Review variance after a count

What you see

After a count is sent, the review shows what the books said, what was counted, and the difference. Large negative differences are easy to read as theft or a fault. Usually they are neither.

On the tablet, the Count review screen shows how many lines were counted, skipped and discrepant, the net variance, and a list of Discrepant lines. Variance is counted minus expected. Negative means less on the shelf than the books claim.

Until a manager finalises the count, the tablet says the count is not finalised yet and the numbers may be partial. Expected quantities and variance are set at finalisation.

Where you counted decides what the difference means

• Warehouse. Nothing is ever sold out of a store, so the expected figure is what should be on the shelf. A difference is real: shrinkage, breakage, a delivery booked to the wrong place, or a miscount.
• Station with no till connected. The bar sells its stock all day and none of it reaches the ledger. Expected stays at whatever was last delivered or transferred in, and the count comes back far lower. Almost all of that gap is normal trade. Read used instead: previous count + what came in − this count. That is real consumption. Without a sales feed it cannot be split into sold, wasted or lost.
• Station with a mapped till (SwiftPOS). Sales are already deducted from that station, so the remaining difference is loss.

The review states which case you are in at the top, on the tablet and in NOPI.

What to do

1. Open the count and read the line at the top of the review.
2. If it says nothing is sold from a warehouse, the difference is real and worth investigating.
3. If it says the station has no till reporting its sales, ignore the difference and read used.
4. For a warehouse difference, open Warehouses in NOPI, then the store, then Stock history for that product. Every delivery, transfer, write-off and previous stocktake is listed with who did it. A delivery booked into the wrong store is the most common cause.

Good to know

• Counts are taken blind in NOPI. The person counting does not see the expected figure, so they count rather than confirm.
• Skipped products are left untouched and post no adjustment.
• A finished count cannot be edited. The fix for a miscount is another count.
• If you want your bar numbers to show loss, connect the till in NOPI and map each terminal to its station.

Next: Finalising a count.