Counting as a team
Your whole team counts inside one shared session. Rinvy allows one active count per restaurant, and everyone who opens the count page joins it. Split the work by storage area, watch the presence pills to see who is where, save often, and let one person tap Complete session when every area is done.
One active session per restaurant
Rinvy only allows one active inventory session per restaurant. Everyone counts inside the same session — they don't each start their own. When the first person opens the inventory count page and taps Start new session, the session is created. Everyone else who opens the page joins the existing session automatically.
The single-session model is intentional. Multiple parallel sessions would be impossible to merge — you'd have two competing "ground truths" for the same point in time.
How should we split up the kitchen?
Split it by storage area. Person A counts the walk-in, person B counts the freezer, person C counts dry storage. No coordination needed beyond agreeing who's doing what.
Large inventories are counted the same way. In its guide to accurate physical counts, the U.S. Government Accountability Office describes organizations that split the facility into areas and assign a count team to each area, so that all inventory gets counted (GAO-02-447G).
Within a storage area, simultaneous counting works but is risky — two people counting the same shelf can hit the same row at the same time. The presence indicator helps but it's not a lock.
Presence indicators
The storage area list during an active count shows who's currently in each storage area. If person A is in the walk-in, you'll see their initial or avatar on the walk-in card. The indicator updates as people switch storage areas or close the count page.
The indicator is a coordination hint, not enforcement. Two people can still both enter the same storage area — they'll see each other's presence pill and can decide whether to wait, swap, or split rows.
What happens if two people save the same product?
The last save wins for any specific product row. If A counts a tray of chicken at 12 lb and saves it, then B counts the same tray at 14 lb and saves, the final saved value is 14 lb. There's no merge or warning.
In practice this is rare if you split by storage area. If it happens, the safer answer is usually the higher number (you found stock the other person missed) — but recount the row to be sure.
Save counts vs. complete session
- Save counts writes the counts you've entered so far. You can leave the storage area, come back, edit, and re-save. Other people in the same session see your saved counts as soon as they're written.
- Complete session locks the entire session as a baseline. All counts across all storage areas become the new ground truth. After completion, edits go through the historical-edit rules (see editing past counts and receipts).
A count replaces the number in the records with the number on the shelf. IRS Publication 538 sets the same rule for a physical inventory: the book amount must be adjusted to agree with the actual inventory.
Only one person needs to tap Complete session. It applies to the whole session, not just that person's contributions.
Because it applies to everyone, agree on the timing first. If a teammate completes the session while you're still counting, your next Save counts is rejected — you'll see This session was completed by another user. Please start a new session. — and any counts you'd typed but not yet saved are cleared. Save often, and hold off on completing until every counter has finished.
The typo check before completion
When you tap Complete session, Rinvy first checks each count in the session. It compares the count with the last completed count, plus the deliveries, waste and normal usage since then. A count that looks much too high or much too low opens a Double-check these counts sheet. For example, 1500 where 150 was expected shows up here.
The sheet lists each flagged product with the numbers behind the question, such as the last count and what was received since. You then have two choices:
- Review counts closes the sheet so you can fix the count and save it again.
- Looks right, continue goes on to the normal completion step.
A count of 0 is never flagged. The check does not run on a kitchen's first count, because there is no earlier count to compare with. It also does not run on a recount done on the same day as the last count. If the check cannot run, completion goes ahead as normal.
Choosing when to complete
Best practice: complete the session as soon as you're confident every storage area has been counted. A saved-but-not-completed session sits open indefinitely and any subsequent receipts, prep, or waste piles up against an old baseline.
If you intentionally want to do a multi-day count (walk-in today, dry storage tomorrow), leave the session active and complete it on day two.
Counted on paper, entered later?
A count is dated to the day it was taken, not the day it was typed in. If your team counted on Sunday and you enter the numbers on Tuesday, an owner or manager taps Change date on the session (next to "Started …") and picks Sunday. Every count saved in that session is then dated Sunday, and deliveries, waste and sales logged since Sunday are recomputed from it. The same button on a past count in inventory history moves that count to another day. A count can't be dated in the future.
What happens on completion
When the session is completed, Rinvy:
- Sends a session-summary email (if enabled in Dashboard Settings).
- Runs inventory health analysis (Standard+) and may post anomaly alerts.
Common mistakes
Starting a 'new' session because nobody can find the existing one
There can only be one. If you can't find an active session, it's probably finished — check inventory history. Don't try to force-start a new session while another exists.
Forgetting to save before you leave a storage area
Leaving a storage area without tapping Save counts discards the counts entered there. The presence indicator can mislead you into thinking your data is safe — it isn't until you save.
Completing a half-counted session under pressure
Completion sets the baseline. Storage areas you never opened are treated as unchanged from the previous count — which silently understates consumption. Better to leave the session active another day than to complete with gaps.