Available inventory
Also called available stock
Reviewed by Dasha ShakovVP Marketing, Proton
Updated
What is available inventory?
Available inventory is the quantity of an item a distributor can sell right now: the stock on hand minus the stock already committed to open orders. It is the number a CSR should quote to a customer, rather than on hand.
How it works
An ERP item screen shows several quantities side by side. On hand is what is physically in the building. Committed (also called allocated or reserved) is the part of on hand already promised to open sales orders. Available is on hand minus committed. On order is what the distributor has ordered from suppliers but not yet received. Promising from on hand instead of available is a common way to sell the same stock twice.
Available inventory example
The item screen shows 120 on hand, 80 committed, 40 available and 200 on order for Friday. A customer who wants 100 today can have 40 now, with the rest depending on how much of Friday’s delivery is already spoken for.
Related terms
- Available to promise (ATP)Available to promise (ATP) is how much of an item a distributor can commit to new orders by a given date, including incoming stock not yet promised.
- BackorderA backorder is the quantity on a customer’s order that a distributor has agreed to supply but can’t ship yet, kept open until stock arrives.
- StockoutA stockout is a situation in which a distributor has none of an item available to sell when a customer wants it.
- Sales orderA sales order is the distributor’s own record of a customer order in its ERP, listing the items, quantities, prices, ship-to address and delivery terms.
