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

# Setting up inventory

> Locations, units of measure and opening balances — the setup to complete before you start tracking stock.

Inventory setup is short but consequential. Locations and units are difficult to change once
movements exist against them.

## Step 1 — Create your locations

A location is anywhere you hold stock: a shop, a warehouse, a store room, a delivery vehicle.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Inventory, then Locations">
    Choose **New location**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name it as your staff refer to it">
    "Main Store", "Cairo Road Shop", "Warehouse". Names people already use are names people
    remember.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add the address">
    Where it physically is.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Your first location automatically becomes the default.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### How many locations?

| Create separate locations when            | Keep it as one when                |
| ----------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| Stock is physically in different places   | It is all in one building          |
| Different people are responsible for each | The same person handles everything |
| You need to know what is where            | You only need a total              |
| Stock genuinely moves between them        | Nothing ever moves                 |

Start with fewer. Splitting later is straightforward; merging is not.

## Step 2 — Units of measure

Bumara includes standard units: each, kilogram, litre, box, and others. Most businesses need
nothing more.

### Adding your own

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Inventory, then Settings, then Units">
    Choose **New unit**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Give it a code and a name">
    A short code such as `CTN`, and a full name such as `Carton`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Codes must be unique.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Conversions

If you buy in boxes and sell in singles, define the conversion — one box equals twelve each.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Units, then Conversions">
    Choose **New conversion**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Define the relationship">
    From unit, to unit, and the factor between them.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    You can now record operations in either unit.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Choose each item's unit carefully at the start. Changing an item's unit once movements exist
  against it makes historical quantities ambiguous — 50 of something is meaningless if the unit
  changed halfway through.
</Warning>

## Step 3 — Create your items

See [Items](/inventory/items) for the full detail. At minimum each item needs a name, a code, a
unit and, ideally, a reorder level.

## Step 4 — Enter your opening balances

This is how your existing stock gets into Bumara.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Count what you actually have">
    Physically, item by item, location by location. Do not work from a spreadsheet that may itself
    be wrong.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create an adjustment">
    Inventory → Adjustments → **New adjustment**. Select the location.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the reason to Opening balance">
    This distinguishes it from later corrections, which matters when you review your history.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a line per item">
    Item, quantity, unit. Positive quantities, since you are bringing stock in.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check it against your count sheet">
    Line by line. This is your starting point — an error here follows you around.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Post it">
    Stock balances are created.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Repeat for each location">
    One opening balance adjustment per location.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Do your opening count on a day when nothing is moving — before opening, or after closing. Counting
  while stock is being sold or received produces a balance that was never true.
</Warning>

## Step 5 — Set reorder levels

For each item you cannot trade without, set the level at which you want to be warned.

A reasonable starting point is enough stock to cover your normal usage over the time it takes your
supplier to deliver, plus a margin.

Set them on the items that matter. Setting them everywhere produces alerts you will learn to ignore.

## Step 6 — Assign users to locations

If you operate from more than one location, assign staff to the ones they work at. They then see
that location's stock rather than everything.

See [Team and roles](/account/team-and-roles).

## Step 7 — Link to invoicing

If you sell stocked items through [Invoicing](/invoicing/products-and-prices), match the product
codes to the inventory item codes. Selling then moves the stock automatically.

Do this consistently from the start — retro-matching a catalogue of a few hundred products is
tedious.

## Setup checklist

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Before your opening balance">
    * Locations created, with the right default
    * Units configured, with any conversions you need
    * Items created with correct units
    * Reorder levels set on critical items
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The opening count">
    * Counted physically, not from a spreadsheet
    * Counted when nothing was moving
    * Recorded as an adjustment with reason "opening balance"
    * Checked against the count sheet before posting
    * One per location
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Before going live">
    * Staff assigned to locations
    * Product codes matched to item codes
    * Someone trained on adjustments, transfers and counts
    * Low stock notifications configured — see [Reminders](/account/notifications)
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Note>
  Next: [Items](/inventory/items).
</Note>