Fishbowl Inventory | LilyPad for Fishbowl Blog

How to Make Fishbowl Inventory Work Better for Your Business

February 23, 2023

Optimize your Fishbowl Inventory software for maximum business efficiency.

Effective inventory management is crucial for any business to ensure that the right products are available to customers when they need them, while maximizing your own business processes. However, managing inventory can be a daunting task, particularly for small businesses. Fishbowl Inventory is a popular inventory management software that helps businesses streamline their stock management and supply chain processes, but is your business maximizing its full potential? Let’s cover how your business can run your Fishbowl software at full power.

Clean up your data

One of the most important steps businesses can take to make the most of Fishbowl Inventory is to ensure that their data is clean and accurate. This means regularly checking and updating product information, stock levels, and purchase orders. By keeping your data up-to-date, you can ensure that Fishbowl Inventory accurately reflects your current stock levels and order fulfillment needs. Clean up your businesses by:

Regularly updating product information, including product names, descriptions, and prices.
Ensuring stock levels are accurate and reflect the actual inventory on hand.
Reviewing purchase orders to ensure that they are up-to-date and reflect your current needs.
Removing obsolete or discontinued products from the system to prevent confusion and errors.

Integrating barcodes and barcode scanners can ramp up your Fishbowl effectiveness.

Barcode Scanning

Implementing mobile barcode scanning is a powerful way to streamline your inventory management process and increase efficiency across the board. Solutions like Mobile Warehouse provides a mobile app that allows you to scan barcodes using your smartphone or tablet, and integrate directly into Fishbowl Inventory with benefits like:

Improved accuracy: Mobile barcode scanning helps reduce errors and improve accuracy by eliminating the need for manual data entry. With just a quick scan, you can update stock levels, fulfill orders, and more.
Increased efficiency: Mobile barcode scanning can help speed up your inventory management process by eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the time it takes to locate products in your warehouse.
Real-time data: Mobile barcode scanning allows you to update your inventory in real-time, providing you with up-to-date information on stock levels and product locations. This can help you make informed decisions about your inventory management process and avoid stockouts.
Flexibility: With the Mobile Warehouse app, you can scan barcodes using your smartphone or tablet, providing you with the flexibility to manage your inventory on the go. This can be especially useful for businesses with multiple locations or for employees who need to access inventory information from different locations.

Optimize your inventory

Organization is a key factor to optimize the use of Fishbowl Inventory, and ensures that your inventory is well-organized.

Grouping similar products together to make them easier to locate and track.
Using barcodes to streamline the pick and pack process and reduce errors.
Implementing an ABC analysis to prioritize the most important products and ensure that they are always in stock.
Regularly conducting inventory counts and reconciling any discrepancies to ensure that your stock levels are accurate.

Use automation tools

Fishbowl Inventory offers a range of automation tools that can help businesses save time and improve efficiency.

Automatic reorder points automatically generate purchase orders when stock levels fall below a certain threshold.
Barcode scanning speeds up receiving, moving, and shipping items.
Drop shipping allows businesses to fulfill orders directly from their suppliers, reducing the need for manual intervention.

Utilize reporting features

You can’t adjust business inventory if you don’t know your own numbers, and that is where the value of using Fishbowl Inventory’s reporting features is so important.. These features provide the vital data insights into your inventory and supply chain processes, enabling you to make more informed decisions. A handful of report examples you can generate with Fishbowl Inventory include:

Inventory Valuation Reports provide an overview of the value of your current inventory.
Sales Reports show you which products are selling well and which are not.
Purchase Order Reports help you track your purchasing history and identify any areas for improvement.

(here’s a quick video on some more reports)

Bringing a Fishbowl Expert onboard can make all the difference in your inventory process.

