Iventory Management from a POS system
May 02, 2019
Iventory Management from a POS system
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Imonggo
We use it in my department to inventory and catalog all of the goods we process at our facility. It allows to track and maintain stock and let us know when we need to reorder supplies. It helps avoid any confusion about what goods we have available to distribute and hand out. That way we're never caught short handed when we connect with clients. Additionally, it acts as a repository for client information allowing us to house client information. This is useful for bulk emailing and informational emails. Functionally, it solves issues around inventory management and allocation and it solves some of our communication needs with clients. It also allows organizing inventories by department which becomes extremely useful in tracking usage rates and which program is consuming which set of resources.
- Inventory management - It's easy to update inventories and organize items with specific tags.
- Client information - It's easy to update basic client information into the system and maintain easy access to their records.
- Visualization - It can visualize inventory quantities and helps provide a graphical representation of which department is consuming which resources.
- UI - The UI is pretty paired down so it's not cluttered and limits the options to only what is relevant to your given task.
- Design - While the UI is navigable, the design looks a bit dated.
- Server issues - Occasionally the web-based client is too slow to process information and can result in a double input of said information. It's not life ending but a bit annoying at times.
- Custom Tagging - Most of the tags we input to classify inventory have to be entered manually, it would really nice to have those populate automatically.
- Inventory buttons - They used to have buttons that you could click to change the inventory in a given field, now you just have to enter the number in the field itself. Was much nicer to have the option of both.
- Inventory management - This has been extremely helpful to track what we're using and in what quantities. Makes budgeting a lot easier and more accurate.
- Client engagement - It's helped us engage and maintain clients, but by the same token has proven limited as it's difficult to separate clients into custom subcategories.
- Grant reporting - The numbers generated through Imonggo are really helpful for providing numerical feedback to our funders.
Imonggo makes things simpler given its relatively clean UI and simple options tree that results from each click. Salesforce can do more and use custom tracking more efficiently but is more of a pain to set up and maintain. Xero handles inventory management in a different way than Imonggo and for day to day purposes its easier for our staff to use Immongo. Imonggo lets lower level staff interact with our inventory and we can set up access for them to more akin to its typical POS service, scanning out inventory for clients.
Using Imonggo
10 - Primarily inventory management and Client Services. We use it to track inventory of goods we distribute to clients. We also use the customer/client information tool to track and maintain bulk communications with our clients.
2 - Primarily, they need familiarity with the software itself and inventory management in general. It's also useful for client and volunteer coordinators to track their relevant interactions with either clients or volunteers. They are our IT personnel that provide specific support for Imonggo. The rest of the staff learns the software as it is relevant to them.
- Inventory management.
- Client data.
- Volunteer data and retention.
- Grant reporting.
- Inventory management as opposed to a point of sale system.
- Grant tracking - we can track goods and services distributed for grant reporting purposes.
- Volunteer Tracking - We've started to look at for tracking volunteers and see room for addition
Evaluating Imonggo and Competitors
Not Sure - I'm unsure as to what predated it. Office chatter is there was nothing doing what imonggo does now. Previously it seems that Excel was used to track inventories and client information, which was rather inefficient. This our first forray away from the office suite/google doc suite of databases and inventory management.
- Price
- Product Usability
- Analyst Reports
The price is right, or it was as we started with the free version. It's hard to beat free! Primarily, it was the usability that drew us to the software. I had experience in retail prior to my arrival at my current position and thought that we could use Imonggo to manage inventories similar to the way a store would but without the Point of sale needs. Turns out that's been a real coup for our organization.
I think we'd look at the client service side of the software. We've been pretty pleased with the inventory management side of things but would like to see more ability to organize and customize our client information. I think we'd look to pair the inventory side with better client management software.
Imonggo Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Yes - We started with the inventory management side to see if it would integrate with our needs. It did. We then incorporated the client/customer information side of things after. We're still evaluating its long term viability but for the time being it's doing what we want.
- Time - It takes a while to set up inventories.
- Permissions - We had to organize permissions appropriately to manage who could edit what and to what degree.
- Server speed - Given its web base, there are times when forms time out or the software is slow to load we end up double clicking in moments where we intended a single click.
Imonggo Training
- Self-taught
Yes, it is fairly easy to learn. The software is divided into 3 subcategories and each subcategory allows specific functionality. It took a little clicking around to figure out where everything was at, but once we did it felt pretty intuitive and easy to navigate. A little trial and not too much error, and we were up and running in no time.
Configuring Imonggo
Determine your tag system for your inventory early on. It makes it a 1000x easier when you've got a categorization method for all of your inventory. Set up locations as well to help track where inventory is more precisely. Instead, an X number of paper cups are in our office/warehouse, set up Imonggo to parcel locations into easier manage and locate locations.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code
Put in the effort to customize your tags early on. Consistency in that regard will make it a lot more usable in the long run.
Imonggo Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Good followup Knowledgeable team No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Not kept informed |
No - We haven't found the need for it yet. Currently support has done what we need it to do the few times we've called upon it. Our in house managers are usually able to resolve most issues without having to involve their tech support. We don't use the Point of sale side directly so our need for premium support really isn't all that relevant.
We had some questions about initially setting up our inventories and how to properly document the distribution of products to clients. Imonggo had a pretty eloquent solution for the problem by effectively treating our inventory the way a store would, we could track and move inventory as if we were selling it so that we achieved the desired functionality. It was a pretty simple solution that has proven really effective for our needs.
Using Imonggo
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Inventory Management
- Inventory Visualization
- Inventory Transfers
- Custom Field and Identifiers - They don't autopopulate
- Customer/Client information - There's a not a great to great subsets of clients
Not Sure - We use the desktop mode exclusively and have not dealt with a mobile version of the software.
Imonggo Reliability
Integrating Imonggo
- N/a
We have not integrated directly into another software system.
- It would be great to have it integrate with Excel and some basic databases
- Quickbooks would be nice too
I don't know.
- File import/export
Check the web forum resources available.
Relationship with Imonggo
I was not involved in the negotiation process so I cannot comment extensively only to say we've maintained a positive relationship.
Kindness and humility goes a long way in any negotiation.
Upgrading Imonggo
No - No we have been happy with what we have and have not pursued opportunities to upgrade our edition. Currently our needs are being met.