A stock take (or stocktake) is a physical count of your inventory to verify that what's on your shelves matches what Lupa says you have. Discrepancies are common — products get dispensed without being invoiced, items expire and get discarded, or counts drift over time. Regular stock takes keep your records accurate, which is critical for reordering, financial reporting, and avoiding stockouts.

💡 In short: You count what's physically there, Lupa compares it to what the system expects, and any differences are corrected automatically when you complete the session.

Why Stock Takes Matter

Benefit	How it helps your practice
Accurate reordering	Reorder alerts and suggested orders rely on correct stock levels. Without regular counts, you risk over-ordering or running out of critical medications
Financial accuracy	Your inventory is a financial asset. Accurate counts mean accurate balance sheets — essential for year-end reporting and practice valuations
Reduce shrinkage	Stock takes surface losses from expired products, dispensing errors, and unrecorded usage — allowing you to investigate and address root causes
Regulatory compliance	Controlled drugs require accurate records. Regular stock takes help ensure your physical counts match your controlled substances register
Team accountability	Every session records who counted what and when, creating a full audit trail your team can reference

When to Run a Stock Take

Frequency	What to count	Who typically does this
Monthly	Full stock take of all products at each location	Practice Manager or Head Nurse
Weekly	High-turnover items — common medications, vaccines, consumables	Nurse or Receptionist
After a suspected discrepancy	Specific products that seem off	Any team member
Before year-end	Full count across all locations for financial reporting	Practice Manager

⏰ Tip: Count at a quiet time — early morning, after the last appointment, or on a half-day. Counting while products are actively being dispensed leads to inaccurate results.

How to Run a Stock Take — Step by Step

🔒 Permissions: Stock take actions are controlled by two role permissions. Perform stocktake lets a team member enter counted quantities and manage batches during a session. Complete stocktake lets them finalise a session and also shows the Expected and Difference columns. Your practice manager can grant these under Settings > Roles.

Step 1: Create a Session

Go to Apps > Inventory from the top navigation
Select the Adjustments tab
Click New Adjustment in the top-right corner
In the dialog, select Stock Take
Choose the stock location you want to count (e.g. "Room A", "Pharmacy", "Fridge")
Click Create Session You'll be taken to a new, empty stock take session showing the location, date, and your name as the session owner.

🔒 Session locking: When you open a stock take session, it's automatically locked to you. This prevents other team members from editing the same session at the same time. The lock is released when you navigate away, complete, or cancel the session.

Step 2: Add Products to Count

The toolbar above the counting table gives you three ways to add products:

Add Product — Click Add Product to open a pop-up. Type to search, tick the checkboxes next to the products you want, then click Add # products to add them all at once. Use Search filters inside the pop-up to narrow results by category or tag. Click Select all to tick every visible product, or Deselect all to clear your selections. Click Cancel to close without adding anything.
Scan a barcode — Click Scan to use your device's camera or a connected barcode scanner.

Once products are added, use the Search added products by name… field above the table to find a specific item in your growing list.

Each product appears as a row in the counting table. Depending on your role permissions, you will see some or all of these columns:

Product — the product name and batch number if applicable
Expected — what Lupa currently thinks you have at this location (visible to users with the Complete stocktake permission)
Counted — where you enter your physical count
Difference — automatically calculated once you enter a count (visible to users with the Complete stocktake permission)

Products are listed alphabetically, making it easier to follow along with a paper checklist.

Step 3: Enter Your Physical Counts

For each product in the list:

Physically count the items on your shelves, in drawers, in the fridge, etc.
Enter the actual quantity into the Counted column
The Difference column updates automatically

The difference is colour-coded for quick scanning:

Green (positive) — You have more than expected
Red (negative) — You have less than expected
Dash (—) — Count matches perfectly, or hasn't been entered yet

📋 Print a checklist: Click the Print button in the header to generate a printable PDF checklist. This is perfect for walking around the practice with a clipboard — count everything on paper first, then enter the numbers into Lupa. The checklist includes a Cost (each) column, an Expected value column (cost × expected quantity per line), and a Total expected value footer — useful for reconciling against your accounts. Products without a linked supplier cost show blank cost cells and are excluded from the total.

