Managing inventory

Inventory ties up cash and drives cost of goods, so keeping it accurate pays off quickly. In Dudley, inventory has two building blocks: providers (your suppliers) and items (what you stock and sell).

Add material providers

Providers are the suppliers and vendors you buy stock from. Add them before (or alongside) your items so purchases can be attributed correctly.

1. Go to Inventory → Providers.
2. Select Add Provider.
3. Enter at least the company name. Contact details and notes are optional.
4. Save.

Providers appear in dropdowns when you create inventory items and when you log or import expenses. Inactive providers are hidden from those selections.

Add inventory items

1. Go to Inventory → Items.
2. Select Add item.
3. Enter the item name and unit of measure (for example, units, lbs, or gallons).
4. Optionally set a material provider, unit cost, starting quantity, and low-stock threshold.
5. Save.

Unit cost is what Dudley uses when a sale consumes stock, so cost of sales and margin stay accurate. You can leave it empty — Dudley will calculate unit cost automatically from purchases as you log expenses tied to that item.

How inventory connects to expenses and revenue

• Expenses can be linked to a provider and an inventory item (with a quantity). That records a stock-in and updates on-hand quantity and cost.
• Revenue line items can reference inventory items. When those sales are recorded, Dudley reduces stock and applies cost of sales based on the item’s unit cost.

If you plan to import revenue or expenses with inventory columns, create your providers and items first so the import can match them.

Track stock and turnover

Dudley shows, for each item:

• Units on hand and current value.
• Sell-through and turnover, so you can see what’s moving.
• Low-stock alerts before you run out.

Reduce tied-up cash

Slow-moving items quietly lock up working capital. Review sell-through and turnover on each item, and ask Teddy AI about catalog or usage trends when you want a quick read.