From Fishbowl Inventory

[edit] Inventory Control Glossary

ABC Inventory Profile - A report that divides inventory into 3 quadrants based on overall revenue the inventory item brings to the company. It tells you how many items are sold each day, and how many days left of stock you have for that inventory item based on sales or consumption of that item over a given amount of time.

ABC Report - A report that divides inventory into 3 quadrants based on overall revenue the inventory item brings to the company. It tells you the exact percentage of overall revenue for which that part is responsible, and the average cost for that item.

Back-Order - An unfilled request for issue of warehouse stock. The term requires the generation of a purchase order for stock replenishment if not already ordered. Back-order filling is a matter for policy statement.

Bar Coding - Using a scanner that reads UPC bar codes to enter information that would otherwise have to be typed in. Fishbowl allows you to use bar coders to do your POS, cycle counting, inventory moves, Picking and receiving.

Bill of Lading - A document by which a transportation line acknowledges receipt of freight and contracts for its movement.

Bill of Materials- A listing of materials required by a supplier to complete or produce a specified product. With Fishbowl, go to the search tab of the Parts Module, double-click the part for which you wish to create a Bill of Materials. Then select the BOM tab. To enter parts, select the New Icon. Bill of Materials may consist of standard items, optional items, variable items or variable-optional items.

Claim - A demand for compensation due to non-compliance, damages or injury as authorized by contract or Law.

Commodity - Any tangible item of property purchased, leased or otherwise obtained by the State and its agencies. Includes deferred payment interest on purchase of tangible personal property and letting of publications upon contract. Commodity does not include goods/property purchased for resale.

Competitive Quotations - A purchasing method used to obtain competitive pricing for goods when the anticipated cost is less than the amount required for formal or competitive sealed bids. This method is used only for small purchasers and should be documented or recorded by written statements from the suppliers.

Competitive Sealed Bidding - A method of acquiring goods above a certain dollar amount when various sources are available. This procurement process allows for levels of quality, terms and conditions to be defined while obtaining competitive pricing.

Competitive Sealed Proposals - A method of establishing a contract for source selection by issuing a request for competitive offers whereby negotiation and changes in the offers may be allowed to secure the most advantageous and cost effective terms for the purchaser.

Converter - A manufacturing firm which constructs from one usable material a product to be used for a different purpose. For example: processing sheet or roll papers to manufacture envelopes.

Cooperative Purchasing - The assessment of consumer needs between government agencies in order to centralize a procurement process. This endeavor would contribute to a reduction of administration as well as provide lower costs by volume purchasing.

Crate - A rigid shipping container of framed construction joined together with nails, bolts, or any equivalent method of fastening. The framework may or may not be enclosed with sheathing.

Credit Transaction - The return of a commodity to inventory from a cost center, increasing the value of inventory and restoring budget dollars to the cost center. Only allowed for commodities that are unused and usable for the intended purpose (i.e. have not exceeded the manufacturer's recommended use date or expiration date).

Critical Stock - A commodity that must be maintained in inventory, though little used, to respond to expressed need. These commodities do not necessarily meet the criteria to be classified as emergency stock but are required to keep equipment or programs operating.

Cross Stacking - The placing of a layer of containers at right angles to those just below to increase the stability of the stack.

Cross Tie - Cross layers of supplies as in cross stacking except that only an occasional layer is crossed and not every other one.

Crossdocking - The acquiring of commodities by a distribution center using just-in-time scheduling, so that products can be moved from the receiving area through staging, and onto a transport vehicle without ever having to be put away.

Cube Utilization- The ratio determined by counting the total cubic feet of materials stored in the warehouse and expressing this number as a percentage of the total cubic dimensions of the warehouse.

Custodian - In the sense of inventory control, the person responsible for the custody and distribution of storeroom or warehouse stock.

Customer Service Level - This is the minimum level of support deemed acceptable by the warehouse operations management. Includes the availability of stock items when required and in the quantity required.

