Inventory Tracker

Manage materials across sites — indents, Goods Receipt Notes (GRN), stock movements, and consumption against activities.

The core flow

The standard inventory flow on Pranaalika Nirman has five steps:

  1. Material master — define the materials your organization uses (cement, steel, sand, etc.)
  2. Indent — a site supervisor raises a request for materials they need
  3. Approval — a manager or admin approves the indent (or rejects with reason)
  4. GRN (Goods Receipt Note) — when material arrives on site, the receiver records what they got
  5. Consumption — materials used against activities are logged in DPRs

The system tracks the gap between what was indented, received, and consumed.

Setting up your material master

Go to Materials from the navigation. For each material, capture:

  • Material name (e.g., "OPC 53 Cement")
  • Unit of measure (bags, tonnes, cubic meters, etc.)
  • Default unit cost (optional, used for valuation)
  • Vendor / supplier (optional, can be set per indent)

You can also import a material list from CSV — useful when migrating from an existing system.

Raising an indent

From a site, go to Indents → New Indent. Fill in:

  • Materials and quantities requested
  • Reason / activity it is for (optional but recommended)
  • Required-by date
  • Vendor / supplier preference (optional)

Indents follow your organization's approval matrix. By default, Engineers can raise indents and Managers approve them — see Roles & Permissions for the full matrix. Custom approval workflows per project are on the roadmap.

Recording a GRN

When material arrives on site, the receiver logs a Goods Receipt Note. Go to the indent and click Record GRN. Capture:

  • Quantity actually received (may differ from indented)
  • Quality check pass / fail
  • Vendor name and bill / invoice number
  • Photos of the received material (optional but useful)

A GRN updates stock at the receiving site automatically.

Stock movement between sites

If you need to transfer material from one site to another, use Stock Movement. Pick the source site, destination site, materials and quantities, and submit. Both sites' stock counts update.

Consumption against activities

Materials consumed on site should be logged in the day's DPR. Each activity in a DPR can have associated material usage. This is how the system tracks the difference between indented, received, and consumed quantities.

Why this matters
Without consumption logging, the system cannot tell where material went after it was received. This is the most common source of unexplained "loss" in construction inventory — material was used but not logged. Train your field engineers to log consumption against activities in the DPR.

Reports and dashboards

Inventory data feeds two report types:

  • Material Report (AI-generated) — summarizes consumption against plan, indents vs receipts, and stock levels
  • Real-time stock view — per site, current stock with low-stock alerts

Common questions

Can I track tools and equipment in the same way?

Not yet. Tools and equipment tracking is on our roadmap but not in the current product. For now, you can use materials for consumables only.

What if I receive more than I indented?

That is fine — record the actual quantity received in the GRN. The system tracks the variance. Repeated over-receipt may indicate a vendor issue or a poor indent estimation process worth reviewing.

Can I edit a GRN after it is recorded?

Yes, but every edit is logged. Anyone with access can see the original entry, the edit, who made it, and when. This is intentional — material records need an audit trail.

What is next

  • Workforce & Attendance — pair material consumption with the labor that consumed it
  • AI Reports — generate a material report for any project or date range
  • Project Hub — how sites and sub-sites scope your inventory