Use Locations to organize your stock and/or production components. Ensure inventory is picked or received from the right location (warehouse, shop, office, etc.) and maintain a complete view of stock levels across all your organisation's locations. 

Storage bins can be added to further organise your stock. Bins are the smallest available unit of space in a warehouse; they describe the position in the warehouse where the goods are or can be stored. For locations designated as shop floors, bins are where the production components are stored prior to use in manufacturing activities.

Users of the DEAR Warehouse Management System (WMS) app can add pick zones to organise items further, within a location and/or warehouse to streamline picking. Locations, bins and pick zones also play crucial roles in stocktake.

Locations can be found in Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins.

Prerequisites:

• This is one of the first steps when setting up DEAR. See the Getting Started Guide for detailed setup instructions.

Table of Contents

• Location permissions
• Locations
  • Add or edit a location
  • Specify fixed asset locations
  • Enable automatic low stock reorder
  • Specify production locations
  • Specify co-manufacturing locations
  • Remove a location
• Bins
  • Add bins to a location
  • Define a staging bin
  • Import/export a bin list
  • Remove a bin
• Pick Zones
  • Add pick zones to a location
  • Assign pick zone to a product
• Set up Supply Rules and Transfer Planning
• Set up Delivery Calendar
• Logistics Path
• Add stock to locations
• View stock availability for locations

Location permissions

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DEAR offers fine-grained control over user permissions by going to Settings → Users and Roles. See Managing Users and Roles and User permissions explained for help setting user permissions.

Use Locations permissions to restrict a user's actions to the selected locations. Stock picking, stock receiving, inventory actions (stocktake, stock adjustment, inventory write-off) and production actions (production, assembly, disassembly) are restricted to locations where permission is granted. 

Location permissions set here also apply to users of DEAR Warehouse Management Solution (WMS) and DEAR Manufacturing Execution Solution (MES) applications.

NOTE: Location permissions for DEAR Point-of-Sale (POS) are set via the DEAR web portal, by going to Integrations → POS and the Users tab. In the Outlets field, the user can select all outlets, a single outlet, or multiple outlets. See Setting up DEAR POS Basics - Invite users to your POS store. 

Users can still see purchases, sales, inventory actions and production actions in other locations when created by other users. 

Locations

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Locations keep your stock organized. You can specify where purchases are delivered, where sales are to be picked from and where manufacturing actions or stocktakes take place, among others. Ensuring your inventory is assigned to the correct location means you always have an accurate picture of your stock availability. For manufacturing companies, locations can be designated as shop floor warehouses where production activities are performed.

Access the Locations screen by going to Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins and select the Locations tab.

Add or edit a location

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1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins and select the Locations tab
2. Click + to add a new location. This will take it to the General tab. 
3. Enter the location name and address, and an optional description. 
4. Check one or more Type boxes to indicate the location's characteristics. The following types are available:
   • Default means that the location will automatically be selected when creating a new purchase or sale. Only one default location can be selected. If you have only one location, it will be made the default location automatically.
   • Fixed Assets are required register and manage your fixed assets. Even if your stock and fixed assets are kept at the same physical location, you will need to create a separate entry for the Location and Fixed Asset Location. See Fixed Asset Locations for more information. 
   • Allow to Reorder Stock Level enables or disables Low Stock Reorder for this location. 
   • Shop floor indicates the location will be used for production activities. See Specify production locations.
   • Co-manufacturing indicates this is an external location where production is outsourced to a contract manufacturer. See Specify co-manufacturing locations.
   • Deprecated indicates that the location is no longer being used, and will remove it as a location option during transactions.

Specify fixed asset locations

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You must add Fixed Asset Locations to register and manage your fixed assets. You cannot create fixed assets without assigning a fixed asset location to them. Even if your stock and fixed assets are kept at the same physical location, you will need to create a separate entry for the Location and Fixed Asset Location.

1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books →  Stock → Locations & Bins and select a location, or create a new location. 

NOTE: You can also add a Fixed Asset Location from the product details screen (Inventory → Products → [selected product]) by clicking + next to the Location field.  

2. Check the Fixed Assets box. Fixed Asset locations cannot be default locations, used for regular stock, or used as production locations.
3. Save your changes.
   

