Wherever you add an inventory line — a quotation, an invoice, a purchase order or a project — you find the item by typing into a search box. Evolution has two versions of that search box. The plain one lists a single line of text per item. The detailed one lays the results out in columns and shows you how much stock you have while you are still choosing, so you find out that an item is short before it reaches the document rather than afterwards.
Purchase orders have always used the detailed picker. Quotations, invoices and projects now can too — it is a single setting, described below.
The Detailed Item Picker
Start typing a code or part of a description and the results appear in a grid under the search box:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Code | The item code. Items flagged for review are shown in red. |
| Description | The item description, with the text you typed highlighted so you can see why a row matched. A row that matched on a supplier part number rather than your own code is labelled as such. |
| SOH | Stock on hand — the quantity physically held for the branch you are working in. |
| Avail | Available stock — stock on hand less the quantity already allocated to other projects, dispatches and orders. This is the number that tells you whether you can actually supply the line. |
detailed-item-picker.pngService items show no stock figures. Labour and other service items are not stocked, so both columns are left blank rather than showing zero.
A negative Avail means more has been committed than you hold. That is not blocked — it is shown so you can decide whether to order, transfer or substitute.
Turning It On
The detailed picker is controlled by one setting, under Settings → Sales:
- No (the default) — quotations, invoices and projects keep the plain single-line search box.
- Yes — quotations, invoices and projects use the detailed picker with the SOH and Avail columns.
Purchase orders are not affected by the setting. They have always used the detailed picker and continue to do so; they simply gain the two new stock columns.
verbose-item-select-setting.pngThe setting applies to the whole company, and takes effect the next time the screen is loaded.
Where You See It
| Screen | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Quotation — add item | Detailed picker when the setting is Yes. |
| Invoice Entry — add item | Detailed picker when the setting is Yes. |
| Project → Inventory — Add New Inventory | Detailed picker when the setting is Yes. |
| Purchase Order — add item | Always the detailed picker. |
Stock on the Invoice Line List
Invoice Entry also carries an SOH column in the list of lines you have already added, so the stock position stays visible after the item has been chosen — not only while you are searching. The figure is the stock on hand for the invoice's branch at the time the screen was drawn, and a quantity of zero or less is shown in red.
invoice-line-soh-column.pngThis column appears on Invoice Entry regardless of the setting above.
Common Questions
The Avail figure is lower than SOH — where has the stock gone?
It is allocated. Stock is committed to a project, a picking slip or a dispatch that has not yet left. See Stock Management for where allocations come from.
Why do the numbers differ between two users?
Because they are branch figures. Two people working in different branches see the stock for their own branch. Where the document itself carries a branch, that branch is used for everyone looking at it.
Nothing changed after I turned the setting on.
Reload the screen. The picker is built when the page (or, on a project, the Add New Inventory window) is opened.
Related Pages
- Stock Management — how stock on hand and allocations are maintained.
- Inventory Items — item codes, descriptions and item types.
- Quote Modes & Contract Pricing — how the price on the line you just picked is decided.
- Purchase Orders — the screen that has always used the detailed picker.