Warehouse type
The warehouse type decides how your company keeps stock:
- Simple — one place. No screen ever asks where goods are.
- Advanced — several warehouses divided into segments. Receiving and issuing ask for a location, stock shows where each item is, and you can move stock between places.
It is one setting for the whole company. You change it in a window that tells you what will happen before you confirm.
Where to find it: Warehouse → Configuration → Warehouse type
The menu item opens a window on top of the screen you are working on. Closing it leaves you where you were.
When you'll use it
- You have outgrown a single stockroom and want to know which warehouse or rack goods are on.
- You are setting the company up and want to know what each type means.
- You chose advanced, and the extra questions are not worth the effort.
- Someone asks why a screen asks for a Warehouse and a Segment.
Key concepts
- Simple — one warehouse, no segments. Stock answers one question: "how much of this do we have". The window recommends this type to start with.
- Advanced — as many warehouses as you need, each divided into segments. Stock is kept per segment. Products that ship in several parcels are kept per warehouse, because the parcels of one piece may lie in different segments.
- One setting for everyone. The type applies to the whole company: in the browser, in the mobile app and on POS (point of sale) terminals.
- Simple mode, advanced mode. Messages call the two types simple mode and advanced mode.
- Starting simple costs nothing. Moving to advanced later keeps every quantity and every reservation. Moving back has conditions, see below.
What changes for daily work
| Simple | Advanced | |
|---|---|---|
| Warehouses | One | As many as you need |
| Segments | None | Each warehouse is divided into segments |
| Goods receipt and Goods issue | No location is asked for | You choose the Warehouse and Segment |
| External receipts | No warehouse on the document | The document names a warehouse |
| Stock levels | One quantity per item | A Location column, and locations in the movement history |
| Moving stock | Nothing to move | Stock transfer, the warehouse card, Move in the mobile app |
| Stock reservation | Nothing to choose | You choose the warehouse you reserve from |
| Route returns | Checked goods go back onto stock | You choose the Destination warehouse for checked goods |
| Stocktaking | Counts everything | Can be limited to one warehouse or one segment |
| Warehouse purpose | Every warehouse accepts all goods | A warehouse can accept products, materials or both |
| Production sites | Not available | Available |
| Menu, Operations group | No Stock transfer | Stock transfer |
| Menu, Configuration group | Warehouse location | Warehouses |
Everything else works the same with both types.
The screen
The window Warehouse type contains, from top to bottom:
Two cards, Simple and Advanced, each with a one-line description. The type you have carries the badge current. Click a card to select it. Nothing changes yet.
How they differ — a table with four rows: Warehouses, Segments (locations), On receipt and release and Stock transfers. The column of the selected type is highlighted.
What will happen — shown as soon as you select the other type:
- After switching: nothing is lost on the way to advanced;
- After switching: stock collapses into one place on the way to simple.
Below it, a line reminds you that everyone signed in sees a notice and their application reloads.
Cancel and the action button. The button reads Switch to simple or Switch to advanced when you have selected the other type. It reads No change, greyed out, when you have not.
To close the window without changing anything, click Cancel, the ✕ in the corner or the dimmed background, or press Escape.
📷 Screenshot to add: the Warehouse type window with Advanced selected while Simple carries the "current" badge, showing the "After switching: nothing is lost" block and the Switch to advanced button.
Common tasks
Check which type you have
- Open Warehouse → Configuration → Warehouse type.
- Look for the badge current on one of the two cards.
- Click Cancel. Looking changes nothing.
The menu tells you too: Warehouses in the Configuration group means advanced; Warehouse location means simple.
Switch from simple to advanced
- Open Warehouse → Configuration → Warehouse type and click the Advanced card.
- Read After switching: nothing is lost.
- Click Switch to advanced. You see The warehouse now runs in advanced mode. Everyone signed in sees the notice Warehouse mode changed and their application reloads. Nobody is signed out.
What happens to your data:
- All stock and all active reservations move to your main warehouse, the one that carries the Default badge on the Warehouses list.
- Products go to that warehouse's default segment. In a warehouse that Complaia created for you, that segment is shown as Unassigned.
- Products that ship in several parcels are kept on the warehouse itself, without a segment.
- From then on, receiving and issuing ask for a warehouse and a segment.
Next, add the warehouses and segments you really use under Warehouses, and move the stock into them with Stock transfer.
Switch from advanced back to simple
- Clear what blocks the switch. See the warning below.
- Open Warehouse → Configuration → Warehouse type and click the Simple card.
- Read After switching: stock collapses into one place.
- Click Switch to simple. You see The warehouse now runs in simple mode. Everyone signed in sees the notice Warehouse mode changed and their application reloads.
What happens to your data:
- The stock from every warehouse and segment is added up into one quantity per item.
- Reservations and packed boxes move together with the stock.
- Every warehouse except the default one becomes Inactive. Nothing is deleted.
- The record of what was where is lost. If you switch to advanced again, all stock goes to the main warehouse, and the other warehouses are still on the list as Inactive. Switch them on one by one.
- Workstation buffers are left as they are.
Three things block the way back to simple
The switch is refused, and nothing is changed, while any of these is true:
- Goods are waiting in a workstation buffer. This means material brought to a workstation and not used, or finished goods not moved to a warehouse. Move them out first, see Move finished output into a warehouse.
- Your company has more than one production site. Sites work only with the advanced type. Go back to one site first, see Sites.
- A stocktaking session is open. It blocks the switch in both directions.
When it doesn't work
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A POS terminal’s virtual warehouse still holds work in progress. Settle it before going back to simple mode. | Material or finished goods are still in a workstation buffer. | Move them to a warehouse, see Move finished output into a warehouse, then try again. |
| The company has several production sites, and sites work only in advanced mode. | More than one site is set up. | Go back to one site under Sites, then try again. |
A stocktake is running, so the warehouse is frozen. Finish or cancel it and try again. | A stocktaking session is open. | Post or cancel the session first. |
| The warehouse mode is being switched right now. | Somebody else started the switch a moment ago. | Wait until it finishes. |
| Could not change the warehouse mode. | The switch failed for another reason. | Try again. Nothing was changed. |
| The button reads No change and is greyed out | The selected card is the type you already have. | Click the other card. |
| Warehouse type is not in the menu | You lack the permission. | See Permissions. |
| Warehouses and Stock transfer have disappeared from the menu | They are shown only with the advanced type. | Use Warehouse location, or switch to advanced. |
| Warehouse location has disappeared from the menu | It is shown only with the simple type. | Edit the warehouse under Warehouses. |
| After switching to advanced, all stock is in one segment | That is where the switch puts it: the default segment of the main warehouse. | Add segments and move the stock with Stock transfer. |
| After switching to simple, a warehouse is Inactive | Only the default warehouse stays active with the simple type. | Nothing is lost. After switching back to advanced, edit the warehouse and switch Active on. |
| The window Warehouse mode changed appears while you work | Someone in your company switched the type. | Wait. The application reloads by itself and you return to the same place. |
Permissions
| To do this | You need |
|---|---|
| See Warehouse type in the menu, open the window and switch | Warehouse: Manage (the role editor ticks Warehouse: View with it) |
Related
- Warehouses — warehouses and segments of the advanced type
- Warehouse location — the one warehouse of the simple type
- Stock transfer — move stock after switching to advanced
- Stock levels — where the Location column appears
- Stocktaking — an open session blocks the switch
- Setup wizard — where the type is chosen for the first time
- Glossary