Training and Support from Verified Partners

Purchasing training for the Fishbowl Inventory software can be a great investment for your business, and with Fishbowl verified partners, your business can receive additional onboarding, training, and support to fully optimize the benefits of the software and avoid potential errors and inefficiencies. Here are some reasons why you should consider purchasing verified partner training for your Fishbowl software:

Comprehensive training: Proper onboarding starts you and your employees with best practices and knowledge of the software’s features and functionalities. This training will create a knowledge base to leverage the software’s capabilities and improve your management process.
Customizable training: Depending on your business needs, you can purchase different levels of training, from basic to advanced, and even industry specific training tailored to your business needs. This ensures that your employees are trained on the specific features that are relevant to your business and can make the most of the software.
Time-saving: By purchasing training, you can avoid the time and effort it takes to learn the software on your own and reduce further complications down the road. Instead of slowly learning by trial and error, you can get up to speed quickly and efficiently, and start using the software to improve your inventory management process right away.
Ongoing support: Support from a Fishbowl Partner provides you with ongoing support and resources, such as access to training materials and online resources, while also providing the most up-to-date information.

To purchase training for Fishbowl Inventory, you can contact a Fishbowl Partner to start your intake, evaluate your business needs, and start in-person or online training, depending on your preferences and availability.

Takeaway

Fishbowl Inventory is a powerful tool for small businesses to manage their inventory and streamline their supply chain processes, and it can be continually improved by following the tips outlined in this post. Whether it’s cleaning up your data, incorporating barcode scanning, optimizing your inventory, using automation tools, utilizing reporting features, or receiving partner verified training, there are many ways to make the most of Fishbowl Inventory and boost your small business’s success.

Multiple Currencies? How About Multiple Languages!

March 27, 2019

Fishbowl Inventory Gives you the Option to Use Multiple Currencies, which is helpful, but…what if you need to offer multiple languages to your customers, salespeople, or warehouse employees?

Warehouse

Multi-Lingual Warehouses. Yes, It’s a Thing.

In our ever-changing world of culture and linguistics, it is becoming more important to have software that can speak the languages of our employees. Although Fishbowl Inventory does not have the option to use any languages except English, LilyPad Mobile Warehouse gives you the option of using other languages in your warehouse operations. Why does that matter? Well, it helps to cut down on mistakes, while also giving your employees a better understanding of the software.

What if My Salespeople Speak a Different Language?

LilyPad Vortex gives you the option to use multiple languages in your sales platform. This can be advantageous for your salespeople and for your customers. LilyPad Vortex is a B2B sales platform that allows your salespeople and customers to log in and place orders that are then transferred directly to Fishbowl Inventory. If there are language barriers when trying to place orders, they could make costly errors or even stop using it altogether.

If you don’t need a new language, but instead need to see different grammar within the site, LilyPad Vortex can be “translated” with your preferred words. If you’d rather see “Service Order” instead of “Sales Order”, or if you need industry-specific terms, that’s not a problem in LilyPad Vortex.

Summary

If you, your salespeople, your warehouse employees, or your customers are struggling to understand Fishbowl Inventory because of a language barrier, take a look at LilyPad Mobile Warehouse and LilyPad Vortex.

Contact our offices to find out more about how to make Fishbowl Inventory work better for you.

Or, Get Started Today with Lilypad for Fishbowl!

Fishbowl Inventory Reorder Levels

March 20, 2019

When it comes to purchasing in Fishbowl Inventory, Reorder Levels can go a long way to help ensure that you have the on-hand quantities that you need, while at the same time, helping you to keep from over-purchasing inventory that will tie up your cash flow.

Reorder Point (Minimum Quantity)

When creating your reorder levels, you will need to choose a Reorder Point, or as some people call it: minimum quantity. The Reorder Point allows you to set the quantity at which point you will need to re-order your inventory to be able to fulfill the demand for that item. Our advice is that you keep enough inventory on hand to be able to fulfill all sales and manufacturing activities that happen from one order period to another. This quantity can vary widely from one item to the next, depending on your sales and use of those items. For that reason, it may be wise to monitor your activities over a period of time so that you can have a more educated approach to setting your Reorder Points.

