Inventory and stock management overview

If POS is the cash register, inventory is the stockroom behind it. HotelBee tracks every product as a moving balance per warehouse, computed from a chronological log of inventory documents and POS sales. This article gives you the model — what a warehouse is, what a product is, what document types exist, when stock changes hands, and how POS connects to it. Once these pieces are clear, the how-to articles slot right in.

The five moving parts

Warehouses

A warehouse is a physical (or logical) place where stock lives. Most properties have at least two — "Main Store" for bulk inventory and "Bar/Restaurant" for daily-use stock. Some add specialized ones: "Housekeeping Supplies", "Engineering", "Spa". A warehouse is just a name, code, and description (POS → Warehouses).

Products

A product is anything you stock or sell. Products live in the POS module (POS → Products) but they're the unit of measurement for inventory too. Two product types matter:

• Standard — a single SKU. Coca-Cola 33cl bottle, sea-salt sachet, towel. Stock is tracked directly.
• Composed (recipe) — built from other products. "Mojito" = 50ml white rum + 30ml lime + 2 mint sprigs + ice. The recipe is the tableData on the composed product. The composed product has no stock of its own; selling it deducts each ingredient.

Inventory documents (the three types)

Inventory → Inventories list shows every stock movement except POS sales. Three types:

• Purchase order — stock coming in. Has a supplier and a destination warehouse. Optionally creates a bill so the cost flows into accounts payable.
• Inventory transfer — stock moving between warehouses. Has a source warehouse and a destination warehouse, no money changes hands. Use this when bar fridge needs replenishing from main store.
• Inventory deduction — stock going out for non-POS reasons: breakage, expiry, staff meal, complimentary to a guest, write-off. Has a source warehouse only. The description field is your audit trail — "3 wine glasses broken Apr 12".

POS sales (the silent fourth)

Every closed POS order also deducts stock — silently, no document type to manage. The deduction picks the warehouse linked to the POS point that closed the order. Composed products fan out into ingredient deductions. Products flagged ignoreStock are skipped (use this for things like "open bar tab" line items that don't represent real stock).

Stock counts and corrections

Periodically — weekly for bars, monthly for housekeeping supplies, quarterly for slow-moving items — you compare the system stock to a physical count. Inventory → Adjust Inventory loads the system stock for a warehouse on a chosen date and lets you punch in the actual figure. The difference becomes a stock-count adjustment, audited with a note.

How a unit of stock moves through the system

Follow a single bottle of red wine through HotelBee:

1. You receive a 12-bottle case from the wine supplier. Create a purchase order for 12 bottles → Main Store. Mark Delivered. Main Store stock for that wine: +12.
2. Bar fridge needs stock for the weekend. Create an inventory transfer for 4 bottles, from Main Store to Bar/Restaurant. Mark Delivered. Main Store: -4. Bar/Restaurant: +4.
3. A waiter spills one bottle. Create an inventory deduction for 1 bottle from Bar/Restaurant. Description: "Spillage during service Apr 12, witnessed by F&B manager". Bar/Restaurant: -1.
4. Two guests order glasses of red. POS rings up two glass-of-red sales. The glass-of-red product is composed (1 glass = 0.15 bottles). POS auto-deducts 0.30 bottles from Bar/Restaurant. Bar/Restaurant: -0.30.
5. End of week, the bar manager counts the fridge: 2.5 bottles physically remaining. System says 2.7. Run a stock-count adjustment for that wine in Bar/Restaurant: 2.7 → 2.5. The 0.2 difference is logged as an adjustment with note "Apr 14 weekly count, 0.2 unaccounted".

Status: when stock actually moves

Inventory documents have four statuses with consistent meaning:

• Draft — being prepared. No stock impact. Useful for draft purchase orders you're still negotiating with the supplier.
• Ordered — sent to the supplier; goods not yet received. Still no stock impact.
• Delivered — goods received (or transfer/deduction confirmed). Stock changes happen here. This is the only status that affects warehouse balances.
• Cancelled — voided. If the document was already Delivered, the void reverses the stock change. Use Cancel rather than deleting so you keep the audit trail.

How inventory connects to bills and payments

Purchase orders can create or link to a bill (supplier invoice) so the cost flows into accounts payable. Tick "Create bill" when saving the purchase order, or use the Create Bill button on a saved purchase order. Once linked, payments can be added directly from the inventory document — they update the bill's paid/unpaid balance. The other two document types (transfer, deduction) are stock-only; no money is involved.

Where to find each piece in the menu

• Inventory list and create — POS → Inventory. Filter by date range and document type.
• Warehouses — POS → Warehouses.
• Stock count / Adjust inventory — Inventory page → Adjust Inventory button (top of the list).
• Inventory import — Inventory page → Import Inventory button. For bulk-loading existing stock when migrating from another system.
• Products and categories — POS → Products. Each product's form has a Warehouses table where you set initial stock per warehouse.
• Suppliers — POS → Suppliers. Each supplier has a profile with a balance overview, bills timeline, and inventory history.

Where to go next

• How to set up warehouses and products — first-time setup including initial stock.
• How to record an inventory document — purchase orders, transfers, and deductions step by step.
• How to do a stock count and correction — the periodic reconciliation workflow.