Inventory at MPBC: how it works today, and your questions
What we found in Gadget, Nucleus and Ekos, where a new inventory module would connect, and the questions only MPBC can answer. Nothing here is decided until you answer it.
Ekos is the inventory record today, and everything reaches it by hand. Staff enter each transaction in Gadget, then key it again into Ekos. Every night Gadget downloads 18 Ekos reports to check that the two agree.
← nightly reports
What we found
- Several Gadget steps can't finish until Ekos agrees. Closing a packaging run, confirming a transfer and closing a count all wait for Ekos, and none of them can be overridden. At cutover these checks have to point at the new module.
- Ingredient use is planned, not recorded. Gadget can record actual quantities and lots, but nobody uses that feature yet. Actual use, lots and batch cost all come from Ekos.
- Bulk beer volume is recalculated, not recorded. Gadget rebuilds each batch's volumes whenever it needs them, partly from estimates. Losses are implied, never recorded.
- Blends are well modelled in Gadget, but costing ignores that. Costing works out blends from Ekos transactions instead.
- Tax status isn't stored with stock. Whether beer is bonded or taxpaid, and each customer's class, are worked out from customer names.
- Nucleus already holds most of the item master, mixed in with recipe data. Moving it needs a deliberate plan for item identity.
- A third data source exists. The packaging plan reads finished-goods stock and demand from the Enigma spreadsheet.
How to use this page
Discovery Q&A
Our first questions about how you brew, package, hold, move and account for inventory, plus the proposals for you to confirm.
Stakeholder Q&A
New questions from the Gadget and Nucleus analysis, grouped by who should answer them: leadership, brewing, packaging, warehouse, finance, compliance, master data, and the development teams.
Findings
Each inventory process today, where the new module would connect to Gadget, what moves out of Nucleus, and the cutover risks.
Answers are saved in this browser
Type straight into the answer boxes. Your answers stay in this browser until you download them. Use Download answers on either Q&A tab to export all of them as one file. Questions marked Key shape the design most.
These questions came out of reading how Gadget and Nucleus work today. Each one says why it matters, and links to related discovery questions where they overlap.
01Inventory processes today
How each process runs now, and what changes with an inventory module.
| Process | Today | Record today | With the module |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purchasing and receiving | Purchase orders and receipts live only in Ekos. Gadget recommends orders, but doesn't create them. Berlin cans are tracked separately in Gadget. | Ekos | Receive against a purchase order, create the lot and capture lot details (alpha acid, crop year, expiry). Berlin stock held as consignment. |
| Ingredient additions | Gadget plans each line. Actual quantities and lots are keyed into Ekos. Dry hops are recorded only as "done" with initials. | Ekos | Gadget enforces lot picking where an item needs it, and posts actual use against the batch. |
| Brew day and knockout | Kettle and knockout volumes are stored per turn. If they are missing, the batch's planned size is used. | Gadget | Knockout creates the batch's bulk-beer lot, and its cost is the ingredients used. |
| Cellar transfers | Transfer volumes are stored in two places, under two rules. Measured brite-to-brite volumes are requested but never used. | Gadget | Each transfer posts a tank change. A measured shortfall is posted as a loss. |
| Blends | Recorded in Gadget. "Is the tank empty?" writes off up to 2 bbl. Undo deletes the record. Costing works blends out from Ekos instead. | Gadget, plus Ekos | A blend posts as a merge that carries cost. Undo posts a reversal. |
| Splits | A child batch is created with the split volume. | Gadget | A child lot is created with its share of the cost, linked to the parent. |
| Yeast | The pitch method and source batch are recorded. Yeast on hand is matched to Ekos by item name. Generations aren't tracked. | Gadget, plus Ekos | Yeast lots. Crops and krausen are movements from the source batch. |
| Dumps and losses | Never recorded in Gadget; losses are implied. Ekos records destroyed, spoiled and broken product. | Ekos | Each loss is posted with a reason. TTB losses are read directly. |
| Packaging run | The official count is the manager's, then the warehouse recount, then the line count. Close waits until Ekos matches the counts and the born-on date. | Gadget counts, Ekos stock | Close posts finished-goods lots and the beer drawn from one or more batches. |
| Packaging materials | Use is calculated from the BOM and loss factors. Close waits until Ekos matches exactly. About 504 old BOM rows never deplete. | Ekos | Material use is posted with each run. |
| Finished-goods lots and holds | The lot is the born-on date, and balances are rebuilt from Ekos history. A hold is a transfer into a quarantine site. | Ekos | Lots, expiry and holds are tracked as status in the module. |
| Site-to-site transfers | Gadget runs the workflow. A transfer is confirmed only when Ekos agrees. Ekos has no in-transit state, and in-bond status is guessed. | Gadget, plus Ekos | Ship and receive, with in-transit stock and tax status kept. |
| Taproom | Beer counts as removed when it moves to the taproom. Shrinkage = transferred gallons minus gallons sold. | Ekos | Removed at transfer, or held at a taproom location. Your choice (D4). |
| Kegs and mixed packs | Keg returns come from Ekos. Keg jumps and mixed packs are converted in Ekos. | Ekos | A transform from one SKU to another. Kegs could be serialized. |
| Counts | Gadget runs count sheets, a person keys the adjustment into Ekos, and the count closes when Ekos agrees. | Gadget, plus Ekos | Count sessions post adjustments directly. |
| Costing and QuickBooks | Ekos posts to QuickBooks. Gadget rebuilds batch and unit costs from Ekos and reconciles them. | Ekos | The module values inventory. Who posts to QuickBooks is your choice (A3). |
| TTB, TABC, Comptroller | Every TTB line is derived from Ekos. Customer class comes from a hard-coded list of names. | Ekos | Tax status and customer class are stored on stock and on each movement. |
02Where Gadget connects to the module
Gadget stays the system people work in. It reads item settings and stock from the module, and posts a movement whenever something physical happens.