Order Up To Level (Maximum Quantity)

On the other side of the spectrum, you will need to determine what your Order Up To Level will be. In other words, this is the maximum quantity that you can have on hand for any given item. When you reorder your parts, one of the difficulties of maintaining your warehouse is the fact that you need to have space to put everything that is coming in. If you are forced to put inventory into spaces where it doesn’t belong, there can be a ripple effect that can cause problems in other areas of the warehouse. Before long, you could be facing a time-consuming, expensive fix that could have been avoided.

By Location Group, or Company-Wide

There are two options when using Reorder Levels:

Company-Wide. This option will allow you to set one Reorder Point and one Order Up To Level for each of your parts. This is a simple and effective option if you only have one Location Group in Fishbowl, or if you want to keep track of overall inventory rather than separating it by Location Group.
Location Group. This option allows you to create Reorder Points and Order Up To Levels for each of your parts for each Location Group. You will be able to set varying inventory levels for each of your warehouses to account for the different sizes or capacities within those warehouses.

Auto-Reorder

After you have set up your Reorder Levels, you can now use the Reorder Report, and the Auto-PO function more effectively.

The Reorder Report (a standard report that comes with the Fishbowl Inventory installation) will show you what inventory needs to be purchased in order to fulfill current demand. When you set up Reorder Levels, those numbers are included on the report in order to help you keep the right amount of inventory on hand at all times.

The Auto-PO function will also take the Reorder Levels into consideration when calculating the quantities that need to be reordered. This feature of Fishbowl Inventory can work without having Reorder Levels set up, but, much like the Reorder Report, you will be prompted to order enough inventory to keep your warehouse properly stocked if you have set up your Reorder Levels.

Auto ROP

Remember: Fishbowl Inventory also has the option to automatically calculate your reorder levels based on historical transactions. Make sure you have plenty of transaction history (3 to 6 months) in Fishbowl Inventory before you go down this road, though. Otherwise, your reorder levels could be skewed.

As always, feel free to comment below, or contact our offices with any questions.

LilyPad for Fishbowl – Premier Fishbowl Consultant and Marketplace Solution

If you’ve had trouble in the past with Fishbowl Go, or if you’re looking for a better alternative software to integrate your Fishbowl inventory services, your search is finally over. LilyPad for Fishbowl offers a wide variety of up-to-date, easy-to-use software add-ons to help make your Fishbowl experience the best possible. LilyPad also offers on-site trainings, consultations, and other premier Fishbowl services.

Get Started Today with LilyPad for Fishbowl!

Fishbowl Inventory Custom Tracking

March 13, 2019

Fishbowl Inventory gives you the ability to set up custom tracking on each of your parts. For example, if you need to keep track of a Batch Number, or Creation Date for your parts, you can create custom tracking for your parts, and then add the information as your inventory comes into Fishbowl Inventory via Purchase Orders, Work Orders, etc.

Red 3D barcode

The Setup

The setup is fairly simple. Just go into the Part Module, and then open the Module Options (click Tools->Module Options). Once you’re in the Module Options, navigate to the “Tracking” tab. You should see some tracking options that come with the database by default. You can either edit the existing tracking options, or you can create a new one.

You will have eight options when choosing what type of tracking you’re dealing with:

Text
Date
Expiration Date
Serial Number
Money
Quantity
Count
Checkbox

Once you determine the type and have entered the Name and Abbreviation, you can then begin activating that tracking for all of the parts you want to track.

Activate Custom Tracking on Your Parts

After you have created your custom tracking options, you need to determine which of your parts you want to track by those options. To turn the tracking on, open the part and navigate to the “Details” tab. About halfway down the page, you will see the Tracking section. You will click the checkbox to the left of the tracking option and then save your changes. If you have inventory already on hand for that part, you will be prompted to enter the tracking information for that inventory before you can continue to the next activity.

