Managing Inventory without a Known Customer Follow

Unknown Inventory process

You likely already use Midnight to track client inventory (as well as your own stock), but did you know Midnight can even help you track items that arrive unexpectedly and you don’t know who it belongs to?  Often those items get placed in a random corner and no one knows who to alert and jobs might even be put on hold since no one knew the item had already arrived.  Within Midnight, there is a widget (that can be added to the home screen of all users) that is designed to display all inventory items that have been received when the team does not know the true customer for the item.  The team should review this widget and for any items they recognize, the proper customer name can be associated to the item.  The process allows items to be properly tracked until the team is able to research the item rather than allowing it to be forgotten and possibly misplaced.  (Visit https://support.printreach.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060090953 for instructions on how to add a widget to a user.)

If you do not already have one, set up a customer in CRM that has the Customer Code of “UNKNOWN”.   (Customers may be added under Customer Service -> CRM.) For the name, you may set is as desired; many users will name it “Unknown Inventory” or something similar to identify the purpose of the record.  The Customer Code of “UNKNOWN” is required for the process.

When materials arrive where the owner of the item is unknown, those items should be received in Midnight (in the Warehouse module, using the Receive option) for the customer with the code of “UNKNOWN”.  This will allow you to add the stock into your warehouse and record the quantity received and the location where it is placed so that you may readily find it and report on it later.

For team members who have the “Unknown Inventory Widget” assigned to them, they will see the items on their dashboard. 

(Visit https://support.printreach.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060090953 to learn how to assign a widget to a user.)  Likewise, the Inventory Report can be run for the customer and reviewed in team meetings.  When a rep or manager recognizes the item and identifies the proper customer, the team may reassign the item to the proper customer.  To do this, access the item’s record within the warehouse module, select it and then change the customer drop-down on the record to the correct customer name.  (Visit https://support.printreach.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060086953 for step-by-step instructions.) When the record is saved, the item will reflect the proper customer and will no longer appear on the widget.