Inventory data
Why Summing Daily Inventory Gives the Wrong Total—and What to Calculate Instead
Daily stock on hand is a snapshot, not a quantity to add across dates. To report inventory for a day or month, use the balance at the chosen cutoff—often the latest valid snapshot—not the sum of every daily balance. You may sum compatible SKUs or locations within the same snapshot, but first align timestamps, units, inventory states, and duplicate keys. Use stock movements such as receipts, sales, returns, and adjustments to explain change between snapshots.
Short answer
Daily stock on hand is a snapshot, not a quantity to add across dates. To report inventory for a day or month, use the balance at the chosen cutoff—often the latest valid snapshot—not the sum of every daily balance. You may sum compatible SKUs or locations within the same snapshot, but first align timestamps, units, inventory states, and duplicate keys. Use stock movements such as receipts, sales, returns, and adjustments to explain change between snapshots.
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A practical starting point
Daily stock on hand is a snapshot, not a quantity to add across dates. To report inventory for a day or month, use the balance at the chosen cutoff—often the latest valid snapshot—not the sum of every daily balance. You may sum compatible SKUs or locations within the same snapshot, but first align timestamps, units, inventory states, and duplicate keys. Use stock movements such as receipts, sales, returns, and adjustments to explain change between snapshots.
Concrete examples
Example 1: Daily balances produce a fake monthly total
A shop has 100 units on Monday, 92 on Tuesday, and 85 on Wednesday. Adding the snapshots gives 277, but Wednesday ending inventory is 85 units. The three balances should form a trend; they are not three separate quantities received or held.
Example 2: Locations can be added at one cutoff
At 6 p.m., SKU-A has 20 available units in Store 1 and 15 in Store 2. If the definitions, timestamp, and unit match, total available stock is 35. Adding either location's balances from the previous day would double-count time.
Example 3: A missing month-end row needs a disclosed fallback
The August export has snapshots through 30 August but no 31 August row. The report uses 30 August as the latest available balance and labels it “as of 30 August,” rather than presenting it as a confirmed month-end figure or replacing it with zero.
Example 4: Available and committed are not automatically additive
An export shows 50 on-hand units, 12 committed units, and 38 available units. Because available may already equal on hand minus committed, adding all three produces 100 and double-counts the same inventory states. The dashboard preserves the source definitions and reports each measure separately.
Example 5: Movement data explains the balance change
A warehouse begins with 80 units, receives 25, fulfils 18, records two returned units, and writes off one damaged unit. Under the confirmed sign rules, the expected ending balance is 80 + 25 - 18 + 2 - 1 = 88. If the snapshot says 86, the two-unit difference becomes an exception to investigate, not a value for AI to invent.
Examples are illustrative and are not customer results.
Common questions
What is the safest way to work with this CSV problem?
Daily stock on hand is a snapshot, not a quantity to add across dates. To report inventory for a day or month, use the balance at the chosen cutoff—often the latest valid snapshot—not the sum of every daily balance. You may sum compatible SKUs or locations within the same snapshot, but first align timestamps, units, inventory states, and duplicate keys. Use stock movements such as receipts, sales, returns, and adjustments to explain change between snapshots.
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