---
title: "Ward Indents"
description: "How a ward asks the Main Store for stock, how the Main Store approves, revises and issues it, releases a hold, and how a request is cancelled or expires."
date: 2026-11-09
lastModified: 2026-11-12
category: "admin"
author: "Dr. Umesh Bilagi"
beta: true
---

## Overview

An **indent** is a ward's request to the Main Store for hospital stock. The ward's in-charge raises it, the Main Store's in-charge approves it (lowering lines if it cannot supply everything), and then issues it — which is the moment the quantity actually moves out of the Main Store and into the ward.

Nothing on an indent moves stock by itself. Raising and approving only **reserve** the quantity, so the Main Store cannot promise the same item to a second ward; issuing is the only step that changes a balance. Stock is counted with the same rules as everywhere else, so a request can never be made against a service that was never received.

An indent that nobody finishes is expired automatically after a week, so a stale request stops holding stock.

An indent is the way stock comes **into** a ward. Stock the ward never used goes back the other way as a [return](/docs/store-returns).

## Prerequisites

- The **Main Store** exists. Create it in **Admin → Store Management → Store Master**; a hospital should have exactly one.
- The ward exists, is a **Ward** type store, and is active.
- Both stores have a **ledger account**. The in-charge is set in the same screen.
- The item is hospital stock — it has a purchase price or has been received. It does **not** need to be in stock at the Main Store: asking for something that is short is how a ward puts demand on the store. A billed service — Bed Charge, OPD Consultation — is not stock and cannot be indented.

## Workflow

### Where to find it

Open **Modules → Store** and click **Indents**, or use the **Indents** link on the Store dashboard. The list shows the indents you may see, newest first:

| Column | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| **Date** | When the indent was raised |
| **Ward** | The store asking for the stock |
| **Raised by** | The user who raised it |
| **Status** | See the status table below |
| **Lines** | How many items were asked for |
| **Requested** | Total quantity asked for |
| **Issued** | Total quantity already issued |
| **Open** | Opens the indent |

The **Store** filter narrows the list to one store and the **Status** filter defaults to **Open indents** — everything still awaiting approval, partly issued or about to be. Choose a single status to see closed, cancelled or expired requests.

### Raise an indent

1. Click **Raise indent**. The button is shown only when you run a ward and the main store exists.
2. Pick the **Ward** you are raising for.
3. Set the date and add **Notes** if the ward needs to explain the request.
4. Search for an item in the picker and add it. The picker lists every hospital stock item, including one the Main Store has run out of (shown as **not in stock**). A billed service (Bed Charge, OPD Consultation) never appears. Each line shows how much is **available** at the Main Store.
5. Type the quantity the ward actually needs. There is no ceiling: you may ask for more than the Main Store holds.
6. Click to submit. The indent is created as **Awaiting approval**.

Asking for more than is on the shelf is allowed on purpose. The whole requested quantity is reserved, so **available** drops — possibly below zero — and that shortfall is the demand the Main Store sees to buy against. A line the store has none of still becomes a real indent, is approved like any other, and can be issued — the purchase that explains it can be booked afterwards.

The server re-reads the request under a lock, so two wards raising at the same moment still get distinct indent numbers and neither can corrupt the reservation.

### Approve and revise

Open the indent and look at the lines table: **In ward** and **At main** sit beside each item — what the ward already holds and what the Main Store's book shows — so you can see what topping this indent up takes the ward to before deciding.

Click **Approve**. Every line is filled in with the quantity that was asked for; lower the ones you cannot supply and click **Save approval**.

- Lowering a line reduces the reservation to the approved figure. It does not touch what the ward asked for — **Requested** keeps the original number.
- A line can never go below what has already been **issued**. Issued stock does not roll back here.
- Approving a line the store does not yet hold is allowed — it commits the Main Store to buying it. It can be issued too: the stock on hand does not stand in the way, only the book has to catch up afterwards.
- Approving every line at zero **cancels** the indent instead of approving it, and releases the reservation.

**Revising.** An approval is not final. Open the indent again — the button reads **Revise approval** once it has been approved — and move lines up or down. The same bounds apply: every line stays between what has been issued (the floor) and what the ward asked for (the ceiling), and the reservation follows the new figures.

- Raising a line that was cut too deeply reopens the issue: the indent goes back to **Approved** or **Partly issued** and the extra quantity can be issued.
- Lowering a line down to what has already been issued closes the indent.
- Revising a **Closed** indent above its issued quantity reopens it, so more can be issued.
- Each revision restarts the expiry clock.
- Lines you leave untouched keep their current approved figure, not the ward's original request.

Issued stock is never reduced by revising — that is a real movement. Adjusting for stock the ward already holds is a separate return from the ward, not part of this screen.

