Stock-Count Companion — Phase 1 Proposal

The lowest-risk first commitment we can offer

A working tool in 2 weeks. Replaces paper-and-pen stock counting.

You and the staff start using it the day it lands. The data it captures becomes the foundation for every later phase — the till migration, the credit module, the customer web app all read from the same database the Stock-Count Companion fills.

You mentioned on our last call that staff are staying late to do the stock count on paper, then walking it back inside to enter into Magnum — and that during those few hours, stock keeps selling and the numbers drift. This app closes that gap and gives the owners visible proof of progress in the first month.

The problem today

What stock-counting looks like right now

Today — paper-and-pen

Staff walk the yard with a clipboard.
Counts written on paper, by product, sometimes by location.
Walk back inside, switch the till PC on, type counts into Magnum's stock manager one by one.
By the time the numbers are in, 4–5 hours have passed and several items have already sold — Magnum is wrong again the moment the counts are saved.
Damaged stock found in the yard? No formal way to record it. Either get written off invisibly or get re-counted next time.
No history of who counted what, when, or which yard location they used.

With the Stock-Count Companion

Staff use any smartphone — no app store, no install, just open a link, log in with a PIN.
Scan a barcode or pick the product from a search, type the count, hit save.
Count is in the database instantly. Sales happening at the till are reflected against the count in real time.
Damaged stock has its own button — quantity, optional photo, optional reason.
Live dashboard for you: who's counted what, where the discrepancies are vs Magnum, what's been logged as damaged.
Every count is timestamped and attributed to the person who did it.

How it works

Four steps from open phone to count saved

1

Open the link

Staff bookmark a web address on their phone. Tap, log in with a PIN. No App Store, no install, no Apple/Google account needed.

2

Find the product

Scan the barcode with the phone camera, or type/search the product name. If it's a by-length item like timber, pick the size from a quick list.

3

Enter the count

Type the quantity. Optional: tag the yard location ("Yard B, bay 3"). If something's damaged, tap "log damaged" and add a photo.

4

Save

Count syncs to the cloud immediately. Visible on your dashboard within seconds. Staff move on to the next product.

If the yard internet is weak, the app holds counts on the phone and syncs them when connection returns — so the staff member never has to wait or worry about losing data. The BT broadband + 4G backup you already have is plenty.

What's included

Everything Phase 1 delivers

Smartphone counting app

Browser-based — works on any phone. Barcode scan, by-weight, by-length, and manual entry. Staff PIN login so every count is attributed.

Damaged-stock module

One-tap "log damaged" with quantity, optional photo, optional reason. Feeds a damaged-stock list you can later turn into a discount-sale section.

Cleaned product database

Whatever Magnum gives us, imported into a proper modern database — barcode, cost, retail, supplier, VAT, category — normalised and yours forever.

Admin dashboard

Live progress across the count, discrepancies vs Magnum's numbers, who counted what, damaged-stock log, summary by category and supplier.

Per-staff accountability

Every count is attributed to the staff member who logged it, with a timestamp. End of "who entered that?" debates.

Training + handover

A short on-site or video training with you and one staff member, plus a one-page "how to" they can print and pin in the back office.

Timeline

From go-ahead to staff using it — 4 weeks

Week 1

Data import & database setup

Whatever Magnum has given us gets imported, cleaned, normalised. Database structured for products, suppliers, stock movements, damaged items.

Week 2

Counting app built

Smartphone PWA — scan, search, count, save. Damaged-stock module. Cloud sync. PIN login. Tested on a real phone.

Week 3

Admin dashboard + dry run

Dashboard live, you and I walk through it together. Dry run with one staff member counting one category to flush out anything we missed.

Week 4

Training + go-live

Short training session with the counting staff. One-page printed guide. Phase 1 is in use. We agree the next-phase decision date with you.

Why this is the right first step

Three reasons we lead with this, not a new till

It solves a real problem you have today. The stock count is already running. This makes that work cheaper, faster, and accurate from day one. The owners see a working tool delivering immediate value — not a promise of value in 12 months.
It builds the foundation everything else needs. The new till, the credit module, the customer web app — all of them sit on top of a clean product database. Phase 1 builds that database while delivering a useful tool. No throwaway work.
It's the smallest possible commitment. No new tills. No payment integration. No new hardware in the shop. Nothing changes at the till until you decide it should. If you don't continue after Phase 1, you've still got a working stock-count tool and a cleaned product database — both yours forever.

What comes after

If Phase 1 lands well, here's the ladder

Each phase is a separate decision. Each one delivers a standalone usable thing. You approve only the next rung at a time — no long commitment.

Phase 1 (this proposal) — Stock-Count Companion + cleaned data foundation.
Phase 2 — One till running parallel to Magnum (read-only mirror, proves the data layer works at the point of sale).
Phase 3 — Credit module + Dojo payments integration (eliminates manual card-machine typing, replaces credit reconciliation pain).
Phase 4 — Magnum off, all tills migrated to the new system.
Phase 5 — Customer web app: search-first, phone-number login, trade-customer credit view.
Phase 6 (optional) — Click & collect, multi-branch readiness for when you open the second shop.

Full picture in the business case and future-state mind map.