As a distributor, how does shared inventory work for me? 

If you're a distributor and your manufacturer has enabled shared inventory for your account, this is a benefit to you to help you manage inventory easier by reducing the number of transfers you have to make in the course of business. To set this up for a distributorship, check out this article. 

In Beacon, typically inventory is transferred whenever it changes hands (changes custody), but within a distributorship this can happen many times per day, creating an unsustainable burden when it comes to using Beacon. 

When Shared inventory is enabled for a distributorship, we remove the need for transfers with the other sales reps in your distributorship. Using this method of inventory management, all of the inventory for the distributorship will be transferred into the distributor's custody. Shared inventory then enables connected sales users to use inventory in the distributor's custody as if it was their own. 

As a distributor, expect inventory to flow into your custody only. Your sales reps will use inventory from your custody as if it was their own. To help them learn how to adjust their custody filters. In most cases, when inventory is requested by your sales reps, it will still be transferred to your custody. 

To learn about how to easily identify shared inventory, check out this article. 

Additional Background: 

All inventory in Beacon has a custody, or in other words: who is accountable for it. Inventory has to be transferred in ConnectSx to change who has custody of it. But what about Distributorships that have a much more fluid method of sharing inventory. If devices are being passed from rep to rep in the field or in the office all the time, then that would mean a LOT of transfers to keep up with. Isn’t there just a way where we can share inventory?

That is why we allow a distributor to share their inventory among their sales users.

This functionality is meant to allow for more flexibility and ease of use for members of a distributorship who may have inventory that doesn’t necessarily fit into the typical definition of custody. For instance, if inventory is left on the shelf at a hospital and can be used by any member of the distributorship that is covering the case, then any of the reps in the distributorship need to be able to mark usage/record sales for that inventory. Or alternatively if inventory is managed in a group warehouse for the distributorship and may be picked up by any rep and then passed between reps in the field, it may become cumbersome to constantly be making inventory transfers. This functionality is meant to help streamline these situations by keeping inventory in the custody of the Distributorship (distributor user), then enabling the sales users who are members of that distributorship to access that inventory for their cases.