One catalogue, separate stock for every store

A business opens a second outlet and keeps using one stock sheet. Now a sale in Butwal lowers a number that Pokhara is also reading, and neither store can trust what it sees.

The first sign is small. A salesman promises forty cartons because the sheet says forty, and the store he is standing in has twelve. The other twenty-eight are real, but they are four hours away.

After a few of these, staff stop believing the number and start phoning each other to check. The system is still running, and nobody is using it.

The fix starts with one distinction. Some facts about a product are true everywhere. Others are only true in one building.

Trouble comes from putting both columns in the same record. A single "quantity" field next to the price looks tidy, and it is the reason the two stores disagree.

Products, prices and barcodes belong to the business, so they live in one catalogue. Quantity belongs to a place, so every outlet and warehouse carries its own stock against that catalogue.

Sajilo Stores works this way. Adding a store does not mean re-entering products, and one store's sale never touches another store's count.

A price change is made once and applies everywhere. A stock count is done per store and only affects that store.

Separate stock only stays accurate if the right people change it. If anyone can edit a quantity, the number drifts again within a month.

Access in Sajilo Stores is role based:

• Salesmen take orders against a shop.
• Cashiers handle payment.
• Warehouse staff move stock.
• Admins confirm orders and see the khata.

A salesman can see a stock hint, but an order from the field does not reduce stock by itself. It waits in a pending list until an admin confirms it against what the warehouse really holds.

Returns are where a stock number quietly goes wrong. Goods come back on the truck, get put on a shelf, and nobody records which store now has them.

In Sajilo Stores a return does two things together. Resellable stock goes back into the stock of the store that received it, and a credit note lands on the party's khata. The stock and the money stay in step, and the shop's balance is right the next time a salesman visits.

A shared sheet works for one shop. It is time to split stock by store when:

• Staff phone another outlet before promising a quantity.
• A stock count in one store changes a number another store depends on.
• Nobody can say which store a returned item went back to.
• Opening a new outlet means copying the product list by hand.

Each of these is the same problem. The catalogue is shared, which is right, and so is the stock, which is not.