Transfers

What a transfer is

An inventory transfer moves stock from one warehouse to another. It is used when one branch has excess material, another branch needs support, or a central store distributes supplies to branch locations. Transfers protect stock accuracy by separating request, approval, reservation, dispatch, and receiving.

A transfer is not the same as a manual adjustment. Adjustments correct a stock level. Transfers preserve the movement trail: where the stock came from, where it went, who approved it, when it was dispatched, and when it was received.

Company and branch responsibility

The company workspace can review and operate every transfer between company warehouses. A branch workspace shows a transfer when a current-branch warehouse is either the source or the destination. Use the Incoming, Outgoing, and Awaiting Receipt tabs to focus the list; transfers between two sibling branches are not shown.

When a branch creates a transfer, the source must be one of its own active warehouses, while the destination may be any other active warehouse in the company. Source-branch staff prepare, submit, approve, pick, dispatch, or reject according to permission and status. Destination-branch staff receive stock and reconcile receiving evidence. This directional control prevents one branch from dispatching a sibling branch's stock or receiving on behalf of another destination.

Transfer details

The transfer form starts with From Warehouse and To Warehouse. The destination list excludes the selected source warehouse so staff cannot transfer stock to the same place. Notes can describe the reason, transport plan, urgency, or receiving instructions.

Only draft transfers can be edited. Submission locks the form so later approval, reservation, dispatch, and receiving records cannot be silently changed. A reference number is generated automatically with a TRF prefix and sequence.

Items and quantities

Each transfer line selects an inventory item and requested quantity. Approved quantity can appear during edit, depending on status and role. The approval process also assigns source stock details such as lot number, expiry date, unit cost, and source stock level when available.

Before requesting a transfer, check Stock Levels in the source warehouse. The source needs enough available quantity, not just on-hand quantity. Reserved stock may already be committed to another transfer.

Status workflow

Transfers can be Draft, Submitted, Approved, Picking, In Transit, Partially Received, Received, Rejected, or Cancelled. Draft transfers are being prepared. Submitted transfers are waiting for review. Approved transfers reserve source stock. Picking means the source warehouse is preparing items. In Transit means the stock has been dispatched. Partially Received means some dispatched stock arrived but open lines remain. Received completes the movement. Rejected stops the workflow and records the reason.

The available actions follow these statuses. Submit appears on draft records. Approve appears on draft or submitted records for users with approval permission. Pick appears after approval. Dispatch appears after approval or picking for users with dispatch permission. Receive appears while in transit or partially received for users with receiving permission. Reject is available before dispatch for users with approval permission.

Open a transfer to review its quantities and audit trail, then use the prominent action at the top of the page for the next valid step. On the transfer list, the same workflow actions are grouped under Workflow so staff can process records quickly while the table stays readable on smaller screens. If an expected action is missing in both places, check the transfer status and the user's permission.

What approval does

Approval is the point where Fohosat reserves stock. The transfer service looks for an available stock level in the source warehouse and prefers stock with earlier expiry dates. It then reserves the approved quantity and stores the chosen source stock level, lot number, expiry date, and unit cost on the transfer line.

If there is not enough available stock, approval fails. In that case, review low stock, reserved stock, lot splits, and the requested quantity. Do not fix this by reducing stock manually unless a physical count proves the system is wrong.

Dispatch and receiving

Dispatch deducts the reserved stock from the source warehouse and marks the transfer as In Transit. This action should happen when the stock physically leaves the source location, not when the request is approved.

Receiving adds stock to the destination warehouse. If no detailed received quantities are supplied, Fohosat receives the remaining dispatched quantity for each line. The destination stock inherits item, quantity, unit cost, lot number, and expiry date from the transfer line. If a delivery is incomplete, the transfer can become Partially Received until the rest is handled.

The Receive action opens a slide-over with every dispatched line. For each line, staff can review the item, dispatched quantity, remaining quantity, and then enter Received now, Rejected now, and receiving notes. Use Received now for the quantity that physically arrived and passed receiving checks. Use Rejected now for boxes, kits, or units that arrived damaged, expired, missing, wrong, or otherwise unusable. The received and rejected quantities together cannot exceed the remaining dispatched quantity.

Every positive Rejected now quantity requires line-specific evidence before the receiving operation can complete: physical condition, rejection reason, receiver identity, disposition, follow-up reference, and one private PDF/JPEG/PNG inspection attachment up to 5 MB. Do not include patient information in inventory evidence. The attachment is stored privately and its filename is visible in the transfer audit.

Disposition identifies the next custody state: returned to source, quarantined, destroyed, or supplier claim. Returned to source automatically restores the rejected quantity to the original source lot through a linked stock adjustment. For the other dispositions, the follow-up reference must identify the quarantine record, destruction record, or supplier claim that reconciles material no longer considered usable stock.

When a line is fully accounted for by received plus rejected quantities, Fohosat treats that line as closed. The progress display therefore counts both accepted and rejected quantities while showing them separately. If all lines are closed, the transfer becomes Received. If some lines still have unaccounted quantity, the transfer remains Partially Received.

Older completed transfers may contain rejected quantities created before detailed evidence was required. Their detail page shows an amber Evidence missing warning instead of silently presenting the audit as complete. An authorized receiver can use Reconcile rejected stock from the transfer workflow to add the missing evidence and accountable disposition without changing the historical received/rejected quantity.

Rejections and exceptions

A transfer can be rejected while draft, submitted, or approved. If it was already approved, rejecting it releases the reserved source stock. The rejection reason should be clear: no available stock, wrong destination, expired lot, duplicate request, cancelled branch need, or management decision.

If stock was dispatched but not received, do not reject the transfer as a shortcut. Investigate transport, destination receiving, and physical counts. Once stock is in transit, the system expects receiving or partial receiving to explain what arrived.

Checklist

• Source and destination warehouses are correct and different.
• Requested quantities are based on available stock, not only on-hand stock.
• Approval is performed by someone authorized to reserve stock.
• Picking and dispatch match the physical movement of the material.
• Receiving is completed by the destination warehouse after checking actual arrival.
• Every rejected line has condition, reason, receiver, disposition, private inspection evidence, and a follow-up reference.
• Returned-to-source quantities show their linked stock adjustment.
• No amber evidence-gap warning remains on a completed historical transfer.