Enable automatic low stock reorder

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DEAR allows you to reorder low in stock items automatically, streamlining your supply chain workflow. See Low Stock Reorder for more information about setting up this feature. If you have low stock reorder points set up for your products, you can disable low stock reorder for a location by unchecking the Allow to Reorder Stock Level box on this tab. This feature can be enabled/disabled at any time.

Specify production locations

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Specify locations where finished goods are produced by checking the Shop floor location checkbox. These are locations where Production takes place. This will enable the location to be selected as a Shop floor location in a Logistics Path and used in Production Orders. See Getting Started with Production for more information. 

1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books →  Stock → Locations & Bins and select a location, or create a new location. 
2. Check the Shop floor box. 
3. Save your changes.

Specify co-manufacturing locations

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Co-manufacturing operations outsource part or all of the manufacturing process of a product to a third-party. This location type defines the external location where a co-manufacturing operation should be executed. See Co-manufacturing for more information. 

As this type of location is a purely informational, to notify a user during a Production Run where components should be transferred for contract manufacturing, co-manufacturing locations have some special properties:

• Bins cannot be added to a co-manufacturing location.
• The Default, Allow Reorder Stock Level, and Shop Floor checkboxes are disabled for co-manufacturing locations.
• Co-manufacturing locations are not considered in any stock replenishment activities, e.g. Reordering (smart, reorder, backorder) 
• Co-manufacturing locations cannot be selected in any task that is not connected to co-manufacturing. 
  • When creating sale orders, purchase orders, transfer orders, assembly/disassembly orders, and production order (for top level production location), co-manufacturing will not be available.
  • When a purchase order, sales order or transfer order is generated by a co-manufacturing operation, the location will automatically be set to the co-manufacturing location.

Remove a location

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Locations can be removed by either deprecation or deletion. If a location has been used in a DEAR transaction, it can no longer be completely deleted. Deleting the transactions will allow the location to be deleted. The quantity of all items attached to the location (on hand, available, on order, in transit, allocated) must be 0.  

1. If the location has not yet been used in a transaction, you can delete it by clicking the Delete icon to the right. 
2. If the location has been used in a DEAR transaction, it can no longer be completely deleted. You can check the Deprecated box next to the location to make it inactive and remove it as a transaction option.   

Bins

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Bins are used to specify where the stock or production components are stored within a location. For some DEAR functions, you will be shown a separate field for Bin as well as Location; in other functions, you can select the bin from the Location list in the format [Location Name]:[Bin Name].

NOTE: In DEAR Warehouse Management System, the order of pick list items is automatically generated from your bin names in alphanumerical order (e.g. numbers come before letters: bins 1B, 2B, 3B will be listed before bins B1, B2, B3). 

Add bins to a location

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1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins and select the Locations tab. 
2. Select a Location to add the bin to from the list. Bins cannot be added to Fixed Asset or Co-manufacturing locations.
3. Select the Bins tab.
4. Click the +button and add as many bins as required. 
   • NOTE: If you are adding bins to a Shop Floor location, you will also need to select the Work Center that will be associated with the location and bin. For more information, see Setting Up Work Centers for Production.
5. Save your changes to finish.

Define a staging bin

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On the Bins tab, check the Staging box to mark a new or existing bin as a staging bin, a temporary location for the products being moved to permanent storage. This allows you to perform two-stage transfers, from From Location → Staging Bin → To Location.

Import/export a bin list

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You can import bin lists in CSV format to save time and conveniently add large numbers of bins. 

1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins and select the Locations tab. 
2. Select a Location to add the bin to from the list. Bins cannot be added to Fixed Asset or Co-manufacturing locations.
3. On the Bins tab, click Import.
4. Download the Bins Template CSV file and enter your data in plain text. 
5. On the upload screen, select the updated Bins List CSV and click Upload. 
6. Save your changes to finish.

You can also export an existing bin list in CSV format, make changes and re-import it. Click Export to export a list of bins in CSV format.

Remove a bin

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Locations can be removed by either deprecation or deletion. If a location has been used in a DEAR transaction, it can no longer be completely deleted. Deleting the transactions will allow the location to be deleted. The quantity of all items attached to the location (on hand, available, on order, in transit, allocated) must be 0.  