Gadget asks the module
Item tracking settings and units; available lots and their details; stock on hand; finished-goods lots and holds; costs; movements for TTB and TABC; open purchase orders; expected count quantities; valuation; item identity.
Gadget tells the module
Ingredient use; knockout; tank transfers; blends; splits; losses; yeast and wort moves; packaging output; packaging materials; keg jumps; holds and destroys; site transfers; taproom; count adjustments; batch close; Berlin cans.
Gadget checks that change
Packaging close (counts and born-on date, materials, quarantine), transfer confirmation, count close, and keg jumps all wait for Ekos today. Once Gadget posts to the module directly, most of these checks are no longer needed.
03Changes Gadget will need
- Record what actually happened: start using the built-in sign-off, add the material and quantity to cellar additions, and pick lots.
- Correct by reversal, not by editing. Undoing a blend, split or transfer should post a reversing entry instead of deleting the original.
- Keep estimates separate from measurements (B4).
- One rule for measured transfer volume, one gallons-per-barrel figure, and units on tank capacity.
- Cost blends from Gadget's own blend records, and fix the blend volumes that claim more than was blended.
- Re-point the links that rely on Ekos names to stable item IDs.
- Revisit the earlier lot-ownership decision (H1), and finish the transfer redesign that is half done.
04What moves out of Nucleus
Proposals to confirm. Nucleus keeps what we make and how. The inventory module takes anything that is stocked, counted or shipped.
| Nucleus data | Proposal | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Packaging materials, pack sizes, suppliers, minimum order quantities, can weights | Move | Purely about stocking and buying |
| Raw-material purchase and stocking units, sourcing, lead times | Move | Replenishment data |
| Suppliers (including wine-vendor TABC permits) | Move | The vendor master |
| Item categories; Ekos and QuickBooks cross-references for moved items | Move | Keep the history of retired codes |
| Planned hop lot table (alpha acid, crop year) | Move | Build it in the module |
| Raw materials | Split | Identity and pack sizes go to inventory. The brewing profile (colour, extract, alpha acid used for estimates, dosing) stays in Nucleus. |
| SKUs | Split | The SKU becomes the finished-goods item (MP id, UPC, shelf life). It points back to the Nucleus product. |
| Packaging formats | Split | Case and pallet setup goes to inventory. Volume per unit is shared. |
| Yeast labs and strains | Split | The lab becomes a supplier with an ordering calendar. The strain stays a recipe concept. |
| Units of measure | Shared | Owned by inventory. Nucleus keeps a read-only copy. |
| Products, formulas, recipes, targets, equipment, sites and permits, packaging BOMs | Stay | BOMs are tentative (G5) |
| Pricelists, distributors | Stay | Until a sales-order module exists |
Item identity
Materials have no stable item code today, and recipes are tied to them in the database. The proposal: keep today's IDs as the shared item ID and add a human-readable item code (G2). Nucleus keeps a read-only copy of each item, so recipes still protect the items they use.
05Data quality and cutover risks
Data quality
- Transfer volumes are stored in two places, and the two disagree on a second draw. Measured brite-to-brite volumes are never used.
- 3 of 7 blends record more beer than the source tank held.
- Gallons per barrel is defined 17 times. Volumes for packaging formats disagree across three systems, and Nucleus is wrong on 12 of 16 formats.
- Ekos identifiers are unstable. Ekos stock rows carry no batch, and one SKU holds the wrong UPC.
- Customer class is free text, so an unknown distributor is filed as retail.
- About 504 packaging BOM rows have no material, so those materials never deplete.
- Ekos postings lag: only about half of finished-goods rows post the same day.
Cutover risks
- Checks that wait for Ekos. Packaging runs, transfers and counts can't close unless those checks are rewired.
- Opening balances. Finished goods can open from Ekos history, which reconciles to 98.7%. Materials and ingredient lots probably need a count. TTB and TABC must carry on from what has been filed.
- Opening WIP for open batches comes from noisy Ekos batch costs (E3).
- No sales scope. If Ekos is fully retired, sales, customer class and retailer licences need a new home (A1).
- QuickBooks posting changes hands (A3). New costs won't tie to Ekos history automatically.
- History that can be edited. Undo features in Gadget must become reversals before posting to the module starts.