How to create an Asset Stock item

When to use this

Create a stock item when you hold several interchangeable units of a capital item and issue them as needed — spare laptops, replacement motors, patch cable, keyboards.

If you are tracking one specific thing, create a normal asset instead. If the item gets used up, create a consumable.

Requirements

• Available on: Nova, Orbit, Odyssey, Cosmos
• Roles: Owner, Admin, Manager

Steps

1. Go to Dashboard → Asset Stock.
2. Click New Stock Item.
3. Fill in the form:

1. Save.

Important The Opening Quantity you enter becomes the first row of the item's ledger, recorded as an Opening transaction. There is exactly one per item and it is always first. Count carefully before you save.

Creating many stock items at once

CSV import has a dedicated Asset Stock template. Choose it when you start the import — the quantity you supply becomes each item's opening balance, recorded as its first ledger transaction, exactly as if you had used the form.

The Asset Stock template deliberately has no serial number, purchase cost, purchase date, salvage value, warranty, or custodian column — stock units are interchangeable and held at a location. It also does not support custom fields.

See How to import assets from CSV and the column reference.

What happens next

• The item appears at Dashboard → Asset Stock.
• An Opening ledger row is written with the starting balance.
• From this point the quantity is only changed by issuing, returning, or adjusting — never by editing it.
• If the opening quantity is already at or below the minimum threshold, a low-stock alert fires straight away.

Setting a sensible minimum threshold

The threshold should be the level at which you still have time to reorder before running out.

Think about how long replacement takes and how fast you get through them. An item with a four-week lead time and one issued a week needs a higher threshold than one you can collect the same day.

Set it too low and the alert arrives after you have already run out. Set it too high and you will ignore the alerts.

Common mistakes

Guessing the opening quantity. It becomes the permanent first row of the ledger. A wrong opening balance means every later figure needs an adjustment to explain it.

Naming the item after the batch or the purchase order. Name the thing — "Cat6 patch cable", not "Cable order March".

Creating a stock item per location for the same thing. If the same item is genuinely held at several sites, that is a reasonable use of separate records with different locations. If it is one store room, one record.

Leaving the minimum threshold at zero. Then the low-stock alert only fires when you have already run out.

Troubleshooting

There is no New Stock Item button. Creating stock needs Manager or above. Employees and Viewers cannot create.

My category isn't in the list. Create it at Dashboard → Categories first.

"Your subscription has expired." An expired subscription blocks creating new records while leaving existing data readable. Renew at Settings → Billing.

I can't edit the quantity after saving. Correct — quantity is only ever changed through the ledger. Use Adjust Quantity with a reason.

Related articles

• What is Asset Stock?
• How to issue and return stock
• How to adjust stock after a count
• Low stock alerts
• Understanding the four asset types