Locations and Warehouses

Locations are the organizational backbone of OpenBoxes. Every inventory transaction, stock movement, and purchase order is tied to a location. Understanding location types and how to configure them is essential for setting up your supply chain.

Understanding Locations#

A location in OpenBoxes represents any physical or logical place where inventory is held, consumed, or supplied. Your location structure mirrors your real-world supply chain — central warehouses, regional distribution points, clinics, and suppliers.

Location Types#

OpenBoxes supports several location types, each with different capabilities:

Depot (Warehouse)#

The primary location type for inventory management. Depots are full-featured locations that support:

  • Complete inventory tracking
  • Stock movements (inbound and outbound)
  • Purchase order receiving
  • Picking, packing, and shipping
  • Bin location management
  • Reporting and analytics

Most organizations have at least one depot serving as their central warehouse.

Supplier#

Represents an external vendor or manufacturer that provides goods. Supplier locations:

  • Serve as the origin for purchase orders
  • Cannot hold tracked inventory (they are external)
  • Store contact information and addresses
  • Can be linked to products they supply

Ward#

Represents a consumption point within a healthcare facility, such as a hospital ward or department. Wards:

  • Request stock from the central depot
  • Receive and consume inventory
  • Have simplified workflows (no picking/packing required)
  • Track consumption for reporting

Dispensary#

Similar to a ward but focused on dispensing to patients. Dispensaries support:

  • Receiving stock from a warehouse
  • Dispensing to individual patients or encounters
  • Tracking consumption at the patient level
  • Simplified receiving workflows

Bin Location#

A subdivision within a depot — a specific shelf, rack, aisle, or zone. Bin locations:

  • Represent physical storage positions
  • Enable precise inventory tracking (know exactly where each item is stored)
  • Support zone-based organization (Cold Chain, Bulk Storage, Fast-Moving)
  • Improve picking efficiency by directing staff to exact locations

Creating Locations#

To create a new location:

  1. Navigate to Configuration > Locations
  2. Click Create Location
  3. Fill in the required fields:
    • Name — A clear, recognizable name (e.g., "Kigali Central Warehouse")
    • Location Type — Select the appropriate type
    • Organization — The managing organization
  4. Add optional details:
    • Address — Physical address
    • Manager — Person responsible for the location
  5. Configure supported activities (see below)
  6. Save the location

Tip: Name locations consistently. If you have multiple warehouses, include the city or region in the name. "Warehouse A" is less useful than "Nairobi Regional Depot" when your network grows.

Bin Locations and Zones#

For depots with significant inventory, bin locations bring order to your storage:

Creating Bin Locations#

  1. Open a depot location
  2. Navigate to the Bin Locations tab
  3. Click Add Bin Location
  4. Enter:
    • Name — A short, unique identifier (e.g., "A-01-03" for Aisle A, Rack 1, Shelf 3)
    • Zone — An optional grouping for related bins

Zones#

Zones group bin locations by storage requirements or operational areas:

Zone Purpose
Cold Chain Refrigerated storage (2-8 degrees C)
Bulk Storage Large-quantity or overstock items
Fast-Moving High-turnover items near packing area
Quarantine Items pending inspection or disposition
Receiving Staging area for incoming goods

Tip: Design your bin location naming scheme before entering data. A logical scheme (Aisle-Rack-Shelf) makes it easy for staff to find locations physically. Changing naming conventions after data entry is painful.

Supported Activities#

Each location type supports specific activities that determine what operations can be performed there. When creating a location, you can enable or disable:

Activity Description
Manage Inventory (MANAGE_INVENTORY) Track stock levels; required to see the Inventory and Products menus
Adjust Inventory (ADJUST_INVENTORY) Record inventory adjustments
Send Stock (SEND_STOCK) Create outbound stock movements; enables the Outbound menu
Receive Stock (RECEIVE_STOCK) Accept inbound shipments; enables the Inbound menu
Consume Stock (CONSUME_STOCK) Record consumption at the location
Putaway Stock (PUTAWAY_STOCK) Assign received items to bin locations (bin tracking)
Pick Stock (PICK_STOCK) Select items from bins for fulfillment (bin tracking)
Pack Shipment (PACK_SHIPMENT) Organize picked items into containers
Partial Receiving (PARTIAL_RECEIVING) Allow a shipment to be received in several passes
Submit Request (SUBMIT_REQUEST) Submit stock requests to a fulfilling location
Place / Approve / Fulfill Request Stock-request workflow steps for requesting and fulfilling locations
Place / Approve / Fulfill Order Purchase-order workflow steps
Cross Docking, Hold Stock Bin-level behaviours for internal locations
Cycle Count (CYCLE_COUNT) Offer cycle-count reason codes at this location; the cycle-count menu itself appears wherever Manage Inventory is enabled

Activities are inherited from the location type by default and can be overridden per location. Not all location types need all activities. A ward typically only needs Receive Stock and Submit Request, while a central depot needs the full set.

Switching Between Locations#

Your current location determines what inventory and transactions you see. To switch:

  1. Click the location selector in the header navigation
  2. Choose the location you want to work in
  3. The dashboard and all views update to reflect the selected location

You can only switch to locations where you have been granted access. Administrators control which users can access which locations.

Tip: If you manage multiple locations, get in the habit of checking the location selector before performing any transaction. Creating a stock movement from the wrong location is a common mistake.

Organizing Locations#

OpenBoxes does not model a multi-level facility tree — a depot cannot be the parent of another depot. Locations are organized in three flatter ways:

  • Organization — Every location belongs to an organization (your own, a supplier, or a partner).
  • Location groups — Optional groupings (by region, program, or country) used for filtering lists and reports. Configure them under Configuration › Location groups.
  • Bin locations and zones — The only parent/child relationship: bins and zones are internal locations whose parent is the depot that contains them.

To represent a national → regional → facility network, use one location per facility, group them with location groups, and model the flow of goods with stock movements between them.

Best Practices#

  • Map your real supply chain first — Sketch your location network on paper before creating locations in OpenBoxes
  • Use bin locations in large warehouses — If staff spend time searching for items, bin locations will pay for themselves in efficiency gains
  • Keep supplier records current — Update addresses, contacts, and product associations when they change
  • Limit location access — Only grant users access to locations they actually work with; this reduces errors and simplifies their view
  • Review your location structure annually — As your network grows or changes, update OpenBoxes to match reality