What is stock initialization and why is it necessary?
Stock initialization is used to calculate the initial stock levels of the products in your shop. This is necessary because Pickware introduces a new stock management system for products that differs from and overwrites the Shopware default system. The Pickware stock system distinguishes between three different stock levels for each product:
Physical stock – The quantity of a product actually present in the warehouse.
Reserved stock – The quantity of a product reserved by orders that have not yet been shipped.
Available stock – The difference between the physical and reserved stock. If this value is adjusted manually, it can lead to stock errors.
If you haven't created any products in your shop yet before installation, you don't need to run stock initialization. Regardless, we recommend that you still read through the background information on stock initialization below. You can find more information in this blog post.
How does stock initialization work?
After installing Pickware ERP, you should receive a notification in the top right corner of the Shopware Backend that your stock has not yet been initialized.
Correct stock management and the correct order status are essential prerequisites before using Pickware, in order to run the initialization without errors. Specifically, the following points must be checked:
Orders should only be in the status Open if no product has been shipped from the order yet.
Purchase prices and stock levels must be set correctly, since Pickware ERP also gives you an overview of your valuated stock. Of course, you can still manually adjust stock entries and purchase prices afterwards.
Orders that have already been shipped must be in the order status Fully delivered, so that Pickware does not schedule them for shipping again. The status Fully completed is not sufficient here.
If your shop meets all of the above conditions, you can start stock initialization by clicking Edit now in the notification. The exact steps that are carried out are as follows:
The Shopware stock level is adjusted directly after an order is received and therefore corresponds to Pickware's available stock.
The cumulative quantity contained in all orders that have not yet been shipped results in the reserved stock of a product.
The sum of the reserved and available stock ultimately results in the physical stock.