Stock Tracker
Custom inventory intelligence for a pharmaceutical distributor.
A bespoke, web-based stock-tracking platform for a pharmaceutical distribution company that sells across its own warehouse, a network of distributors (each with multiple regional distribution centers), and pharmacies. It turns a chaotic pile of incompatible supplier spreadsheets into a single, always-current view of stock — down to batch and expiry date.
The problem
Stock scattered across channels, in a dozen different formats
A pharmaceutical distributor rarely has its stock in one place. The client's inventory was spread across an own warehouse, multiple distributors — each with several regional distribution centers (RDCs) — and pharmacies.
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Every source spoke a different language
Each distributor sent periodic stock files (Excel/CSV) in its own format — different columns, product codes, and product names. The own-warehouse export format also changed over time.
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Re-interpreting files by hand, every time
Each upload meant manually re-reading each file's layout from scratch — a recurring, error-prone grind.
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The same product, coded differently everywhere
"Product X" at one distributor was the same item coded completely differently at another, and reconciling that was mental gymnastics.
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No reliable, unified picture
There was never a dependable answer to the simplest question: "how much do we actually have, and where?"
The solution
One internal product as the single source of truth
I designed the tool around one principle: the company's internal product is the source of truth, and every supplier's format is mapped to it — once.
Configure once, automate forever
- For each source you define the reading rules a single time — which columns mean product code, quantity, RDC, batch, expiry, date.
- Every future upload from that source is processed automatically. No re-mapping.
One product, many identities
- Each distributor's product code is matched to the internal product once and remembered permanently.
- Identical items are counted as one everywhere, regardless of how each supplier names or codes them.
Built for real supplier files
- Handles both row-per-line and "wide" layouts (a separate column per RDC), multi-sheet Excel workbooks, and custom header rows.
- Users match file columns to the company's own named RDCs — not whatever the supplier called them.
Pharma-grade detail
- Tracks batch/lot and expiry date per stock line — the same product can sit on several rows across batches.
- Visual highlighting of expired and soon-to-expire stock.
A real-time stock dashboard
- Aggregated availability per product, with an expandable breakdown by distributor / RDC / location.
- Filters by brand, distributor and region; search; sortable columns; and "last updated" freshness indicators that flag stale suppliers.
- Products that sold out are shown explicitly as 0, scoped by distributor and RDC — never silently dropped.
Correct semantics, with a safety net
- Each upload replaces the previous stock for that source (availability, not a running total).
- Keeps the last 5 uploads per source as an archive, stores the original files, and supports undo — delete a wrong upload or re-process an earlier file to step back.
Product & brand management
- Bulk product import from Excel/CSV.
- Dynamic, case-insensitive brand handling with a merge/rename tool, so differently-cased or duplicate spellings collapse into one brand and new brands appear automatically.
Source types that match the business
- Own warehouse, distributor, and pharmacy source types.
- Pharmacies can be excluded from totals for reports and calculations.
Technology
The stack
The stock calculations sit in a dedicated service layer, so the platform is architected to extend into sales-throughput and months-of-coverage analytics without touching existing data.
Impact
From manual grind to one live picture
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No more repetitive re-mapping
Eliminates the manual re-interpretation of every supplier file on every upload.
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One unified, always-current view
Stock across the own warehouse, all distributors and their RDCs, and pharmacies — in a single place.
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Batch & expiry oversight
Essential for pharmaceutical compliance and for reducing waste from expired stock.
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Recoverable by design
A full archive and one-click undo mean mistakes are never permanent.
Have a project like this?
If you need a custom platform built with the same care, let's talk about it.