1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins and select the Locations tab. 
2. Select a Location to add the bin to from the list.
3. Select the Bins tab.
   • If the bin has not yet been used in a transaction, you can delete it by clicking the Delete icon. 
   • If the bin has been used in a DEAR transaction, it can no longer be completely deleted. You can check the Deprecated box next to the bin to make it inactive and remove it as an option in WMS. 
4. Save your changes to finish.

Pick Zones

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Zone picking is a method of order picking that involves dividing a warehouse into a series of different zones with each warehouse employee trained to pick within an assigned zone. An order may be moved down a conveying system from zone to zone to have items added. The goal is to create greater speed in the picking process. It also allows specialisation based on skill level. For example, fork truck operators can be assigned to a zone that exclusively houses large items that must be picked with a lift.

NOTE: This feature is only relevant to the users of the DEAR Warehouse Management System (WMS) app. 

DEAR allows you to assign products to one or more Pick Zones to streamline picking. When using the WMS app, you will be given the option to select the Pick Zone as well as Location during picking.

Add pick zones to a location

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1. Navigate to Settings → Reference Books → Stock → Locations & Bins and select the Locations tab. 
2. Select a Location to add the bin to from the list.
3. Select the Pick Zones tab and click + to add a new pick zone. 
4. Enter the Pick Zone name.
5. Save your changes to finish.

Remove a pick zone by clicking the X to delete. 

Assign pick zone to a product

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1. Pick Zones are assigned at the product level. Navigate to the product screen (Inventory → Products → [selected product]).
2. In the Pick Zones field, a dropdown list will appear showing all the pick zones in the selected Default Location.
3. Add one or more pick zones to the product. 
4. Save your changes to finish.
   

NOTE: You can export your Inventory List in CSV format, enter the pick zones into the pick zones column, and import the updated Inventory List to update the pick zones for many products at a time. To do this, go to Inventory → Products and click Export.

Set up Supply Rules and Transfer Planning

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In inventory management, supply chain settings determine how and when a location should be replenished with stock and when stock should be moved from one location to another.

Supply chain settings Transfer Planning and Supply Rules are used by DEAR's Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) module to generate supply suggestions – what quantity of stock to transfer, manufacture, and order from suppliers in order to meet actual and forecasted demand, and when each action should take place. 

See Supply Settings (Delivery and Replenishment) for more information. 

Set up Delivery Calendar

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Sales may be made through DEAR, DEAR POS, and DEAR WMS that will be delivered to the customer. This feature allows the merchant to set up a delivery calendar with delivery days and schedule deliveries, view a list of scheduled deliveries, and mark deliveries as completed. Additionally, users can print delivery schedules.

See Delivery Scheduling for more information. 

Logistics Path

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A logistics path in DEAR reflects the physical movements of components and finished goods for production. 

NOTE: Logistics paths are applied to production orders and orders related to them (e.g. sales orders for finished goods which trigger production, replenishment purchase orders/transfer orders for production components). For more complicated routing, please configure Supply Rules for a location - these are used in conjunction with the Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) module. 

Product storage, Sales orders and Production Orders all specify a location. A logistics path connects these locations in the system. This is used to factor in the lead time for components for accurate ordering and production scheduling. It also enables automatic generation of documents (purchase orders, transfer orders, etc.) and logs stock movements. 

Setting up logistics paths for your organization is a prerequisite for using DEAR's production module. See Getting Started with the Production Module and Setting up a Logistics Path for Production Components.

Add Stock to Locations

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When setting up your DEAR account, one of the first steps is to import your Stock on Hand. 

NOTE: This operation should only be performed when initially setting up DEAR Inventory. You should not be using this function to update stock balances if you already have stock figures in the system. DEAR Inventory uses actual accounting costing methods, and by uploading the stock-on-hand template multiple times, we'll create new instances of the products rather than updating existing quantities.

To change stock figures in a location after the initial setup, you will have to use Stock Adjustment or Stocktake.

Use Stock Transfer to move stock between locations. 

You can specify which location to use when receiving stock during a Purchase.

View stock availability for locations

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DEAR allows the user to view the availability of their products at each location, including what has been allocated to sales and work orders. 

See Viewing Product Availability for more information.