Inventory Planning

This guide walks through the core workflow in CerioApp: creating a project, telling the app when the project needs units (delivery dates), telling the app when units are available (inventory availability dates), and then linking the two together (allocations). It opens with a glossary of key terms and closes by explaining how the pieces work together to flag problems before they happen.

1. The Big Picture — Three Kinds of Dates

Before clicking anything, it helps to understand the three date concepts the whole app is built around. Almost everything else follows from these.

Delivery dates (a Project need). A delivery date is the date the buyer expects the equipment to arrive on their site. A project can have several — for example, 10 units in March and 10 more in June. Together they form the project's delivery schedule: its demand, spread over time.

Availability dates (an Inventory supply). An availability date is the date a batch of inventory physically becomes available to us. One inventory item can have units arriving on multiple dates. Together they describe when that item's supply actually shows up.

Allocations (the link). An allocation connects the two: it reserves units from a specific inventory item for a specific project. Optionally, an allocation can be pinned to one of the item's availability dates, telling the app which incoming batch is covering that project.

The app constantly compares need (delivery dates) against supply (availability dates, via allocations) and warns you whenever a project is short or late. That comparison is the heart of the tool — see Section 7.

2. Key Definitions

Project status

A project's status describes where it stands in the sales cycle. It controls which section of the Open Projects table the project appears under, and how it's counted in the KPIs.

Active

The project is still being quoted and we have not yet received a purchase order (PO).

Execution

The project has advanced past quoting and is being carried out. (Inferred from how the app uses the status — confirm or reword to match your team's usage.)

Delivered

The equipment has been delivered and the project is complete. (Inferred — confirm.)

Expired

We did not hear back from the buyer; the opportunity lapsed with no response.

Lost

We did hear back from the buyer, and they will not be moving forward with our bid.

Active and Execution are the two "open" phases you'll work with day to day. Delivered, Expired, and Lost are treated as completed/closed and drop out of the active pipeline.

Dates

Project delivery date

The date the buyer expects the equipment to arrive on their site.

Inventory availability date

The date the inventory physically becomes available to us.

Inventory

Owned

We either physically possess the equipment ourselves, or we hold the PO / payment for it. In short: we own it.

3. Creating a New Project

📷 Screenshot: the Open Projects tab with the "+ New Project" button (top-right).

1. Go to the Open Projects tab in the left navigation.
2. Click the + New Project button in the upper-right. (Only visible to editor/admin accounts.)
3. A window titled New Project opens.

📷 Screenshot: the New Project form, with the Project Name field highlighted.

Fill in the details. Only Project Name is required — everything else can be added later:

• Project Name — required; identifies the project everywhere in the app.
• Customer, Salesperson, City/State — the basics for tracking and filtering.
• Probability — likelihood the deal closes. Drives the High Probability metric (projects at 75%+ still in the Active phase).
• Quantity — total units the project is for. Use this field; it's what revenue and allocation totals are based on.
• Status — the project's phase (e.g. Active or Execution — see Section 2).
• Remaining technical fields (power node, emissions, enclosure type, etc.) are optional.

Click Save to create the project.

Editing an existing project

📷 Screenshot: a project row in the table, showing where to click to open it.

Find the project in the Open Projects table and click its row. The same window reopens — and because the project already exists, the Delivery Schedule and Inventory Allocations sections are now visible near the bottom. Make changes and click Save.

4. Adding Delivery Dates (the project's demand)

Delivery dates tell the app when the buyer expects equipment on site. Add them inside the project window, in the Delivery Schedule section (visible only after the project has been saved once — see Section 3).

📷 Screenshot: the Delivery Schedule section with the date / units / notes row and the "+ Add" button.

1. Open the project and scroll to Delivery Schedule.
2. Enter a Date (when the buyer expects the units on site), Units (how many are due), and optional Notes.
3. Click + Add. The entry drops into the list below.
4. Repeat for each delivery. Staggered delivery (say 10 in March, 10 in June) gets two separate entries.

The summary bar beneath the list totals what you've scheduled, so you can confirm the schedule adds up to the project's overall quantity.

5. Adding Inventory Availability Dates (the supply)

For allocations to mean anything, the app needs to know when your inventory units become available to us. You set that on the inventory item itself.

