IM2 & Handheld Counting Guide

Solar Alternatives — Ops Automation Rollout

This guide covers the first two pieces of a bigger project moving day-to-day inventory work out of QuickBooks: item maintenance in IM2, and physical inventory counting on IM2's Cycle Count tab.

Overview

Right now, the extra details the warehouse needs about an item — bins, locations, manufacturer, unit of measure, min/max levels, count group, ABC code, notes — live in the "Inventory Item Master" spreadsheet, kept up to date by hand. That spreadsheet is being replaced by IM2, a web app keyed to the QuickBooks SKU. QuickBooks stays the book of record for the item itself: SKU, item name, description, cost, vendor, and quantity on hand still come from QuickBooks and show up in IM2 read-only, with a lock icon. IM2 is where you manage everything else.

Physical counting is changing too. Instead of counting on paper and handing it off for someone to key into QuickBooks later, you'll count on IM2's own Cycle Count tab — from a phone, tablet, or laptop. Counts save immediately in IM2 with a short history per item, though the connection that would carry them into QuickBooks isn't finished yet — see Cycle Counts below for what to expect today.

Both go out together this week, ahead of the rest of a larger automation project. Dave Cantin built the system and knows it best, and he's covering support and training in person Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, plus reachable by text most of the day Thursday. Say something the moment anything looks wrong rather than working around it.

Who to contact for help

Status update

Day-to-day owner: Dave and Jeff have decided to leave this formally To be determined for now. Dave stays backup and Viktor covers many technical issues — send a procedural question without a clear home to Dave in the meantime.

Cycle Count sync: Jeff has approved the fix, and Viktor is now switching Cycle Count over to spreadsheet sync — the same approach New Item already uses — instead of a live connector. See Cycle Counts below for what to expect while that's underway.

Section 1: Main Menu & Shortcuts

One page is home base for everything — IM2 itself, and quick links out to the other systems Solar Alternatives runs on.

Everything starts at the Logistics Main Menu, at solar-alternatives-24e603.viktor.page/sa-logistics. Bookmark it — it detects your screen size and shows the right layout whether you're on a laptop or a phone.

Alongside the IM2 tiles covered in the sections below (item maintenance, new item, cycle count), the Main Menu also has shortcuts out to the other systems Solar Alternatives runs on: QuickBooks Online, FieldPulse, Kickserv, Salesforce, and BuilderTrend.

Kickserv and Salesforce open automatically in a new tab, so the Main Menu stays put behind them. QuickBooks Online, FieldPulse, and BuilderTrend open in the same tab instead — right-click the shortcut and choose "Open in new tab" if you want to keep the Main Menu open alongside them.

Section 2: Item Maintenance & New Item

Item and moving-item information is moving out of QuickBooks and into a standalone tool called IM2.

IM2 holds the warehouse attributes of every item — bins, general location, manufacturer, unit of measure, min/max levels, lead time, count group, ABC code, and notes — keyed to the QuickBooks SKU. You get to it from the Logistics Main Menu, on the "Item Master Display & Maintenance" tile, and sign in with your work email and PIN.

QuickBooks still owns the item itself. SKU, item name, description, cost, and preferred vendor come from QuickBooks every night — or sooner, if an admin runs the refresh on demand — and show up in IM2 shaded grey with a lock icon. You can see them there, but you can't edit them; fix those in QuickBooks and IM2 picks up the correction automatically. IM2 never writes back to QuickBooks on its own — a new item or a physical count only reaches QuickBooks as a spreadsheet that an admin or Level 1 user imports by hand.

Count Group is reserved for future use — the field exists on every item, but it isn't tied to any workflow yet.

Before / After

Before — spreadsheet: Bins, locations, manufacturer, UOM, min/max, and notes lived in the "Inventory Item Master" spreadsheet — edited by hand, no record of who changed what, and easy to drift out of sync with reality.

After — IM2: Those same fields live in IM2, edited in a browser, saved the moment you leave the cell, and every change logged with who changed it, when, and what it was before.

Finding and editing an item

1. Search by SKU, name, or description — partial words work fine — or narrow things down with the location, group, or manufacturer dropdowns and Apply.
2. Short on time? The clean-up chips jump straight to items that likely need attention: Needs a bin, No manufacturer, No UOM, Changed today, Archived. Only one applies at a time — clicking a chip clears any other filter you had set.
3. Check the fields against what you actually know — the label on the shelf, the box, or the last count.
4. Type into a white (editable) cell and click or tab away — that's the save, there's no Save button. Grey cells are QuickBooks fields and won't take typing at all. A value IM2 doesn't accept reverts and tells you why, so a bad entry never sits there quietly.
5. Changed something by mistake? There's no separate undo, but every field change is logged — click "history" on that row to see a line like 2026-08-31 05:13 gen_loc: ELECT-SR → FLOOR (dcantin) (timestamp, field, old value → new value, who made the change), and type the old value back in.