Cycle Count - The systematic counting of a portion of the total inventory on a periodic basis, such that all inventory lines are counted and reconciled in the course of a complete fiscal year. Inventory is divided into A, B or C codes. A codes represent inventory that is responsible for 80% of Revenue, while B codes are responsible for the next 15% of revenue, and C codes are only responsible for 5% of overall revenue. Fishbowl Inventory has a wizard which can automatically assign these codes based on sales over a given period of time.

Cycle Count Report - This is a report that allows you to see the parts in inventory and to count how many are actually there so that you can reconcile it to what you believe should be on hand for your parts.

Days Sales Outstanding - The formula for DSO is: receivables, or payments due, divided by, annual sales divided by 360 days. Or to calculate the quarterly ratio, use this equation: receivables divided by, quarterly sales divided by 90 days.

A rising DSO is bad, because it shows a company's taking longer than it used to in order to collect payments. "It can give you an indication that the company isn't going to have enough to fund their short-term obligations because the cash cycle's lengthening," says Ted Parrish, director of investments for G.W. Henssler & Associates.

Default-Non - Compliance of a firm to provide goods or services according to contractual terms.

Defect - A regularity or non-conformity which is not allowable by specifications.

Delivery Terms - A contractual designation of location of delivery, the time of delivery and shipping costs.

Delivery Time - The time during the day and for the days of the week, during which the receiving unit will spot and unload trucks and rail cars.

Demurrage - An assessment against the shipper or consignee as a penalty for the detention of a common carrier's equipment beyond the period of free time allowed for loading or unloading.

Discount Schedule - A price listing based upon quantity selections of items. Savings realized by increased volumes.

Disposition (Surplus Property) - The disposal of goods and inventory that are in excess or longer required. Methods of transferring, trading in or selling such items are commonly used.

Drive-In Rack - A structural framework open at the front and blocked at the back by cross bracing. The shelves consist of rails connected to the uprights. Warehousing units may be placed two or more rows deep by entering the rack from the front and driving the fork lift truck between the rails. Careful consideration should be given unit clearance requirements, both vertical and horizontal.

Drive-Through Rack - Similar to drive-in rack except that the cross bracing is distributed across the top of the rack structure, thus permitting the fork lift truck to drive through the rack structure from one side to the other.

Dunnage - Any material, such as boards, planks, blocks, or metal bracing, used in transportation and in storage to support and secure supplies, to protect them from damage or for convenience in handling.

Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) - A level of quantity or inventory indicating that a re-order to replenish should be made in order to maintain or control a safe inventory.

Emergency Purchase - A purchase made when unpredictable needs must be met. This type of purchase is most often made when health, safety or conservation risks are imminent or when other imperative needs arise.

Emergency Stock - The quantity of a commodity that must be maintained on hand at all times to provide for initial response to an unplanned catastrophic event.

End-Use - Commodities delivered to a using location and no longer accountable as inventory. End-use items may also be subject to issue control at the using location.

End-Use Stores - Merchandise purchased for the exclusive use of a specific cost center which pays for the commodity on delivery to the warehouse. The material is then kept in inventory for the convenience of the purchasing cost center and is not chargeable to the inventory general ledger or any trust account.

Equal or Equivalent - Terms to indicate that similar products or other brands may be acceptable for purchase if specifications are comparable and functional requirements are proven.

Equipment Maintenance and Depreciation - Actual amount of depreciation based on acquisition cost and useful life and actual maintenance costs.

Expediting - Following up on orders placed to insure timely shipment and delivery. Requires communication with shippers and carriers on a routine basis.

Express Warranty - A promise made by the seller relating to quality, performance or other considerations which would encourage a decision to purchase.

Extension - A contract condition that provides for an option to continue the contract to a later date should additional time be needed, after the expiration date, to solicit competitive bids and establish a new contract.

Fair Market Value - A price that would be acceptable on the open market for items or property of equivalent comparison.

Field Purchase Order - A document used to order goods from a supplier for purchases limited to a certain dollar amount with purchasing authority delegated by a central procurement office.

Finger Dock - A raised loading dock set at an acute angle of 80 degrees plus, so that trucks can be either side-loaded or end-loaded in the conventional manner.

Fire Aisle - A passageway established to aid in fighting or preventing the spread of fire or for access to fire fighting equipment.

