While inventory tracking can often be seen as a ‘counting’ issue, it should also be seen as an issue of identifying, recording, managing and maintaining accurate data.
You may know how many items you should have but struggle to find them and know if your data is up-to-date.
Your inventory tracking system should be able to identify key events and maintain accurate data.
- Create Your Inventory Data Model
Decide what data you want to keep track of.
At its simplest you may want data such as:
Unique item/asset ID
Description of the item/asset
Expected location
Current status
Quantity (if applicable)
Last event
Depending on how your inventory will work, you may want to track individual items (serialized), batches or quantities of interchangeable items.
If you are tracking individual assets then each item may have its own ID. Whereas if you are tracking bulk items you may want to know how much of a particular product is located in a certain area.
These should not be seen as interchangeable, your tracking method should be to match your inventory.
- Record Events
Instead of looking at the inventory as just a number to increase/decrease, we should take note of why the inventory is increasing/decreasing.
Common events include new items received, movement to new locations, items issued, returned or counted.
Below is a basic example of how you might record an event.
{
"event_type": "location_transfer",
"item_id": "ASSET-104",
"from_location": "SHELF-A",
"to_location": "SHELF-B",
"timestamp": "2026-10-29T10:15:00Z"
}
This is just an example of how the data may look, it is not a representation of any inventory products.
By recording events within your system, you will be able to provide information for auditing and help find why there may be inconsistencies.
You will need to make sure your events are reliable.
- Choose The Right Identification Method
Barcodes and RFID are commonly used methods of identifying physical items.
Barcodes are a visual code that can be read with a compatible scanner. They are often a good option if you can scan items manually and have easy access to the labels.
RFID uses radio waves to communicate between the RFID tag and RFID reader. Depending on the type of RFID and how it is used, you may be able to identify tagged items without needing to have each tag in view of the scanner.
This will depend on your requirements such as:
How many items you need to process.
How quickly you need to process them.
How durable the tags and labels are.
What the tags are surrounded by.
What conditions the tags will be in when being read.
Accuracy requirements.
Cost of equipment and implementation.
RFID is not always the best option. Some inventory tracking processes may only require barcodes to be scanned. However, RFID may be a good option for other scenarios.
- Validate Events
Your inventory system should validate the events coming in.
For example, if an event is for transferring an item, you may want to make sure:
The item ID is valid.
The from location is recognised.
The to location is recognised.
The timestamp is valid.
The correct authorisation has been provided.
Depending on your system, you may want to add further validations to stop duplicate events and ensure data is being updated correctly.
If two people scan the same item almost simultaneously and there is no validation in place, your system may give inaccurate results.
A robust system should consider handling duplicate events, concurrent updates, connectivity issues and out-of-order events.
The exact method will depend on your software and what you need to do.
- Differentiate Between Recorded Location and Confirmed Location
A subtle consideration to make is how you want to represent the location.
Usually, the recorded location will be based on the last accepted event. This does not guarantee that the item is currently at that location.
For example, an item may be successfully scanned whilst on a storage shelf. However, if the item is moved without being scanned again, the data will no longer be accurate.
Your system should differentiate between recorded and confirmed data.
This will help users understand how confident they can be about their inventory data.
- Create A Reconciliation Process
Even the best designed systems will require some way to identify and investigate discrepancies.
Using cycle counts, physical audits, exception reports and reviewing movement history can help organisations to compare their data with what they actually have.
When there is a discrepancy, you should aim to understand why.
Has the item been moved without being scanned? Has the wrong ID been used? Has the same event been submitted twice by a device? Has the location been incorrectly recorded?
By understanding why discrepancies occur you can help your team to identify any recurring issues and improve your process.
- Measure Results
Before changing your inventory process, you should set a baseline.
This could include:
How accurate your inventory data is.
How many discrepancies there are.
How long it takes to find items.
How long it takes to do a stock count.
How many duplicate/invalid events there are.
How long it takes to investigate exceptions.
The most useful metrics will depend on your issue. If you are trying to improve the location of assets then the success criteria may be different to if you are trying to track large amounts of stock in the warehouse.
Conclusion
Having a reliable inventory tracking system requires more than just choosing a barcode scanner or RFID reader.
Your process needs to be able to identify items, record events, validate updates, differentiate between recorded and confirmed data and allow investigation of discrepancies.
Inventory Master provides hardware related to inventory. RFID tags, readers and barcode scanners are available. When considering using this equipment you should ensure it meets the requirements of your process by looking at the specification.
The best thing for development and operations teams to do is clearly define the issue they have with their inventory. From here you can create a data model and event process to suit your inventory.
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