In the Item Master application, we had recently created item AJE11 as part of showing how the item’s description is generated using the classification and the attribute values that form the item’s specification. As you can see, we never added the item to a storeroom, the Storerooms tab shows no records.

The action “Add Items to Storeroom” opens with a dialog with two fields:

• SiteA structural element of a Maximo database that is used for data separation. More – this defaults to your insert site.
• Storeroom – there is no default, but the Select Value shows the storerooms in the selected Site.

If you change the Site field, it will blank the Storeroom field so that you need to select a valid storeroom for the new site. Both fields depend on your security, we will cover that at the end of this article.

Notice the “Add Items to Storeroom” action can be applied when a new item has been created at PENDING status. If you have already added the item to the storeroom you will get a message like “BMXAA2701E – Items 11453 currently exist in storeroom MACHSHOP. Inventory records were not created.”

In Maximo 7.6.1.1 (and earlier) you can only add an item to one storeroom at a time, although this action is also available from the List tab, which will allow for multiple items to be added to a storeroom at the same time, we shall see that later. The good news is that in Maximo 7.6.1.2 there is a new action “Add Items to Multiple Storerooms” and I will cover that shortly in another article.

When you use the OK button a second dialog for Add Items to Storeroom opens with the selected item AJE11. In the details area for the table window the fields that you see are fields from the INVENTORY object/table.

• Condition Code is read-only and will be set only if the item is condition enabled. If so, it will be set to the item’s condition code which has a condition rate of 100%.
• Lot will be enterable if the item has a Lot Type of LOT. You probably do not know the lot number until you receive a lotted item in the Receiving application, so in many cases this will remain empty.
• The Issue Cost Type can be set to STANDARD, AVERAGE, LIFO or FIFO for non-rotating items. For rotating items that are non-capitalized it may default to ASSET, but you can change it to one of the other four types.
• The Unit Cost will depend on the Issue Cost Type, if it is STANDARD or AVERAGE, then you probably want to add a unit cost now. It is not relevant to the ASSET issue cost type.
• Default Bin is the primary bin identifier for the item in this storeroom, certain functions in Maximo will use this default bin. Although you can leave it empty, it is generally a good idea to fill it out now. 
• Current Balance is the starting balance for the item, it will default to 0, if you have no starting balance.
• Issue Unit is a mandatory field, often EACH or something similar. It is the unit of measure by which you will issue a quantity of an item. You may need to use the action “Add/Modify Units of Measure” first.
• Order Unit is not mandatory but good practise to enter now if you know it. It is the unit of measure in which you purchase the item. You may need to set up a conversion between the Order Unit and Issue Unit which you do using the action “Add/Modify Conversions”. For example, if you buy the item in boxes of 25 then you may have an order unit of BOX25 with a conversion to the issue unit of EACH at a conversion factor of 25. Conversions can also be specific to an item. 
• Consignment, if checked will open up a set of additional fields. Inventory items can be marked as consignment items meaning that they are owned by a vendor but held in your storeroom and you pay the vendor when you issue the item – it is a subject which warrants its own article (perhaps more than one) and I’ll return to this action in that article.

For FIFO and LIFO Issue Cost Type, the Cost Date defaults to the current date/time when you enter a balance. If an earlier date is required, I suggest not adding a balance now, but in the Inventory application and Inventory Balances table window.

You should be able to configure other fields into the details area of this table window, it would be nice to show the storeroom you selected, CENTRAL in this case. 

With the fields filled out, when you press the OK button you will receive the message “BMXAA1938E – Items have been added to the storeroom.”

The Storerooms tab now shows the item added to the CENTRAL storeroom. Notice the Stock Category will be STK, nearly all items in a storeroom with be stock items. Only add items to a storeroom when you expect to hold a balance of the item, and you intend to reorder the item, unless they are spares for critical equipment. For items which are held temporarily in a storeroom for the purpose of a shutdown or project, and hence are not available to be reserved by non-project work orders, then a special order item can be used during procurement with charge to a storeroom, this means that the purchased items will then be received into that storeroom.

If you no longer, want to keep a stock of the item in a particular storeroom and you will not reorder, then change the inventory status to Pending Obsolescence (PENDOBS) and run down or transfer the balance, this status will stop purchases that might restock the item at that storeroom.

There is no launch to the Inventory record from the Storerooms tab. Through configuration you could add the Item field (ITEMNUM) and a Go To to launch the Inventory application.

There are other fields which you may want to fill-out on the Inventory record now that the item has been added to the storeroom, particularly in the Reorder Details tab. The Go To from the Storerooms table window in the Item Master application if configured will help reduce a few clicks. Adding a few additional fields to the Add Items to Storeroom details area, those that are frequently entered at the point in time you insert the record to the storeroom will also be a useful configuration.

It is a good idea to have a form or spreadsheet with the fields that you want to fill out initially for a new item being entered into a storeroom. It makes you think about all the fields ahead of time, rather than leaving it to the point in time when you use the action, and either leave a field null or guess. It also ensures that you have already set up the conversion between order unit and issue unit.

When you use the action Add Items to Storeroom from the List tab it is using the same dialogs as we saw earlier but will present multiple rows for the items that were formed by the query and selection you performed in the List tab.

Consider filling out the data from the details area rather than the table window. If you look at the right-hand side of the table window in Maximo 7.6.1.1 which is where I am performing the tests, the delete row icon does not align. This means that one or more fields have been hidden by Maximo for the AJE12 item. It is the Unit Cost field for an item with an Issue Cost Type field of ASSET. That actually means that what you see in the Unit Cost column for the AJE12 row is in fact the Default Bin, the field has moved across to the left, so has Issue Unit in the Lot column and so on for Order Unit and Site. 

The reason for this is because I have set up to perform Asset Cost Accounting in the BEDFORD storeroom for non-capitalized rotating items and item AJE12 is set to be rotating. Nevertheless, it is clearly an issue, that is hopefully fixed in Maximo 7.6.1.2. Note, it isn’t a matter of removing the signature option NOTASSETCOST on the table window column for Unit Cost in Application Designer, I tried that.

And finally, a word on Security. 

• When the first dialog opens the Sites that you can select are dependent on the Sites defined for the user in Security Groups – Sites tab.
• The Storerooms in the same dialog are dependent on the Storerooms defined for the user in Security Groups – Storerooms tab.
• You are entering records into Inventory and you need to have at least Read Access and Save Inventory defined for the user in Security Groups – Applications tab, for the Inventory application. There may be other actions as well, but the Save option got me going.