Step 4: Review Progress

The header shows your progress at a glance:

X / Y items checked — how many products have a counted value vs. total added

Before completing, review all discrepancies carefully. Look for:

Discrepancy	What it means	Common causes
Actual > Expected	You have more than the system shows	Deliveries received but not processed; returned items not recorded; previous count was too low
Actual < Expected	You have less than the system shows	Products dispensed without invoicing; expired items discarded; breakages; previous count was too high
Actual = Expected	Count matches perfectly	Everything is tracking correctly — no adjustment needed

Step 5: Complete the Stock Take

Once you've counted everything and reviewed the discrepancies:

Click Complete Stock Take (bottom-right corner) — this button is only visible if your role includes the Complete stocktake permission
A confirmation dialog shows you:
The number of items with discrepancies
The number of unchecked items (if any)
Click Confirm to finalise

What happens when you complete:

Lupa creates stock movements for every product with a discrepancy
Stock levels are automatically adjusted to match your physical count
The session is marked as Completed and becomes read-only
A full summary report is generated

⚠️ This action is final. Once completed, the stock levels are adjusted and cannot be undone from this session. If you made a counting error, you can create a new stock take or use a manual stock adjustment to correct it.

After the Stock Take

Viewing the Summary

Completed stock take sessions show a summary report with:

Checked items — sorted by largest variance first, so the biggest discrepancies are at the top
Unchecked items — products that were added but never counted
Statistics cards — total checked, unchecked, and number of discrepancies

Exporting Results

Click the export option to download a CSV of the completed stock take. This is useful for:

Sharing results with your accountant
Archiving for compliance records
Investigating patterns over time

Tips for Accurate Stock Takes

✅ Best practices from practices that run Lupa:

Use two people — one counts, one enters. Reduces errors significantly
Count precisely — if you have 47 tablets, enter 47. Don't round to "about 50"
Check expiry dates while counting — remove expired products and note them
Track batches — if products use batch numbers, verify batch-level counts. You can edit a batch's number or expiry, or add a missing batch, directly from the session
Don't skip items — discrepancies can go both ways. Count everything, not just what looks low
Save as you go — Lupa autosaves your progress, but don't leave a session open overnight

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Stock take shows huge discrepancies	Don't panic. Check if recent deliveries were received but not processed in Lupa. Check for large dispensing events that may not have been invoiced
Can't find a product in the search	The product may not have stock control enabled, or may not be assigned to this location. Check its settings under Inventory > Product > Edit
Complete Stock Take or Cancel Stock Take button is missing	These buttons are only shown to users with the Complete stocktake permission. Ask your practice manager to check your role settings under Settings > Roles
Expected and Difference columns are not visible	These columns are only shown to users with the Complete stocktake permission. If you need to see them, ask your practice manager to update your role
Session says "in use by" someone else	Sessions are locked to one user at a time. Ask the other team member to close the session, or wait for the lock to be released automatically
Accidentally completed with wrong counts	Create a new stock take session and recount the affected products. The new count will create correcting adjustments
Products show units I don't understand	Lupa displays quantities in the product's configured unit and subunit (e.g. "2 Boxes 5 Tablets"). Check the product settings if the units seem wrong

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I do a partial stock take (only some products)?

Yes. You only add the products you want to count. There's no requirement to count every product at the location. This is perfect for weekly spot-checks on high-turnover items.

What happens to unchecked items when I complete?

Unchecked items (products you added but didn't enter a count for) are not adjusted. Their stock levels remain unchanged. They'll appear in the "Unchecked" section of the summary.

Can multiple people count at the same time?

Not in the same session — sessions are locked to one user. However, you can create separate stock take sessions for different locations and have team members count in parallel.

How do batch-tracked products work in stock takes?

Products with batch tracking show each batch as a separate row. You count and enter quantities per batch, and Lupa adjusts each batch individually. This helps maintain accurate batch-level records for traceability.

If you spot a batch on the shelf that isn't in the system, click Add Batch on the last batch row for that product to create it without leaving the session — the stocktake location is pre-selected for you. If an existing batch has the wrong number or expiry date, click the pencil icon next to that batch row to open Edit batch details, make your corrections, and click Save Changes.

Does the stock take affect invoicing or pricing?

No. Stock takes only adjust inventory quantities. They don't create charges, credits, or affect pricing in any way.

Running a Stock Take