When Parts Leave Inventory, and Minimum and Maximum On Hand

A part added to a repair order does not come off Quantity On Hand when you add the line — it comes off the moment the repair order stops being an estimate. Separately, the Min On Hand and Max On Hand fields in the INVENTORY INFO box on a part record accept almost anything, including a maximum lower than the minimum. This article covers both.

Questions this answers

• "If I add a part to a repair order that's still just an estimate, does that take it out of my inventory count right away?"
• "Does the system stop me from setting a part's maximum stock level lower than its minimum stock level?"

This article is only about part quantities and the Min/Max On Hand stock levels on a part record. It is not about importing parts from a supplier file, and it is not about receiving stock against a purchase order.

When a part actually leaves inventory

Statuses are configured per dealership, and each one is tied to a type — Estimate, Open, Closed or Voided. Parts behave according to the type, not the name you gave the status.

• While the repair order is on an Estimate-type status, nothing moves. You can add parts, change quantities, and remove lines all day, and Quantity On Hand on those parts is untouched. Nothing is reserved or held for you either — another writer can sell the same part off the shelf in the meantime.
• The deduction happens when you save the repair order onto any non-estimate status. At that point every part line on the RO comes off inventory in one go.
• After that, changes take effect as you save them. Increase a line's quantity and the difference comes off; reduce it and the difference goes back; delete a part line and its quantity is returned.
• Voiding the repair order puts everything back. Every part quantity on the RO is added back to stock.

The practical consequence: a long-lived estimate is not a reservation. If you are quoting work on a part you only have one of, check Quantity On Hand again before you promise a completion date, or move the RO off the estimate status so the stock is committed.

Min On Hand and Max On Hand

Both fields sit in the INVENTORY INFO box on a part record, next to the read-only Quantity On Hand and Quantity On Order.

What is checked

So no, nothing stops you

A part with Min On Hand of 10 and Max On Hand of 4 saves without a warning of any kind. This is worth knowing because an inverted pair does not announce itself later either — it just quietly makes your reorder figures useless.

What the two fields drive

• Min On Hand is the low-stock trigger. When a part's quantity on hand falls to or below it, the part is flagged as low stock where parts are listed for selection, and it is what "parts below minimum" filtering keys on. A part at zero shows as out of stock regardless.
• Max On Hand is the top-up target. A suggested reorder quantity is worked out as the maximum, less what is on hand, less what is already on order.

With the maximum set below the minimum, that arithmetic produces nothing to order: the part keeps flagging as low stock, and the suggested quantity comes back as zero. Neither the part record nor the low-stock flag tells you why. If a part is perpetually below minimum and no one can work out how many to buy, check that Max On Hand is above Min On Hand.

Sensible values

• Set Min On Hand to the amount you want on the shelf when a reorder is triggered — typically what you expect to use during the supplier's lead time.
• Set Max On Hand to the shelf quantity you want to return to after ordering. It must be the larger of the two.
• Leave both at zero for a part you do not stock; a zero minimum means it never flags as low.

Correcting a quantity by hand

Quantity On Hand is not directly editable on the part record. To correct it after a stock count, use the INVENTORY ADJUSTMENT box on the same screen: it shows Current Quantity, you type the Actual Quantity, and it works out the Adjustment. A Reason for Adjustment is required whenever the number changes — the part will not save without one. Adjustments made this way are recorded, so use this rather than trying to correct stock by editing a repair order.