Setting up
Branches and locations
How to create a branch, what "Location" means on all the other forms, and how the branch picker at the top of the screen changes what you see.
A location is one real place where your business keeps stock. A shop, a depot, a store room, a plant. Outlyz files almost everything against a location. Stock sits at a location. A delivery is received into one. A stock count covers one. A transfer moves goods from one to another.
Half the app asks you to pick a "Location" before it will save. Every one of those fields reads from the same list, and that list is built on this one page. Until you create a branch here, those forms have nothing to offer you.
If you cannot see the "Add Location" button, your role is not allowed to add branches. Ask the business owner to add it, or to change your role.
Step by step
1. Open the Locations page
In the top menu, open "Settings" and then "Locations". The page address is /settings/locations. It is headed "Locations", with the line "Manage your business locations and branches" under it. Three cards sit above the list. "Total Locations", "Active" and "Inactive". Those counts cover the whole business, not just the page you are looking at. There is a second way in. Click the branch picker at the top right of any page, then click "Manage Locations" at the bottom of the menu.
2. Add the branch
Click "Add Location" at the top right. A window opens headed "Add New Location". Fill "Location Name". That is the only field the app insists on, and no two branches can share a name. Fill "Address", "Phone" and "Email" if you have them, then click "Create". Use the name your staff already say out loud, like Ntinda Shop or Nakawa Depot. That name appears in the branch picker, on every stock count and on the "Location" field of every form, so a clear one saves a lot of questions later.
3. Create one for every real place
Repeat the last step for each site you run. Do not fold three places into one entry. Stock is held per branch, so a lumped branch can only ever tell you a grand total. With real branches you can see what Ntinda holds on its own, count Ntinda on its own, and move ten crates from Ntinda to Nakawa so that both numbers change. You are not charged per branch. What your plan sets is how many active branches you may keep. Starter allows two, Growth allows five, and Scale has no limit. When you reach your cap, the app shows a warning with an "Upgrade" button instead of saving the new branch.
4. Let your staff into the new branch
Anyone with the Business Owner role is given a new branch on their own. Nobody else is. Open "Settings" and then "User Management", open the person, and tick the new branch under "Accessible Locations". The help line there says "Select which locations this user can access. Users can only view and manage data for their assigned locations." Until you tick it, that person's branch picker will not list the new place and their pages will not show its stock.
5. Use the branch picker at the top
The picker sits at the top right of the screen and shows the branch you are currently looking at. Click it and a menu opens headed "Switch Location", with the line "Select a branch to view specific data". Under "Views" there is "All Locations", described as "Consolidated business data". Under "Branches" you get your places, and the one you are on carries an "Active" tag. Once you pass five branches a search box appears with "Search branches...". Pick a branch and the dashboard, products, orders, payments and stock movements all reload for that branch alone. Pick "All Locations" and the same pages add every branch together. Your choice is kept in that browser, so it is still there after a reload and at your next sign in.
6. Know where the branch shows up in daily work
Receiving. On a product, "Add Batch" has a "Location" field, and it starts on whatever the picker at the top is set to. That is the branch the delivery is counted into. If the picker is on "All Locations", this field comes up empty, so choose the branch yourself before you save. Leave it empty and the app answers "Pick the branch this delivery came into, then try again." Counting. On "Stock Counts", the "Start a count" window asks for "Location" first. The count only covers what that one branch holds. Moving. On "Stock Movements", click "Add Movement" and choose the type "Transfer (Between Locations)". It then asks for "From" and "To", and both are branches. This is the right way to move goods between your places, because it takes the stock off one branch and puts it on the other in one record. Selling. The till starts on one branch, and every sale rings up against it. Whoever is on the till can change it from "Switch Location" in the till's own header.
7. Turn a branch off, or remove one
Click "Edit" on the row. The window is headed "Update Location" and carries one extra control, the switch "Location is active". Turn it off for a place that is shut for now, and back on when it reopens. "Delete" is gentler than it sounds. It asks "Are you sure you want to delete this location? This action cannot be undone." and then simply switches the branch off and takes it out of the pickers. The same "Location is active" switch is the way back. Delete also refuses while the branch still holds tracked units, and says "Cannot delete location with stock. Consider deactivating instead." Transfer that stock to another branch first. To find a branch you switched off, set the "Status" filter above the list to "Inactive" or "All".
Worth knowing
One branch fills itself in
Every "Location" field counts your branches first. When you have only one, it fills that branch in and locks the field, and resting on it shows "Your only location". Nothing to pick, nothing to get wrong. The moment a second branch exists, the field opens up on its own across the whole app.
On a phone the picker moves
On a small screen the picker leaves the top bar and sits at the end of the breadcrumb line instead. It is the same control. You can still see which branch a page belongs to, and still change it, without opening any menu.
No picker at all means no access
If the branch picker is missing for someone, they have no branch ticked under "Accessible Locations". Fix it on their user record, not on the Locations page.
Questions
I added a branch but my cashier cannot see it. Why?
Access is given per person. Open "Settings" then "User Management", open that person, tick the new branch under "Accessible Locations" and save. Business Owners are added to every new branch on their own. Everybody else has to be ticked.
The same product shows different numbers when I switch branch. Is that a bug?
No. Stock is held per branch, so the page is answering for the branch in the picker. Set the picker to "All Locations" to see every branch added together.
Can I rename a branch later?
Yes. Click "Edit" on the row, change "Location Name" and click "Update". The new name has to be different from your other branches. Past records keep pointing at the same place, so nothing is lost.
Outlyz does this
Outlyz tracks your stock, orders and deliveries, and every container you expect back. UGX 20,000 per person per month. The first month is free and no card is needed.
Or call 0780 784870 and we will set it up with you.