Inventory Overview
Inventory is done in Horizon based on location and collection. You first decide which collection to do, then plan on it
taking twice as long as expected. For the first inventory, start with a small collection. The best results are with collections
which are shelved separately, not intermixed with other collections. A laptop on a cart can be used, or a portable device.
The inventory will report problems called “exceptions”.
Examples of exceptions are:
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Wrong location
Wrong collection
Wrong status (not checked in, i.e. lost, transit, in cataloging, missing, trace, etc.)
Item not found in database
These exceptions are dealt with by moving them to their proper location or collection, changing their location or
collection, checking them in, or cataloging them. For those that get their location or collection changed or are
cataloged, if they will remain in the collection being inventoried they will need to be scanned again to make sure they
are included. It doesn’t hurt to rescan items for the inventory.
Items that are checked out before or during the inventory will be counted as inventoried, but make sure that you
inventory items on the shelving cart, as they would be expected to be on the shelf.
If doing the inventory with a laptop (with Internet access) or portable device (with wireless Internet access), you will see
exception messages as you go. With a laptop you can take care of problems as they arise. With a portable device you
can pull problem items off the shelf to handle later. On the handheld, if you lose Internet access you will not see exception
messages – just scan all the items and later get a report of all the problems when you get it back.
In the collection code table, you can also see inventory statistics for each collection telling when it was last inventoried.
To see this table, double-click on Table Editor in the Administration folder of Horizon. In the inventory area of the
collection code table, you will see indications of when the last inventory was “finished” and “completed”. Finished means
when the last session was finished, completed means when the inventory was closed out.
When you close an inventory, all uninventoried items go to a status of “missing inventory” or “mi”. This can be used as a
weeding list. It’s important not to close the inventory prematurely, as this would put numerous items in “mi” status. It can
be reversed by checking the items in, but that would be time consuming!
There could be some problems if we have multiple libraries running inventories at the same time. They might print out and
clear each other’s exception reports and accidentally close each other’s inventories, causing uninventoried items to
change to a “missing inventory” or “mi” status. So we will need to be careful and coordinate!
The item record shows when an item was last inventoried. You can see this by searching the item with f2, sending it to
the copy/item list, and clicking Edit. The inventory information is found under the item status.
Inventory Procedure
Doing a Handheld Inventory
1. Turn on the PocketCirc device. Check that it has a wireless connection. This is indicated by
two arrows at the top right. If an X appears with them, it is not connected. Click on Start,
Ipaq Wireless, and WiFi to connect. If the WiFi icon turns green, and the X by the arrows
goes away, you are now connected. See Miscellaneous Notes for more about wireless.
2. Click OK and go back to the Start button.
Start the SocketScan barcode reader, and start the PocketCircHz Program. These can
be started by tapping on Start at the top left, and tapping on the program name. The
SocketScan barcode reader is on when an icon appears in the lower right, near the
wireless icon.
3. When you decide what collection you will inventory, you must add the collection to the
program. You only need to do this once. To do this, click on Setup.
4. Tap the Policies tab, and check to see if your location is listed. If not, you can add it by
tapping in the blank, using the virtual keyboard to enter the 3-letter location code, and
tapping Add.
5. In the drop-down box that says Location, click on the down area to select Collection. If your
chosen collection is not listed, add it as described in step 4. Click on OK.
6. Select the Online Client radio button and tap Login, change the location if necessary, and
tap OK.
7. Select the Items tab.
8. Tap Inventory. The Inventory Item screen displays.
9. If necessary, select the Collection from the list
10. Check that the cursor is in the blank under the word Items. Scan items by pressing on the
button on the left of the device while aiming the scanner at a barcode, or enter each item
ID (using the virtual keyboard) and tap Inv.
11. As you scan items or tap Inv., the inventory data is sent to the Horizon server. The status
and item information displays in the results list. Note: The system shows inventory results
in real time. Errors (such as wrong location and collection, or no barcode in system) are
highlighted in red, and warnings (such as wrong status) are highlighted in yellow. You
should make two piles of items to fix based on the yellow or red indications.
12. To see more information about a specific item, tap it in the results list to open an item
description window. You will need to reposition the cursor in the blank after looking at the
message.
13. When you finish taking inventory for this session, tap OK to return to the Items tab. Then
tap on the Miscellaneous Tab and choose Logout, and Yes, and Exit.