Working with many items at once

Tick the boxes on the rows you want (the header checkbox only selects what's on the current page — 200 rows at a time — not every filtered result), pick one field and value, and apply it to everyone selected. The field dropdown offers Primary Bin, Secondary Bin, Gen Loc, Item Group, Manufacturer, Mfg PN, UOM, Min Qty, Max Qty, Lead Time, Count Group, Notes, and ABC Code. The confirmation names the field, the value, and how many rows it will touch; there's no undo, so check that count before you confirm.

Export turns whatever you're currently looking at — filters, search, and sort included — into a spreadsheet. Upload (Admin and Level 1 only) takes a spreadsheet of changes back in: it needs a sku column, everything else is optional, and a blank cell is left alone rather than clearing what's there. It's not a merge — your file's value replaces whatever is currently in IM2, even if someone else changed it since you exported, so export again right before a big upload rather than working from an old file. You'll see exactly what's about to change on a preview screen before anything is committed, and any bad rows are listed as errors and skipped while the good ones still go through.

Adding a brand-new item

1. Open New Item — open to Admin, Level 1, and Level 2 — only for a part that doesn't exist in IM2 or QuickBooks yet.
2. Enter the item name and description. Both are required, and the name has to be unique — it's the same field QuickBooks uses to identify the item, so a duplicate is refused. Everything else on the screen is optional and can be filled in later.
3. Save. IM2 assigns the next SKU in sequence at that exact moment, so two people entering items back-to-back always get consecutive numbers, and nobody burns a number by opening the screen and walking away. On Hand starts at 0 and UOM defaults to EA; both update once the item is really in QuickBooks. The form clears so you can go straight into the next item.
4. The item is live in IM2 immediately — bin it, count it, report on it — but it's marked "Waiting for QuickBooks" until the last step is done.
5. To finish: an Admin or Level 1 user clicks "Create sync file," which bundles every waiting item into one spreadsheet and marks them as sent, so they can't go out twice. That spreadsheet gets imported into QuickBooks by hand. The next nightly refresh matches the new SKU back automatically, fills in cost, vendor, and on-hand, and clears the "waiting" status — until then, the nightly refresh leaves those items alone entirely rather than flagging them as missing.

This spreadsheet hand-off is temporary. Once IM2 connects to QuickBooks directly, New Item will create the item in QuickBooks the moment you save it — no file, no manual import, no overnight wait. Everything else about the screen stays the same.

Item Display

Item Display is a fourth nav tab: a simplified, phone-friendly view of one item at a time — good for a quick look-up on the warehouse floor without pulling up the full grid. Enter a SKU and the item's info screen appears — the same pattern as Cycle Count. Primary Bin and Secondary Bin are editable right on this screen too.

Questions people will have

I can't find an item. Try the other search field — if you searched by description, try the item number, and back again. Check for typos, extra spaces, or a stray character. If it's genuinely a new item, it may not exist in IM2 yet. That's the moment to create it, not to keep searching. If you've checked both and you're still sure the item already exists, ask before creating a duplicate.

The cost or item name looks wrong. Fix it in QuickBooks — those fields come from QuickBooks, not IM2, so an edit in IM2 wouldn't stick anyway. IM2 picks up the correction on the next nightly refresh, or sooner if an admin runs the refresh on demand.

A field won't let me type into it. Two possible reasons. If it's shaded grey with a lock icon, it's a QuickBooks field and can only be changed in QuickBooks. If it's white but still won't take your edit, it's probably above your access level — Level 2, for example, can't touch stock-level fields like UOM, Min, Max, Lead Time, ABC, or Count Group.

I need a unit of measure that isn't EA or FT. Ask for it to be added rather than typing it in anyway — IM2 only accepts EA and FT today, and an upload row with any other unit is rejected.

My upload came back with errors. The good rows still went through — only the ones listed as errors were skipped. Fix just those rows and re-upload them; you don't need to redo the whole file.

I changed something by mistake. There's no undo button, but nothing is lost. Open "history" on that row to see the old value, and type it back in.

I created a new item but lost the sync file before importing it. Those items are already marked as sent, so running "Create sync file" again won't pick them up. Ask an admin to regenerate the file for you.

