Reconcile item stock before promising delivery

Before an order coordinator promises a delivery date, two different quantities are needed: what is physically on the shelf and what can be allocated to a new order. Physical on-hand is the first. The second excludes stock already reserved for confirmed orders and units that cannot be sold. Confusing them produces an unfulfillable promise even when the ledger arithmetic is sound. First fix the item, unit of measure, location and cut-off time. Do not combine cases with individual units, or pool two sites and promise from one without a transfer plan. A stock ledger is a sequence of events rather than just a balance field: opening stock, approved receipts, confirmed issues or shipments, inbound and outbound transfers, then expected on-hand at the cut-off. State the bridge explicitly: expected on-hand = opening + receipts + inbound transfers − issues − outbound transfers. The bridge lets you trace a discrepancy to an event and time. An open purchase order is not a receipt. An unshipped sales order is not an issue; if reserved, it reduces stock available for another promise but does not yet reduce physical on-hand. When posting is delayed, check both event time and posting time before concluding that stock was lost or counted incorrectly. Compare the ledger bridge with a count at the same cut-off. If the shelf was counted in the morning and a receipt arrived at noon, subtracting the two displayed figures directly is invalid; rebuild both at the same instant. Separate quarantined or damaged units from saleable stock, and distinguish stock awaiting quality inspection from stock ready to commit. Then calculate current available to promise as saleable physical stock minus valid unshipped reservations minus a protected operating buffer if local policy has one. Do not subtract a reservation once in the ledger and again in availability. This is a service decision rather than an accounting rule. If reservations exceed saleable stock, a negative availability signals a shortage to prioritize and escalate; it does not mean negative physical pieces on the shelf. The specialist records the source for each figure: receiving confirmation, shipment event, reservation record, quarantine tag and count sheet. A screenshot alone may be stale after a later transaction. For a variance, pause new promises against the disputed quantity, recount the correct location, and look for an unposted receipt, duplicate issue or transfer still in transit. Do not adjust the ledger simply because the count differs; the adjustment follows local authority and a documented cause. Existing promises can still be supported by verified, undisputed units, while an alternative date for the remainder depends on a confirmed incoming receipt. In this way the customer decision follows inventory evidence rather than an optimistic balance field.