Inventari

Inventari is a systematic listing of items owned or controlled by an organization, household, library, museum, or other collection. The purpose of an inventory is to establish a verified record of assets, stock, or holdings, support financial reporting and insurance, enable asset management, and guide operations and planning. In many Romance-language contexts, inventari is the term used for inventory or the act of compiling one, deriving from Latin roots related to finding or cataloguing.

A typical inventory process includes defining scope, identifying items, collecting data such as name, quantity, location, condition, and value, classifying items into categories, creating or updating a digital record, performing physical counts or scans (barcodes or RFID), reconciling with purchase records or stock systems, and scheduling regular updates. The scope can cover tangible assets, physical stock, software licenses, or collections in libraries and museums.

Methods and tools vary from manual counting and spreadsheet lists to barcode or RFID scanning and specialized inventory management software or enterprise resource planning systems. Types of inventories include asset inventory (equipment and facilities), stock or product inventory (goods for sale or in storage), software inventory (installed programs and licenses), and collections inventory (artifacts, books, or cultural heritage items).

Applications span business operations, logistics, retail, libraries, archives, museums, and personal asset management. Benefits include better asset utilization, reduced loss or theft, improved regulatory compliance and insurance accuracy, and more informed budgeting and planning. Challenges involve the time and effort required for accurate counts, data quality and consistency, ongoing maintenance, and integration with other information systems.