Understanding Your Inventory Dashboard

The Inventory Dashboard is your command centre for stock, sales value and supplier performance, giving you a succinct yet powerful overview of how healthy your inventory really is

Welcome Section And Date Context

At the top of the page you will see a greeting along with today’s date, for example

This confirms that the information on the dashboard is current to today and that the figures, charts and alerts are all based on your most recent data rather than a historic snapshot

Inventory Summary Cards

Beneath the greeting you will see a set of high‑level inventory indicators These provide a quick health check for your stock position at a glance

Inventory

The “Inventory” card shows the count of your unique products in the system

This is not the number of items on the shelf, but the number of distinct SKUs or product records that exist in Helm For example, if you have 10 units of three different snowboards you still have three in your Inventory count

In the demo data this is shown as: Inventory: 16

This means there are 16 unique products set up in the demo warehouse

Inventory Value

The “Inventory Value” card shows the total cost price of all stock in the system

This is calculated by taking the cost price of each product and multiplying it by the quantity currently in stock, then summing these values across all products It represents how much capital you have tied up in your inventory at cost

In the demo data this is displayed as: Inventory Value: £35.33K

If this were your live account you could interpret that as the amount you have invested in stock at cost price, which is useful for understanding working capital and stock exposure

Active Inventory

The “Active Inventory” card shows the percent of your products that have sold within the last 90 days

This is a product‑level measure, not a quantity measure It answers the question “Of all the products I stock, what percentage has sold at least once in the last three months”

In the demo data this is shown as: Active Inventory: 31.25%

In a real warehouse this might indicate that roughly a third of your catalogue is currently moving, while the remaining products may be slow‑moving or dormant A higher percentage generally indicates a more engaged and productive catalogue, while a lower percentage may highlight the need to review or rationalise older products

Reorder Required

The “Reorder Required” card shows the percent of your products which need to be reordered

Helm determines this based on your stock levels and any reorder rules or thresholds you have configured For example, when stock for a product drops below its minimum level it is counted as “Reorder Required”

In the demo data this is currently: Reorder Required: 0%

This simply means that, according to the demo configuration, none of the products have fallen below their reorder thresholds If you saw a higher percentage in your own account it would act as an early warning that you should review your purchasing plans and potentially raise new purchase orders

Available

The “Available” card shows the percent of your products which have enough stock to fulfil open orders

This compares current available stock to the demand from existing orders It answers the question “For how many of my products can I confidently fulfil the outstanding orders without going into a deficit”

In the demo data this is currently: Available: 75%

In a live environment, if this percentage falls, it may indicate a risk of back orders or delayed shipments You could then drill into specific products to identify where stock is running short relative to demand

Revenue Report – Inventory Value Over Time

The “Revenue Report” section shows a chart of inventory value across time, allowing you to see how the value of your stock has evolved month by month

In the demo dashboard the chart displays data from March 2025 through to March 2026, with points along the timeline for each month The highlighted figure shows: Inventory Value: £1.277M

This represents the total cost value of inventory at the selected point in time within the demo data In your own account this chart helps you identify trends such as

• Growing inventory value, which might suggest you are buying faster than you are selling

• Decreasing inventory value, which might indicate strong sales or intentional stock reduction

• Seasonal peaks, showing when your capital is most heavily tied up in stock

By watching how your inventory value moves alongside your sales data you can assess whether your stock investment is aligned with your revenue performance

Inventory Purchase Versus Cost Of Goods Sold

The “Inventory Purchase vs Cost of Goods Sold” section visualises the relationship between what you are buying and what you are actually selling over time

Two lines are displayed on the chart

• “Purchased” shows the cost value of inventory you have purchased in each period

• “Cost of Goods Sold” shows the cost value of inventory that has been sold in each period

In the demo dashboard the summary values are currently

Inventory Purchase: £0
Cost of Goods Sold: £0

This simply reflects that the demo dataset has not recorded recent purchase or cost‑of‑goods activity for the current period

In a live account this chart is particularly useful for understanding

• Whether your purchasing is ahead of, in line with or lagging behind your sales

• Periods where you have bought heavily but not yet converted that stock into sales

• Potential over‑stocking if purchases consistently exceed the cost of goods sold over time

Ideally, over a reasonable period, you would see a balanced pattern where the cost of goods sold broadly follows your purchasing, indicating healthy stock turnover rather than accumulation

Top 5 Suppliers By Spend

The “Top 5 Suppliers by Spend” section highlights which suppliers you are investing in most heavily It ranks suppliers by the total amount you have spent with them over a chosen period

The suppliers listed are:

• C L LIMITED – £220

• B LTD – £94.50

• A LIMITED – £87.50

At the bottom, the dashboard shows a Total = £402

That total is simply the sum of your spend with the top suppliers in this period It tells you that, across these leading suppliers, you have committed £402 in purchasing

On the right, the highlighted figure - C L LIMITED – £220

Indicates that C L LIMITED is currently your single biggest supplier by spend within this timeframe This means more than half of the money you have spent with your top suppliers has gone to that one supplier

In your own account, once you have active purchasing, this section will show

• Which suppliers account for the largest share of your spend

• Where you might have leverage for negotiating better terms or discounts

• Whether your spend is over‑concentrated with a small number of suppliers, which might represent a risk - Spot concentration risk if too much money goes to a single supplier

• Click through to the Supplier Report link to see a deeper breakdown by time period, product or order

This information is valuable for both commercial negotiations and assessing supplier dependency

So in short this report is answering the question “Who are my most expensive friends in the supply chain, and how much am I actually spending with them”

Products To Reorder

At the bottom of the Inventory Dashboard you will find the “Products To Reorder” table This is a practical action list showing products that may require replenishment soon

In the demo data the table shows three example products

1 The Multi‑managed Snowboard
2 The Collection Snowboard: Oxygen
3 The Compare at Price Snowboard

For each product the table is designed to show

• Product – the product name, which you can click to open the product details

• Main Supplier – the primary supplier from whom you usually purchase this product

• Time to Out of Stock – an estimate of how long until you run out of stock based on current levels and sales velocity

• Projected 30D Sales – an estimate of how many units you are likely to sell in the next thirty days

In the demo dataset these last three columns are populated with dashes, indicating that no live forecasting data is available for the sample products

In your own account, once sales history accumulates and stock thresholds are configured, this section becomes a powerful early‑warning system

You can use it to

• Identify products that are likely to sell out soon based on recent demand

• Prioritise purchase orders for products with short “Time to Out of Stock”

• Compare projected sales against current stock to avoid both over‑stocking and stock‑outs

Clicking “Go to Inventory List” will take you to the full inventory view, where you can filter, search and update products in more detail

Using The Dashboard In Your Own Warehouse

Although the demo data offers fictional snowboards and simplified numbers, the structure mirrors what you will see in your live Helm environment Once you connect your channels, suppliers and products, the same dashboard will update to show your real stock, values and performance

You can use this information to

• Monitor the overall value and activity of your inventory

• Understand how much capital is tied up in stock and how quickly it is moving

• Spot products that need reordering before they run out

• Review supplier concentration and spend

• Align purchasing decisions with real sales performance

Taken together, these metrics transform the Inventory Dashboard from a simple set of numbers into a practical decision‑making tool for day‑to‑day warehousing and strategic stock management