How Custom Tracking Comes Into Play

As soon as you bring new inventory into your Fishbowl Inventory database, you will have to assign the tracking information (if your parts are tracked, that is). Once the tracking information has been assigned, you will then be able to see that information in the Inventory Module. You will also be required to choose specific tracking information when picking inventory for Sales Orders, Manufacture Orders, etc. Essentially, the tracking information follows the part from the beginning of its life cycle in Fishbowl Inventory until it leaves the system.

Remember: if you decide to use custom tracking in your Fishbowl Inventory database, you are making a commitment. Tracking your parts brings an extra layer of accountability, and therefore, it takes more effort on your part. Some people go into it blindly, and then find that they become swamped with the extra effort that they are putting into their system. If nothing else, be prepared for the extra time you will spend in Fishbowl.

As always, feel free to comment or contact our offices with any questions you have.

LilyPad for Fishbowl – Premier Fishbowl Consultant and Marketplace Solution

If you’ve had trouble in the past with Fishbowl Go, or if you’re looking for a better alternative software to integrate your Fishbowl inventory services, your search is finally over. LilyPad for Fishbowl offers a wide variety of up-to-date, easy-to-use software add-ons to help make your Fishbowl experience the best possible. LilyPad also offers on-site training, consultations, and other premier Fishbowl services.

Get Started Today with LilyPad for Fishbowl!

Changing Units of Measure in Fishbowl Inventory

March 06, 2019

Units of Measure can be a tricky thing in Fishbowl Inventory, especially if you are trying to change them after your parts have already been loaded. Here are a few things you need to be aware of when trying to change your Parts’ Units of Measure.

Unit of Measure

You May Need to Remove the Vendor Association

If your Vendor’s Units of Measure don’t match the Unit of Measure that you intend for your Part, Fishbowl Inventory will not allow it. The vendor’s Unit of Measure must match the new Unit of Measure. Alternatively, you can remove the Vendor associations, and then restore them after the change has been made.

You Must Remove the Part From Associated Bills of Materials

If your part is on a Bill of Materials, you cannot change the Unit of Measure for that part. You will have to remove the part from any Bills of Materials that it is associated with, even if the Unit of Measure on the Bill of Materials matches your desired Part Unit of Measure.

The Part and Associated Products Cannot be on Any Open Orders

There’s no way around this. If your part is on any open orders, or if an associated product is on any open orders, you cannot change the Unit of Measure of the part. This includes Estimates and Bid Requests. You will have to either remove the part from open orders or fulfill the orders to then be able to change the Unit of Measure.

You Cannot Change From Any Unit of Measure to “Each”

If you want to change your unit of measure to “Each”, you are out of luck. The only way to change a Part’s Unit of Measure to “Each” is to inactivate the part, change the part number so that it can be reused, and then create a new part with the “Each” Unit of Measure.

The best course of action, as always, is to double-check that your Units of Measure are correct when you first upload them. But, if it’s too late for that, follow the above steps to make the needed changes.

As always, leave a comment, or contact our offices with any feedback or questions.

LilyPad for Fishbowl – Premier Fishbowl Consultant and Marketplace Solution

Get Started Today with LilyPad for Fishbowl!

Fishbowl Inventory Reports

February 27, 2019

Fishbowl Inventory has a large selection of standard reports available (over 150 last time we counted). These reports can help you understand what is happening in your company by showing you your Purchases and Sales, Inventory Asset Values, and Manufacturing activities, to name a few. Here are some tips that can help you make the most out of your Fishbowl reports.

Fishbowl Inventory Reports

Using the “Modify Report” Filters

When you open a report, you will see an icon at the top-left of the report with the words “Modify Report” beneath it. If you click the icon, a window will pop up that displays all of the available filters for that report. Some of these filters can mean the difference in whether or not a report is useful to your company.

We recommend that you play around with the filters to see how they affect your reports. If you find some filters that you would like to apply to the report every time you open it, set your desired filters and then click the little blue disk at the bottom-left of the “Modify Report” window. Now, every time you run the report, it will automatically apply your saved filters.

