Not sure where to start with all the different functions of Inventory Planner? Here is a quick guide to get you started!

The lower right corner is the Chat function. You can start a conversation, chat with friendly IP staff, find all metrics, definitions and formulas, as well as the full Help Center.

You will also find drop-downs menus at the top of almost every page. 

Locations Dropdown: Use this to choose the location you want to view. You can enable individual locations, create Combined Warehouses, or Virtual Warehouses in Account > Settings > Warehouses. 

Learn more about configuring warehouse settings here.

Report View Dropdown: Use this to view your product catalog at a variety of levels. Variants will be selected by default. Clicking the dropdown will display additional dimensions:

Filters: Use filters to narrow down the information you are viewing. You can save filters and set these as defaults.

Type a keyword or SKU directly into the search bar (to the right of the Filters button) and select ENTER to search. Tip: Search for multiple SKUs at once by typing them in and separating them with a comma!

Edit Columns: Use the Gear Icon on the right lets you pick and choose over 125 metrics to show in your report. 

Explanation Metrics and Filters can be found in our Glossary of Terms.

Select any item; it will appear on the righthand side. Then you can drag and drop to arrange the report for customization. You can save it as is, or save the report as a default template. You can also set a default by hovering over the three little dots.

Sales Period for Forecast: This is the default sales period that Inventory Planner is referencing to generate forecasts based on the Recent Sales and Trend Forecast Method*. This date range also affects the Forecast and Replenishment metrics in other tabs as well (eg. Reporting, Overstock). The period is set in the top right of the Replenishment screen. 

*Note: The Seasonal Forecast Methods refers to the same months in prior years as the sales reference period. This is beneficial for holiday and seasonally driven items. Forecast Methods can be set account-wide or customized by item. Learn more about Forecast Methods here.

If you hover over the “i” icon under the Details columns, you get a quick look at what is happening on the screen. It can come in different colors and give you a warning at the top saying an item currently out of stock or tell you the time before you get an item back in stock. 

Replenishment & Forecast Tab: Forecast details can be seen by clicking the icon, then clicking this tab.

RED: This screen displays details about how the forecast is being calculated by displaying the selected Forecast Method (customize under the "Forecast Settings" tab), Sales Period for Reference, Sales Velocity during the period, and Forecast Sales during the Lead Time and Days of Stock Periods.

Learn more about how Forecasts and Replenishment are calculated. 

BLUE: This table shows the Past Sales (last 12 months) and Forecasted Sales (next 12 months). The data correlates to the Forecast Sales chart. Overrides to the forecast can be inputted here directly in units, or by percent. 

Learn about Editing the Forecast here.

ORANGE: These charts provide information on the Past Sales and Forecasted Sales (last/next 12 months), Forecasted Stock and Lost Revenue (due to Stockouts), and Purchase Order recommendations.

Additional Tabs within the Details screen include:

Adjustments can be made in the Details view at the item level, or by utilizing Bulk Actions. This option appears at the bottom once you check on the boxes to the left of each line. Here is more information on adjustments that can be made, and articles with more information on each action: 

 
Import/Export

Adjustments can also be made by importing CSV files. This option appears when no boxes are checked to the left of each line:

From the left menu, click the top icon to view an overview of your account. 

This includes stock value, a summary of pending purchase orders, items to replenish, variants that are overstocked and best sellers. Detail of all of this information can be found on individual pages.

Replenishment report shows which and how many products need to be purchased. For each product you will also find the estimation of potential lost revenue if you don’t purchase it on time.

You can edit the forecast in three ways: 

Maintaining accurate and up-to-date vendor information for products is important for accurate purchase orders and metrics. Inventory Planner downloads vendor information and variant vendor details when possible (from inventory management systems like Skubana or QuickBooks Commerce). For an e-commerce system that does not have cost prices defined, there are several options:

The Vendor list shows currently available vendors with some basic information. You can access vendor details by clicking on vendor title.

Use this screen to create new vendor.

Edit cost prices and other information to be presented in purchase orders.

If you have more than one warehouse enabled, set lead time and days of stock for the vendor to each location.

Add or remove variants associated to the vendor, edit variant information for this vendor: cost price, vendor reference (supplier SKU) and more. Learn more about setting cost prices.

Here you can add/remove brands for the vendor. Adding a brand automatically adds current and future products for this brand. To do this go to the Vendor Name > Settings page and scroll to the bottom of the page.

The Forecast Setting section is used for viewing and editing Forecast settings across all variants/SKU's.

Read more about how to set "Custom Forecast Settings", Here:

The Vendor Attributes section is used for viewing and applying specific supplier details against each Variant/SKU.

More can be read about this, here:

The Listings section shows all Variants and their connection information from the relevant connected integrations.

You can check the automatically linked items and also perform manual linking of items, as mentioned here:

The Warehouses section allows you to view and edit specific details of each Variant/SKU for each of your locations (If applicable).

This is useful for setting specific lead times and days of stock, should they differ from another location.

You can make use of the "Import" option, to upload a CSV file with these specific details.

The Bundle Components section lists all Bundles you may have in your account, along with the components and quantity which make up the Bundle.

More can be read about Bundles, here:

Bundles and Assemblies

Inventory Planner allows you to create purchase orders for your suppliers based on replenishment suggestions. If you use an inventory management solution (Skubana or QuickBooks Commerce), Inventory Planner also synchronizes purchase orders with those platforms. Learn more about Purchase Orders & Transfers here.

If your business is a combination of wholesale and retail, you cannot forecast your sales based on the combined sales history. To make it more accurate, Inventory Planner allows you to plan wholesale orders separately from retail orders. 

Note that this section does not show by default. You can enable it in Account > Settings > Forecast. Learn more here about Wholesale Order planning.

Overstock identifies where your store has more inventory than is needed to meet demand. Excess stock is a factor of the forecast to cover the lead time and days of stock you've set for each variant. Items forecasted to have excess units available after your planning period (the end of the lead time + days of stock) will be identified as overstock, provided that no purchase orders have been received for the item in the past two months.

In all types of businesses, it’s useful to measure performance against a set of predetermined criteria. An open-to-buy plan is an inventory management tool that helps you figure out how much inventory you need to buy on a monthly basis to make your sales projections.

Inventory Planner’s KPIs report is a very useful tool that gives merchants a tremendous amount of flexibility in assessing their business’s performance from a variety of perspectives, ranging from quite broad to extremely granular.

The Aging Analysis shows the length of time since inventory has been received on a purchase order in Inventory Planner. The report assumes first in-first out inventory management.

In order to compute the age of a product we walk through the historical stock backwards subtracting intakes from the current stock until we reach zero. Each intake increases the value of new stock in the corresponding time window.

The aging report is computed based on the historical stock and it won't populate with information immediately after you connected your store to Inventory Planner.

If you have enabled more than one warehouse, it can be helpful to see stock levels across locations. If you need to transfer stock, balance stock at various locations or compare inventory levels across warehouses, then the Compare Warehouse report can help.

The Assortment report can be used to see sales trends and performance metrics within groupings such as category, vendor, brand, etc. 

For example, use the Assortment report to see how one vendor performs across all categories. First choose Categories at the top of the page to see all categories. Then click Filter > Vendor > select vendor name and Apply Filter to see results.