Parts and inventory

The Parts screen is your catalog of spare parts. Each part belongs to one site, has a price, and can have a running count. LockLedger takes parts off that count when a ticket uses them, flags a part when it runs low, and keeps a permanent record of every change. This page covers adding a part, counting the stock, linking a part to the machines that use it, retiring a part, and the reports that read from it.

Admins

Add, count, link, deactivate and delete parts at every site, and see prices.

Managers

Do the same at the sites they are assigned to, except delete a part.

Techs

Do not see the Parts screen. They pick parts on a ticket, see how many are on hand, and never see a price.

2:02

1. Add a part

1. 1

   Open Parts

   On the Admin home screen press the Parts tile.

   

2. 2

   Press New Part

   LockLedger saves a part called New Part at once, at the first open site in alphabetical order, and opens it for editing. There is no Cancel: if you walk away, the part stays in the list until an Admin deletes it.

   

3. 3

   Fill in the details

   Give it a Title, pick its Site, and add a Part Number, a Price, a Vendor and the maker in OEM. The part number, vendor and maker can be left empty.

   

4. 4

   Set a reorder point

   Reorder Point is the count at which the part is flagged as low. Leave it empty if you do not want the part flagged at all.

   

5. 5

   Press Submit

   The part is saved. On Hand says Not tracked, which means LockLedger is not counting it yet. You turn counting on in the next section.

   

2. Count the stock

You never type into On Hand. It is read-only, even while you are editing the part, so a form that was left open can never overwrite a count that changed in the meantime. The count changes in two ways only: you use Adjust Stock, or a ticket uses the part.

1. 1

   Press Adjust Stock and choose Set Count

   Type how many you really have in Counted quantity. The line under it shows what will happen, for example On hand: Not tracked, an arrow, then 12. Press Set Count again to confirm. Setting a count is what starts tracking the part.

   

2. 2

   Check On Hand and Stock History

   On Hand shows the new count, and Stock History has a Count set line with who did it and when.

   

3. 3

   Watch for the Low stock tag

   Twelve is below the reorder point of 15, so the list now marks the part Low stock.

   

4. 4

   Press Adjust Stock and choose Receive when stock arrives

   Type how many came in under Quantity received. The line under it shows the new total, here On hand: 12 to 17. Press Receive to confirm. Receive only works on a part that is already counted.

   

5. 5

   Check the list again

   The count is 17, above the reorder point, so the Low stock tag is gone.

   

6. 6

   Read Stock History

   Stock History lists every change to the count: Used (with the ticket number), Received, Count set and Stopped tracking, who made it, when, the change, and the balance after it. A line can be added to but never edited or deleted, by anyone, an Admin included. A new line shows up about a second after you confirm.

   

When a ticket uses a part

When someone logs parts on a ticket, with Add Parts or when they confirm the parts used at completion, the quantity comes off the count and a Used line is added to Stock History, with the ticket number. For how parts end up on a ticket, read Tickets and required parts. For how a task lists the parts it needs, read Creating tasks and PM schedules.

Stop counting a part

Choose Stop Tracking in the same window to put a part back to Not tracked. The window shows the change first, On hand: 6 to Not tracked, and the confirm button is red. A Stopped tracking line is added to Stock History, the list no longer shows the count or a Low stock tag, and from then on only Set Count is offered for that part.

What counts as low stock

A part is low when it is active, it is counted, it has a Reorder Point, and its count is at or below that point, so a count equal to the reorder point is low too. You see it in three places: the red Low stock tag in the list, the Low-Stock Parts number on the Admin home screen, and the Parts At or Below Reorder Point card in Reports. Pressing the home number opens the Parts screen.

• An empty reorder point means the part is never flagged. Clear Reorder Point and press Submit, and the field shows Not set and the tag goes.
• A part that is not counted is never flagged, whatever its reorder point says. That is a part showing Not tracked.
• An inactive part is left out of the home number and the report.
• Nobody is emailed or notified when a part runs low. LockLedger has no low-stock alert, so check the home screen number or the report.