Firm Bid - A bid that may constitute a contract with a definite expiration date.

Fixed-Price Contract - A contract requiring that prices remain firm. During the term of such contracts the contractor must absorb any increases which would reduce the profit.

Fixed-Price Contract with Economic Price Adjustment - A contract which allows price increase or reductions. The price increases should be based on a periodical percentage or an allowable index stated in the contract.

Fixed Price Sale - A sale that is firm; cannot be negotiated.

Fixed Slot - A slot reserved for a specific stock keeping unit.

Floating Slot - A slot that becomes available for any stock keeping unit just as soon as it is empty.

Floor Slot- Space occupied by a column or stack in a block.

Forecasting - The systematic development of an estimated future requirement determined from past experience, usage trends, technology advances, planned activity and any other factors deemed relevant.

Formal Advertising - A legal notification made public to advise that a government agency is requesting bids with a certain intention of purchase. Such advertising may be placed in newspapers or other publications meeting legal requirements.

Forward Procurement - Purchasing in larger volumes which exceed current needs. A method used when items may sometimes be in limited supply or unavailable; or to realize volume discounted pricing.

Goods - A purchase which does not include real estate, real property or services.

Goods Purchased For Resale - By definition implies that goods are intended to make a profit. This definition does not include raw materials purchased by an agency for conversion to a finished product with the intent to recoup cost of materials and overhead only.

Gross Margin by Customer Report - A report that lists the aggregate gross margin dollar amount and the gross margin percentage of sales attributed to a customer.

Gross Margin by Product Report - A report that lists the aggregate gross margin dollar amount and the gross margin percentage of sales attributed to each part that is sold. It can be broken down by a particular customer as well.

Gross Margin by Sales Order Report- A report that lists the aggregate gross margin dollar amount and the gross margin percentage of sales attributed to a given sales order.

Guarantee - A warranty or statement of performance assurance, quality standards or other promises related to a purchase.

Honeycombing - Condition resulting from the withdrawal of warehousing units from a uniform block, producing an active block.

Horizontal Occupancy Ratio - Ratio of exposed floor space in the occupiable space to floor space occupied by warehousing units.

Horizontal Separations - Space consumed by pallets in a column or unit clearances in racks, bins and shelves. Also space consumed by beams, rails shelves or other horizontal supports.

Identical Bid - A bid which is essentially the same as another with regard to products bid.

Ineligible Bidder - A non-responsible bidder or a supplier who has demonstrated a poor record of performance or proven to be financially unstable. Otherwise a bidder who has been removed from the prospective vendors list for non-compliance.

Informal Bid- A telephone quotation or an unsealed pricing offer. A bid for a purchasing intention that is less than the dollar amount required for formal sealed bids.

Inspection Report - To inform a procurement entity that an examination or testing of commodities on contract has taken place. Such a report would further inform the authority of the quality or condition of such goods.

Interlocking Load Pattern - A method of arranging every other course in a unitized load to stabilize the load. Every other course is turned 90 degrees when uni-block patterns are used. Every other course is reversed using multi-block, pinwheel or irregular patterns.

Inventory - (1) The aggregate of all commodities in stock at a given time. (2) The quantity of a given commodity on hand at a point in time. (3) Also used to describe the function when the storeroom stock is counted and reconciled.

Inventory Error - (1) Net Error (net book to physical difference): expressed as dollars or percent of inventory using the sum of all inventory loss and all inventory gains. (2) Absolute error: the sum of all errors without regard to sign. May be expressed as a percentage of inventory or in dollars as appropriate.

Inventory Turnover Ratio (AKA Inventory Turnover, Turnover, Turnover Rate, Stock Turn) Inventory turnover ratio is costs of goods sold (COGS) in the most recent quarter times 4, divided by inventory in the most recent quarter (note: this more conservative approach to obtaining the turnover ratio quadruples COGS for the most recent quarter -- which probably reflects relatively slow business, in light of the economic downturn. To obtain the annualized number, add up the four most recent quarters to get a trailing annual number for cost of goods sold.

