If we keep parts in more than one place — the yard store, the van, a container at the harbour — warehouses tell us not only how much stock there is, but where it is. The catalog is not a single pile of units: each item's stock is managed by location.
We'll go to SETTINGS → CONFIGURATION → CATALOG. That screen has two panels: CATEGORY (item families) and WAREHOUSE (stock locations). This article is only warehouses. Categories are set next to it, in Set up catalog categories. TAGS are a different menu item: Tags.
A warehouse is a stock location. Receipts, issues and allocations to work orders are tied to that location. That way we know if the part is in the store, in the van, or already allocated to a boat.
We won't confuse a warehouse with:
Catalog category: groups items (spares, consumables…). It does not move units. See Set up catalog categories.
Item type (product, labour, service) when we create a catalog item. That is chosen on the item record, not here. See Registering materials.
We'll go to SETTINGS → CONFIGURATION → CATALOG and stay on the WAREHOUSE panel.
We'll type the NAME of the location (“Workshop”, “Spares van”, “Harbour container”) and press +. Anyone on the team should recognise it.
From then on, stock and movements in the catalog will be posted to that warehouse. To remove one, we'll use the X on that row.
When a technician leaves with parts, that van is a warehouse: we'll know what they have and we'll avoid “missing” stock that is actually on the road.
💡 Tip: We'll start with a few warehouses, the ones that really exist. A phantom warehouse for every corner of the workshop makes movements harder and nobody uses them.
Moving parts from one place to another is a warehouse transfer, not a change of item category.
If an item “has no stock” but the part is in the van, we'll look at that van's warehouse, not only the workshop's.
