Scheduled vs surprise revisions: which helps more

Should a revision be announced in advance, or is it better to arrive unannounced? There is no single answer, because the two approaches solve different problems. A scheduled revision shows how solid the warehouse's order is; a surprise one reveals what happens on an ordinary working day. The best result usually comes from combining both.

Scheduled revision: the strengths

A scheduled revision follows a calendar: year-end, quarter close or a change of the person responsible for stock. Staff know the date and the procedure in advance.

Advantages:

• documents, count sheets and equipment (scales, scanner) are prepared ahead of time;
• counting can be moved to the night or a day off so that sales do not stop;
• committee members are not pulled away from their jobs, and tasks are shared out beforehand;
• it is easy to tie to annual reporting and other deadlines.

It has one drawback, but a serious one: people prepare. On the eve of the revision, documents are "tidied up", a shortage is covered from another position, stock is quietly topped up. On paper everything matches; in real life the problem remains.

Surprise revision: the strengths

In a surprise revision the committee arrives during normal working hours without warning. It usually checks not the whole warehouse but one zone or a handful of positions.

Advantages:

• you see the real everyday state of the warehouse, with no stage-dressing;
• habits come to light, such as goods moving without paperwork, late booking-in, opened packs left lying around;
• staff learn to work tidily all the time, because a check could come any day;
• it takes little time and costs little.

There are downsides as well. Work may stop for a moment, staff may take offence at the apparent lack of trust, and there is no time for a full revision.

What should you look at during a surprise check? First of all, opened packs, goods lying outside the racks, in an aisle or in the office, boxes with no delivery note, and items standing in someone else's place. Then compare the actual quantity of the chosen articles with the records and glance through the issue documents of the last week. That alone is usually enough to show the weak spots of the system.

A surprise revision is held to see the truth, not to punish. Staff need to understand that too.

How to run a surprise check properly

To avoid offending staff, a few rules help:

1. The rule is announced in advance: "The warehouse may be sample-checked at any time." No exact date is given, but the principle is known to everyone.
2. The check is carried out under the manager's order, and the committee members are recorded.
3. The person responsible for stock is present at the count and signs the results.
4. Positions are chosen at random: ten to twenty articles plus a few expensive, fast-selling goods.
5. The result is recorded the same day, not the next one.

How to combine the two

A practical scheme for many warehouses is one full scheduled revision a year plus a surprise sample check every quarter or month. For instance, counting twenty randomly chosen positions once a month takes an hour or two. Say, if the difference stays below 2 per cent for three months running, the system can be considered stable; you set the threshold to suit your own warehouse. If a sample suddenly shows a noticeable spread, it is time to bring the full revision forward.

When choosing positions for the sample, use the ABC principle. Group A, the most expensive and fastest-turning goods, deserves frequent checks, group B fewer, and group C one check a year.

A hypothetical example: a wholesale food depot runs a full revision every December. In the first week of each month the bookkeeper picks twenty articles at random on the computer, and the storekeeper learns the list an hour before the count, no earlier. For several months running, shortages appear on goods in identical packaging. That is a reason not to wait for the full revision but to review the receiving process at once. And the big year-end revision no longer brings any surprises.

Conclusion

A scheduled revision shows how strong the system is; a surprise one shows its real condition on weekdays. Combined properly, they make warehouse control both cheap and reliable. If you lack the time to organise a sample or full revision yourself, the Reviziya team can draw up the plan and carry out the count.