A high ratio tells you that the company has efficient inventory controls in place. A low ratio indicates that the inventory is either overstated, becoming obsolete or not salable. When this occurs, write-offs may be necessary. Keep in mind, then, that inventory write-offs can make turnover appear to be better than it really is. It is important to compare current inventory turnover ratio numbers with the company's past ratios and industry average numbers.

Inventory Turnover Report- A report that allows you to see what your turnover ratio is over a given amount of time. This report is usually run on a quarterly basis or on an annual basis. You can compare your ratio with industry standards.

Invoice (Bill) - A list of charges or costs presented by a vendor to a purchaser, usually enumerating the items furnished, their unit and total costs, and a statement of the terms of the sale.

Issue- Deliver to user.

Latent Defect- A flaw, defect or condition not observable at the initial inspection but obviously occurring over a period of time.

Lead Time - Time from date of inventory review or requisition date to delivery date, usually expressed as an average.

Lease Agreement- A contract to make periodic payments for the use of a property for a certain length of time. Such rentals may include additional variable user costs which cannot be predetermined such as cost per copy when leasing copiers.

Lease-Purchase Agreement - An agreement whereby the periodic payments may also be applied as installments toward ownership of a property if the leaser decides to assume the option to own. Such options may be stated as a purchase option or a conditional sales contract.

Life Cycle Costing - The total cost of owning a property for a designated period of time. The time period is usually based upon need or the expected life of the property. This is a purchasing method that takes into account all expenses of ownership such as: Purchase price, maintenance, operating costs and remaining value at the end of ownership.

Line Item - A listing of items in a bid for which a bidder may be expected to provide separate pricing. When such itemization is required individual or separate awards may be made on certain items.

Loading Area - The surface or plane on which a course is laid. The surface may be the floor or a pallet. When the loading area used is a pallet or platform, the plane may be larger than the pallet or platform surface. For example, a pallet surface measuring 48 x 40 inches may carry a load measuring 49 x 41 inches. In this case, the loading area is considered to be the plane.

Loading Area Efficiency - The percentage of the prescribed loading area occupied by the containers in the first course.

Location - A physical area that contains inventory. Use the location module in Fishbowl Inventory to define the areas within your warehouse. So for example, if your warehouse is divided into aisles, rows and shelves simply create a new location that is called something like Aisle A, Row 2, shelf 2, Right hand side (or A22R to make it short). Now you have a place in your warehouse you can move a particular part to. You may use the bin # in Fishbowl Inventory as an ID tag to print out a barcode associated to a part.

Locator System - A record which shows the exact location of supplies within a storage activity.

Lot- A stock keeping unit that must be stored apart from other like stock keeping units. Multiple lots of the same stock keeping unit produce excessive honeycombing of the storage space unless the lots are large. One of the hidden costs of warehousing.

Main Aisle- A passageway wide enough to permit the easy flow of equipment, supplies, and personnel; it generally runs the length of the building.

Manufacturer- One who produces a product through assembly or combination of raw materials or components. In some instances the manufacturer may not engage in the production except to control and specify the method and design of the item.

Market Place - The commerce sources which determine availability of goods and services and the costs that are derived from the rate of trade with those sources.

Materials Management - The planning of acquisition, maintaining inventory and disposition. This process is based upon scheduling according to need and anticipated usage.

Medium Lot Storage - A medium lot is generally defined as a quantity of material which will require one to three pallet stacks stored to maximum height. Thus, the term refers to relatively small lots as distinguished from definitely large or small lots.

Minimum Inventory - The amount of stock on hand that has been designated as safety stock.

Multi-Block Course Pattern- An arrangement of warehousing units in which two uni-block patterns are used.

Net Price - The remainder of the amount after any discounts have been subtracted.

Non-Recyclable- A substance which cannot be introduced as usable for remanufacture.

Non-expendable Inventory - Any tangible items with a shelf-life or usefulness beyond one year and costing over a certain dollar amount.

Obsolescence or Obsolete - Goods that are no longer usable for their intended purpose through expiration, contamination, or change of need.

Occupiable Space - The space remaining in the warehouse for storing warehousing units after allocating space for service aisles, access aisles, and other utility space.

