Workflow for Inventory Search and Transfer

Prepare Your Org

To configure and use Inventory Search and Transfer, turn on these features in Setup.

• Criteria-Based Search and Filter
• Data Pipelines

To help your partner users search for inventory, set up an Experience Cloud site. To learn more, see Experience Cloud.

Assign Permission Sets

Grant users the permissions to set up and use Criteria-Based Search and Filter, Inventory Search and Transfer, and Data Processing Engine. Give users the required object and field level access to the searchable object, Product Inventory Searchable Field, and the source objects for the search, such as Product Item, Product, Location, and Associated Location. Ensure that users have the right level of access to records in the searchable object and the source objects.

For a detailed list of permissions, see Permissions for Inventory Search and Transfer.

Customize Page Layouts

Customize the page layouts for the objects that inventory and service managers use for managing inventory and product information. Add the required fields and page layouts to the objects.

Here are a few examples of the page layouts that you can customize.

• Product Item: Add the Product Name, Location, Quantity On Hand, and Quantity Unit Of Measure fields to the page layout. Add the Quantity Unusable field to the page layout to track unusable inventory at the location. Also, add the Product Transfer States, Product Item Transactions, Serialized Product Transactions, and Product Item Quantity Details related lists to the page layout.
• Product Transfer: Add the Product Name, Quantity Sent, Source Product Item, Quantity Unit of Measure, Destination Location, Received, and Quantity Received fields to the page layout. Add the Is Unusable Quantity and Unusable Quantity Type fields to the page layout to track unusable inventory transfers. Also, add the Product Item Transactions, Product Transfers, and Serialized Products related lists to the page layout.

To learn about the objects used for managing inventory and product information, see How Inventory Records Work for Inventory Search and Transfer.

Explore the Searchable Object

The Product Inventory Searchable Field object consolidates inventory data that's spread across multiple objects and is the index of the search experience. The fields in the object represent key inventory attributes such as Business Brand, Product Name, Inventory Location, and Total Quantity At Location. The searchable field set can also include Unusable Quantity and Available Quantity, so search results reflect stock that's actually available to transfer, not just quantity on hand. You can use these attributes as search criteria or show them in the search results.

Think of the Product Inventory Searchable Field object as the dataset that's the basis for inventory search. Each record in the Product Inventory Searchable Field object represents a product at an inventory location. The Product Inventory Searchable Field object is populated with data from various source objects that store different types of inventory information, such as Product Item, Associated Location, and Account.

The fields in the object determine how your search experience works. You can use the fields in the searchable object as search criteria. In the search results, the fields in the searchable object appear as columns and each record in the object appears as a row.

You can use the Product Inventory Searchable Field as the searchable object as-is or add fields that represent attributes that are specific to your inventory processes. For example, if you want inventory managers to search for products based on supplier name, then create a Supplier Name field on the Product Inventory Searchable Field object.

Explore the Data Processing Engine Definition

To keep the inventory data in the searchable object fresh, accurate, and relevant, sync the data between the source objects and the searchable object. Use the Update Product Inventory Searchable Field Values Data Processing Engine (DPE) definition template to transform the inventory data from the source objects and populate the Product Inventory Searchable Field object.

You can clone and use the DPE template as-is, or extend the definition based on your business needs. For example, if you add a Supplier Name field to the Product Inventory Searchable Field object and store supplier information in a custom Product Supplier object, then you can customize the DPE definition to ensure that the Supplier Name field is populated based on the Product Supplier object.

Use a scheduled flow or directly run the DPE definition from the builder to regularly sync the data in the searchable object.

Note Execute DPE jobs for a given dataset sequentially. Running multiple Data Processing Engine (DPE) jobs at the same time on the same dataset may result in duplicate records in the ProductInventorySearchableField object.

To learn more about Data Processing Engine, see Data Processing Engine.

Design a Search Experience by Using Criteria-Based Search and Filter

Build an inventory search experience by using the Criteria-Based Search and Filter framework. To set up a search experience, set up three configurations.

Searchable Object Configuration

Create a searchable object configuration to define the Product Inventory Searchable Field as the searchable object and an activated copy of the Update Product Inventory Searchable Field Values DPE definition template as the data sync job.

To learn more, see Configure a Searchable Object for Inventory Search

Search Action Configuration

Configure an action configuration for the Product Transfer action to help users transfer the products that appear in search results.

To learn more, see Configure the Product Transfer Action for Inventory Search

Search Criteria Configuration

Create a search criteria configuration to design your inventory search experience. Define how data in the searchable object is used and shown in the search experience.

To learn more, see Create a Search Criteria Configuration for Inventory Search

Add the Search Component to a Page

Add the Criteria-Based Search and Filter component to a standard or custom Lightning page, or an Experience Cloud site page. Then, select the search configuration for inventory search.

To learn more, see Add the Criteria-Based Search and Filter Component to a Page.

Manage Inventory Records

Inventory and service teams create records to represent their inventory stock and product portfolio. Or, they can work with admins to import inventory information by using data export and integration mechanisms. Create the relevant records to ensure inventory and service teams get accurate and up-to-date search results when they use the inventory search experience.

To learn more, see How Inventory Records Work for Inventory Search and Transfer.

Search For and Transfer Products

Inventory managers and service managers can search for products and parts across inventory locations by using the inventory search experience. The criteria they use for search and the type of information shown in search results depends on how you configure the search criteria configuration.

Inventory managers and service managers can transfer the products that are shown as search results across inventory locations.

To learn more, see Search for and Transfer Products Across Inventory Locations.

Track and Receive Transfer

Inventory and service teams can track product transfers by using Product Transfer, Product Transfer State, and Product Item records.

After products are transferred, inventory managers at the destination locations must receive the product transfers to ensure that the inventory stock information is up to date and shown accurately in the inventory search experience.