Adding medicines and opening stock

Before you bill the first customer, MediPOS needs to know what you sell and how much of it is on your shelves. This guide covers the first step of pharmacy stock management: creating a product with its units and prices, then entering opening stock with batch number, expiry and cost, so FEFO selling, expiry alerts and profit are right from day one.

Three ways to add products

This guide covers the product form, where every product ends up however it was added.

How to create a product by hand

1. Go to Inventory → Products & stock and click New product.
2. Fill in the Product section:
   • Name (as printed on receipt), for example Panadol 500mg Tablet.
   • Generic / formula, for example Paracetamol 500mg. Cashiers can then find it by salt name.
   • Company / manufacturer and Category. Start typing to pick an existing one. A new name is saved as your own.
   • Type: Medicine, Medical device, Surgical, Cosmetic, Supplement, Baby care or General item.
   • Dosage form. Choosing Tablet fills in Box, Strip and Tablet in the units table.
   • Drug class: OTC, Prescription (Rx), Controlled, Narcotic or Psychotropic. Tick Prescription required for medicines that should not go over the counter. The POS shows an Rx tag on those lines.
   • SKU / item code is optional. Leave it empty and MediPOS creates one.
3. Set up Units & prices (see below).
4. Under Barcodes, click Add barcode and scan the pack.
5. Under Stock control, set the Reorder level (base units), the Rack / shelf (for example A-3) and Sales tax (%), usually 0 for medicines. With a reorder level of 200, Panadol shows Low stock once 200 tablets or fewer are left in this branch.
6. Click Create product.

Units and default prices

Stock is always kept in the base unit, the smallest unit you sell. Every other unit says how many base units it holds. For Panadol in boxes of 10 strips × 10 tablets:

The box is 100, not 10. The number is always counted in tablets, never in strips. Untick Sell in it for a unit you never sell loose. A product can have up to six units.

The default sale price is a fallback. When a batch has its own MRP from a purchase or from opening stock, the POS uses the batch price instead. Units, prices and barcodes explains the full order.

How to enter opening stock

Opening stock is what is already on your shelves on the day you start. Enter it once, with the real batches and expiry dates.

1. Open the product and click Add opening stock, or go to Inventory → Stock adjustments and click Opening stock.
2. Choose the Location (normally Main Store) and the Date.
3. For each batch on the shelf, click Add item and fill in:
   • Product (search by name or generic, or scan the barcode) and Unit.
   • Quantity, in the unit you chose.
   • Batch no. and Expiry, from the pack.
   • Cost per unit: what you paid the distributor, in rupees.
   • Sale price (MRP) per unit, if this batch should sell at its printed price.
4. Click Save draft to finish later, or Save & post to put the stock on the shelf.

Say you have 3 sealed boxes of batch PN2451 expiring March 2027 and 40 loose tablets of batch PN2318 expiring November 2026. Enter two lines: 3 Box of PN2451 at Rs. 238 per box, and 40 Tablet of PN2318 at Rs. 2.38 per tablet. MediPOS will sell the November batch first.

Rules worth knowing

• You need Add / edit products to create or edit products, and Adjust stock to enter opening stock.
• Opening stock quantities must be positive, and the cost is required. It values your stock in the books, as Stock against Opening balances.
• When posted, the document gets a number starting with OPN and can no longer be edited or deleted. Correct mistakes with a stock adjustment.
• After a product has stock history you cannot change the size of an existing unit, remove a unit, or switch batch tracking on or off. You can still add a unit and change prices. Get pack sizes right before entering stock.
• For items without batches, such as shopping bags, untick Track batch numbers and Track expiry dates.
• Price changes are kept in the audit log, and cost columns are shown only to people with See purchase cost.
• If Stock adjustments is not in your menu, your plan does not include it. Opening stock can also come in through Import data. The owner can see what each plan includes under Plan & billing.

Common questions

The pack only says 03/2027. Which date do I enter?

Enter the last day of that month, 31/03/2027. The spreadsheet import treats month-and-year dates the same way. MediPOS treats a batch as in date up to and including its expiry day.

Do I have to enter opening stock before I can sell a medicine?

Yes. MediPOS never sells stock it does not have, so a product with no stock is refused at the counter with a "Not enough stock" message. Bring stock in with opening stock or by posting a purchase.

Can I change a box from 100 tablets to 30 later?

Only until the first stock is recorded. After that the size is fixed, because changing it would silently change stock already counted. Add a new unit instead, such as Box of 30.

Related guides

• Using the medicine database
• Units, prices and barcodes
• Importing products, customers and suppliers
• Stock adjustments