Occupied Space - Occupiable space actually occupied by warehousing units or other warehousing elements.

On Hand Inventory - This is the inventory that is actually available to be used from the warehouse.

On Hand Report- This is a report that shows what parts are in current inventory and the quantity of those parts.

On Hand by Lot Report- This is a report that shows what parts are in current inventory and the quantity of those parts sorted by the different lot numbers. So if you had a customer that wanted to purchase something from the same lot number previously purchased from, you could look this up. This report would also be helpful if you needed to recall inventory from a certain lot number. This report would tell you where the lot for that part was located in inventory.

Open-End Contract - A contract in which the term or quantity is not defined.

Open Market Purchases - Purchasing without contract or negotiation. Such practice may exist in an emergency situation when a contract is not in place.

Open Storage- A condition in which all lots may be withdrawn or partial withdrawals made from lots without disturbing another lot.

Order-Up-To-Level - This is the maximum level of stock which should be warehoused at any given time for any given item. Having more on hand than this level would be wasting working capital which could be put to better use somewhere else.

Order Picker - A warehouseman assigned to the function of making withdrawals of warehousing units.

Order Processing Time - The amount of time, determined by the inventory manager, needed to carry out all of the steps of issue and reconciliation of merchandise.

Order Selector - Same as order picker.

Overhead - Includes all of the factors other than direct labor and materials included in the cost of goods sold. This figure is usually expressed as a percentage of direct labor cost, a dollar amount per production unit, and several other ways.

Packaging - A preparation of a commodity for distribution or bulk packing in quantities suitable for filling a carton with a prescribed number of units.

Packing List - A document that itemizes in detail the contents of a particular package or shipment.

Pallet- A rectangular support for unitized lots. Subject to standards of length and width for storage in predetermined places. Construction is such that there is air space between the bottom of the pallet and the load bearing surface of the pallet sufficient to allow the insertion of lifting forks of a pallet truck or forklift. Pallets may be constructed of wood, steel, plastic, rigid paperboard, or aluminum; and may be subject to demurrage charges or disposed of as scrap. In some cases carriers will

Perishable Commodities - Commodities that have a short shelf-life and may be expected to spoil if not placed in direct use.

Pick Line - An arrangement of SKUs in some orderly system to facilitate selecting or picking warehousing units to satisfy orders.

Pick List- A list that prints out showing the items and locations for inventory that needs to be picked for manufacturing or for shipping to customers.

Planography - A scale drawing of a storage area showing the approved layout of the area, location of bulk bin, rack and box pallet areas, aisles, assembly areas, walls, doorways, directions of storage, office space, washrooms, and other support and operational areas.

Post-Consumer Materials - Any goods that have been expended by the consumer and directed to a recycling process rather than to a landfill or solid waste depository.

Pricing Discounts - A markdown on a product being sold. Fishbowl Inventory allows you to set pricing discounts or markups to a specific customer or to a customer group, or to everyone over a specific time frame or indefinitely. Pricing scenarios are based on a product or a group of products you have defined in your product tree. You may base pricing discounts or markups on minimum ordered quantities. Define them by a percentage or a dollar amount. Simply go to the pricing module, and select new. The Pricing Wizard will walk you through.

Price Maintenance - The regulation of a base price that may not be undersold by supplier or manufacturer.

Price Protection - An agreement between the buyer and the seller to furnish goods at a predetermined price without increase for the term of the contract. An agreed upon index of periodical increases may be included in such contracts.

Price Schedule - A negotiated or predetermined listing of commodities for a certain price.

Procurement Cycle - The entire cycle of purchasing functions and duties which occur during acquisition of commodities.

Procurement Officer- A person who is authorized to enact and administer contracts and issue determinations in that regard.

Product - Products represent parts that are for sale.

Product Tree - A way to categorize your products into different groupings. This helps you to quickly apply pricing strategies to entire categories. You can list one product in multiple groups, so go ahead and create several types of classification systems. Simply go to the materials group and select the Product module. On the top tool bar you can select the Product Tree icon to create your product group(s). For more information on how this is used, click the help button once you are in the Product Module.

