Picking is always **earliest-expiry-first**, and a lot with no expiry date has nothing to sort on — so it is invisible to the picking order *and* to every expiry alert, and sits on the shelf until somebody finds it by hand. Turn on **Require expiry date on new lots** in [Inventory settings](/practice/settings/inventory).
</Warning>

For lots and expiry in depth see [Batches and expiry](/pharmacy/inventory/batches-and-expiry); for supplier ordering see [Purchase orders](/pharmacy/inventory/purchase-orders).

## Who can do this

A solo or team practice has 21 staff permissions, and none of them is about stock. Inventory is governed by **role** and by what your practice has switched on — not by a per-person toggle.

| Action                                     | Who by default        | The permission, in the product's words |
| ------------------------------------------ | --------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| Open **Inventory**                         | Owner, manager, staff | Role — no permission of its own        |
| Add an item, receive, dispense or transfer | Owner, manager, staff | Role                                   |
| Run a count and post its adjustment        | Owner, manager        | Role                                   |
| Change how expiry and receiving behave     | Owner                 | Role — it is a settings tab            |
| See cost, valuation and margin             | Owner, manager        | **View financial dashboard**           |

* **Enforcement is opt-in, per person.** A staff member never saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted, and the sheet warns **"Saving starts enforcing"**.
* **A denied action is recorded; an allowed one is not.** Turning the Inventory care area off only hides the link: "It does not delete anything, and existing records stay reachable by direct link." Hiding a module is a convenience, not a security boundary.

Cost figures you may not see render as a dash, never a zero — a zero would read as worthless stock. See [Staff permissions](/platform/team/permissions).

## Check it worked

* The item is on the **Catalog** tab and can be found by name or barcode.
* After receiving, the **Stock** tab shows the quantity in the right location, with its lot and expiry.
* The **Ledger** has one line per movement, and the **Alerts (\{n})** count reacts when you set a threshold above current stock.

## Common issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="I cannot add another item">
    "Your Free plan includes up to 20 items. Upgrade to a paid plan for unlimited inventory." The same caps apply to locations, vendors and purchase orders — see [Change your plan](/platform/plans/change-plan).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="An expiring lot never appeared in Alerts">
    Its lot has no expiry date, so nothing can compare it to a horizon. Correct the lot, then turn on **Require expiry date on new lots** in [Inventory settings](/practice/settings/inventory) so it cannot recur.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The shelf and the Stock tab disagree">
    Run a count on the **Counts** tab; the adjustment it posts is recorded in the **Ledger** with a reason. See [Stock counts](/pharmacy/inventory/stock-counts).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Dispense will not let me save">
    Either there is no stock in the location you chose, or the item is **Witness required (controlled)** and needs a second person to countersign.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Inventory disappeared from my sidebar">
    The Inventory care area has been switched off — "Turning an area off hides it from menus for everyone in this clinic." Nothing was deleted. See [Care areas](/platform/team/care-areas).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can I load my existing stock list rather than typing it?">
    Yes — **Import** takes a file of catalogue items, and **Opening stock** seeds what is already on the shelf. See [Import and export](/pharmacy/inventory/import-export).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does the online store draw from these numbers?">
    Yes. Stock and cost are read from here and are not editable in the store — see [Run an online store](/practice/money/store).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is a location, exactly?">
    Any place stock physically sits — a consulting room, a cabinet, a fridge. Locations are what make **Transfer** and a per-room count meaningful.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I have to track lots?">
    No. Turn **Track by lot / expiry** off for things with no shelf life, such as instruments.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where do I see what my stock is worth?">
    The **Inventory** report — valuation, turnover and expiry risk. See [Reports and analytics](/practice/insights/analytics).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<StillStuck topic="inventory" />