The inventory auditing tools in Dutchie POS are designed to help you make sure your physical inventory matches the quantities in the Backoffice and efficiently identify and address any discrepancies. Adjustments are then reported to integrated traceability systems like Metrc and BioTrack so your inventory stays in sync across platforms.

If you haven't already done so, learn about inventory audit types, workflows and permissions.

Table of contents

• Create a new inventory audit
  • From Products > Inventory
  • From Products > Audits
• Count inventory
  • Count inventory in a non-blind audit
  • Count inventory in a blind audit
  • Enter and upload counts in a CSV
  • Changes to expected quantities during an audit
  • Negative quantity prevention
• Audit options and package actions
  • Audit-level options (Actions button)
  • Package-specific actions
• Complete an audit
  • Bypass state system option
• Audit search
• Filters and statuses
• Column configuration and sorting
• View notes on an adjusted audit

Create a new inventory audit

There are two ways to start an audit:

From Products > Inventory

Start an audit from the Inventory page if you want to select specific packages to audit. If you want to audit all inventory from certain rooms, brands, or categories, start from Products > Audits instead.

1. In Products > Inventory, use the checkboxes to select the packages you want to audit. You can search or apply filters to narrow down the list if needed.
2. Select Bulk actions > Audit products.
   
3. For Audit workflow, choose Advanced (manager approval required) or Simple (no manager approval required) and choose whether you want this to be a Blind audit. Learn more about audit types.
   
4. Click Create. You’re now ready to count inventory.

From Products > Audits

Start an audit from the Audits page if you want to audit all inventory from certain brands, rooms, or categories.

1. In Products > Audits, click the Create audit button.
   
2. For Audit workflow, choose Advanced (manager approval required) or Simple (no manager approval required). Learn more about audit types.
   
3. Define the inventory you want to audit using one or more of these criteria:
   • Brands - select one or more
   • Rooms - select one or more
   • Master category - select only one
   • Categories - select one or more
4. Choose whether you want to make this a Blind audit.
5. Choose an audit Type
   • Manual = count or weigh inventory by hand and manually enter the quantity or weight.
   • Scan = scan a package to pull it up in the list, then enter its quantity.
6. Click Create.

Count inventory

When you begin auditing, your selected packages or packages matching your criteria are listed in the Uncounted tab. For each package, fill in the Counted Qty.

If you have a scanner connected to your device, you can scan a package to pull it up in the list, then enter its quantity.

• If you started your audit by selecting individual packages from the Inventory page, or if you selected Type = Manual, place your cursor into the search bar before scanning.
• If you selected Type = Scan, you can scan without placing your cursor in the search bar.

Count inventory in a non-blind audit

The Expected Qty (current inventory level in Dutchie POS) is shown next to the Counted Qty (the actual quantity you have on hand).

If the expected quantity and counted quantity match, the Confirm button turns blue. Click Confirm to move the package to the Counted tab.

If the expected quantity and counted quantity do not match, the Adjustment Reason dropdown becomes available. When you select an Adjustment Reason, the Confirm button turns blue. Click Confirm to move the package to the Counted tab.

Count inventory in a blind audit

The Expected Qty, Adjustment Qty, and Adjustment Reason are hidden. Employees will enter counted quantities without knowing if they match the expected quantities. This is typically used with the Advanced workflow so a manager can review and verify the audit before completing it.

When you enter a counted quantity, the package's Confirm button turns blue. Click Confirm to move the package to the Counted tab.

Enter and upload counts in a CSV

Instead of entering counts directly in the Backoffice, you can instead use a CSV spreadsheet to record your counts for any audit type. This allows you to assign portions of the audit to different employees.

1. Create or open an audit and select Actions > Download CSV template.
   • This exports the list of products to a spreadsheet where an employee can record counts for the entire list or an assigned portion of the list, and can also add notes or adjustment reasons to the sheet (for non-blind audits).
   • If you’re assigning portions of the audit to different employees, employees can enter their counts in the same sheet simultaneously (such as in Google Docs) or you can make copies of the spreadsheet that each employee fills out individually.
   • When the sheet is uploaded, missing packages or packages with blank quantities are ignored and no adjustments are made, so employees can fill out their own portion of the sheet and leave the rest blank, or employees can delete the sections of the sheet they’re not assigned to.
   • You can also upload a partial sheet, such as a sheet with just counts and no adjustment reasons, and then fill in the missing details later.
2. Once counts are filled in, select Actions > Upload CSV and select the file with counts entered.

