Inventory management. Use Case and Functional Specification
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15 June 2021, Cape Town Importance of Inventory ManagementInventory management, though often not given much attention, can be a big cost-saving field for labs, contributing 30-40% of expenditure. Managing consumption and limiting wastage increases lab competitiveness
Costly out-of-stock situations can be prevented and over-stocking resolved. Reviewing consumption per instrument highlights device inefficiencies. Re-ordering alerts inform managers of low stock levels, and near-expiry alerts of consumables approaching the end of their shelf lives
Submit your lab's requirementsThe project offers a collaboration opportunity for labs to affordably acquire an Inventory Management module fitting requirements. Part funding has already been obtained, and we are inviting more labs to submit their requirements and co-sponsor the project to completion. lemoene@bikalabs.com
Specification documentVersion 1 here, Inventory management. Use Case and Functional Specification
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Heads-up Bika Senaite developersInventory management is a popular requirement, let's not duplicate but combine efforts for a best of breed design. Inventory management can also be achieved by interfacing an ERP but it will also require functions to be coded in the LIMS, probably in the ERP too The project objective is a seamlessly integrated and simple, single UI, solution for core laboratory inventory management  |
FunctionalityFor managing reference material in the LIMS, current Bika Reference Sample and Definition architecture will be utilised, expanded with Sample levels, consumption logs, low level, high usage and expiry alerts Consumables will be a new class, similar to Reference Samples but sans results capturing. Both Reference Samples and Consumables are assigned to Samples and Analyses on Worksheets, where start and end levels are recorded to calculate consumption Historic consumption is looked up on separate tabs on Reference Samples and Consumables, where each use is tabled, graphed and unusual records highlighted. A consumption report is available, and also for stock level, near-expiry and to be re-ordered samples and consumables Existing Bika Senaite Storage functionality will be integrated, to store and retrieve reference samples and consumables from the facilities configured |
