Getting Started with Consumable Inventory Management

A Consumable is an item type in the Assets/CIs application for tracking items that are used up during service delivery or maintenance and are not tracked as individual assets (for example, cables, batteries, or office supplies). This article covers how to define consumables, track their quantity by location, use them on tickets, and manage them as an administrator.

This article covers the following topics:

What Is a Consumable?

A Consumable is an item type in the Assets/CIs application, alongside Assets and Configuration Items. Unlike an Asset, which represents one specific tracked item, a Consumable represents a quantity of an interchangeable item. When working with consumables, the system tracks how many you have and where they are, but does not track specific items.

Consumable items support name and description fields, cost and package count fields, suppliers, barcodes and service tags, reorder quantities, ownership fields, and custom attributes. 

Barcode and Service Tag have separate fields because some items will be tracked using the supplier's UPC (for example, two different models of wireless mouse), while others are tracked using your organization's service tags (for example, 5 yards of CAT5 cable, whether generic or name-brand).

Unit Cost, Package Cost, and Package Count are separate fields because some consumables are purchased individually and others in packages. The system doesn't calculate one from the others; use whichever applies to how you purchase the item.

Creating and Managing Consumable Items

Creating a Consumable Item

To create a consumable item:

  1. In an Assets/CIs application, click +New > Consumable.
  2. Enter the consumable's Name, Current Quantity, and Active status (all required), along with any other fields you want to set.
  3. Save the item.

Editing a Consumable Item

  1. From the consumable item's detail page, click Edit.
  2. Update any standard or custom attribute.
  3. Save your changes.

Location, Room, and Quantity aren't editable from the Edit Consumable page. You can adjust the quantity from the Locations tab, the Location's or Room's Consumables tabs, or a ticket instead (see below).

Tracking Quantity by Location and Room

Quantities for a consumable can be tracked against a location, a location room, or against an "Unassigned" placeholder location. A consumable's Current Quantity is the sum of its quantity across every location, room, and Unassigned. 

Adjusting Quantity

You can adjust a consumable's quantity from several places:

  • From the consumable item's Locations tab, click Adjust Quantity to open a modal where you can update quantity at multiple locations or rooms at once, including adding the item to a new location or room.
  • From a specific row on that tab, click Adjust Quantity to update just that location or room.
  • From a Location Details > Consumables tab or Room Details > Consumables tab, use the same Adjust Quantity actions, scoped to that location or room.

A location or room remains on the Locations tab after its quantity drops to 0, so you can see locations where you'd expect to have stock. The Remove action on the row will remove a location or room with 0 quantity from the list.

Low Stock and Reorder Indicators

The Reorder Quantity field on a consumable lets you set a threshold where you want to reorder, and the Reorder Count and Reorder Package Count record how much to order when you do. The system doesn't place orders automatically; use these fields to record what you need and build reports or an external reorder process around them.

On the Consumables search page, a quantity at or below the Reorder Quantity is called out with a badge:

  • At Reorder Quantity (blue) - quantity equals the Reorder Quantity.
  • Below Reorder Quantity (yellow) - quantity is below the Reorder Quantity but above 0.
  • Out of Stock (red) - quantity is at 0 or negative.
  • OK (green) - quantity is above the reorder quantity.

Screenshot of the Consumables search page showing items in each stock status

Using Consumables on a Ticket

Ticketing users record consumable usage from a ticket's Consumables tab, which lists every consumable used on the ticket and totals item count, cost, and chargeback cost. The list is filtered to Asset/CI applications you have access to.

Adding a Consumable to a Ticket

  1. On the ticket, go to the Consumables tab and click +Add Consumable.
  2. Select the Consumable item.
  3. Enter a Quantity greater than 0.
  4. Choose a Location and Room, if applicable:
    • If the item exists in only one location or room, that location/room is preselected.
    • If the ticket has a Location set and that location has stock for the item, that location is preselected.
    • Otherwise, choose from the full list.
  5. Save.

