📦 Stock control

Stock only moves for items you have asked Pavilion to keep count of, and every movement is written to a ledger with a reason — so the figure on screen can always be explained.

The four ways stock moves

• Book in a delivery — work down the delivery note in one pass. Entering the cost also refreshes that item’s cost price.
• Sold — happens by itself, every time a tracked item goes through the till.
• Wastage & adjustments — breakages, out-of-date stock, something taken for a raffle prize. Recording these is what stops losses turning into an unexplained shortfall later.
• Stocktake wizard — count a shelf at a time, then explain each difference: breakage or wastage, something used elsewhere, a delivery never booked in, or genuinely unexplained. The correction is the same size whichever you choose; what changes is how it reads in your reports afterwards. Anything you would rather count again can be held back and left untouched.

🖨 Counting on paper

Nobody wants a laptop balanced on a beer crate. On the first step of the stocktake wizard, Open the count sheet to print produces an A4 sheet of whatever you have chosen to count — grouped by category the way the shelves are, with a box against every line to write the count in, a Notes column, and a couple of spare lines at the end of each section for anything you find that is not on the list. There is a place to write who counted it, who checked it and when, and signature lines at the bottom.

The lines on the sheet are numbered, and the wizard on screen uses exactly the same numbers and the same grouping — so keying a paper count in afterwards is a matter of working straight down the page rather than hunting for each name.

Two options are worth knowing about:

• Show what Pavilion expects is off by default, which makes it a blind count. That is deliberate, and it is the better way to count: somebody who can see that the computer expects 24 has a strong tendency to write 24. Turn it on only when you are spot-checking a figure you already suspect is wrong.
• Add a recount column gives every line a second box, for checking anything that looked wrong the first time without needing to print the sheet again.

Reading a stocktake

Anything you leave blank on a stocktake is not counted and is left completely alone, so you can count one shelf at a time. Repeated shortfalls on a single line usually point to giveaways, unrecorded breakages, or sales rung up under the wrong button — rather than anything sinister. The movement history shows every change and who made it.

Common questions

Nothing appears on these screens.

No items are set to track stock yet. Open an item on the price list and tick “Keep track of stock for this item”.

Should I track everything?

No — a dozen lines that are always right tell you more than sixty nobody keeps up with. Track what comes in countable units and is worth money.

A figure has gone negative.

The count was wrong before, not the sale. Do a stocktake on that item and enter what is actually there; the correction is recorded and the figure comes right.

Can I stop the till overselling?

Yes — “Refuse a sale when stock has run out” in Settings. It is off by default because a busy bar is usually better off recording the sale and correcting the count later than turning a member away.

Why does the stocktake ask me to explain a difference?

Because the correction on its own tells you nothing. Three bottles missing because one crate got dropped is a different problem from three that nobody can account for, and unless the reason is recorded at the moment you find it, the two look identical in every report afterwards. Choosing “unexplained” is a perfectly good answer when it is the true one.

I am not sure about one line — must I commit to it?

No. Choose “Leave it alone — I want to recount” and that item is not touched at all. Count it again and run the wizard on just that item afterwards.

Do I have to count everything at once?

No, and you are better off not doing. The wizard lets you count one category, or only what is running low. Anything outside the scope you picked is left completely alone.

Can I print a sheet to write the count on?

Yes. On the first step of the stocktake wizard, choose what you are counting and click “Open the count sheet to print”. It opens in a new tab, brings up your printer, and gives you an A4 sheet grouped by category with a box against each line. Write the figures on the shelf, then key them into the wizard afterwards — the lines on screen are numbered to match the paper exactly.

Why does the printed sheet not show what we should have?

Because a blind count is a better count. Somebody holding a sheet that says “24” will very often write 24 without properly counting, and the one figure you most wanted to catch is the one that slips through. If you do want the expected figures on the paper — for a spot check, say — tick “Show what Pavilion expects” before you print.

We found something on the shelf that is not on the sheet.

Write it on one of the spare lines at the end of that section — that is what they are for. Add it to the price list with “Keep track of stock” ticked when you get back, and it will be on the sheet next time. You can change how many spare lines you get before printing.

The count sheet came out with no items on it.

Either nothing in the scope you picked tracks stock, or nothing is currently below its reorder level if you chose “Only what is running low”. Change the scope on the first step of the wizard and print it again.