Store Minimum Levels

Overview

A minimum level is the quantity of an item a store should always keep on hand. It is set per item per store, so the Main Store can hold a different floor from each ward. Once a floor is set, the store dashboard can tell you how many items sit below it, and the Shortage screen lists exactly which ones.

A minimum level applies to hospital stock — items the store physically holds and moves. Pharmacy items are not part of this screen.

The list is hospital stock only. A billed service — OPD Consultation, Bed Charge, a room charge — is a charge, not stock: nothing is ever received, so it has no quantity to set a floor against and does not appear. Charges remain visible on invoices, just not on the stock screens: MIS Reports → Stock → Current leaves them out too.

The figure that is compared with the floor is the item's available quantity: what is physically on hand at that store, minus anything already reserved by a ward indent that has not been fully issued yet. An approved but unissued indent is why available can sit below on hand, and a ward asking for more than the store holds makes it negative — that shortfall is demand the store still has to buy.

A ward's floor also drives what it is suggested to hand back on the Dormant stock screen: an item the ward has not consumed for a long time is offered back down to its floor, so the ward keeps only what it is supposed to.

Prerequisites

• The store exists. Create stores in Admin → Store Management → Store Master.
• Someone is named as the store's in-charge in Store Master. Without an in-charge, only an admin or director can set that store's levels.
• The item is a hospital item with a purchase price, or it has been received into stock at some point (a purchase, a physical stock entry, or a ward issue).

Workflow

Open the store dashboard

Any user with the Store module can open Modules → Store. Admins also have a shortcut on the Admin page: Admin → Store Management → Store Dashboard.

The dashboard lists the stores you may see, with four counts per store:

A user who is not the in-charge of any store, and is not an admin, director or the Main Store's in-charge, sees a message asking an administrator to assign them in Store Master.

Set a floor

1. From the dashboard, click Minimum Levels on a store.
2. Find the item with the search box, or page through the list.
3. Type the minimum in the Minimum column.
4. Click Save.

Only the rows you changed on the current page are saved. Leaving the field blank clears the floor — a store either has a floor for an item or it does not; there is no "zero floor" unless you type 0, which is a real floor that the item can never fall below.

The Available figure turns red when it is under the minimum you are typing, so you can see the effect before saving.

Set a maximum — wards only

A ward's grid carries a second column, Maximum: the quantity the ward should not normally be asked to hold above. Leave it blank for no ceiling, or type a figure and Save.

• A maximum cannot be below the minimum set for the same item.
• It never blocks anything. When the Main Store approves an indent that would take the ward past its maximum, the indent screen turns the In ward figure red and names the item — the approval still saves.
• The Main Store has no Maximum column. Purchases land there and are governed by its minimums, not a ceiling.

Search and paging

The grid loads 100 items at a time. Search filters by item name on the server, and Prev/Next move between pages. If you have unsaved changes and move pages, NICE HMS asks before discarding them.

Suggested floors — Main Store only

When the store is the Main Store, two more things appear:

• Suggested — a starting floor worked out from the item's most recent hospital purchase: 25% of the quantity purchased, rounded up, and never less than 1. An item that has never been purchased shows —. The percentage is a system setting; the default is 25%.
• Apply all — writes the suggestion for every item that does not already have a floor. Existing floors are never overwritten, so it is safe to run after you have set the ones that matter. It reports how many levels it wrote, and running it a second time normally writes none.

Suggestions exist only on the Main Store because that is where the hospital purchases land. Wards receive stock through indents, so a purchase figure would not describe a ward's use.

Who can change minimum levels

Every role that can open the Store module can view any store's levels; the table above is about changing them. Everyone else sees the grid read-only with a note explaining who may edit it.

Common Issues

An item I need is not in the list. The grid shows hospital items with a purchase price, items that have been received into stock, and items that already have a floor. Add the price in the Item Master, or receive stock through a purchase or a physical stock entry, and the item appears. A service such as Bed Charge or OPD Consultation never appears — it is billed but never received, so it has no stock and cannot hold a floor.

I cannot edit the field. You are viewing a store you are not the in-charge of. Ask an admin to make you the in-charge in Store Master, or ask the Main Store's in-charge.

The store is inactive. Minimum levels are read-only for a deactivated store. Reactivate it in Store Master first.

An item shows a negative on-hand figure. That is a real shortfall, not an error: the item was billed out before it was ever received. It counts as below its floor until a purchase or a Set Stock count at the Main Store brings it back up. A count is a Main Store count — the typed quantity is what the Main Store ends at — so a count of 10 on a Main Store reading of −3 leaves exactly 10, and 0 clears it.

Apply all reported 0. Every item that has a purchase already had a floor. Hand-set floors are deliberately left untouched.

FAQ

Q: Why is Bed Charge (or OPD Consultation) not in the list? A: It is a service, not stock. It is billed on invoices but nothing is ever received into a store for it, so it has no quantity to keep above a floor. Only items that can actually sit on a shelf have minimum levels — keeping charges out of the list also keeps the "below floor" count meaningful.

Q: Does a minimum level change stock? A: No. It is a threshold for reporting and buying decisions; it never moves a quantity. Stock changes only when a purchase, issue, return or consumption voucher is posted.

Q: Does a maximum stop the Main Store approving more stock for the ward? A: No. The maximum only warns while an indent is being approved. The approval saves, and the warning tells you the ward would go above its ceiling — use it to decide, not to block.

Q: What happens when I clear a minimum? A: The floor is removed for that store and item, and the item stops counting toward "Floors set" and "Below floor" for that store.

Q: Why is a floor blank by default? A: A blank means "untracked", which is different from "should never be low". Only items you care about need a floor, so a new hospital is not flooded with noise.

Q: Does each ward need its own levels? A: Yes. Stock at each store is counted separately, so each store's floor is set separately. The Main Store's in-charge can do this for every ward from one place.