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Create an Inventory Count Plan

Inventory managers can create cycle and ad hoc inventory counts for different inventory locations. Schedule count plans for different locations based on your operational needs, regulatory requirements, and business cycles. To reduce administrative overhead, you can use Location Hierarchies to perform inventory counts across hierarchical structures, such as warehouses or service fleets, without creating separate plans for each room, aisle, or vehicle belonging to the location for which the inventory plan was created. Set a schedule for counts for a plan by specifying when counts start and end, how often counts occur, and the window for performing each count. The schedules of inventory count plans determine the schedules of inventory count assessments.

Required Editions

Available in: Lightning Experience
Available in: Automotive Cloud, Communications Cloud, Consumer Goods, Energy and Utilities Cloud, Manufacturing Cloud, Service Cloud, and Media Cloud. View edition availability.
User Permissions Needed
To create inventory count plans:

Inventory Count Manager permission set
  1. From the App Launcher, find and select Inventory Count Plans.
  2. Enter a name for the inventory count plan.
  3. If necessary, enter a description for the plan.
  4. Select the status for the plan.
    • Draft
    • Active
    • Inactive
    You can add product items to only active plans.
  5. Find and select the location where the counts are planned.
    Selecting a parent location in a plan automatically displays all its associated child locations. Inventory managers can then select child locations and bulk add or choose product items from all sub-locations (like specific rooms or aisles) into a single inventory count plan. This location hierarchy currently supports one level only (parent to child). If a child location has its own sub-locations, those locations will not be considered. To use this hierarchical counting, ensure your inventory locations are linked to the Parent Location on the Location record. For more information on setting up these relationships, see Define Location Hierarchy.
  6. Enter a start date and time for the plan.
    The plan's start date and time is the planned start date of the first assessment related to the plan.
  7. Enter an end date and time for the plan.
    The plan's end date is the date on or before which the last assessment for this plan can start.
  8. In Count Interval Unit of Measure, enter the unit of measure for the interval between two consecutive assessments related to this plan.
    • Once
    • Day
    • Week
    • Month
    • Quarter
    • Year
    If you enter Once, only one assessment occurs for the plan.
  9. In Count Interval, enter the interval between the planned start dates of two consecutive assessments related to the plan.

    If your count interval unit of measure is Once, enter 0. For any other count internal unit of measure, enter a value that's greater than or equal to 0. For example, if the count unit of measure is Week and the count interval is 3, then the interval between the planned start dates of the assessments is three weeks.

  10. In Count Window Days, enter the number of days between the planned start and end date of each assessment related to this plan.
    If you don't specify a value, the count interval is considered as the count window. For example, if the count window days is 8 and the planned start date of an assessment is October 4, 2025 at 10:10 AM, then the planned end date of the assessment is October 12, 2025 at 10:10 AM.
  11. Save your changes.
Example
Example

An inventory manager at a company must create inventory count plans for three locations with different count schedules.

Plan 1: Count consumer electronics at the Vienna warehouse every three weeks between January 1, 2025 to April 30, 2025. The count window for each count is seven days. Here are the values of the inventory count plan record.

  • Name: Vienna Consumer Electronics
  • Location: Vienna Warehouse
  • Start Date: January 1, 2025 at 9:00 AM
  • End Date: April 30, 2025 at 12:00 PM
  • Count Interval: 3
  • Count Interval Unit of Measure: Week
  • Count Window Days: 7

Here are the inventory count assessments for the Vienna Consumer Electronics plan.

Planned Start Date Planned End Date Type Location
January 1, 2025 at 9:00 AM January 8, 2025 at 9:00 AM Periodic Vienna Warehouse
January 22, 2025 at 9:00 AM January 29, 2025 at 9:00 AM Periodic Vienna Warehouse
February 12, 2025 at 9:00 AM February 19, 2025 at 9:00 AM Periodic Vienna Warehouse
March 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM March 12, 2025 at 10:00 AM Periodic Vienna Warehouse
March 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM April 2, 2025 at 10:00 AM Periodic Vienna Warehouse
April 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM April 23, 2025 at 10:00 AM Periodic Vienna Warehouse

Plan 2: Count business laptops at the Salzburg warehouse every five months between January 2, 2025 to September 20, 2026. The count window for each count is 30 days. Here are the values of the inventory count plan record.

  • Name: Salzburg Business Laptops
  • Location: Salzburg Warehouse
  • Start Date: January 2, 2025 at 7:00 AM
  • End Date: September 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM
  • Count Interval: 5
  • Count Interval Unit of Measure: Month
  • Count Window Days: 30

Here are the inventory count assessments for the Salzburg Business Laptops plan.

Planned Start Date Planned End Date Type Location
January 2, 2025 at 7:00 AM February 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM Periodic Salzburg Warehouse
June 2, 2025 at 8:00 AM July 2, 2025 at 8:00 AM Periodic Salzburg Warehouse
November 2, 2025 at 7:00 AM December 2, 2025 at 7:00 AM Periodic Salzburg Warehouse
April 2, 2026 at 8:00 AM May 2, 2026 at 8:00 AM Periodic Salzburg Warehouse
September 2, 2026 at 8:00 AM October 2, 2026 at 8:00 AM Periodic Salzburg Warehouse

Plan 3: Hierarchical Count for Innsbruck Warehouse.

An inventory manager needs to count spare parts across the entire Innsbruck facility. Instead of creating separate plans for every room, they use the Location Hierarchy.

  • Name: Innsbruck Spare Parts
  • Location: Innsbruck Warehouse (Parent Location)
  • Start Date: June 1, 2026 at 8:00 AM
  • End Date: July 1, 2026 at 5:00 PM
  • Count Interval: 0
  • Count Interval Unit of Measure: Once

By selecting the Innsbruck Warehouse, the manager can bulk-select product items from Room A, Room B, and the Loading Dock (all Child Locations) into this single plan.

Here's the inventory count assessment for the Innsbruck Spare Parts plan.

Planned Start Date Planned End Date Type Location
June 1, 2026 at 08:00 AM July 1, 2026 at 05:00 PM Adhoc Innsbruck Warehouse (Includes Child Locations: Room A , Room B, Loading Dock)

To add product items to an inventory count plan, on the inventory count plan record, in the quick actions section, click Add Product Items, and then click Go to Product Items Page.