Thursday, June 11, 2015

Common Features Of Barcode Tracking Software

By Jeanie Bailey


For small businesses and large companies alike, keeping track of assets and inventory is a critical business function. Barcode Tracking Software is designed with a standard set of features to help meet this need. These features can be found with nearly all programs either as included sets or add-on items for additional expense. The main items are inventory control, asset management, multiple site controls, scanner and printer integration, and finally inclusion of export formats to be used with other software systems.

Controlling the inventory is simply keeping an accurate count of the products or parts on hand. With the older systems, employees would track products on paper forms. This is both time consuming and costly. The manual system slows down the ability to know what is available for shipping and for sale. In order to quickly fulfill customer orders, a company has to know exactly what is available at all times.

Asset tracking includes items that are not typically part of the products offered to customers. Vehicles, office furniture, and work computers are good examples of company assets. It is important to track these items to eliminate duplicate ordering and provide for tax expense control. This also helps when needing to setup an office or desk for new employees.

Many companies have several different locations to store, sell, and ship products. Often, retail stores need to track what they have on hand rather than being included with a single inventory location. Warehouses also ship or trade products within a company by shifting inventory to better meet customer needs. Being able to track where the products are located helps when deciding when each site needs to order or if a site simply needs to have products replenished from another one that has an abundance of the item.

Scanners are made in different formats. Wireless hand scanners are the most popular style. These are used by employees to scan items during weekly or monthly inventory counts. Using these scanners eliminates costly mistakes made by employees entering incorrect handwritten data into the system. Wired and desk scanners are popular in warehouses to check items in and out as they are transferred from one location to another.

Specialized printers have been around for years that print the barcodes. They often use a type of paper that can be peeled off the paper and placed onto the product. Using these printers increases the speed of inventory and allows companies to place their own codes on the products. The programs can also print the codes on regular sheet fed printers as well.

Integrating with other software programs has become essential. While the tracking systems come loaded with features, many companies need to port the information to their financial software, spreadsheets, and even the Internet cloud. The flexibility of integration eliminates hours of transcribing the information from one system to another. Many of the popular program data formats are included.

Companies must keep track of both inventory and assets in order to compete in today's global economy. The standard features of tracking software provide an efficient and effective way of handling this process. The systems reduce employee time and mistakes that could be very costly to a company trying to grow and compete. Using these systems ensures nearly immediate and perfectly accurate access to company inventory data which allows for better management decisions.




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