3. Keep the catalog tidy

Link a part to the machines that use it

A part that is linked to nothing is a general part: it is offered on every ticket and task at its site. Once you link it to one or more machines, it is offered by default only on those machines, which keeps a long list of parts short for the people choosing from it.

1. 1

   Link the machine

   Scroll to Equipment Scoping and press Link beside each machine that uses the part. The button turns into Linked at once. You do not press Submit, and you can press it again to unlink.

   

2. 2

   See it on a ticket for that machine

   Open Add Parts on a ticket for the linked machine. The part is on the list.

   

3. 3

   See it left out on another machine

   On a ticket for a different machine the part is not on the list. A box called Show all site parts appears, which shows that some parts are held back.

   

4. 4

   Tick Show all site parts when you need it anyway

   The held-back parts join the list. Someone who really did use an unusual part can always log it.

   

The Show all site parts box only appears when the site has at least one linked part.

Retire a part you no longer use

Press Deactivate on the part. It needs no confirmation and an Admin or a Manager can do it. The list tags the part Inactive, it is no longer offered in any Add Parts list, not even with Show all site parts ticked, and it drops out of the low-stock count. It stays in the catalog, and its history and every past ticket still show its name. Press Activate to bring it back.

Delete a part

Only an Admin sees Delete. It asks first, and says the part is removed from the catalog for good. LockLedger refuses to delete a part that is still in use, so a part that has ever been counted or used on a ticket cannot be deleted. Use Deactivate for those.

If a task lists the part as required, the message names the tasks and tells you to take the part off them first. A part that nothing refers to is deleted.

Find, filter and export

• Search. Type in Search parts... to narrow the list by name, part number or vendor.
• Filter by site. When you can see more than one site, a Filter by site list at the top shows All sites or one site. With a single site it is not shown.
• Export CSV. Saves the parts you can see in the list, as filtered, to a file called lockledger-parts-catalog.csv. Each part has its title, part number, vendor, maker, site, price, quantity on hand, reorder point and whether it is active. It opens in Excel.
• Bulk import. Loads many parts from a CSV file in one go.

4. Read the parts reports

Admins and Managers see three parts cards on the Reports screen. A Manager sees only the sites they are assigned to.

• The low-stock card, called Parts At or Below Reorder Point and found under Inventory, lists the parts that are low right now, as the count over the reorder point, for example 6 over 20. A count of zero or less is shown in red. It is a picture of today, so the date range above it does not change it.
• The usage card, called Parts Used and found under Parts Activity, adds up how many of each part were logged as used in the date range (This Month, Last Month, Last 30 Days, All Time or your own dates), the most used first. A day is counted on the site's own calendar.
• The variance card, called Parts Variance and found beside it, lists the completed tickets whose confirmed parts differ from what the task called for. Each shows the ticket, the site and the cost difference in dollars, with a line for each part such as required 0, used 1. Costs use the price the part had when it was used, so changing a price later does not rewrite old reports.

5. What a Manager and a Tech see

A Manager has the same Parts screen for the sites they are assigned to, with Edit and Deactivate but no Delete. A Manager who is assigned to one site sees only that site's parts, and no Filter by site list.

A Tech who opens the Parts address is taken to Open Tickets. On a ticket, the Add Parts list shows how many of each part are on hand, because a Tech needs to know what is on the shelf, and never shows a price. An Admin sees the price too.

Good to know

• Only two things change the count. One is Adjust Stock and the other is a ticket using the part. Saving the part form never touches it.
• Fix a wrong count by counting again, with Set Count, not by receiving or using parts to cancel it out. The history then shows the correction as one line.
• Retire, do not delete. Once a part has history it cannot be deleted, so Deactivate is the way to take it out of the lists without losing the record.
• A part belongs to one site. To stock the same part at two sites, add it at each.
• There is no low-stock email. Look at the Low-Stock Parts number or the report, or check the list for the Low stock tag.