Module Associations

The Reports Module holds all of the reports that are available in Fishbowl Inventory. What if, however, you want to access a report from a different module? For example, you want to see the Inventory Availability report in the Sales Order Module. To make this happen, access the report in the Reports Module, and then click the “Details” tab at top of the report, and then scroll down the list until you find the desired Module. Then, simply place a checkmark in the box next to the module, and from then on, you will be able to access the report within the associated module.

What if The Report I Need Doesn’t Exist in Fishbowl?

Fishbowl Inventory reports are written in a 3rd-party application called iReport. In order to create a custom report, or modify an existing one, you will have to use iReport to do so. Alternatively, you can have a professional report writer create the report for you. There are a few report writers out there that have been creating reports for Fishbowl Inventory users for a long time (us included). These reports can be customized to display almost any information you need. This is the preferred route of many Fishbowl Inventory users, because it is faster, and easier, to have a report writer do the work for you.

Feel free to comment below if you have any feedback about this post. And, as always, contact our offices if you have any questions about reports.

LilyPad for Fishbowl – Premier Fishbowl Consultant and Marketplace Solution

Get Started Today with LilyPad for Fishbowl!

Need to Control Your Inventory and be Metrc Compliant?

February 25, 2019

As the cannabis market continues to expand, companies will need a more robust inventory management solution to meet their increasingly complex requirements. Wider distribution, product customization, and other changes will make the limitations of manual inventory systems clear. Trying to record vital inventory information in Excel is impractical once you reach high volumes.

LilyPad Metrc Integration

Fishbowl Inventory and Metrc can help you track your daily activities, while also making sure that you are compliant with state regulations. The LilyPad Metrc Integration keeps Metrc updated as you go through your daily activities in Fishbowl Inventory.

What is Metrc?

Metrc is a “seed-to-sale” Cannabis Tracking System (CTS) selected by state regulators to track and deliver data on their recreational and medical cannabis programs. Metrc works with industry and regulatory stakeholders to enable the transparent tracking of cannabis.

What is Fishbowl Inventory?

Fishbowl Inventory is The #1 Manufacturing and Inventory Management Software for QuickBooks. It is a powerful asset tracking solution for any size organization. In Fishbowl, you will complete your daily purchases, sales, inventory control, and everything in-between. Once you complete those transactions, the integration will push the pertinent information to Metrc.

Take a look at all of the features of Fishbowl Inventory and Metrc.

QuickBooks Integration

February 20, 2019

Fishbowl Inventory has the ability to integrate with QuickBooks to give you the power of an accounting system paired with advanced inventory and manufacturing.

QuickBooks and Fishbowl Together

What Happens When I Start Using Fishbowl?

Most people that we work with are familiar with QuickBooks and have been using it for years as their accounting and inventory control software. In time, though, those same people realize that they need more robust inventory control and/or manufacturing capabilities than what QuickBooks has to offer. That’s where Fishbowl Inventory comes into play.

Fishbowl Inventory will become the daily order-entry system. In other words, you will do your purchases, manufacturing (if applicable), inventory control, and sales through Fishbowl Inventory. Then, as you complete your transactions, the financial information will transfer to QuickBooks where you will run your Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, and all other financial aspects of your business.

What if I Don’t Use QuickBooks?

Fishbowl Inventory can be used as standalone software, but our advice for those who aren’t using QuickBooks: get QuickBooks. The integration (which is built into Fishbowl already) will make your life much simpler and will help keep your financials in order.

Fishbowl Inventory has the capability to send invoices and purchase orders to customers and vendors. Keep in mind, though, that it doesn’t keep track of which invoices and purchase orders have been sent out. Nor does it give you any kind of accounts payable or accounts receivable totals. On top of that, your accountant will be much happier if the information is in QuickBooks, come tax time.

Feel free to comment below with your experiences. Or, contact our offices with any questions you have.

