Parts

Go to Assets › Parts to keep track of the parts you use for repairs: AC adapters, keyboards, batteries, cases and so on. See how many you have, how many are already in devices, and what's running low.

To open it you need Open Parts (parts.view) and View assets (assets.view), on an account with parts. Parts has its own permissions, apart from the asset ones:

• Open Parts (parts.view): see parts, their stock and the devices they're linked to.
• Add parts (parts.create): add parts and record stock received.
• Edit parts (parts.edit): change a part, including its minimum quantity, and link it to devices or unlink it.
• Delete parts (parts.delete): delete a part nothing uses.

In the role editor they're the Inventory & parts area: View opens Parts, Edit adds Add parts and Edit parts, and Full adds Delete parts. See the permissions reference.

A list opened from Co-pilot keeps supported status, price and quantity conditions from the answer as you move between pages. Use Clear filters to return to the full list you can access.

How stock is counted#

A part has stock entries: each one a quantity you received at a location (and, if you like, a room there), with a unit cost. Each location keeps its own count:

• Total is the quantity of every stock entry at that location, added up.
• In Use is how many units from that location's stock are in devices: each device the part is linked to counts one. Deleted devices don't count.
• Available is Total minus In Use, never below zero.

A part's Total Qty, In Use and Available are its locations' numbers added up. If your role covers only some schools, you see the stock at those schools, and the totals are theirs.

When you link a part to a device, the unit comes out of the stock at the device's school (its room first, if the part is kept there). If that school has none free, it comes from stock with no location, then from the school with the most free. The part's page shows where each unit came from, and moving the device later doesn't move it.

Stock entered before parts had locations shows under No location. It still counts, and anyone who can see the part sees it.

Its Stock Status follows from Available:

• Out of Stock when none are available.
• Low Stock when some are available, but no more than the part's Minimum Quantity.
• In Stock otherwise.

A part's Minimum Quantity is set on its own page, under Part Details. Leave it blank, or 0, for no low-stock alert: the part then goes straight from In Stock to Out of Stock.

Set a minimum, or leave it blank?#

• Set a minimum for parts you reorder and can't be without, and make it what you use while a new order arrives. The part turns Low Stock in time to reorder. The alert is the badge and the Stock Status filter; nobody gets an email.
• Leave it blank for parts you buy once or only when something breaks, like a spare docking station. They show only In Stock or Out of Stock, so the Low Stock filter stays a true reorder list.

For example, a 1:1 Chromebook program that swaps about 15 AC adapters a month, with orders taking two weeks to arrive, could set the adapter's minimum to 10. When Available drops to 10, filter Stock Status by Low Stock to find it and every other part to reorder.

Search and filters#

• Search parts... finds the text in a part's name, part number, serial number, manufacturer or category. Use * as a wildcard.
• Category. AC Adapter, Battery, Cable, Case, Docking Station, Keyboard, Mouse, Screen Protector or Stylus, A to Z, with Other last.
• Stock Status. In Stock, Low Stock or Out of Stock, as the Stock Status column shows it. In Stock leaves out parts that are low. Choose more than one to see either.

Links from elsewhere, like a device's page, can open the list on one part. A Selected part view banner shows above the list, with Clear.

Columns#

All shown to start with: Name, Part Number, Category, Manufacturer, Part Status, Stock Status, Total Qty, In Use, Available and Avg Cost (the average cost of a unit, across the stock entries that have a unit cost).

Select a column's name to sort every part by it, not just the page you're on; select it again to reverse. The list starts newest first.

The columns button, at the top right of the table, shows, hides and reorders them. Your choice is saved for you in this browser.

The list shows 20 parts a page. Select a row to open the part.

Add a part#

Choose Actions › New Part. You need Add parts (parts.create).

• Name (required).
• Location (required). The location that holds the part. If your role is tied to one location, it's filled in for you.
• Part Number.
• Manufacturer. From your list of manufacturers, or None.
• Category. One of the categories above.

Select Create Part. A new part has no stock: open it and add some.

A part's page#

A part's page has three tabs:

• Part Details. Name, Part Number, Serial Number, Manufacturer, Status (Active, Inactive, Discontinued or Out of Stock), Category, Minimum Quantity (blank for none), Description and Notes, then Purchase Info: Purchase Price, Purchase Date and Warranty Expiration. A Summary shows its status, its Stock status (In Stock, Low Stock or Out of Stock), Total Quantity, In Use, Available and Minimum Quantity. Select Save Changes after editing. Editing needs Edit parts.
• Linked Devices. The devices this part went into. Link Device finds a device by asset tag, serial or model and links it, which counts one more as in use. The device can be at the part's own location or at any location where the part is stocked. Unlink a device to put the part back in stock, at the location it came from. Seeing the devices needs View assets; linking and unlinking needs Edit parts.
• Inventory. Stock by Location shows each location (and room) with its Available, In Use, Total and Unit Cost (the average for that location), and a total row. Below it, Inventory Entries lists every stock entry with where it went. Add Inventory records a Location (and, optionally, a Room), Quantity, Unit Cost and Notes. You can add stock at any location in the part's district that your role covers; if your role covers only some schools, only those are offered. Needs Add parts.

Status is the part's own lifecycle, which you set. Stock Status is worked out from the numbers. They're separate: a part can be Active and Out of Stock.

You can also link a part to many devices at once from Assets, with Link part....

Delete a part#

Delete Part, under Purchase Info, shows for people who hold Delete parts. It only deletes a part nothing uses: no stock and no linked devices. For a part in use the button is grayed out and says why, with its counts, like "This part is in use (12 in stock, 3 linked devices)".

Stock entries can't be removed, so a part that ever had stock stays. To retire it, set its Status instead.

Which status should I choose?#

Only an Active part with some Available can be linked to a device. Every other status stops new links; devices already linked keep the part.

| Status | Choose it when | | --- | --- | | Active | You use the part and keep it in stock. | | Inactive | You've stopped using it for now, like a keyboard for a model you're phasing out, but might again. | | Discontinued | The manufacturer no longer makes it, or you'll never buy it again. | | Out of Stock | You want to stop anyone linking it even though Available says some are left, for example while you check a count that looks wrong. When stock simply runs out, you don't need it: Stock Status turns Out of Stock by itself. |

Inactive and Discontinued work the same way; the difference is only what they tell the next person. Use Delete Part only for a part added by mistake, before it has stock.

A deleted part leaves the Parts list and Otto's answers. The delete is recorded in the audit log, with who did it.