This document outlines the procedure for adding an item to inventory using Heartland Retail.

Every item that you sell is maintained in Heartland Retail with a unique item number, also referred to as a public ID. An item has to be set up in Heartland Retail before you can add it to a PO, receive it against a PO, sell, adjust, transfer or return it.

Before you add your items to Heartland Retail you should consider any information about the item that you will want to see within the system. You can add as much information about each item as you would like by adding custom fields in Heartland Retail.

All custom fields will be searchable in the POS and you will be able to report on them. For instance, if the vendor provides a style number, you will want to add it as a custom field on the item so that you can report on it at a later time or search for an item by style within the POS. It is best to have a plan for what information you want to include in your item record before you begin adding items to Heartland Retail. For that reason, we recommend that you set up your custom fields in advance. However, it's also easy to go back and update items that already exist with new fields.

Creating an item

The following steps will explain how you can create an individual item. Want to create many items at once? Read this article about importing items.

In the top navigation menu in the Heartland Retail, click the “Inventory” link.

This will bring you to the Items page.

This will bring you to the New Item page.

2. Type in the item’s information as the categories request.  SR provides the following standard item attributes to use:

Item Number: This is the unique identifier for a specific item that can only be used for one item.  It should be the barcode or UPC if the item comes with one or you can assign letters or numbers to make up the item #.  If you leave this field blank the system will automatically assign it a 6 digit number.  This is also called the Public Id.

Primary Vendor: This is the name of the vendor where the item came from.  You can also assign a letter or digit code to the vendor.  Vendors should be set up in the system prior to setting up your inventory.  

Description: This is what comes up in search results if you search on the item in any item look up. That being said, all fields on the item record are searchable. It is also what will be displayed on the ticket and customer receipt when you ring someone up in the POS.

Long Description:  This is where you can add more specific information about the item that you want to be able to search on. This is a searchable field but it is not a reportable field. It is meant to be used for informational, internal purposes. 

Default Cost: This is the cost of the item as determined by the vendor. It will be only be used in cost related calculations when you have no average received cost on hand, or a 0 quantity of an item. For more information on this field click here. 

Original Price: This is the original retail price, sometimes referred to as the MSRP (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price). It is not a required field. If there is a Current Price (#7 below) on the item, this Original Price will show up on the customer's receipt with a 'slash' through it.

Current Price: This is a required field on the item record. The current selling price of the item and the price that it will ring up at when sold in the POS. (For more information about the difference between original and current price, click here).

Tax Category: This can be used to determine how the item is taxed when rung up in the POS. If you are using this field you should set up your tax categories prior to setting up your items.  

In addition to the built-in fields above, once you determine your custom fields, they will appear below the default item attributes on every item that exists in Heartland Retail. A few examples of Custom Fields to consider adding to your item record are Department, Class, Sub-Class, Style Number/Name, Color Number/Name, Season, Size, etc.

3. All new items will be created as "Active" by default. If you wish to make an item inactive, select the switch and you’ll see “Active” become “Disabled."  This makes the item hidden from searches including those in the POS. Changing an item from active to inactive does not affect the inventory or history of the item. This is useful if you have older items that you want to exclude from your search results.

4. Click the "Save" button.

You have successfully added an item!