The Brief
A small warehouse in Warrington managed their entire inventory in an Excel spreadsheet with 3,000 rows. The spreadsheet took 45 seconds to open, formulas broke regularly, and three staff members needed to update it simultaneously — which meant they emailed copies back and forth and manually merged changes. Stock counts were inaccurate, and they regularly discovered items were out of stock only when a customer order came in.
The Migration Challenge
The biggest concern was data migration. 3,000 product records with SKUs, descriptions, quantities, locations, supplier information and reorder levels needed to transfer accurately. We ran the old spreadsheet and new system in parallel for one week to validate the data.
The System
A web-based inventory management system with real-time stock levels updated by all users simultaneously — no more emailing spreadsheets. Products are organised by category and warehouse location. Each product page shows current stock, location, minimum quantity threshold, supplier details and a complete transaction history (received, dispatched, adjusted, counted).
When stock drops below the minimum threshold, the system sends an automatic email alert. A daily summary report shows all movements for the day. Barcode scanning using a phone camera allows rapid stock-taking and dispatching — scan the barcode, confirm the quantity, done.
The Result
Stock accuracy went from roughly 85% to over 99%. The three staff members can update stock simultaneously without conflicts. Stock-outs dropped by 90% because the alert system catches low levels before they become a problem. Monthly stock-take time reduced from a full day to 3 hours with barcode scanning. The spreadsheet is gone and nobody misses it.
Have an Inventory Spreadsheet That Has Outgrown Excel
Most businesses hit this point eventually. When your spreadsheet is the bottleneck, a custom system is the answer. Get in touch to discuss your inventory management needs.
Got a Spreadsheet That's Driving You Mad?
Send it over — I'll tell you what an app version would look like and what it'd cost. No obligation.