### Ward maximum

A ward can be given a **Maximum** per item on its Minimum Levels screen (see [Store Minimum Levels](/docs/store-minimum-levels)). While approving, if a line would take the ward's holding past that maximum, its **In ward** figure turns red and a warning names the item and the figure it would reach.

The maximum is guidance, not a rule: the approval still saves. It is there to catch a ward that is quietly over-stocked before you add to it.

### Issue

Once approved, **Issue stock** appears. The issue screen pre-fills each line with what is still owed:

1. Check the date and add notes.
2. Lower any quantity you cannot send in full.
3. Click **Issue stock**.

A line left at zero is simply not issued; it stays owed on the indent.

**The stock on hand does not block an issue.** If the ward needs the goods now and the Main Store's book does not show them yet, issue them anyway: the screen marks the line in red and warns that the Main Store's balance will go negative, but the issue goes through. That negative is the paperwork lag, not a missing delivery — clear it afterwards by booking the supplier's **purchase**, or by counting the stock in at the Main Store with **Set Stock**. A Set Stock count is a Main Store count, so it corrects exactly the balance the issue pushed negative and leaves what the ward holds untouched.

The Main Store's balance falls and the ward's rises by the same quantity; the hospital total is unchanged. If you sent only part of the indent, it becomes **Partly issued** and keeps the rest reserved. Issue again when more stock arrives — the list and the detail both show what is left as **Remaining**.

One issue can send several items at once, and each item can be topped up across as many issues as it takes. The issue that clears the last remainder closes the indent.

An indent brings stock into the ward. What the ward then uses is recorded on **Consumption**, separately from this screen — see [Ward Consumption](/docs/store-consumption).

### Cancel

Either the ward or the Main Store can cancel an indent that has not been closed. Click **Cancel indent**, type a reason and confirm.

Cancelling releases the **unissued** quantity back into the Main Store's available stock. Anything already issued stays at the ward — it was really moved, so cancelling the paperwork does not move it back.

### Release a hold

Sometimes the decision is not about one indent. Say three indents for the same item hold 200 between them and 150 has been issued; the Main Store wants to stop holding the other 50 for a few days, then hold it again. Editing three indents would not say that clearly, so there is a separate entry for it.

Open **Modules → Store → Release holds**. The table lists every item the Main Store currently holds:

| Column | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| **Held now** | What the open indents reserve for the item, after any earlier release |
| **Keep held** | The quantity the hold should be lowered to (or restored to) — you type the figure to keep |
| **After** | What will be held once you save |

Set **Keep held** on the items you mean to change, add the date and a note, and click **Release hold**. The difference between **Held now** and what you keep goes back into the Main Store's **available** stock.

- This is a **document**, not an edit. Each release is recorded as its own entry and reads as what actually happened; a later release supersedes an earlier one for the same item, so a higher **Keep held** restores the hold.
- It applies to **every indent open at the moment you save**. Indents raised afterwards are not affected and hold in full.
- It never changes what an indent may still **issue**: an indent keeps offering its own remainder. Only revising that indent moves its ceiling.
- Stock already issued is untouched — a release frees a reservation, it moves nothing.

You cannot keep more than is held before earlier releases: the screen shows that ceiling and the server refuses more.

### Automatic expiry

A cron job runs every night at 03:00 IST. Any indent that has been untouched for **7 days** — counted from its last issue, or from approval, or from the date it was raised — becomes **Expired**:

- An indent still **Awaiting approval** expires whole, releasing everything it held.
- An indent that is **Partly issued** expires only its unissued remainder; what was issued stays at the ward, exactly as with a manual cancel.

The window is a system setting (`STORE_INDENT_EXPIRY_DAYS`), 7 days unless changed. Once an indent is closed, cancelled or expired nothing further can be issued against it.

## Statuses

| Status | Meaning | What can happen next |
|--------|---------|----------------------|
| **Awaiting approval** | Raised; the full quantity is reserved | Approve, cancel, or expire |
| **Approved** | Approved at the shown quantities; still reserved | Issue, revise, cancel, or expire |
| **Partly issued** | Some stock has moved; the remainder is still reserved | Issue the rest, revise, cancel, or expire |
| **Closed** | Every approved quantity has been issued | Revise above what was issued to reopen it |
| **Cancelled** | Stopped on purpose, with a reason | Nothing |
| **Expired** | Untouched past the expiry window | Nothing |

## Who can do what

| Action | Who |
|--------|-----|
| Raise an indent | The ward's in-charge; admin or director for any ward |
| Approve or revise | The **Main Store's** in-charge; admin or director |
| Issue | The **Main Store's** in-charge; admin or director |
| Release a hold | The **Main Store's** in-charge; admin or director |
| Cancel | Either the ward's in-charge or the Main Store's in-charge; admin or director |
| View | Anyone who can open the **Store** module, for the stores they may see |

A ward's in-charge can never approve their own indent — approval belongs to the store that supplies the stock.