Changes to expected quantities during an audit

If an expected quantity changes due to sales or inventory adjustments by another user while an audit is in progress, a message appears to alert you of the expected quantity change when you click Confirm on an affected package.

For example, suppose a package has an expected quantity of 102 but you only count 101, which means an adjustment quantity of -1. At some point since the original count, 1 unit was sold. When you click Confirm on this row, the following message appears:

You can click Cancel to take no action, or click Confirm (or Refresh, depending on the scenario) to update the expected quantity accordingly without changing your counted quantity. The system will never change your counted quantities.

If the expected quantity and counted quantity now match, but you already selected an adjustment reason, the Confirm button becomes inactive. You must clear the adjustment reason before you can re-confirm the count because there should be no adjustment reason if the adjustment quantity is 0.

Negative quantity prevention

If a change in expected quantity combined with the adjustment quantity would result in a negative quantity, a red alert icon appears in the affected row. The audit cannot be submitted until you correct the issue.

For example, if a package’s expected quantity was 100 at the beginning of the audit but you only counted 5, the adjustment quantity would be -95. Meanwhile, suppose another user adjusted the package’s quantity to 80. The system recognizes this can’t be possible and alerts you that the new quantity of 80 and an adjustment quantity of -95 would result in -15 units remaining.

Audit options and package actions

Audit-level options (Actions button)

The Actions button within an audit has some additional options to aid in the counting process:

• If you come across a package from a package ID that is not listed, you can select Add package and add that package to the audit.
• You can Print the audit list.
• Or you can Delete an in-progress audit. Completed audits cannot be deleted.

Package-specific actions

You also have the following options under each package’s ellipsis menu:

• Open the package history or transaction history in a new tab to investigate a quantity discrepancy.
• Move the package to another room or subroom. This will not remove the package from the audit.
• Add a note about a package. Notes are reported to traceability systems when you complete the audit.
• Remove a package from the audit.

Complete an audit

Once you’ve entered and confirmed a count for each package in the list, select the Counted tab. At this point, you can Edit a count (or Recount in a blind audit). Your changes will be automatically saved if you navigate away from the audit page.

For Simple audits, click Adjust and close to complete the audit, adjust quantities, and report your adjustments to any integrated traceability system.

For Advanced audits, click Submit. This does not complete the audit or adjust any quantities. Instead, this moves the audit into Needs review status.

A manager can then open the audit and view all counted quantities compared to expected quantities, edit the counted quantities, and select or change adjustment reasons. When the manager has completed their verification, they can click Adjust and close to complete the audit, adjust quantities, and report adjustments to any integrated traceability system. This moves the audit into Completed status.

Bypass state system option

If enabled for your location, the Bypass state system option appears when adjusting and closing an audit. If a user checks this box before clicking Submit, quantity adjustments will only be reflected in Dutchie POS and will not be reported to integrated state traceability systems such as Metrc or BioTrack. 

This option may be helpful if several packages have incorrect quantities in Dutchie POS but correct quantities in traceability. Learn more about the bypass state system option.

Audit search

On the Products > Audits page, you can use the search bar to search audits by room, brand, category, or the user who started the audit.

From within an audit, you can search by package ID or product name.

Filters and statuses

The Statuses button allows you to filter audits by these statuses:

• Needs count - no quantities have been confirmed.
• In progress - at least one count has been confirmed and moved to the Counted tab.
• Needs review - in the Advanced workflow, employees have completed their counts and submitted the audit for manager review.
• In review - in the Advanced workflow, a manager has opened a “needs review” audit but has not yet completed their review.
• Completed - all counts have been confirmed and adjustments submitted. These audits can’t be edited or reopened.

Users with the Manage Audits At All Locations user permission can also view and manage audits from multiple locations by using the Locations filter.

Users without this permission can only view and manage audits for the location they’re logged into. The audits themselves are always location-specific.

Column configuration and sorting

Click the cog wheel to show, hide, and rearrange the columns in the audit table.

Brands, Rooms, and Categories columns on the Audits list will be empty for any audits that were started by selecting packages from the Inventory page. These columns only show information for audits that were started from the Audits page and are based on one or more of these criteria.

View notes on an adjusted audit

• Go to Products > Audit > Counted and click the three dots to view notes associated with adjusted items.
• If you see "Add Note" there is no note associated with adjusted items.

Additional reading

• View, filter, and search inventory audits in Dutchie POS
• Inventory audit types, workflows, and permissions in Dutchie POS
• Best practices for inventory auditing and reconciliation in Dutchie POS