A new hire can't sign in. They'll appear automatically after the next nightly sync from the Slack directory, starting at view-only (Level 3). An admin sets their PIN and raises their level on the Users screen.

Section 3: Cycle Counts

Physical inventory counting happens on IM2's own Cycle Count tab — count on a phone, tablet, or laptop, right alongside item maintenance.

⚠ In progress

Saving a count records it in IM2, but it doesn't reach QuickBooks yet. Dave's original plan called for a modified API connector; Jeff has since approved a simpler fix, and Viktor is now switching Cycle Count over to spreadsheet sync instead — the same approach New Item already uses. That work is underway. If the on-hand number doesn't change after you save a count, that's expected right now — it isn't something you did wrong.

Once that sync is live, the design is the same daily batch pattern new items already use to reach QuickBooks (see Item Maintenance & New Item above).

Cycle Count is one of the tabs in IM2's nav bar, alongside Item Maintenance, New Item, and Item Display — reachable directly at .../count. It replaces counting on paper and handing sheets off for someone else to key into QuickBooks later.

Before / After

Before — paper: Count on paper. Hand it off. Someone re-keys it into QuickBooks later, in whatever order they get to it.

After — Cycle Count: Count on IM2's Cycle Count tab, from any phone, tablet, or laptop. The count saves immediately with your name, the date, and a short history for that item — ready for the next sync once that connection is in place.

Doing a count

1. Open Cycle Count — a tab in IM2's nav bar, also reachable directly at .../count — and sign in if you're not already.
2. Type or scan the item's SKU into the "Scan or type SKU" box and press Go.
3. Check what comes up — Description, On Hand quantity, Gen-Loc, Manufacturer, Mfr Part #, and Count Group — against what's actually in front of you. These fields are read-only, just for confirming you've got the right item.
4. Primary Bin and Secondary Bin are editable right on this same screen, so you can fix a wrong bin while you're here. They save as soon as you leave the field, and a lowercase entry is automatically capitalized.
5. Enter what you actually count in Counted Quantity, then click Save count. In Dave's words: "saved with your name and date, for the next sync spreadsheet."

Questions people will have

My count doesn't seem to do anything after I save it. That's expected right now — see the note at the top of this section. The count is recorded in IM2, but the connector that would push it into QuickBooks isn't wired up yet, so the on-hand number won't move either. Nothing is wrong on your end.

My count doesn't match what's in front of me. Recount once before anything else — a lot of mismatches are a miscount, a misread label, or a wrong bin. There's no automatic mismatch alert built into Cycle Count, so flag anything that still looks off to whoever's tracking counts for now rather than guessing.

I made a counting mistake. Just recount and save again. Since counts aren't syncing to QuickBooks yet, there's no cleanup needed on that side — make sure the last number you save is the right one.

Who reviews a count that looks wrong? The logistics manager assigns who handles it. That role is confirmed, even though a specific name isn't posted yet — and it will matter more once counts start actually syncing.

Section 4: Users & Security

Who can see and change what, at a glance.

• Admin — Alex Tipton, Jeff Cantin, Dave Cantin. Everything, plus the Users screen.
• Level 1 — the logistics lead. Every editable field, bulk upload, and producing the sync spreadsheets that go to QuickBooks.
• Level 2 — warehouse staff. Bins, Gen-Loc, Item Group, Manufacturer, Mfr Part #, and Notes — not the stock-level fields (UOM, Min, Max, Lead Time, ABC, Count Group).
• Level 3 — view only, everywhere including Cycle Count and Item Display. Where every new hire starts, right after the nightly sync adds them, until an admin raises their level.

Before This Ships: Needs Confirmation from Dave / Viktor

Every open item flagged above, in one place, so it's easy to work through before or during rollout week.

People & schedule - A named day-to-day owner for IM2 and Cycle Counts — decided as formally To be determined for now by Dave and Jeff. Dave remains confirmed backup and Viktor handles many technical issues; route a procedural question without a clear home to Dave

Cycle Count sync - The count-to-QuickBooks sync isn't finished yet — a saved count has nowhere to go right now. Jeff has approved the fix, and Viktor is now switching Cycle Count to spreadsheet sync (the same approach New Item already uses) instead of a live connector; this needs to be finished before counts affect real inventory numbers

Solar Alternatives — Ops Automation Rollout · Component 1 of 8: IM2 item maintenance and Cycle Counts. Updated 2026-08-31 with confirmed answers from Dave Cantin's IM2 training manual, the IM2 design & rules doc, and Dave's walkthroughs in Slack.