## Common Issues

**The line shows "not in stock" when raising.** That is fine — the ward may still ask for it. The indent becomes demand the Main Store has to buy against. If you only want what can be issued today, pick an item with an available figure above zero.

**"Cannot issue {n} — {n} remaining".** You cannot send more than the approved quantity. If the ward was approved less than it needs, **revise** the indent upward — up to what the ward requested. If it needs more than it asked for, raise a new indent.

**The Main Store's book shows fewer than I am issuing.** That is allowed. Issue anyway — the ward gets the stock and the Main Store's balance goes negative until the purchase or physical count is recorded. The screen warns you before you save.

**"This indent is not open for issue".** The indent is still awaiting approval, or it has been closed, cancelled or expired.

**"Only the main store's in-charge can issue this indent".** You may see the indent from the ward side, but issuing belongs to the Main Store. Ask its in-charge, or an administrator.

**"You are not the in-charge of this store" when raising.** Your user needs to be named as that ward's in-charge in **Store Master**, or you need an admin or director.

**"Register the main store first".** The organization has no Main Store. Create one in Store Master.

**The indent disappeared from the list.** The list opens on **Open indents**. Choose **Closed**, **Cancelled** or **Expired** in the **Status** filter to see it.

## FAQ

**Q: Why is the quantity reserved if nothing has moved?**
A: Reservation is a promise, not a movement. It holds the quantity against the Main Store so a second ward sees it as spoken for. Reserving changes **available**, never **on hand** — see [Store Minimum Levels](/docs/store-minimum-levels).

**Q: Can a ward ask for something the Main Store does not have?**
A: Yes, and that is the point of a demand. The indent reserves the whole requested quantity, so available can go negative — the shortfall is what the Main Store must buy. It can be approved and issued as it stands; the Main Store's balance goes negative until the purchase (or a count with **Set Stock** at the Main Store) is recorded, so the paperwork and the movement meet up in the end.

**Q: Can I issue stock the computer says is not there?**
A: Yes. The stock on hand is informational on the issue screen — it never blocks the issue. A red line and a warning tell you the Main Store's balance will go negative; issue anyway when the goods are physically on the shelf and the bill or count will follow.

**Q: Why can a ward's in-charge not approve their own indent?**
A: Approval is the supplying store's decision. The ward asking for stock cannot also decide that the Main Store has it, so the two actions belong to two different stores.

**Q: Can a ward ask for more than one item?**
A: Yes. An indent can carry up to 200 lines, each with its own requested and approved quantity, and each can be issued in parts.

**Q: What happens to stock if I cancel a partly issued indent?**
A: The remainder is released and becomes available again; the quantity already issued stays at the ward. Cancelling reverses the paperwork, not a delivery that really happened.

**Q: Why did my indent expire while I was still waiting for stock?**
A: Nothing was issued against it for the expiry window (7 days by default). Raise it again once the stock is there, or issue part of it to keep it alive — any issue resets the clock.

**Q: Do indents affect the accounts?**
A: No. An indent and its issue are stock documents only: they move quantities between stores and are posted at zero amount. They do not change any ledger balance.

**Q: Can I edit an indent after raising it?**
A: Not the lines the ward typed — the request stands as raised. What can change is the approval: the Main Store's in-charge can **revise** it up or down at any time before the indent is cancelled or expired, as long as no line goes below what has already been issued or above what was asked for. Revising a closed indent above its issued quantity reopens it. Notes are kept from when the indent was raised, and each issue can carry its own note; a cancellation keeps its reason with the document.

**Q: Can I undo an approval completely?**
A: Yes, as long as nothing has been issued: revise every line to zero and the indent is cancelled, releasing the reservation. Once stock has been issued, no line can go below that issued quantity.

**Q: What is the difference between releasing a hold and revising an indent?**
A: Revising changes one indent's approved figure, so it moves both the reservation and what that indent may still issue. Releasing a hold lowers the total reservation across every indent open at that moment without touching any indent's issue ceiling — use it when the decision is about an item, not a particular request.

**Q: Does a hold release affect indents raised afterwards?**
A: No. A release applies only to the indents open when it was recorded. Anything raised later holds in full, so an old release can never under-hold a new request.

**Q: What happens if I approve more than a ward's maximum?**
A: It saves — the maximum is advisory. The line's **In ward** figure turns red and a warning names the item, so you can judge whether the over-stock is intended.