Inventory Movement Glossary of Terms and Definitions

This article explains the methods Point of Sale uses to calculate inventory buckets within its inventory management system. Additionally, it includes a table that shows how these buckets are impacted by specific actions in the POS app.

Inventory Buckets & Descriptions

Bucket	Description	Calculation Method
Quantity On Hand (QTYOH)	Physical inventory of an item.	Sum of ALOC, SS, SQTY, NFS, FLD, RET
Available (AVBL)	Inventory amount that can be sold.	QTYOH - (ALOC + SS + RET + NFS + FLD)
Allocated (ALOC)	Inventory reserved for carts, transfers, and Buy Online, Pick-up In Store (BOPIS) transactions.	Updated from transactions and features
Safety Stock (SS)	Inventory kept as a buffer to manage risk of stockouts.	Set and updated manually or by corporate policy
Quantity In Transit (QIT)	Inventory currently being transferred between locations.	Updated from posted store transfers and ASN from warehouse to store
Not For Sale (NFS)	Inventory not available for sale, typically held for adjustments and not yet posted.	Updated from adjustments pending post
Returned (RET)	Inventory returned due to damage or defects, including Return to Vendor (RTV) items pre-posting.	Updated through returns and bucket adjustments, and relieved by Return to Vendor (RTV) transactions
Floor Demo (FLD)	Inventory set aside for in-store demonstrations.	Manually updated

Inventory Buckets & Descriptions

This table illustrates how inventory buckets are impacted by various actions related to sales, returns, and BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick-up In Store) orders within the POS app. For additional details on inventory transfers and receivings, please see the referenced article.

Action	Impact on Inventory Buckets
Sales	Item scanned into cart Quantity is increased in the Allocated (ALOC) bucket and decreased in the Available (AVBL) bucket. Sales transaction completed Quantity is decreased in both the Allocated (ALOC) and Available (AVBL) buckets. Item deleted from cart Quantity is decreased in the Allocated (ALOC) bucket. Cart voided All item quantities are decreased in the Allocated (ALOC) bucket. Suspended cart deleted All item quantities are decreased in the Allocated (ALOC) bucket.
Returns	Item returned as "Damaged" Quantity is increased in the Returned (RET) bucket. Item returned with other reasons Quantity is increased in the Available (AVBL) bucket.
Buy Online, Pickup In Store (BOPIS)	Order created in-store All items in the order are allocated in the Allocated (ALOC) bucket. Order shipped Quantities are decreased in both the Allocated (ALOC) and Quantity On Hand (QTYOH) buckets. Remaining items in BOPIS order Remaining quantities are decreased in the Allocated (ALOC) bucket.