📷 Screenshot: an inventory item open, showing the "Availability Dates" section.

1. Go to the Inventory tab and open an item (or create one and save it first — detail sections appear after the first save).
2. In Availability Dates, enter a Date (when the units physically become available to us), the number of Units arriving, and optional Notes, then click + Add.
3. Add a row for each batch. Units arriving in waves (e.g. 20 in April, 20 in July) get one entry per wave; the total should reflect the item's quantity.

These dates feed the Inventory Availability dashboard chart, the Available now filter, and the Available Today figure.

6. Adding Allocations (linking supply to demand)

An allocation reserves units from an inventory item for a project. You can do it from either side — both write to the same place, so use whichever is convenient.

Option A — from the Project window

📷 Screenshot: the Inventory Allocations section inside a project (item dropdown, availability-date dropdown, units, Allocate, ⚡ Auto-fill).

1. Open the project and scroll to Inventory Allocations.
2. Select Inventory Item — which item the units come from.
3. Availability Date (optional) — optionally pin the allocation to one of the item's availability dates. Pinning tells the app which incoming batch covers this project (this matters for the timing checks in Section 7). Unpinned, the app treats the units as covered by the item's earliest supply.
4. Enter Units and optional Notes, then click Allocate.

⚡ Auto-fill is a shortcut: pick an inventory item, click Auto-fill, and the app fills the project from that item automatically — earliest availability first, rolling to the next date if one batch isn't enough.

Option B — from the Inventory window

📷 Screenshot: the Project Allocations section inside an inventory item, with the allocation meter and "Select Project" row.

1. Open the inventory item and scroll to Project Allocations.
2. Choose a Project, optionally pin an Availability Date, enter Units and optional Notes, and click Allocate.
3. The allocation meter shows how much of the item is committed vs. still available, so you don't over-commit.

Either way, the allocation appears on both the project and the item, and feeds the Allocations Chart (left nav).

7. How It All Works Together

This is what makes CerioApp more than a list. Once a project has delivery dates and its inventory has availability dates, connected by allocations, the app continuously checks whether every project's demand is covered — on time.

The coverage check

For each project, the app walks the timeline and compares two running totals:

• What's needed by each date — the cumulative sum of the delivery schedule.
• What's covered by each date — the cumulative sum of allocated units, using each allocation's effective availability date (its pinned date, or the item's earliest supply if unpinned).

If, at any delivery date, covered units haven't caught up to needed units, the project has a shortfall — it's either under-allocated or relying on units that arrive too late.

What the app flags (in priority order)

• Past-due delivery — a delivery date has already passed. Most urgent.
• Coverage conflict — units are allocated but don't arrive in time (or in enough quantity). Supply timing doesn't line up with demand timing.
• Unallocated — the project has deliveries scheduled but not enough inventory reserved.

These appear as row colors in Open Projects and as entries on the Alerts page. Alerts reports one issue per project (the earliest unmet delivery, with the shortfall) using the same logic that colors the rows, so the two always agree.

Where you see the results

• Alerts tab — every project with a problem, earliest issue first.
• Open Projects row colors — status at a glance while scanning.
• Available Today figure and Available now filter — inventory arrived by today and not yet allocated.
• Allocations Chart — a visual map of which items cover which projects; hover a line or project for engine manufacturer, model, and quantity; each item shows N of X units allocated.
• Dashboard charts — upcoming availability and deliveries over the next 24 months.

8. Quick Reference

I want to…	Go to…	Then…
Create a project	Open Projects → + New Project	Enter at least the Project Name, Save
Add delivery dates	Open the saved project → Delivery Schedule	Enter date + units, + Add
Add inventory supply dates	Inventory → open item → Availability Dates	Enter date + units, + Add
Reserve units for a project	Project → Inventory Allocations (or) Inventory → Project Allocations	Pick item/project + units, Allocate
Quickly fill a project	Project → Inventory Allocations	Pick an item, click ⚡ Auto-fill
See what's at risk	Alerts tab	Review earliest issue per project
See what's free right now	Inventory → Available now filter	—
See the project ↔ inventory map	Allocations Chart (left nav)	Hover lines/nodes for detail