Help Centre › Stock & pricing

Stock & inventory

Receive deliveries, keep counts honest, track lot numbers and expiry dates, and see where stock went.

FastVet tracks stock for any catalogue item you tell it to. Charging or selling the item takes it off stock automatically; booking in a delivery adds it back. Every movement is recorded, so you can see how a count was reached.

What you have#

Who can do this

Administrators only.

Home›Stock & Prices›Manage Stock

Every stocked item with its quantity on hand. Items that have run out or are running low are flagged. Tap an item (or View) to see its movement history, or Update to add or remove stock.

The Price column shows what you sell the item for, including VAT, with the same price excluding VAT underneath it. Tapping either figure opens the item for editing.

Note

Items you have marked zero rated are split the same way here, because your catalogue holds one shelf price for everybody and the VAT only comes off at the till, for a client who holds a farming authorisation. What such a client would actually pay is shown on the item itself, under Update Prices.

Note

Practices that do not charge VAT, and practices that hide VAT on their documents, see the one figure only. The second line uses your own word for the tax, so a practice on GST reads = 173.91 excl GST.

Export in the footer sends the list to a spreadsheet: category, sub-category, description, quantity on hand, unit, and then the price including VAT, the price excluding VAT and the VAT between them. It is the whole stock list every time, not just the rows left on screen by the search box, and an item with no price set is left blank rather than written as zero, so the columns can be totalled as they stand.

To start tracking stock for a catalogue item, press Show No-Stock and then New Stock beside the item, or press New Stock on its row in the price list.

Receiving a delivery#

Note

If your practice has Stock receiving switched on, a whole supplier invoice can be booked in at once, from a photograph or typed in line by line. See Receiving stock from suppliers. The screen below adds one item at a time.

Go to Stock & Prices → Manage Stock and press Update beside the item. The Add/Remove Stock screen opens, with the lots you already hold listed at the top.
Type a Transaction Description: “Delivery, inv 4471”. This is what shows in the history.
Enter the Measure Amount. Check the unit beside the box: millilitres, tablets, each.
Enter the Lot Number and Lot Expiry Date if the product has them. Both are optional, but a lot with no expiry date cannot be watched for going out of date.
Add a Comment if you need to.
Press Add.

Note

Cost price is not entered here; it belongs to the catalogue item, under Update Prices.

Tip

Book deliveries in as they arrive, so the count on screen matches the shelf.

Lot numbers and expiry dates#

When you record a lot number, FastVet keeps a separate balance for each lot. The Stock Summary table at the top of the item shows each lot, its expiry date and how much is left.

When an item you hold in named lots is added to a consultation, a hospital or boarding day, a groom, a protocol or a sale, a Please select lot table appears under the quantity. Pick the lot you took it from, by its button or anywhere on its row, and the stock history records which batch the patient's dose came from.

Note

The table only appears when the item has named lots with stock left in them.

Expiry is flagged, not enforced. An expired lot is written in red and flagged Expired in the table, and shows a red note once chosen; one within 30 days of its date is flagged Expiring and shows an amber note. You can still save the line. The same flags appear on the Stock Summary table.

Tip

To see everything about to go out of date, run Expiring stock.

Note

For scheduled drugs, see Controlled drugs.

Adjusting a count#

Use the same screen to remove stock: for breakages, expiry, or to correct a count after a stock take. Enter the amount, say why in the Transaction Description, and press Subtract. To take it off a particular batch, also enter that batch’s Lot Number and Lot Expiry Date exactly as they were booked in.

Note

Always give a reason. The description is the only explanation the history shows.

Careful

Delete on this screen deletes the whole stock item, not one movement. It cannot be undone.

Where stock went#

The history lists every movement for an item (deliveries, sales, items charged on consultations and hospital days, and manual adjustments) with the date, the description, the client and patient where there is one, and the stock balance after each movement (the Current Stock column, shown when the list is sorted by date). Export to Excel downloads it.

Tip

When a count looks wrong, look here first. The usual cause is a delivery that was never booked in, or an adjustment without a description.

Suppliers#

Home›Settings›Suppliers

Add the companies you buy from here. You can then link items to them and send them purchase orders.

Saying who supplies an item#

Who can do this

Administrators only.

Home›Stock & Prices›Update Prices

Choosing the supplier for a stocked item.

Recording who you buy an item from groups it under that supplier on the Stock to order report, and fills in the supplier when you place an order.

Add your suppliers first, under Settings → Suppliers.
Go to Stock & Prices → Update Prices and open the item.
Choose the Supplier. Choose None to clear it.
Press Save.

Note

The Supplier box appears only on Treatment and Materials items that have a stock record.

Tip

The same screen has the Low Stock Value. An item needs both to be useful on the order report: the low value decides when it appears, the supplier decides whose list it appears on. To set either on many items at once, use Suppliers & levels.

