Scanning Barcodes for Inventory without QuickBooks Enterprise

Even the smallest businesses can benefit from the speed and accuracy of scanning barcodes to adjust inventory in QuickBooks Desktop.

Consider these common scenarios:

• Computer repair shops can reduce inventory when they replace parts for a customer’s computer.
• Machine shops and fabricators can track metal stock and fasteners by scanning barcodes on bins when they use materials for a job or project.
• HVAC contractors can record sheet metal, fasteners, ductwork, and other materials consumed on a site.
• Plumbers can record fittings, pipe, and materials consumed on a site.
• Mechanics can reduce inventory for fluids, shop supplies, or other consumable materials during a repair.

QuickBooks Enterprise is expensive

Unfortunately, while many small businesses rely on QuickBooks Desktop for their inventory and accounting needs, only QuickBooks Enterprise allows scanning barcodes to reduce inventory tracked in QuickBooks. Unfortunately, QuickBooks Enterprise starts at $2,000 per year, so for many small businesses, this is simply not an option.

This is when many businesses start looking for third-party inventory apps that integrate with QuickBooks, like Fishbowl, and take one of two approaches:

1. Maintaining a separate inventory database and adjusting the inventory accounts (Cost of Goods Sold) in QuickBooks.
2. Syncing QuickBooks Inventory Items to the third-party database and syncing inventory adjustments back to QuickBooks.

Both methods have their pros and cons. BRIZBEE takes the latter approach.

BRIZBEE can scan barcodes without QuickBooks Enterprise

BRIZBEE is an open-source time tracking and inventory management software that I built several years ago. It's offered as a SaaS (Software as a Service). For a monthly fee based on the number of users, you gain access to the cloud-hosted platform, which enables barcode scanning for your QuickBooks Desktop inventory items.

With BRIZBEE, your QuickBooks Inventory Items are synced to the cloud using the BRIZBEE Integration Utility, which runs locally on your computer. The Utility connects to the open Company File in QuickBooks Desktop and uploads your Inventory Items to BRIZBEE, along with key metadata such as Name, Sales Price, Purchase Cost, Sales Description, Purchase Description, and Manufacturer Part Number.

Your products and packages can then be scanned using the BRIZBEE iOS and Android mobile apps.

You’ll need to be punched into a project so that BRIZBEE knows how to assign the inventory consumption. Some users opt for a single, catch-all project and customer in BRIZBEE if they do not want to track consumption per job (e.g., Walk-Ins, Floor Sales, or Unassigned).

After scanning (consuming) inventory with BRIZBEE, you can easily transfer those inventory adjustments back to your QuickBooks Company File using the same BRIZBEE Integration Utility.

Inventory adjustments can be recorded in various ways in QuickBooks to meet your accounting needs. We’ll explore this in more detail in a future post.

What about scanning barcodes with Fishbowl Inventory?

While barcode scanning is possible with Fishbowl Inventory, eliminating the need for QuickBooks Enterprise, Fishbowl's approach requires moving inventory tracking outside of QuickBooks. This approach removes your ability to use existing QuickBooks reports to track inventory values.

BRIZBEE doesn’t require moving your inventory outside of QuickBooks; it simply syncs your inventory items, allowing the BRIZBEE apps to look up barcodes. This allows you to continue using your existing QuickBooks reports to view inventory values and availability.

BRIZBEE offers advantages over both QuickBooks Enterprise and Fishbowl

Scanning barcodes to reduce inventory with QuickBooks doesn’t require an expensive upgrade to QuickBooks Enterprise or a third-party inventory system, like Fishbowl Inventory. BRIZBEE lets you preserve your existing inventory workflow and continue using QuickBooks reports to track inventory values and quantities by keeping your inventory items within QuickBooks. BRIZBEE is an affordable, open-source, cloud-hosted system that supports barcode scanning via iOS and Android mobile apps, providing a cost-effective alternative to other solutions.