The same inventory suite, two uses. One: goods leave first; the document is typed at night or month-end so leadership sees a report. The other: no system document, no outbound, no payment request. Both look like “we have a system.” Inside, one is an electronic ledger, one is the work entry. Many “nobody uses it” complaints are ledger use. See If nobody uses the system after launch.
Electronic ledger (after the fact)
- Goods already left. An assistant backfills from the group. Stock is corrected once at month-end.
- Reports go to leadership. The floor still asks “do we actually have stock.”
- The system is a copybook. Rules still live in WeChat and speech.
Operations system (now)
- An order reserves stock. A price change goes through approval. Outbound prints a pick list.
- On the phone you can mark done, take a photo, and stop on a stockout state.
- Reports are a byproduct of walking the document — not another sheet to fill.
10:00 group asks for goods → 10:20 ship first → 19:30 assistant backfills → next month reconcile misses.
10:00 order in the system → stockout holds the order → 10:15 change date or split → outbound decrements now.
Why a ledger never lines up
By the time you backfill, the floor already did free goods, swaps, and short ships. The typist fills from memory. System stock is a story. Bin locations are the truth. Spreadsheet management is the same after-the-fact truth. See Spreadsheet management vs. a system: which one can hold the rules. Taking orders in a WeChat group locks ledger use: the group is the operations system, the software is a copybook. See The risk of taking orders and shipping from WeChat groups.
Visible efficiency is one fewer repeat and one fewer mis-ship — if the action happens in the system. See The efficiency a business system can make visible. If work orders are also backfilled, follow-up and quality trace are a fake close. See After work orders close the loop, what changes in after-sales and quality. Install dispatch is clearer: the tech is at the customer door and cannot go home to type. See Installation and after-sales: how dispatch should close the loop.
Switching from ledger to operations means closing the old road
Training will not fix “ship first, backfill later.” Write it as policy: no system number, no outbound, no payment request. Set a parallel-window end date. After that, only the system counts. If the floor is still messy, check whether you are still backfilling. See The system is live and the floor is still messy: how to diagnose it. DaXi Technology accepts when real outbound time and system document time share a window — not a demo account. To build the system as a work entry, go to the Business systems service page and say whether you backfill or walk the document. After it is operational, sales and finance can see contracts on the same clock. See Sales and finance looking at the same customers and contracts.
You can switch by role. Emergency cannot become the main road
Some roles can stay ledger: occasional admin issues. The main path cannot. Sales, warehouse, and dispatch must operate in the system. If the owner still accepts a WeChat screenshot as ship proof, the system slides back to a ledger. Changing the habit of looking up an order to “open the system” matters more than buying another mobile client.
You can switch by role. You do not flip everyone in one day. The warehouse first: no document, no outbound. Sales can still place orders in the system. A week later, price changes must go through approval. Cut too hard and the floor goes back to the group together. Cut too slow and two stocks live side by side. Put the parallel window on the calendar. When it ends, the owner only accepts a system number. If backfill stays open as an “emergency lane,” emergency becomes the main road. Cap emergency uses and review them the next day. Write training as “where you click for this step now,” not as a module manual. A tech at the customer door has thirty seconds; a deep menu becomes a verbal done. Tabs can sit side by side on this page. Day to day, only one stays: the main path must sit on the operations side.