14. Problems can be addressed in several ways. One way is to take them back to a
workstation and use f2 to search them and discover why they caused a problem. You can
also scan them into the Item Group Editor and display their collections and statuses to see
quickly what can be fixed. A third option is to use the Inventory Exceptions Report (see
Reporting Inventory Exceptions below). When using the handheld, you will not be able
to select by Session #, but you can enter the collection to see the exceptions and later
clear them when they have been addressed.
15. A handheld inventory can be started, then finished using the Workstation Inventory method
and vice versa. The problem items need to be re-inventoried after they are fixed (if they
are remaining in the collection) and this is sometimes more easily done at the workstation.
16. The closing of the Inventory is also done at the workstation – see the section on Reports
and Finishing Inventory below.
Doing a Workstation Inventory
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Open Horizon
Open Workstation Inventory under the Inventory folder
Enter or select from Codes the location and collection you are inventorying
Don’t Check “Display misshelved books”
Check “Display exception messages”
Always check “Override call no. Checks”
Click OK
Start scanning barcodes
When you need a break or leave for the day (or any time really), click complete and write
down Exceptions Table # (Session ID#). This is very important for using the exceptions
report.
Reports and Finishing Inventory
Report Inventory Exceptions – Not necessary when doing a Handheld Inventory!
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Open Report Inventory Exceptions under the Inventory folder.
Enter or select from Codes the collection you would like an inventory report
Enter Session ID# from doing inventory (if you know it).
Click OK.
This report will show all the exceptions from the inventory session. The “problem” book is
always the middle title.
6. Print, review, or close.
7. Deal with exceptions by finding the books and checking them in or changing the codes,
and re-inventory them if they belong in the collection you are inventorying.
8. Clear exceptions when done dealing with them.
Find Missing Inventory
1. Open Find Missing Inventory under the Inventory folder
2. ** IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT CLICK OK **
3. If you are in the middle of a collection inventory (i.e.- NOT DONE), you can see how much
you have left by selecting STATS ONLY – this is informational only.
4. If you are done inventorying an entire collection, then click OK. In doing this, all missing will
have their status changed to missing inventory (mi).
Report Missing Inventory
After you are done with the Inventory, you will want to take action on the items that were missing
– usually by weeding them, but perhaps by searching for them further, or re-ordering particular
titles. Using Item Group Editor, you can get a report of all missing inventory titles in a particular
collection.
1. Open Report Missing Inventory (this is just a version of Item Group Editor) under the
Inventory folder.
2. Create a compound search, with your collection and status = ‘mi’ as the criteria.
3. Use ‘Display’ to choose what fields to include
4. Use ‘Sort’ to sort by call number, if desired
5. You can print or export this list from the File menu. Exporting it with a .xls extension would
allow you to use it in Excel.
6. You can use this to batch change the “mi” items to “w” for withdrawn if you are comfortable
with that.
Updating or Checking the Collection Table
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Open Table Editor
Open “Collection” table
Select collection you would like to review inventory status.
Page down to Inventory box.
Finished date is the partially completed date for today.
Completed date tells the system we are completely done and we have run the missing
inventory report.
7. Manually enter data in the fields when inventory is complete. This allows you to keep track
of which collections have been inventoried.
Miscellaneous notes about the HP Ipaq we are
using for Handheld Inventory
Like any piece of technology, this one has its quirks.
 There is a cradle that is used to charge the Ipaq. Plug the cradle into a wall outlet and
place the Ipaq in it when you are not using it.
 The cradle can also be used to synchronize data to a computer, using the USB cable.
However, this cannot be used to upload inventory data if the wireless connection is lost. It
really has no use for our purposes, so the USB cable can be left unplugged.
 When the device is not used for a short time, the screen goes blank and it hibernates to
save energy. Tapping on it or pushing the power button will usually bring it back to life
where it left off, but it may have lost its wireless connection. PocketCirc may ask you if you
want to go to Offline Mode. You will need to agree to do this. Then you can get wireless
access back and log in again, at which point it will sometimes advise you to upload your
data. To do this, after starting PocketCirc and logging in, choose the Miscellaneous Tab
and choose upload. Any data uploaded will be reflected in the Inventory Exceptions
Report.
 The wireless on the Ipaq is pretty easy to use. On the main screen, there’s an icon on the
lower right that shows what looks like a little radio tower. If it has an X through it, it is not
connected. You can tap on it for more information and settings.
 If the Ipaq gets stuck on a screen and won’t respond, use the stylus to do a soft reset: find
the hole on the bottom of the device and insert the stylus to press in and release. It will
restart.
 The virtual keyboard is handy, but sometimes gets in the way. You can bring it up or make
it go away by tapping at the bottom of the screen on the little picture of a keyboard.