Those Strange Questions: Setting Inventory Management Data

When you enter a need using the "Add Wardrobe Need" page, you are asked some questions that you may have never thought of before (!) This topic helps you to understand why these questions are asked and how to answer them.

NOTE: When you add many needs using the "Add many needs" command, you are not asked all these questions. Instead the "default" values (see below) are used for each need. If you like, you can then change these to different values after the needs are entered (see below).

The Strange Questions

"I wear each one about '1' times each 'week'."

We call this wear pattern your "usage rate". Of course, rarely will you have such a consistent usage rate. But just take your best guess and enter it: if you more or less wear each asset that covers this need once/week, once/month, etc., then use that. If you have no idea, just leave the value as-is.

"I can wear each one about '50' times in the above situation."

In other words, how many times can you wear this item before it can no longer be used to cover the need? We often overwear items. For example, dress shirts may look okay to us after 50 wearings, but to others they can actually appear dirty, dingy, washed out, or threadbare long before we dispose of them.

If you're unsure of this value, you can just leave it "as-is" at 50. That way, after 50 uses, it will rise to the top of your shopping list, and you can change the value then. For example, good quality articles can be worn much longer than lower-quality ones.

"These items are 'no good' after about '1' 'year(s)'.

Basically, how soon will the item no longer be useful, even if you never wear it? Often this "expire date" will be due to a style change. For example, if you buy a high fashion item, it may not be useful to wear after one season.

This Data Is "Inherited" From a Need to Its Assets

Notice that we ask these questions for the "needs" that you enter. However, these questions really apply each individual "asset" that you purchase to cover the need, not the need itself. Here's how it works:

• You answer these questions when you enter a need.
• The answers to these questions are saved along with the need.
• When you purchase an asset to cover the need, the answers to these questions are passed down ("inherited") from the need to the asset.

This allows you to avoid entering the data over and over for each asset you purchase to cover the need.

Why We Ask These Questions

Here's how this data is used:

• All of these questions are used to "age" the assets that you buy to cover a need. That is, they determine the "days left" of each asset.

  For example, say you purchase a shirt that:

  • you wear once per week,
  • you expect to be able to wear 50 times, and
  • you expect to stay in style for five years (i.e. it will "expire" after five years).

  Then this shirt (asset) has 350 "days left". Why? Because you wear it once per week, and you can wear it 50 times, so it will last for 50 weeks or 350 days. (In this case, it will "wear out" before it will "expire". Other items may "expire" before they wear out.)
  
  

• The "days left" of a need is determined by combining the "days left" of all its assets.

  For example, if you only need one shirt, and you own the shirt described above, the need's "days left" will also be 350 (the same as the asset that covers it).

  If you need four shirts, and you only have the one described above, the need's days left is zero (0). In other words, you need four shirts and you only have one, so you need to buy three more right now (you have "zero days left" to do it!).

  If you need four shirts, and you have four shirts, with days left of 350, 300, 250, and 100, respectively, then the need's days left will be 100 (the lowest of all the values), since you'll need to buy another shirt in 100 days to replace the one that only has 100 days left.
  
  

• The "days left" of a need determines how high up the need is on your shopping list. Needs with fewer "days left" will show up higher on your shopping list when you sort the list by "days left". You'll want to sort the list by "days left" since that tells you which needs are the most urgent (and need to be shopped for first).

Therefore, setting these values determines how accurate your shopping list will be.

Using the Standard (Default) Settings

The standard settings (the ones that are in the page fields by default) are

• Wear 1 time per week
• Wear 50 times
• Lasts one year

( NOTE that all needs entered using the "Add Many Needs" page will have these standard values. However, when you use the "Add Wardrobe Need" page, you may override these values. )

If you have no idea or just can't guess, go ahead and do nothing -- just use these values.

Using these values has a very nice advantage: That item will rise up to the top of your shopping list in about one year. Then, when you do your wardrobe audit, you'll have one year's "experience" with this asset, and you can set the values to more accurate values. For example:

• You find that you're actually only wearing the asset about once every two weeks, so change the asset's "usage rate" to one every two weeks using the Asset Properties page.
  
  
• You find that the asset is not looking so great, and, even though you've only worn it about 25 times, it actually only has about 10 wears left. You can change the number of uses left to 10 using the Asset Properties page. (Note that it helps if you can also change the past uses to 25).
  
  
• You find that the asset is becoming accepted by the general public, and will actually remain in style for another five years at least, so you could change the "Expire Date" to five more years using the Asset Properties page.

Changing These Values Later

Changing These Values For a Need

You can easily change these values for any need:

1. Find the need name, for example, in your "Wardrobe Needs" list.
2. Click on the need name to pop up the Need Properties page.
3. Click on the "Management" link on that page to display the Inventory Management Data panel.
4. Change your settings and press "OK: Save"

NOTE that changing these values on a need will have no effect on the need's "days left" nor on the "days left" of any assets covering that need. It will have an effect on future assets that are added to cover the need, since they will "inherit" the new values from the need.

Changing These Values For an Asset

You can easily change these values for any asset:

1. Find the asset name, for example, in your "Wardrobe Assets" list.
2. Click on the asset name to pop up the Asset Properties page.
3. Click on the "Management" link on that page to display the Inventory Management Data panel.
4. (Or click on the "Basic Data" link on that page to display the Basic Data panel, if you want to change the Expire Date.)
5. Change your settings and press "OK: Save"

NOTE that changing these values on an asset will have an effect on the asset's "days left" and on the "days left" of the need that the asset covers.