Purchase History Report - A report that allows you to see by part all the customers who have purchased it, or by customer, all the things that customer has purchased.

Quality Assurance - A program planned to provide that goods purchased may be inspected and/or tested so that compliance with specifications may be determined.

Quality Control- A monitoring of a manufacturing process that determines the level of quality of the goods to be supplied.

Quarantine Stock - Stock being withheld from normal distribution due to product recall, inadequate documentation, contamination or other good reason.

Quicklists- The ability to catalogue sales orders based on what a customer has purchased in the past. With Fishbowl Inventory, if you have a customer(s) that purchases the same thing over and over again, the template that fills the sales orders for you.

Rack - Wood or metal framework upon which units or unitized loads are plank.

Receiving Report - A form used by the receiving unit to inform others of the receipt of goods purchased.

Rectangular Pinwheel Course Pattern - An arrangement of warehousing units in which two pair of uni-block patterns are arranged in an unbalanced pinwheel.

Reorder Point - The level of inventory of a given commodity at which a purchase requisition is initiated. It is a combination of expected usage during the lead time period plus a safety stock.

Reorder Quantity - The number of units, determined by logical factors, scheduled for reorder when the reorder point is reached.

Requisition - Internal document by which a using agency requests the procurement office to initiate a purchase. May also be a form used to obtain supplies from a storeroom or warehouse.

Resolution- To arrive at an appropriate disposition of a complaint or protest through administrative action.

Re-warehousing - The practice of re-handling lots already in storage in order to make room or consolidate lots. Re-warehousing is a continuous process that involves handling due to the manner in which withdrawals are made from lots. Re-warehousing also occurs in making letdowns from the upper rack tiers or stacks to facilitate making withdrawals. One of the major hidden costs in re-warehousing.

Rolling Average Inventory - An average inventory count or value based on the immediate past 12 month period. Rows-Two or more columns beside one another.

Safety Stock - The level of stock over and above the expected usage, between the time a replenishment order is processed and when replenishment actually occurs, that is held in reserve to try to prevent stock-out, should there be a delay in delivery of stock by the vendor.

Sales: Inventory - Annual Net Sales divided by Inventory value. This gives a picture of how quickly inventory turns over. Ratios below the industry norm suggest high levels of inventory. High ratios could indicate product levels insufficient to satisfy demand in a timely manner.

Sales Order (SO) - SOs are versatile tools which allow you to do more than simply sell your products. Via the Fishbowl Inventory Sales Order Module you can rent your inventory out and schedule its return date, enter customer returns and merchandise exchanges.

Salvage - Property or equipment which has served the useful life, but still has value as a source for

Scrap - Commodities that are deemed worthless to the owner and are only valuable to the extent they can be recycled.

Selection Line- (See Pick Line)

Service Aisle - An aisle used to reach access aisles. Service aisles may also be used to gain access to storage lots. Utilizing the service aisle to gain facings or slots is often overlooked in making layouts.

Shrinkage - Back door losses and losses by issue error.

Slot - The position in a block occupied by a lot.

Small Lot Storage - A small lot is generally considered to be a quantity of less than one pallet stack stacked to maximum storage height. Thus, the term refers to a lot consisting of from one container to two or more pallet loads, but is not sufficient quantity to form a complete pallet column.

Sole Source - A purchase made without issuance of competitive bids for a commodity that is known to be available from only one source.

Spot- The placing of a truck or boxcar where it is required for loading or unloading. Square Pinwheel Course Pattern-An arrangement of warehousing units in which four, uni-block like patterns are arranged in a pinwheel. Stack - Two or more columns in back of one another.

Stacking Efficiency - A ratio expressed as a percentage of the potential stacking height used by the warehousing units in the stack after making all deductions for pallets or other horizontal separation.

Stacking Height - Same as Working Head Room.

Standard - Performance levels and characteristics that have been determined as a general expectation for a given commodity.

Standard Pallet Rack - The term used to designate the one-deep shelf type rack. Originally designed for pallets but also used for shelf storage of large units, usually, one or two of a kind. The rack consists of uprights and beams and may be bolted or adjustable. Great care should be exercised in loading racks to avoid overloading. Such racks should be secured to the floor or rows positioned back to back and secured to each other with spacer bars or spacer rods. Beams are usually designed to accept dunnage or cross bracing to prevent loads from falling between the beams.

