Understanding the storage structure

(Only if you offer storage)

Before you start creating warehouses and storage, it's important to understand how storage works in Bas. Everything is built on a three-level structure. Once you understand this properly, the rest becomes much easier.

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Step 1 - The 3-level structure

Storage in Bas works with a hierarchy of three levels:

Level 1: WAREHOUSE  The physical location. A building, a hall, a depot.  |  |-- Level 2: STORAGE LOCATION (optional)  |     A section within the warehouse. Think of: a row, an aisle, a bay.  |     |  |     |-- Level 3: STORAGE (unit)  |           The individual unit. A container, a crate, a pallet.  |           This is the level at which you link customers and invoice.

What is what?

Note: The middle level (storage location) is optional. You can also go directly from warehouse to units. That is sufficient for many companies.

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Step 2 - Simple structure (without storage locations)

If you have fewer than roughly 50 containers and you don't need to track per aisle or row where something is, you use the simple structure. You then skip the middle level.

Example:

Industrieweg Warehouse (level 1)  |-- Container 001 (level 3 - unit)  |-- Container 002 (level 3 - unit)  |-- Container 003 (level 3 - unit)  |-- Crate 301 (level 3 - unit)  |-- Crate 302 (level 3 - unit)

When do you use this?

• You have fewer than roughly 50 containers or crates

• Your warehouse is easy to oversee and you can find everything easily

• You don't need to know which aisle or row something is in

• You want to keep it simple

Tip: Start here. This structure is sufficient for most companies. You can always add storage locations later as your warehouse grows.

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Step 3 - Complex structure (with storage locations)

If you have multiple warehouses or want to know within a warehouse which row or aisle something is in, you use the complex structure. You then use all three levels.

Example:

Eindhoven Warehouse (level 1)  |-- Hall A (level 2 - storage location)  |     |-- Container 001 (level 3 - unit)  |     |-- Container 002 (level 3 - unit)  |     |-- Container 003 (level 3 - unit)  |  |-- Hall B (level 2 - storage location)  |     |-- Crate 301 (level 3 - unit)  |     |-- Crate 302 (level 3 - unit)  |  |-- Racking Row C (level 2 - storage location)        |-- Pallet C-1 (level 3 - unit)        |-- Pallet C-2 (level 3 - unit)

When do you use this?

• You have multiple warehouses (e.g. Eindhoven and Veldhoven)

• You want to know within a warehouse which row, aisle or floor something is in

• You work with racking that is numbered per bay

• You have a large, complex warehouse

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Step 4 - Simple or complex: what suits you?

Use this rule of thumb:

Choose SIMPLE if:

• You have fewer than 50 containers

• You have one warehouse at one location

• You can find everything easily without a specific row layout

• You want to keep it clear and simple

Choose COMPLEX if:

• You have multiple warehouses

• You have more than 50 units

• You want to know which row, aisle or bay something is in

• You work with racking that is numbered

Tip: When in doubt: start simple. You can always expand later. But if you start with an overly complex structure you don’t need, you make things unnecessarily difficult for yourself.

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Step 5 - What do you link customers to?

This is an important principle: you always link customers to level 3: the unit.

A customer never rents "the warehouse" or "Hall A". A customer rents "Container 001" or "Crate 301". That’s what you link the case file to and that’s what you invoice.

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Examples by company size

Small company (1 warehouse, 20 containers)

Structure: Simple (warehouse + units)

Industrieweg Warehouse  |-- Container 1 to 20  |-- Crate 1 to 10

Medium-sized company (1 warehouse, 80 containers, with rows)

Structure: Complex (warehouse + storage locations + units)

Eindhoven Warehouse  |-- Row A: Container 1 to 20  |-- Row B: Container 21 to 40  |-- Row C: Crate 1 to 20

Large company (2 warehouses, 200+ containers)

Structure: Complex (warehouse + storage locations + units)

Eindhoven Warehouse  |-- Hall A: Container 1 to 50  |-- Hall B: Container 51 to 100Veldhoven Warehouse  |-- Row 1: Container 101 to 150  |-- Row 2: Pallet P-01 to P-50

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Tips

• Decide your structure on paper before you start. A clean structure in the system starts with a clean structure on paper. Take 15 minutes for this.

• Start simple. Do you have fewer than 50 containers? Then you probably don’t need storage locations. Warehouse + units is sufficient.

• You can always expand later. Start with a simple structure and add storage locations as your warehouse grows.

• Link customers to units, not to warehouses. A customer rents a container, not a warehouse.

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Watch out

• Making the location structure too complex. If you start with Warehouse > Hall > Row > Bay > Floor > Unit while you only have 30 containers, you make it unnecessarily complicated. You can always expand later.

• Linking customers to the wrong levels. Always link customers to units (level 3), not to warehouses or storage locations.

• Not defining a structure in advance. If you start entering data without a plan, you get a mess. First define your structure on paper.

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Want to know more?

• Introduction to storage - Overview of the storage module and what you can do with it

• Manage your warehouses - Creating, editing and deactivating warehouses

• Manage your storage locations - Creating storage locations and adding them in bulk

Next step: Create a warehouse - create your first warehouse with address and square metres.