LilyPad for Fishbowl – Premier Fishbowl Consultant and Marketplace Solution

If you’ve had trouble in the past with Fishbowl Go, or if you’re looking for a better alternative software to integrate your Fishbowl inventory services, your search is finally over. LilyPad for Fishbowl offers a wide variety of up-to-date, easy-to-use software add-ons to help make your Fishbowl experience the best possible. LilyPad also offers on-site training, consultations, and other premier Fishbowl services.

Get Started Today with LilyPad for Fishbowl!

Fishbowl Inventory Custom Fields

February 13, 2019

Fishbowl Inventory gives you the option to add custom fields to almost every module within the software. These custom fields can be searched when you do an “Advanced Search”, which can be done in most of the modules. They can also be used in a variety of ways to help you track certain information on your customers, parts, orders, etc. And the custom fields can even be added to Fishbowl Inventory reports. Remember, though, that the reports will have to be customized to pull the information from the custom fields.

Fishbowl Inventory Custom Fields

What Types of Custom Fields Can I Create?

There are nine types of custom fields that can be set up within the modules. Here’s a list:

Text (A field that will hold small amounts of information)
Date (Numeric only)
Money (Numeric only)
Quantity (Numeric only)
Count (Numeric only)
Checkbox (A checkbox that denotes yes/no, true/false situations)
List (A drop-down list that is pre-populated for use within the assigned module)
Radio Button Group (Choose between two or more options. An option must be chosen for each instance. It cannot be left blank.)
Long Text (A field where you can type large amounts of data.)

How Can Custom Fields be Used?

Let’s say you have multiple product types, and you want to keep track of which types of products are returned most often. To do so, you can easily set up a List-type custom field for the Product Module and create a list of all of your product types. Then you can customize a report that will pull the information you’re looking for. Remember, though, that you will need to assign the product type to each of the products that you want to track by this metric.

Or, if you need to track your sales by region, you can create a custom field for the Sales Order Module where you can enter the region on each sales order. Then, get a custom report that will pull the information into an easy-to-read format, and you will have valuable information that can help you grow your business even more.

Those are just a couple of examples for using custom fields in Fishbowl Inventory. There are many ways to leverage custom fields to benefit your company.

Feel free to leave a comment below, or contact our offices if you have any specific questions about using custom fields in your Fishbowl Inventory database.

LilyPad for Fishbowl – Premier Fishbowl Consultant and Marketplace Solution

Get Started Today with LilyPad for Fishbowl!

Fishbowl Inventory Module Options

February 06, 2019

While Fishbowl Inventory is not a custom program, there are many settings you can change to make it more “custom” to your business and the processes within your company. Once all of your information has been uploaded into your Fishbowl Inventory database, it might be wise for you to peruse the Module Options that are found throughout the software. Some of them can mean the difference between spending hours of extra work versus having those things automated for you.

Where are the Module Options?

As you access each module, you will be able to open the Module Options for that module. To find them, open the “Tools” menu, and then click “Module Options”. Remember that when you move to a different module in Fishbowl Inventory, the options will change to match the module that is currently open.

A large concentration of the Module Options can be found in the Accounting Module, the Sales Order Module, and the Picking Module. While these are important, don’t forget that almost all of the modules in Fishbowl Inventory have at least one Module Option.

We recommend that you go through each module to figure out which options work best for you.

Don’t forget the Program Options

Another little-known fact is that Fishbowl Inventory also has some Program Options. These can be accessed from any module in Fishbowl by clicking the “Tools” menu, and selecting “Program Options”. While the Program Options are mostly cosmetic, there is a handy Email tab where you can enter your email information that will then be used whenever you send an email. This includes the ability to create custom personalized emails for Sales Order confirmations, Purchase Orders, and Shipping confirmations.

For a full list of Module Options, visit the Fishbowl Inventory wiki page.

As always, feel free to contact our offices if you have any questions.

LilyPad for Fishbowl – Premier Fishbowl Consultant and Marketplace Solution

Get Started Today with LilyPad for Fishbowl!