We’re starting up cycle counting. I think I’ve started it up correctly, but since the last cycle count date is so far back on a lot of our parts, it’s hitting us heavy in the first period.
Is there any way to initialize all of our parts with a specific date? Or do we need to do different periods for some of our parts so the higher (but less counted) numbers are lower?
See the “Initialize Last Cycle Count Dates” command.
Initialize Last Cycle Count Dates
Use Initialize Last Cycle Count Dates to initialize the Last Cycle Count Date field in part records for selected warehouses, prior to use of the inventory count functions in the Epicor application. This date indicates when individual parts were last cycle counted and appears on cycle count reports.
When running the Perform Part Selection option on the Cycle Count Schedule Maintenance Actions menu, it uses the Last Cycle Count date, in conjunction with the cycle count interval factors defined for specific parts, to calculate the dates on which individual parts should be reselected for cycle counting.
The Initialize Last Cycle Count Dates program assigns (and spreads) the last count dates for the selected ABC items across the last x number of months, where x is the cycle count interval defined for the ABC code category in ABC Code Maintenance. However, it uses as an override any part/warehouse parameters that have been defined for the ABC code category in the Part Maintenance > Part > Sites > Warehouses > Cycle Count\Physical Inv sheet, or part/site parameters that have been defined in the Site Configuration Control > Modules > Inventory > Cycle Count/Physical Inv > ABC Code > Detail sheet.
I ran this utility, and it set all of our LastCCDate to basically our go live date last year. So all items are hitting the first period (close to 300 parts per day).
And you have associated ABC codes on the parts? The Site is configured too?
If it doesn’t work, you could do your own distribution in Excel and set the Last Date via DMT.
I looked into that … couldn’t find the Last Date on any of the templates.
Here’s the summary (30 day period starting in February):
Set in System:
| Code | Count |
|---|---|
| A=30 days | 143 |
| B=60 days | 183 |
| C=90 days | 558 |
| D=180 days | 580 |
| E=270 days | 2703 |
| F=360 days | 3512 |
Parts Selected:
| ABC Code | Total Selected |
|---|---|
| A | 140 |
| B | 180 |
| C | 553 |
| D | 576 |
| E | 2667 |
| F | 3437 |
The Part Help shows this:
Last Cycle Count
Displays the date on which this part was last cycle counted in this warehouse. If this is a new record, it is automatically set to the current system date when saved. The Epicor application uses this date to determine when the part should be counted again in this warehouse. This field is for display only.
So these dates look like they were set when we uploaded our data.
It’s on PartWhse but you’re right, I don’t see that in the DMT template. 
I wonder why the Initialization program isn’t working…
You would run the Initialize Last Cycle Count Date after you have ABC codes assigned to all parts as it uses the ABC Code assignment to determine the Last Cycle Count Date.
Then run a BAQ to see if the Last Cycle Count Dates are appropriate.
Then on any existing Cycles where you have selected parts, unselect the parts from the Action menu and redo that step, it should update then.
BTW - How long is your Cycle Count Period?
Also you might want to change your Site/Warehouse Cycle Count Method to ‘Random’ instead of ‘Repetitive.’
Since the Select Part calculation compares Last Counted to the ABC Frequency it will sometimes ‘front load’ your cycles to get caught up. One trick is that after Selecting Parts you can remove parts from Cycles and the next Period’s Select Parts will pick them up. I’ve used this trick to even out Cycle Counts across the year. Once it’s even, you can switch the Cycle Count Method back to ‘Repetitive’ and it should keep it even-ish.
I did run it this morning, after setting the ABC codes last night. I think it is front loading the parts. Even with Random, it is doing the same thing.
Cycle Period is 30 days.
Through an “unsupported method”, I got the following on a test DB:
| ABC Code | Total Selected |
|---|---|
| A | 140 |
| B | 91 |
| C | 367 |
| D | 247 |
| E | 805 |
| F | 0 |
Which is what we expected to see. I may see if I can get a data fix…
The random setting on the site level will let us get through this startup period.