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Inventory Setup

The Inventory Set Up Screen contains several forms by which the inventory system is defined. When setting up your inventory system, specific codes identifying Genus, Species, Variety, Size, Grade, Color, etc. must be defined before creating Product and Item records. From the Inventory Set Up screen, the codes used to put together item codes are created, as well as codes to define inventory characteristics, box codes, tag codes, reason codes and other codes needed by the inventory system.

Each tab on the Inventory Set up Form is described as follows:

Product-Item Codes

From the Inventory Set up Screen you are not actually building products, but creating the codes that make up your inventory products. The term Product-Item refers to the codes needed to create the inventory information that is sold to customers. The Product Codes are usually the codes for Genus, Species and Variety. The Item Codes are primarily the codes for Size, Container, Type, Style, etc.

Before defining the codes for Inventory, you should decide the structure of your Inventory Coding System. As you put together inventory codes, the system requires that each code be defined through the Inventory Set up Screen.

The Inventory Product is broken into three definitions: Product Code 1, Product Code 2, and Product Code 3 commonly representing Genus, Species, and Variety respectively. The Inventory Code for each product is broken down by Item Definitions. Item Code 1, Item Code 2, and Item Code 3 commonly representing Size, Type, and Style respectively.

In the above image, look at the tabs that display Genus, Species, Cultivar, Size, Item.Code2 and Item.Code3. These six tabs are used to set up the unique codes for each component of the inventory code. As you click the mouse button on each tab, look at the screen carefully. The Genus tab says Product Code 1, the Species tab says Product Code 2, the Cultivar tab says Product Code 3, the Size tab says Item Code 1, the Type tab says Item Code 2 and the Style tab says Item Code 3.

Also, each tab has a field called Label, which is used to change the name of the tab. If you don’t need to track Species in your inventory code, you could change the Label description to something else as needed.

In your inventory definition, only the first Product code and the first Item code are required. There are checkboxes on the screens for Product Codes 2 and 3 and the Item Codes 2 and 3 that allow the code to be ‘turned off’ and not be used by the inventory system. Check this box if not using this code area. Change the description of this tab used for code set up.

A few reports have the ability to sort by size. You need to indicate which of the three codes contains size. In this example size is code1.

Setting up Product and Item Codes

The first place to look when setting up your inventory codes is in your product catalog. Your catalog shows customers what plants are for sale (Products) and in what sizes and variations those plants are sold (Items). Usually the plant varieties are described both by their Latin names and their common names.

In most cases, the Product codes are Genus, Species, and Cultivar. For annual growers they are coded Variety and Color. The Item Codes are a little more complex. Do you sell plants by size only or do you sell by container size and plant size? Do you have a different price for park grades or certain varieties? This information is vital to your inventory system and can be set up to identify all product and item combinations that are sold.

Each code may contain up to ten (10) characters but the entire code may not exceed eighteen (18). Both letters and numbers can be used to create the three character codes. Special characters like # and & are not recommended because these characters are not easily translated into barcodes if you decide to barcode your inventory.

Genus, Species, and Cultivar Codes

Defining the Genus, Species and Cultivar codes for the inventory system are the most time consuming part of defining the inventory structure. Because of the complexity of the horticultural naming scheme, making sure your codes are properly defined for each product is the most important part of the inventory coding structure.

The Genus Code represents the highest level of the Product code. When setting up the Genus codes, create a code that is easily recognized and simple to read.

The Species code represents the second level of the Product code. Species codes are a little more complex then the Genus codes so careful consideration needs to be taken when creating these codes. All Species in your inventory must have a code created. You may want to combine the Species and Variety codes, or eliminate the Species code entirely from the inventory structure depending on preferences.

The Cultivar or Variety codes are the most complex part of the inventory system. Because the Variety code is limited to three characters, the complexity of creating unique codes for the Variety level is a challenge. Because of the different code combinations, especially when setting up Variety code for perennials, the Variety codes can be duplicated if the variety name is the same between different Genus codes. For example, an Azalea variety called ‘Summer Sunset’ and a Pansy variety with the exact same name. The problem with creating a unique code for over 1000 different varieties becomes complex as your codes get assigned.

Size Codes

Size Codes are another important component of the inventory coding structure. Following are some Size Code examples. Notice that for each size type, the coding structure is a little different. Because the code must be unique, creating a structure that is easily identified is important. In the examples, plants sold by caliper are preceded by a number like 100 for 1” and 200 for 2”. Plants sold by width are preceded with a 0 and plants sold by container are preceded with a 9. Because characters are used to define Size Codes, be sure to use all of the available characters when creating size codes. Notice that the codes below are in size order, 100, 125, 150, 175, etc. These codes are in order from smallest to largest, just like your inventory is usually listed in a catalog. Although this type of coding is not required, it is a suggested method.

Type	Code	Description
Caliper	100	1”
	125	1 ¼”
	150	1 ½”
	175	1 ¾”
	200	2”
	225	2 ¼”
Width	012	8-12”
	015	12-15”
	018	15-18”
	024	18-24”
	030	24-30”
	036	30-36”
Container	901	1 Gallon
	902	2 Gallon
	905	5 Gallon
	910	10 Gallon
	915	15 Gallon