Introduction to the inventory calendar – Checkfront

Read this introduction to the Inventory Calendar, including understanding how information is organized and presented and adding new Staff-side bookings.

The entire series of articles can be accessed at the side and bottom of this page, where you can learn more about the Inventory Calendar's full management capability.

Accessing the features mentioned in this article

Where can I find this feature using the top menu?

Calendar > Item/Product > Inventory Calendar

What more do I need to use this feature?

Admin or restricted permissions to View calendars, Change Daily Inventory Availability, Create Bookings, and View events and rules with Manage events and rules for Product Closures.
Inventory (items/products) configured within Checkfront.

Which Checkfront version supports this feature - classic items, classic products, or both?

This feature is available in both our classic version using classic items (Inventory > Items) and our classic version using classic products (Inventory > Products). → Learn more about products

Inventory Calendar Overview

Inventory Calendar Overview The Inventory Calendar provides a complete, visual overview of inventory availability by date with the option to edit availability for the inventory and period in focus.

Learn more about your other reporting options here:

Understanding how inventory is organized

The inventory is organized and presented as follows.

Inventory by Category, then Item/Product

Category then Product By default, your Inventory Calendar displays data starting today for a period of four weeks.

Inventory data is presented daily, organized by category and item/product.

Category weighting (weight) is honoured first, and then item ordering (sort order) within those categories second.

The order in which categories are displayed is determined by the display Weight configured for each category.

The order in which items/products are displayed is determined by the Sort Order configured for each item/product.

The higher the number, the higher the category, item, or product is displayed on the page.

Learn more here:

Categories: Creating a new inventory category
Items: Adding descriptions to items using the item builder (classic)
Products: Setting up details, visibility, and media on products

Archived categories are not displayed within the calendar.

The Inventory Calendar excludes items that are not date-based inventory:

Items with the Date Based Inventory Control disabled (OFF).
Items created as Gift Certificates.

Understanding how product groupings, simple items, and package add-ons/upsells are displayed

Items (Classic)

For items configured as product groupings, the child item displays indented directly under the parent item. There can be multiple child items displayed depending on your inventory configuration. The parent item cannot be manually adjusted as the child items control inventory. As adjustments are made to the child item, the total is adjusted for the parent. As such, the parent's total cannot be manually adjusted and remains greyed out. Product groupings for products are not supported at this time.

Simple items, items configured as package add-ons, and aliased items are listed independently under their configured category.

Products (New)

Product upsells are also listed independently under their configured category.

To learn more about configuring items or products, please see the following series of articles:

Understanding how availability is displayed for inventory allocated per day/all day or per night/nightly.

Availability for inventory allocated per day/all day or per night/nightly is displayed as follows.

Inventory Data		More Info
Available Inventory		This number is the available inventory* for the period. Considering any existing bookings. *If you use products configured with assets, this is the number of primary assets available.
Quick booking details		Hover over any cell to view additional booking availability information. Quantity/capacity available Number of bookings Total inventory* *If you use products configured with assets, this is the number of primary assets available.

Understanding how availability is displayed for timeslots or per time/flex time

Inventory allocated into timeslots or per time/flex time periods is represented by multiple rows starting with a summary row.

Inventory Data		More Info
Summary Row		What does Maximum available for the day mean? The summary row communicates the availability for the day considering each timeslot/per time/flex time in the day. You can expand (v) the section to see the availability for each time period.
Timeslots		If timeslots allocate availability, then a row displays for each timeslot configured for that item/product, for example, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM.
Per Time/Flex Time		Each row in the calendar represents an allocation period —for example, per time (30, 20, 15, or 10 minutes).
Quick booking details		Hover over any cell to view additional booking availability information. Quantity/capacity available Number of bookings Total inventory for the time period* *If you use products configured with assets, this is the number of primary assets available.

Understanding availability at a glance with colour-coded cells

Availability is communicated through colour-coded cells and icons.

Inventory Data		More Info
50% or more availability		Inventory cells displayed in light green indicate availability of 50% or more. Bookings have yet to be made. How can inventory be below 100% without bookings? This is possible if inventory numbers have been manually decreased before bookings have been received. The corner of the cell is also flagged to indicate that a manual adjustment has been made.
50% or more availability with bookings		Inventory cells displayed in dark green indicate availability of 50% or more. Bookings have been made.
Less than 50% availability		Inventory cells displayed in light yellow indicate less than 50% availability where no bookings have been made yet. How can inventory be below 50% without bookings? This is possible if inventory numbers have been manually decreased before bookings have been received. The corner of the cell is also flagged to indicate that a manual adjustment has been made.
Less than 50% availability		Inventory cells displayed in dark yellow indicate less than 50% availability where bookings have been made.
Sold Out		Inventory cells displayed in red indicate that the inventory is sold out or has been adjusted to zero availability for that interval.
Adjusted		Once you adjust inventory, the corresponding cell within the calendar is flagged so that adjusted inventory is easy to spot.
Calendar or Product Closure Events		Days listed for products with associated full closure events display as closed. Learn more here: Determining availability on products Also, see which days you have configured as available within Calendar Setup. Setting up your calendar
Unlimited Inventory		Intervals for items with unlimited inventory display with an infinity icon (∞).

Adding a new booking

Add New Booking

You can initiate a new Staff-side booking from the Inventory Calendar. Click the New Booking button to start the process.

The following article in this series looks at navigating and filtering inventory within the Inventory Calendar.

| Navigating and filtering the inventory calendar >