Inventory Analyst Course

Lesson 1 • Core Inventory Costs and Trade-offs

Identifies holding, ordering, shortage, and obsolescence costs. Understanding cost trade-offs is the basis for every optimization decision in later chapters.

Lesson 2 • What Inventory Management Means

Defines inventory management and its strategic importance to profitability and service levels. Establishes shared vocabulary used throughout the course.

Lesson 3 • Types and Classifications of Inventory

Covers raw materials, WIP, finished goods, and MRO categories. Classification enables analysts to apply the right control strategy to each type.

Lesson 1 • Collaborative Forecasting Practices

Explains how to integrate sales, marketing, and supplier inputs into a consensus forecast. Collaboration reduces forecast error and aligns inventory plans with business strategy.

Lesson 2 • Understanding Demand Patterns

Explains trend, seasonality, cyclicality, and random variation in demand data. Recognizing patterns is the prerequisite for choosing the correct forecasting model.

Lesson 3 • Qualitative Forecasting Methods

Covers expert judgment, market surveys, and consensus techniques for new or data-scarce items. Provides a toolkit for situations where historical data is insufficient.

Lesson 4 • Quantitative Forecasting Techniques

Teaches moving averages, exponential smoothing, and regression-based forecasting. Students apply each method to real demand datasets and compare outputs.

Lesson 1 • Periodic Review Systems

Covers the fixed-interval order-up-to model as an alternative to continuous review. Students compare both systems and select the appropriate one for different operational contexts.

Lesson 2 • Safety Stock Optimization

Applies statistical methods to set safety stock levels that balance service targets against holding costs. Builds directly on forecast error metrics from the previous chapter.

Lesson 3 • Special Replenishment Scenarios

Addresses min-max systems, vendor-managed inventory, and multi-echelon replenishment. Prepares analysts to handle non-standard supply chain structures.

Lesson 4 • Economic Order Quantity Model

Derives the EOQ formula and its assumptions, then applies it to minimize total ordering and holding costs. Forms the mathematical backbone of replenishment planning.

Lesson 1 • ABC Analysis Fundamentals

Ranks items by annual consumption value to identify the vital few driving most inventory cost. Provides the primary lens for differentiating control policies across the portfolio.

Lesson 2 • Combined ABC-XYZ Matrix

Merges value and variability dimensions into a nine-cell matrix that guides differentiated stocking strategies. Students assign policies to each cell using cost and service logic.

Lesson 3 • Maintaining and Refreshing Segments

Establishes review cadences and triggers for reclassifying items as demand and strategy evolve. Prevents stale segmentation from distorting replenishment and stocking decisions.

Lesson 4 • Multi-Criteria Segmentation Methods

Extends segmentation to include criticality, lead time, and substitutability beyond value and variability. Enables nuanced decisions for spare parts, healthcare, and other specialized contexts.

Lesson 1 • Inventory Accuracy Metrics and Targets

Defines location accuracy, unit accuracy, and value accuracy, and sets realistic improvement targets. Metrics enable tracking of program effectiveness over time.

Lesson 2 • Sources of Inventory Record Error

Identifies transaction errors, process failures, and system gaps that degrade record accuracy. Understanding root causes is essential before designing corrective controls.

Lesson 3 • Physical Inventory Counting Methods

Compares full physical counts, cycle counting, and spot checks on accuracy, cost, and disruption. Students select the right method based on operational constraints and accuracy targets.

Lesson 4 • Designing a Cycle Count Program

Guides analysts through scheduling, location selection, count execution, and variance investigation. A well-designed program sustains high accuracy without halting operations.

Lesson 1 • Data Sources and Data Quality

Maps the key data sources—ERP, WMS, and spreadsheets—and evaluates their quality for analysis. Clean, reliable data is the prerequisite for every analytical output in this chapter.

Lesson 2 • Spreadsheet Analysis Techniques

Builds proficiency in pivot tables, lookup functions, and conditional logic for inventory analysis. These tools enable rapid, repeatable analysis without specialized software.

Lesson 3 • Excess, Obsolete, and Slow-Moving Analysis

Identifies EOSM inventory using aging, coverage, and velocity criteria, then quantifies financial exposure. Provides the analytical basis for disposition decisions covered in the next chapter.

Lesson 4 • Key Inventory KPI Dashboards

Designs dashboards that display turnover, fill rate, accuracy, and excess stock in a single view. Effective dashboards accelerate decision-making and highlight exceptions instantly.

Lesson 1 • Demand-Driven Inventory Policies

Introduces pull-based replenishment, postponement, and demand shaping as tools to align stock with actual consumption. Reduces forecast-driven overstock in volatile demand environments.

Lesson 2 • Identifying Optimization Opportunities

Uses data analysis outputs from the previous chapter to prioritize high-impact optimization targets. Focuses effort on items where investment reduction yields the greatest financial return.

Lesson 3 • Reducing Excess and Obsolete Inventory

Covers disposition strategies including return, redistribution, markdown, and write-off for EOSM stock. Systematic reduction frees working capital and improves warehouse utilization.

Lesson 4 • Portfolio Rationalization and SKU Reduction

Evaluates SKU profitability and complexity to identify candidates for elimination or consolidation. Fewer active SKUs reduce forecast error, holding costs, and operational complexity.

Lesson 1 • Financial Planning and Inventory Budgeting

Connects inventory investment levels to working capital budgets and cash flow forecasts. Analysts learn to translate operational plans into financial projections for leadership review.

Lesson 2 • Governance, Compliance, and Risk Management

Establishes controls, audit trails, and risk mitigation practices to protect inventory integrity. Ensures the inventory function meets internal audit and regulatory compliance requirements.

Lesson 3 • Integration with Sales and Operations Planning

Positions inventory planning as a core input to the S&OP process alongside demand and supply plans. Alignment with S&OP ensures inventory targets reflect current business strategy.

Lesson 4 • Inventory Policy Design

Defines the components of a formal inventory policy including targets, review cycles, and accountability. A documented policy ensures consistent decision-making across teams and time periods.