Functions for conducting physical inventory and cycle counts are provided at both the Administrative PC and the hand-held. Please refer to Hand-Held Operations: Cycle Count and Physical Inventory for a discussion of the hand-helds' role.

At an Administrative PC, the supervisor starts the physical inventory process by selecting "Begin Physical." Inventory files are locked and will stay locked throughout the physical inventory process.

As hand-held operators conduct the physical inventory, results are stored by location and product number in Access 1000's Physical table. This table can be viewed in spreadsheet format or printed at any time. If errors are suspected, the location code is given to a hand-held operator to re-inventory the location.

When all locations have been inventoried, the supervisor prints the differences report, which compares the physical to the computer inventory. Alternatively, the physical inventory data can be up-loaded to the business system, and the business system differences report can be run. Locations are re-inventoried as necessary and the process is repeated until management is satisfied the inventory is accurate. Then the inventory is accepted on both Access 1000 and the Business System, and the warehouse is put back into operation.

Access 1000 provides the option of putting the warehouse back into operation in the middle of the physical inventory, by executing the Suspend Inventory function. Warehouse files are then unlocked. During warehouse operations, for each change in inventory, Access 1000 adjusts the contents of the Physical table accordingly.