About This Guide

This guide covers Parts and Inventory in RoadBays — setting up the parts you stock, recording what comes in and goes out, and reading your stock levels. It is written for the people who do this work day to day: parts managers, shop managers, and anyone who counts a shelf.

You do not need to read it end to end. Use the table of contents to jump to the screen you are on.

How to read the instructions

Parts and inventory are two different things

Keeping these straight makes everything else easier.

The three screens

The Parts List

The Parts screen is the catalog and the dashboard at the same time. It shows what you stock, how much of it you have, what it is worth, and what needs ordering.

The numbers across the top

Four tiles summarize whatever you are currently looking at. Switch location tabs and all four recalculate for that location.

Filtering by location

A row of tabs sits above the table: All, then one tab per inventory location. Click a location to see only that location's stock. The tiles, the table, and the status badges all follow.

Reading the table

Stock status at a glance

Status is shown as a badge and reinforced by the row color, so a shelf that needs attention is visible without reading a single number.

Searching and paging

• Use the search box above the table to filter by part number, name, manufacturer, or bin.
• Click any column heading to sort by it. Click again to reverse.
• Change how many rows show per page with the length dropdown. The default is 25.

Adding parts

• Click + Add New Part to create one by hand.
• Click Import Parts to bring in many at once from a file — the right choice when you are setting RoadBays up for the first time.

Creating and Editing a Part

A part record is created once and then mostly left alone. Getting it right at the start is what makes everything downstream — pricing, reordering, reporting — work properly.

Creating a part

1. On the Parts screen, click + Add New Part.
2. Fill in the Overview fields.
3. If the part is a tire, tick Is Tire and complete the tire specifications that appear.
4. Click Save.

The Overview fields

Reorder Point and Minimum Required

These two do different jobs and are easy to confuse.

Tracking by serial

Tick Track By Serial for parts where each individual item has to be identified — components under warranty, anything with a manufacturer serial you may need to quote later.

With this on, the Serial Numbers box on an inventory transaction becomes the place you record which specific items moved. Leave it off and RoadBays just counts.

Tire Parts

Tires get their own set of fields, because a tire is not fully described by a part number. Tick Is Tire on the Overview tab and the tire specification section appears.

Size

As you fill these in, a live preview of the finished tire size builds up next to the section heading, so you can check it against the sidewall in front of you.

A tire marked LT 295/75 R 22.5 146 L reads as: light truck, 295 mm wide, sidewall 75% of that, radial construction, 22.5 inch rim, load index 146, speed rating L.

Speed rating and miles per hour

Pick a Speed Rating and RoadBays fills in Speed Rating (mph) for you. The value stays editable if you need to override it.

Tread and life

Stock by Location

The Stock by Location tab on a part shows one panel per inventory location, so you can see at a glance where this part is and whether any location needs topping up.

Part History

Three views answer the question "what has happened to this part?" from three different angles.

Inventory Activity

Every stock movement for this part, newest first.

Work Order Activity

Every billing document this part has appeared on — what you charged, on which job, for which customer.

Purchase History

At the bottom of the Overview tab, a chart plots what you have paid per unit over time, with the receipts listed underneath: date received, vendor, PO number, location, quantity, and unit cost.

A line trending up is a conversation to have with your supplier. A line that jumps between vendors shows which one is actually cheaper once you look at more than one order.

Inventory Transactions

The Inventory Transactions screen is the complete log of stock movement across every part and every location — changes, adjustments, and transfers, newest first.

Reading the log

Use Search activity to filter, and click any column heading to sort. The default is 25 rows per page, newest first.

Editing and deleting

• Edit reopens the transaction so you can correct it.
• Delete removes it, after a confirmation.

Recording a Transaction

This is the form you will use most — every time stock arrives, leaves, or turns out not to be what the system thought.

Adding a transaction

1. On the Inventory Transactions screen, click + Add Transaction.
2. Under Part Name / Number, search for the part. You can search by either name or number.
3. Choose the Action — what is happening to the stock.
4. Enter the Quantity as a positive number. The action decides whether it adds or subtracts.
5. Check the Transaction Date. It defaults to now; change it if you are recording something that happened earlier.
6. Choose the Primary Location.
7. Choose the Specific BIN if you use bins. The bin list loads once you pick a location.
8. For serial-tracked parts, enter the Serial Numbers.
9. Write an Administrative Note explaining the movement.
10. Click Save Transaction.

The fields

Bins

The bin list is empty until you choose a location, then loads the bins configured for it. If the bin you want is missing, it has not been set up for that location yet — speak to your RoadBays administrator.

Importing transactions

Click Import on the Inventory Transactions screen to load many movements at once from a file. This is the right tool for an opening balance when you first set RoadBays up, or for a full physical count.

Inventory Summary

The Inventory Summary is the stock-level view — what you have, where, without the movement detail. It is the screen to open when someone asks "do we have any?"

The three tabs

The columns

Rows that are running low are shaded pale yellow as well as carrying the red dot, so they stand out when you are scanning quickly.

Exporting

The buttons in the top right export what you are currently looking at:

• CSV — for importing into another system.
• Excel — for anyone who wants to work on the numbers in a spreadsheet.

Common Workflows

Setting up a part for the first time

1. Parts → + Add New Part.
2. Fill in name, part number, manufacturer, and unit of measure.
3. Enter Cost and Retail Price.
4. Set the Reorder Point and Minimum Required.
5. Tick Track By Serial or Is Tire if either applies, and complete the tire specifications.
6. Save.
7. Go to Inventory Transactions → + Add Transaction and record what you currently have on the shelf as an Added transaction, with a note saying it is the opening balance.

Receiving a shipment

1. Check what arrived against the packing slip before you touch RoadBays.
2. Inventory Transactions → + Add Transaction.
3. Choose the part, set the Action to Added, and enter the quantity that actually arrived — not the quantity on the order.
4. Set the location and the bin it is going into.
5. Record serial numbers for serial-tracked parts.
6. Note the purchase order number.
7. Save, and repeat for each part on the shipment.

Running a physical count

1. Open Inventory Summary and switch to By Location.
2. Export to Excel and print it.
3. Count the shelves and write the real numbers on the sheet.
4. For each part that does not match, add an adjustment transaction for the difference, with a note explaining it.
5. Re-check the summary. It should now match the shelf.

Moving stock between locations

1. Record the stock leaving the source location.
2. Record it arriving at the destination location.
3. Use the same reference in both notes — "transfer to Yard 2, 03/14" — so the pair can be matched later.

Working out what to order

1. Open Parts and select the location tab you are ordering for.
2. Read the Out of Stock and Low Stock tiles.
3. Sort the table by Status to bring those parts to the top.
4. For each one, open the part and check Stock by Location — specifically Pending PO Qty, so you do not order something already on its way.
5. Also check WO Current Qty, since stock committed to open work orders is not really available.
6. Place the order, then record the receipt as an Added transaction when it arrives.

Troubleshooting

Glossary

Need More Help?

If something in Parts & Inventory is not working the way this page describes, email support@roadbays.com or submit a question from the Help page.