Your store's Operational Levels are primarily driven by processing Mango's Count Sheets. Because of this, counting each SKU on your Count Sheets is a prerequisite to getting the most out of Mango. Your Level 0 - Completion metric shows how thoroughly your store has processed its Count Sheets over the last three months. 90% completion means 9 out of 10 SKUs listed were counted. Most stores set a goal of 100% completion and later we will show you how to nail it every month. For now, let's focus on what completion means and where we see it measured.
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Count Sheet Completion shows the percentage of SKUs listed on your Count Sheets which received a Last Physical Inventory update (were counted). It is a three-month average and you can make up missed counts from a previous month (up to two months back) and your metric will be revised.
SKUs receive a Last Physical Inventory update when entered into PIP and then finalized. The date the SKU was counted (entered into PIP) will be the SKU's Last Physical Date regardless of when PIP is finalized. It is important to make sure PIP is finalized before the end of the month so that Mango knows which SKUs were counted when it takes its data snapshot.
For example, if a store has 400 SKUs on their Count Sheets and they count them all then their completion will be 100% for the month. If they only count 360 SKUs then Completion will be 95% -
Let's take a look at where completion is measured. Your Inventory Accuracy Scorecard (Review Email, Charts.pdf, Page 3) shows your store's completion Metric at the bottom left. The example store below shows 2% completion, which indicates this store only counted 2% of its Count Sheet SKUs over the past three months.
In the chart section of the Inventory Accuracy Scorecard, you will see a green line (chart below) showing monthly Completion as a trend line. In the example below, you see a store with completion between 90% and 100% in November - February but then completion falls off the chart below 30% for the remaining months.
In the example below, we see a store consistently hitting 100% completion! Way to go!
Above, we see the green Completion line pegged at 100% month after month. This store like many (a significant majority) stores using Mango achieve high completion on a regular basis.
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- Use and keep Location Codes current
- Since your Count Sheets are sorted by Location Code, having current codes associated with your SKUs will dramatically improve the speed & accuracy of your Count Sheet Processing and help with put-away accuracy and customer service too! Location Code Help.
- Since your Count Sheets are sorted by Location Code, having current codes associated with your SKUs will dramatically improve the speed & accuracy of your Count Sheet Processing and help with put-away accuracy and customer service too! Location Code Help.
- Utilize your best counters to process Count Sheets
- Usually, the fastest and most accurate inventory counters are not your managers. Managers are distracted too easily and should focus their efforts on directing sales and customer service rather than counting. Finding the right person to process your Count Sheets is a worthwhile endeavor. Some stores have department heads process sheets individually while other stores assign one single person. Regardless of how your store gets it done, it is imperative that a 2nd set of eyes (an inventory coordinator) review quantity-on-hand variances to verify the accuracy of the person counting. If your inventory coordinator can easily correct variances then the person you have counting is not doing a careful enough job of looking for items before logging a variance. It is unacceptable to have a careless counter process your Count Sheets as it will cause havoc with your metrics, inventory accuracy, and increase variance research labor. Some people are naturally gifted at counting and others are not. Our recommendation is to not spend a lot of time trying to train someone to be a proficient counter as a person tends to be good or bad at counting naturally. Rather, spend your time finding (and monitoring) the right person to do the job.
- Usually, the fastest and most accurate inventory counters are not your managers. Managers are distracted too easily and should focus their efforts on directing sales and customer service rather than counting. Finding the right person to process your Count Sheets is a worthwhile endeavor. Some stores have department heads process sheets individually while other stores assign one single person. Regardless of how your store gets it done, it is imperative that a 2nd set of eyes (an inventory coordinator) review quantity-on-hand variances to verify the accuracy of the person counting. If your inventory coordinator can easily correct variances then the person you have counting is not doing a careful enough job of looking for items before logging a variance. It is unacceptable to have a careless counter process your Count Sheets as it will cause havoc with your metrics, inventory accuracy, and increase variance research labor. Some people are naturally gifted at counting and others are not. Our recommendation is to not spend a lot of time trying to train someone to be a proficient counter as a person tends to be good or bad at counting naturally. Rather, spend your time finding (and monitoring) the right person to do the job.
- Count when the store is "cold"
- Try to concentrate your counting efforts in the morning or evening when the store is not busy. This results in better accuracy and better utilization of labor.
- Try to concentrate your counting efforts in the morning or evening when the store is not busy. This results in better accuracy and better utilization of labor.
- Progress Viewer
- Load your Progress Viewer when you are completed and count any missed SKUs. This guarantees 100% Completion!
- Use and keep Location Codes current
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There are times when counting in a store is not always desirable. Typically, this is when a store is undergoing a remodel or a large reset. When this is happening, it is often best to get the store put back together as quickly as possible and then resume counting. If a store wants, it has two months to catch up on any missed counted SKUs.