How you buy it#

Who can do this

Administrators only.

Home›Stock & Prices›Update Prices

Some items are counted in one unit and bought in another: an anaesthetic counted in millilitres that comes in 100 ml bottles. Tell FastVet the pack size and the Stock to order report asks for 4 bottles rather than 350 ml.

Open the item under Stock & Prices → Update Prices.
Under How you buy it, enter how many counting units are in one pack, and what a pack is called: “100” and “bottle”.
Press Save.

Note

Most items need nothing here. If you count an item in the same unit you order it in, leave both boxes blank.

Tip

To find the items that do need it, open Suppliers & levels and tick Bought in packs. It lists items counted in millilitres, grams, milligrams, tablets, doses, capsules and ampoules.

Note

Orders are always rounded up to whole packs: 350 ml short with 100 ml bottles orders 4.

How much an order refills to#

Who can do this

Administrators only.

Home›Stock & Prices›Update Prices

The low stock value decides when an item needs ordering. On its own it also decides how much: an order brings the count back up to that level and no further, so the delivery arrives sitting exactly on the line and the item is low again as soon as it is used.

Order Up To is the level an order refills to instead. Set it and the Stock to order report asks for enough to reach it.

Order Up To, directly below the low stock value it works with.

Open the item under Stock & Prices → Update Prices.
Enter the Low Stock Value: the point at which you want to be told.
Enter Order Up To: a full shelf. Two or three weeks of use is a usual choice.
Press Save.

An item counted in millilitres, low at 20 and set to order up to 40, with 14.78 ml left, is asked for as 26 ml. Left blank it would be asked for as 6 ml, which reaches the low level and stops there.

Note

Leaving it blank is fine and changes nothing. Every item starts blank, and a blank target behaves exactly as FastVet always has. Fill it in on the items you keep reordering.

Note

It must be above the low stock value to do anything. A target at or below it is ignored and the order refills to the low level as before. The screen says so when you type one. That also happens the other way around: raise a low stock value past a target you set months ago and the target stops applying.

Note

The box appears only on Treatment and Materials items that have a stock record, like the Supplier box beside it.

Tip

Orders are still rounded up to whole packs, so an order can land slightly above the target: 40 ml on hand, filling up to 500 ml in 100 ml bottles, asks for 5 bottles.

Tip

To set it on a whole shelf at once, use Suppliers & levels. It is usually a judgement you make per category rather than per item.

Setting suppliers and levels in bulk#

Who can do this

Administrators only.

Home›Stock & Prices›Suppliers & levels

Setting the supplier on a whole category at once.

An item appears on the Stock to order report only when it has a low-stock level, and is grouped by its supplier. This screen sets those, and how much an order refills to, on as many items as you tick.

Narrow the list: search, pick a category, or tick No supplier yet / No low level yet to see only what is missing.
Tick the items you want, or the box in the table header to take everything shown.
Choose a supplier and press Set supplier, type a number and press Set low level or Set target, or set the pack size with Set pack.

Note

Your ticks are kept when you change the filters, and after each button, so you can set the supplier, the low level and the target on the same items one after another. Press Clear beside the count when you are done with them. If the filters hide some of the ticked items, the count says how many.

Tip

The list scrolls on its own under the buttons, so they stay in reach however far down you tick.

Tip

Start with No low level yet. An item with no level never appears on the Stock to order report, however low it gets.

Note

Leave the box empty and the button changes to Clear low level (or Clear supplier, or Clear target). Clearing a low-stock level takes those items off the Stock to order report. Clearing a target does not: it only puts those items back to refilling as far as their low level.

Note

The Order up to column reads low level on an item with no target of its own, because that is what its orders fill to. Where you type a target that is not above an item's low level, a line under the buttons says how many of the ticked items will ignore it.

Ordering stock from a supplier#

Who can do this

Administrators only.

Home›Stock & Prices›Purchase orders

Tick what you need, choose the supplier, and FastVet emails them the items and quantities with a printable copy attached. The order is kept, so you can see later what was ordered, when, and where it was sent.

Go to Stock & Prices → Purchase orders and press New order.
Choose the supplier under Order from first. The list below narrows to the items recorded against them.
The list shows what is at or below its low-stock level, with a suggested quantity. Tick what you want.
Change any quantity you want to.
Optional: press Email to me to read the draft in your own inbox first. Nothing is sent to the supplier.
Press Send, check the address you are shown, and press Yes, send it.

The items recorded against the chosen supplier that are at or below their low-stock level, with a suggested quantity against each one.

Note

Items do not need a supplier set first. If nothing is recorded against the supplier you chose, the list says so: tick Any supplier, not just this one to see everything that is low. Leave Remember this supplier against any of these items that has none ticked to record the order’s supplier on those items, and the list fills itself in as you order.

