The Inventory Schema
Just as the Catalog System has a schema used as a template to define the product catalog, so too does the Inventory System have a schema used to define an inventory catalog. There are two types of inventory metadata: Inventory Catalog Metadata, and Inventory Stock-Keeping Unit (SKU) Metadata.
* Inventory Catalog Metadata: This metadata is similar to catalog metadata, except that it pertains to the Inventory System. This metadata includes the catalog name, date created, description, and the last modified date.
* Inventory Stock-Keeping Unit (SKU) Metadata: The SKU is the unique identifier for a product, and allows a product to be tracked for inventory purposes. See Table 4-1 for detailed SKU metadata properties.
Inventory Stock-Keeping Unit (SKU) Metadata
Property Name
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Property Description
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Backorder Availability date
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The backorder availability date property is the earliest date when the back-ordered SKU is available for shipping.
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Backorder Limit
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The backorder limit property defines a limit for the number of SKUs that can be back-ordered. This value must be below the stockout threshold, and is used to prevent overselling and the inability to fulfill orders. If an item is pre-orderable and back-orderable, the pre-order limit is applied before the back-order limit.
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Backorderable
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The backorderable property is used to indicate that a SKU can be back-ordered. This is applied when the onhand quantity is less than the stockout threshold. A SKU is backordered when it has already been selling and gone out-of-stock. If the SKU has not been selling and is out-of-stock, it is considered pre-orderable.
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Backordered Quanity
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The backordered quantity property indicates the number of units that have been back-ordered for a particular SKU. This property is maintained by the system.
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Catalog Name
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The catalog name property indicates the inventory catalog used to store SKU information.
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Excess Onhand Quanity
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The excess onhand quantity property indicates the total quantity of SKUs above which the inventory is in excess. This property can be used to indicate that there’s too much inventory for a particular SKU.
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Last Modified
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The last modified property indicates the last time a modification was made to the SKU. This property is maintained by the system.
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Last Restocked
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The last restocked property indicates the date when the inventory for a SKU was last restocked.
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Memo
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The memo property is a repository for notes or comments about the SKU.
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Onhand Quantity
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The onhand quantity property indicates the quantity of a SKU in inventory that is available to be sold.
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Preorder Availability Date
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The preorder availability date indicates the earliest date when the pre-ordered SKU will be available for shipping.
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Preorder Limit
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The preorder limit property defines a limit for the number of SKUs that can be pre-ordered. This value must be below the stockout threshold, and is used to prevent overselling and the inability to fulfill orders. If an item is pre-orderable and back-orderable, the pre-order limit is applied before the back-order limit.
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Preorderable
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The preorderable property is used to indicate that a SKU can be pre-ordered.
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Preordered Quantity
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The preordered quantity property indicates the number of units that have been pre-ordered for a particular SKU. This property is maintained by the system.
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Reorder Point
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The reorder point property is used to indicate when the inventory should be replenished for a particular SKU if the onhand quantity falls below the specified value.
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Status
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The status property is used to determine the condition of the inventory. There are three statuses: Disabled, Ignored, and Enabled. If the status is disabled, then the inventory SKU condition is considered out-of-stock and unavailable. If the status is ignored, then the inventory condition is considered in stock but unavailable. If the status is enabled, then the inventory condition is can either be in stock, pre-ordered, back-ordered or out-of-stock, depending on the values specified in other SKU properties. See Figure 4-4 for more information.
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Stockout Threshold
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The stockout threshold property defines the lowest quantity of items that must be available for a SKU to be considered in stock.
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Target Quantity
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The target quantity property is the amount of inventory you want to have available before reordering the SKU. This value should be set based on observed buying patterns.
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Unit Of Measure
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The unit of measure property defines the meaning of the unit value for a SKU.
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Table 4-1
All of the properties listed in Table 4-1 work together to drive the functionality of the Inventory System. It is important to again reiterate that it’s not enough to simply set these values and expect that your Web site will automatically work the way it should. The Web site must use the Inventory APIs to drive the functionality.
