Trail’s End® uses three types of inventory to help units accurately track products throughout the sale:
Unit Inventory – Product owned and managed by the unit
Storefront Inventory – Product assigned to a specific storefront
Scout Inventory – Product assigned directly to an individual Scout
Most units keep inventory at the Unit level and distribute it as needed. This article explains how Scout Inventory works and how to manage it effectively.
How Do I Assign or Adjust Scout Inventory?
Unit Leaders can transfer inventory between the Unit and individual Scouts from the leader portal.
To assign or adjust Scout inventory:
Go to Inventory from the main navigation menu
Click Scout in the upper left
Select the Scout you want from the drop-down
In the Transfer column select if you are transferring to the Unit (from the Scout) or to the Scout (from the Unit).
Enter the quantity for each item in the Amount column (always positive)
Click Submit Transfers
Using Scout Inventory at Storefronts
Understanding How Inventory Is Tracked
When a Scout records sales at a storefront, the system assumes products are coming from storefront inventory.
If your unit assigns inventory directly to Scouts (instead of keeping it at the Unit level), additional steps are required to reconcile inventory after the storefront shift.
If Scouts Bring Their Own Inventory to Storefronts
Follow this workflow:
When a unit order is placed, all inventory initially goes into Unit Inventory.
Assign inventory to Scouts
Transfer inventory from the Unit to each Scout.
(See steps above under How Do I Assign or Adjust Scout Inventory?)Scouts attend storefront shifts as usual
When recording sales, the app will ask if the sale should be associated with the storefront.We recommend selecting YES
After the shift: reconcile inventory
The storefront will show negative inventory for items sold
This is expected since there was no inventory assigned to the storefront
Clear the negative storefront inventory
Note the quantities sold (use the Sales Transaction Detail Report if multiple Scouts worked)
Transfer the sold inventory from each Scout back to the Unit, thus subtracting it from the Scout's inventory.
Go to Storefronts, Click on the Storefront in the list, and go to Inventory
Click Return All Inventory, thus clearing the negatives by transferring inventory from the unit. (If you use storefront closeout, this will happen during closeout).
After this step, the storefront inventory will return to zero.
What does negative inventory mean?
Negative inventory indicates that a Scout marked an order as delivered without the product being assigned to them in the system.
Steps to correct:
Check with the Scout to see if they delivered the product or accidentally marked it as delivered.
If they did deliver, you should transfer the product to them in the system to remove the negative. See How Do I Assign or Adjust Scout Inventory?
If they mismarked it, the Scout or the unit leader can change the status to undelivered. See Understanding Delivered vs Undelivered