Note

Services never appear here, whatever their stock level. Only items you can actually be sent can go on an order, so consultations, surgical fees and outside referrals are left out even where a low level has been set against them.

Tip

To order something that is not low, type its name in the search box and tick Search all stock, not just low. The two ticks do different jobs: that one looks beyond what is low, and Any supplier, not just this one looks beyond the supplier you picked.

Reading it over before you send it. Press Email to me and FastVet emails the draft to the address you sign in with, printable copy and all. Nothing goes to the supplier and nothing is fixed: the order stays a draft you can still change. It is there for the quantities, which FastVet works out from your low-stock levels and which only somebody looking at the shelf can confirm. Take the list with you, correct it, and press Send when it reads right.

Note

Your copy is marked DRAFT ORDER on the page and in the subject line, so a copy forwarded by mistake cannot be read as a real order. The reference on it is provisional; the order number is issued when you send it.

If you place the order yourself. Checking the draft at the shelf often ends with the order being placed another way: read out over the telephone, or sent from your own email. Press Mark as sent and FastVet records it as sent without emailing anybody. The order takes its order number, stops being editable in the same way a sent order does, and starts counting towards the On order column, so the items on it stop being suggested to you while you wait for the delivery.

The check before an order is recorded as already placed. Nothing is emailed, and the order takes its number at this point.

Note

An order marked this way shows no email address, because nothing was sent from FastVet. It reads Recorded as placed with and the date, which is how you can tell later which orders FastVet sent and which you placed yourself. Mark as sent also works when the supplier has no email address on file, which Send cannot: an order placed over the telephone does not need one.

An order recorded as placed by the practice itself. The banner names the supplier and the date, and says plainly that no email was sent.

The check before an order is sent: your practice, the supplier, and the address it is going to.

Note

If the supplier has no email address, the screen says so. Press Save draft, add the address under Settings → Suppliers, and send it then.

The supplier sees items and quantities only. The running total on your screen is your expected cost, from your own price list, and is not in the email.

Careful

A sent order cannot be edited or deleted. To withdraw it, press Cancel on that order in the list. That marks it cancelled in FastVet only; the supplier still has it, so contact them.

Note

Drafts can be changed, or deleted with Delete. Delete and Cancel both ask you to press again (Really delete? / Really cancel?) before they act.

Note

Placing an order does not change your stock counts. Book the goods in when they arrive; see Receiving a delivery.

Tip

If an item was ordered in the last two months, the list says so under its name.

Ordering from several suppliers. If the ticked items are recorded against different suppliers, the screen offers Make one order per supplier, which creates a separate draft for each. Items with no supplier go on the order for the supplier you chose.

Repeating an order. Press Repeat on a sent order to open a new draft with the same items and quantities. Check and change it before you send it.

Long order histories. The list shows the 200 most recent orders and says so above the table when there are more. Use the status box to narrow it down.

Note

If your practice moved to FastVet from another system, your old orders are here with the status Delivered. They are a record only: they cannot be edited, sent or cancelled, and they do not affect your stock counts or the On order column. Repeat works on them, but it brings across only the items you still stock, so check the draft before sending it.

Seeing what is on its way. The Stock to order report has an On order column for orders sent in the last two months. It is not subtracted from the suggested quantity, because FastVet does not know whether the delivery arrived; use it to judge for yourself.

Stock reporting#

Report	Answers	Good to know
Stock used	What was dispensed over a period.	Counts only what went onto a patient. Counter sales, shop orders, deliveries and write-offs are not in it.
Stock value	What the shelves were worth on a chosen day.	Quantities are as at the close of that day, valued at today's costs and prices. A blank value means the item's price could not be matched; a negative count subtracts from the total.
Expiring stock	Which batches are near their expiry date, or past it.	One row per lot. Stock booked in without a lot number and expiry date does not appear.
Stock to order	What is low, how many to order, grouped by supplier.	An item with no low stock value does not appear. Items with no supplier are listed separately.
Schedule drugs	Controlled-drug movements, for your register.	Schedule 5 and above only, and only for items with a stock record.

All of these are on the reports screen.

How stock and prices connect#

A catalogue item and its stock record are matched on the item's category, sub-category, description and unit.

Renaming an item under Update Prices is safe: FastVet updates the stock record to match and adds a Price List Change line to its stock history.

If the two ever disagree (usually after a catalogue import) the item shows no stock badge in the price picker and no value on the stock value report. To match them again:

On Manage Stock, note the item's category and sub-category, shown under its description.
Open the same item under Update Prices and make its category, sub-category, description and unit the same.
Press Save. The badge and the valuation come back straight away.