Overview
When getting a new POS system, it can be natural to think "the first thing we should do is an inventory count to straight out the garbage we had with our old system". It makes sense on the face of it but in reality, doing an inventory count is something that should probably be a step 2 or 3 for the vast majority of clients.
NOTE: This documentation refelects options available in versions previous to 4.6 of Cloud Retailer. For documentation on later versions see here.
Procedure
BEFORE you do an inventory, count here are the things that you need to be doing perfectly with your new system:
1) All products need to be in the system, for certain. If cashiers are using "miscellaneous" products to ring things up because barcodes are not in the system your inventory is immediately off.
2) Cashiers need training on returns and exchanges at the POS.
3) You need to be inputting purchase orders and inventory transfers with perfection
4) You should do a test physical inventory count first to make sure you understand the process from start to finish. Pick 20 items, do an inventory count on them first before you schedule your whole crew to come in and do an inventory count.
If you don't do these 4 things first, our experience is that the physical inventory count was a LOT of wasted effort. We hope that advice is helpful!
ADDITIONAL READING: Conducting a physical inventory count how to with Cloud Retailer