I’ve noticed that the Inventory Snapshot amounts on the Cycle Count Variance Report are not constant; they change if any transactions occur between the start of the cycle count and the time of posting.
For example, if I begin a cycle count today and count all parts, but I post the cycle count two days later, the Inventory Snapshot will change if there are any inventory transactions related to the part numbers included in the count.
This results in “artificial variances” that need to be manually adjusted. Typically, this isn’t a significant issue, as only one or two manual adjustments are usually required. However, the Cycle Count Variance Report from 10/4/24 showed five “artificial variances.” This raises the question of whether the reporting settings can be updated so that the Inventory Snapshot remains constant until the cycle count is posted. Essentially, this would allow the Cycle Count Variance Report to reference the quantity on hand at the start of the cycle count, rather than at the time of posting.
I have never seen this. Are you saying if you look at the records in the database, they are being changed? Or is there a report that you are reading?
Unless something has changed, the way it has worked is the frozen quantity remains unchanged. The count occurs and then Kinetic compares the two quantities and if there is a delta, adjusts the current quantity by that much.
EDIT: IF the quantity was not frozen (only blank tags for a part), then I have seen this because if there is nothing frozen, it’s considered zero. It will then add the counted quantity to existing quantity.
The intent of the Inventory Snapshot is to allow cycle counts to happen without needing to shut down production. Employees can transact while the cycle count is happening and then it is on the “supervisor” to use the snapshot to see if it is a true variance or not. If it is not, the “supervisor” should manually adjust the value before posting. They should not have to go physically verify, they can look at the transactions that have happened since the snapshot was taken and accept that. If there is a true variance, then they should investigate.
Right. But the frozen quantity is not on this screen. You can see that in the Cycle Count Report, which will tell you what adjustments will be made when posted.
I have also never seen this number change but the value of the adjustment can vary based on when Tags were entered vs when material transactions happened so as was mentioned above, when you see transactions you have to kind of work out what it is going to adjust before posting.
Here is something scary. In classic Count Tag Entry, you can edit the snapshot/frozen qty. You have to unhide the column in the grid, but I’ve done it as a test.
Many inventory control people argue that counters should NOT see the target quantity. It will ruin your count. If you want accurate inventory, count it. If you just want good cycle count numbers, enter 100% in a spreadsheet and call it a day.
To be clear, I am not recommending this. And sorry if I am muddying the water. What everyone else said is spot on. The frozen count is not to be touched, and Epicor does not modify it on its own. Yes, it does populate the “activity” column that can be manually overridden if needed. It also stops being populated once the tag is “returned,” I believe.
Cycle counting in Epicor is far from ideal, but the variance part does work just fine. We’ve done a lot of cycle counts here.
I’ll answer it - don’t. Better to have it hidden and hopefully increase your accuracy than to unhide it and tempt people to just punch in the same (and possibly wrong) number for the sake of completing the process.
Make sense. I want to know, if there is a report setting that can be updated to “freeze” the Inventory Snapshot at the moment the cycle count begins, in order to avoid manual adjustments. Is there an option or setting that would allow this without impacting the actual inventory?
You are in full control of when the freeze happens. You have to have tags though as that’s where the frozen quantity is stored. This is true for both a Physical Inventory and a Cycle Count.
Freezing does not affect inventory, ever. Only posting. You can start a count, freeze, then void the count and no inventory is adjusted.