Stock - The commodity or commodities on hand in a storeroom or warehouse to support operations.

Stock Control- Determining the usage rate of an inventory and controlling the level of ordering and inventory accordingly.

Stock Keeping Unit- A warehousing item (SKU) that must be stored and accounted for separately. A single stock keeping unit may have to be stored in different lots for the purpose of quality control, maintaining stock rotation, isolation or quarantine. It may also be necessary to split stock between reserve storage and pick-line when the entire stock cannot be maintained in the pick-line.

Stock-out- The condition existing when a supply requisition cannot be filled from stock. Stock-out Rate-The number of stock-outs per hundred line items picked.

Storeroom- A secure place for storage of things. A storeroom may be a designated separate secure area within a warehouse or a designated storage room in a workplace and may contain warehouse stock or end-use items.

Supplies - All items that are consumable. Generally, these would be commodities with a shorter life while in use than items that would remain in inventory after issuance or assignment for use.

Supply Requisition - A form used by a cost center to request the issue of a commodity or commodities carried in storeroom stock.

Surplus - Commodities that are not returnable to the vendor for credit, but are useful for some purpose and are excess or obsolete for the cost center owning the goods.

Trademark - A symbol, initialing, lettering, etc., which has been adopted as a positive identification of a supplier. A trademark, to be valid, must be properly registered with legal rights assigned to only one user.

Turnaround Time - The length of time for completing a process usually expressed as an average but can be determined for individual items (i.e. time from placing requisition to issue of goods or time from requisition to issuance of a P.O.).

Utility- A value established for commodities or services when amounts, quality and costs are determined.

Value - The exchange worth rate for goods and services on the open market. Value Analysis- The analytical evaluation of a purchase, whereby the total cost of purchasing, maintaining and using the procurement is determined for throughout the useful life.

Vendor File - A file maintained that lists vendors. The file should contain all information pertinent to the vendor, i.e., application information, commodities supplied and performance record.

Vertical Occupancy Ratio - Ratio of occupancy in the occupiable space measured by counting the warehousing units in an active block and comparing this count with the capacity of its corresponding uniform block.

Vertical Separations- Space consumed by unit clearance between columns, stacks, posts, walls or other warehousing elements.

Void - Honeycomb in a unitized load caused by failure to utilize the loading area at 100 percent efficiency.

Waiver of Bids - A purchasing method, whereby the bidding process is omitted and goods are purchased from available sources. Government agencies must be duly authorized by law (or rule) to make this type of purchase.

Waiver of Irregularity - Noting, but disregarding noncompliance within a bid which may be due to error. Such waiver or disregard must not unfairly affect the competitive process.

Warehouse - (1) A structure designated for storage of things. (2) Used as a verb indicates the act of storing things, as in, "We will warehouse these electrical supplies".

Warehouse Requisition - A request from the warehouse to Purchasing to initiate a purchase order to restock one or more commodities.

Warehouse Security - The combined total effort to exclude intrusion into a warehouse by unauthorized persons, destructive pests, and other events beyond man's control (i.e. windstorm, lightning, and flood). Includes records keeping, access control, building design, and maintenance and housekeeping functions.

Warehousing Unit- This may be a single large package handled as a unit load or a group of packages palletized on a pallet or otherwise unitized.

Waste-Materials - no longer suitable for their intended or any other purpose.

Work Order (WO)- represents a part or product that requires some hands-on attention, assembly, or configuration. A WO is a sub-part of--usually--a Sales Order (SO).

Working Clearance - The space allowed between the top of a stack or column and the lowest overhead obstruction. For example, ceiling joists, beams, sprinkler heads, steam pipes, etc. This allowance will vary depending upon local fire codes.

Working Headroom - The distance as measured from the floor to a point twelve inches or more below the lowest overhead obstructions. Working headroom is usually controlled to avoid coming into contact with overhead obstructions in the storage area and to maintain the unit clearances required by local fire regulations or ordinances.

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