difference between inventory management and warehouse management

In IM level It shows you the stock not exactlly in which location, where as in WM it shows you the in which material at which location at storage bin level and also the expire date. 1. Processes in the area of Inventory Management address the recording and tracking of materials on a quantity and value basis. This includes planning, entry, and documentation of stock movements such as goods receipts, goods issues, physical stock transfers, and transfer postings as well as the performance of physical inventory (stocktaking). Warehouse Management Processes cover warehouse-internal movements and storage of materials. 2. SAP Warehouse Management allows you to manage your material flow, using advanced putaway and picking strategies. In the standard system, these strategies for putaway include random putaway (next empty bin), bulk storage, fixed bin, or addition to stock. The picking strategies include standard strategies first-in first-out (FIFO), lastin first-out (LIFO), picking by shelf life expiration date (SLED), or partial quantities first. For customer-specific strategies, solutions can be self-defined in user exits. 3. While Inventory Management manages the stocks by quantity and value, the Warehouse Management component reflects the special structure of a warehouse, and monitors the allocation of the storage bins and any transfer transactions in the warehouse.

Inventory Management enables you to have an overview of your current stock situation at all times at storage location level. You can view the stock using MMBE transaction Where as the Warehouse Management is the stock at warehouse level. You can view the warehouse stock using LS26 transaction Always the Inventory or the stock at both the WM level and IM level must be same. If there is any difference in both of these levels we can clear the difference using two transactions LI20 - Clear difference at WM Level LI21 - Clear differneces at IM level ALso please go through the below link http://help.sap.com/saphelp_47x200/helpdata/en/12/085d6a470311d1894a0000e8323352/frameset.ht m

Inventory management talks about stock management up to plant and storage locations only. The movement does not go down to much more details than this. It covers batch management, stock types (unrestricted, quality, blocked) and all integration into other modules including direct posting to FI after Goods Issue/Receipt, stock reservation, stock availability in SD etc. Warehouse management talks about stock management in more detailed than the above. It goes down to storage types (rack, floor) and off course bin location (bin number 01-20-11, for example). Warehouse management allows the whole coordination within the warehouse. It includes initiation of work to do picking, putaway (through queue management), includes the management of how the sequence and flow of work would be done within the warehouse. With warehouse management more detailed activity steps can be captured inside the system.

Inventory Management
Purpose
You use Inventory Management to: manage stocks of merchandise on a quantity and value basis. plan, enter and provide evidence of all goods movements.

You manage stocks on a site and storage location level, and can assign each site a number of storage locations. If you want to manage a sophisticated warehouse complex within a storage location, you can link Warehouse Management to Inventory Management. Inventory Management enables you to have an overview of your current stock situation at all times. Since a document is created for every transaction, there is a complete audit trail of all goods movements. Inventory Management is required for consumption-based planning, since the system calculates requirements based on the stock on-hand. Normally, goods movements are valuated automatically and result in updates on the Financial Accounting stock accounts. SAP Retail supports inventory valuation at both cost and retail. For further information, see Valuation.

Integration
Required function: Management of stocks on a quantity and value basis, and of others on a value-only basis Required component: Article, Site

Management of stocks on a value-only basis at merchandise category level Updating stock at goods receipt Updating of stocks at goods receipt for a delivery Creation of transfer requirements for goods movements Stock corrections when physical inventory differences are posted Updating of goods movements in RIS statistics Updating of delivered values for goods movements in Financial Accounting Updating of account assignment objects for goods movements assigned to an account

Merchandise category Goods receipt Logistics Execution Warehouse Management Physical inventory Retail Information System (RIS) Financial Accounting Controlling

Features
The following functions are available in Inventory Management: Entry of goods movements Creation of a document for every goods movement Division of the stock into categories (such as unrestricted-use stock, stock in quality inspection, or blocked stock) Inventory Management on a value-only basis at value-only article level Batch management Management of special stocks (assigned to a vendor, for example) Special supporting functions (such as for generic articles, structured articles, and empties) Various analyses (such as the stock overview)

Constraints
You can only use inventory management on a value-only basis if you use SAP R/3 Retail. For further information, see Inventory Management at Value-Only Article Level. See also: MM - Inventory Management

Background Processing: Inventory Management