Saving adds a row to the ticket's Consumables tab or increases the quantity on an existing row if one already exists for the same item and location/room combination. It also decrements the consumable's Current Quantity at that location/room and writes a Feed entry on both the ticket and the consumable item.

If you select a consumable with 0 Current Quantity, the system warns you that available stock is 0 and that the resulting quantity will go negative, but still lets you record the usage.

Unit Cost and Chargeback Cost are captured on the ticket at the time you add the item, and don't change later if the consumable item's costs change. 

Editing or Removing a Consumable from a Ticket

  1. On the ticket's Consumables tab, click Edit on a row to change its Quantity, or Remove to remove it.
    • Location, Room, and Consumable can't be changed on an existing row — remove the row and add a new one instead.
  2. If you lower the Quantity or remove the row, you're asked whether the items are being returned to stock or were used or discarded:
    • Return to stock — the quantity is added back to the consumable item's Current Quantity at that location/room, and a Feed entry notes the return.
    • Used or discarded — the consumable item's Current Quantity doesn't change, and a Feed entry notes the removal.

Importing Consumable Items

Administrators with the Import Consumables permission can bulk-create and update consumable items:

  1. Navigate to the Consumable Import tool (Asset/CI Application > Import toolbar button > Consumable Import)
  2. Follow the import wizard:
    1. Upload — download the template spreadsheet, enter the consumables to be imported, and upload your populated file.
    2. Sheet and headers — choose the worksheet to import from and confirm whether the first row has headers.
    3. Column mapping — map each spreadsheet column to a consumable field. The wizard suggests mappings based on column names. Name, Active, and Current Quantity must be mapped before you can continue.
    4. Preview and validate — the wizard classifies each row as an insert (new consumable, matched by Name) or an update (existing consumable), flags any validation errors, and requires you to fix or skip invalid rows before continuing.
    5. Import and results — run the import and review the per-row results with a downloadable results file for reconciliation.

Quantity is set at each Location and Room specified in the file; import multiple rows for the same consumable to set its quantity in multiple locations at once.

For rows classified as updates, only mapped fields are changed; unmapped fields are not edited.

Reassociating Consumable Items

Administrators can merge or replace one consumable item with another using Reassociate in TDAdmin (for example, when the same item was entered twice or a discontinued item is replaced by a successor).

  1. In TDAdmin, Navigate to the to the Assets/CIs application's Consumables page (TDAdmin > Applications > [Asset/CI Application] > Consumables).
  2. Click Reassociate on the toolbar.
  3. Choose the Reassociate From item and the Reassociate To item.
  4. Choose how to handle the From item's quantities:
    1. Merge into the To item - the From item's quantities are added to the To item's quantities. 
    2. Zero out the From item - the From item's quantities are set to zero. 
  5. Click Reassociate to save changes.

Reassociating updates every ticket that used the From item to use the To item instead, applies the quantity handling you chose, and writes a Feed entry on the From item.

A consumable item can't be deleted while it's associated with any tickets; use Reassociate to move those associations to another item first.

Reporting on Consumables

Three report sources are available in Report Builder:

  • Consumables Report - one row per consumable item, with all fields related to a consumable definition.
  • Consumable Usage Report - one row per consumable line item recorded on a ticket, combining consumable fields with the ticket attributes useful for chargeback and operational reporting.
  • Consumable Details Report - one row per consumable item at a specific location, room, or the Unassigned bucket, including full location and room detail columns.

Consumable-related columns are also available on the Locations, Location Rooms, and Tickets report sources.

A Consumables dynamic widget is available for dashboards, along with pre-filtered Out of Stock Consumables and Low Stock Consumables widgets.

Consumables in the Mobile App

The mobile app supports working with consumable items that already exist, including:

  • Viewing the Consumables list and search, and a consumable item's detail page.
  • Adding consumables to tickets.
  • Adjusting consumable quantity from a location, room, or the consumable item.
  • Viewing the Consumables tab on ticket, location, and room detail pages.
  • Viewing reports based on the consumable report sources, and the Consumables dynamic widget.

Creating new consumable items is not supported in the mobile app.

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