# Backstock Events & Aging

Seasonal events help you coordinate inventory activities around key retail dates, while aging reports keep track of how long inventory has been sitting. Together, these tools ensure your backstock stays fresh and your team is prepared for busy periods.

![Events Dashboard](/images/support/articles/backstock_events_dashboard.png)

*The Events dashboard showing active events, upcoming timeline, and readiness overview*

---

## What Are Backstock Events?

A **backstock event** represents a coordinated inventory activity tied to a date range -- usually a seasonal retail event like Back to School, Holiday, or a store-wide clearance. Events help your team know:

- **What bins to pull** from storage ahead of the event
- **How many bins** need to be on the floor
- **When to start preparing** (prep days before the event)
- **When to store bins back** after the event ends
- **Overall progress** toward readiness

---

## Events Dashboard

The Events page is divided into several sections:

### Stats Row

Four stat boxes at the top show:

| Stat | Description |
|------|-------------|
| **Active Events** | Events currently in progress |
| **Upcoming Events** | Events scheduled for the future |
| **Bins to Pull** | Total bins that need to come out of storage for active/upcoming events |
| **Bins to Store** | Total bins that need to go back into storage after completed events |

### Quick Actions

| Button | What It Does |
|--------|-------------|
| `New Event` | Opens the Create Event form |
| `From Template` | Creates an event from a saved template (for recurring events) |
| `Alerts` | Shows event-related alerts (upcoming deadlines, overdue actions) |
| `Bins to Pull` | Shows a list of bins that need to be pulled from storage |
| `Bins to Store` | Shows a list of bins that need to go back into storage |

### Event Tabs

Three tabs organize your events:

- **Active** -- Events currently in their date range
- **Upcoming** -- Events that have not started yet
- **All Events** -- Complete list of all events regardless of status

### Timeline

The right sidebar shows an **Upcoming Timeline** of event milestones, color-coded by urgency:

| Color | Meaning |
|-------|---------|
| Blue | Normal -- action needed in the future |
| Orange | Soon -- action needed within a few days |
| Red | Urgent -- action is overdue or needed today |

### Readiness Overview

Below the timeline, the **Readiness Overview** shows how prepared your store is for each upcoming event.

---

## Creating an Event

1. Click `New Event` on the Events page
2. Fill in the event details:

| Field | Required | Description |
|-------|----------|-------------|
| **Event Name** | Yes | A descriptive name like "Back to School 2025" or "Holiday Season" |
| **Color** | No | A color for visual identification on the dashboard |
| **Description** | No | Brief notes about the event |
| **Start Date** | Yes | When the event begins |
| **End Date** | Yes | When the event ends |
| **Prep Days Before** | No | Number of days before the start date to begin pulling bins (default: 7) |
| **Categories to Include** | No | Which POS and custom categories are relevant to this event |
| **Bin Target** | No | Choose to include all matching bins or set a specific target count |
| **Priority** | No | Low, Medium, High, or Critical |
| **Recurring** | No | Check if this is an annual event (creates a template for next year) |

3. Click `Create Event`

### Category Selection

When selecting categories, the system shows a searchable dropdown with checkboxes. You can:

- **Search** for categories by name
- **Select All** or **Clear All** with one click
- See a **bin count preview** showing how many bins match your selected categories, split by on-site and off-site

> **Tip:** Select categories before setting a bin target. The bin count preview helps you decide how many bins to target.

---

## Event Lifecycle

Events move through several statuses:

| Status | Badge Color | Meaning |
|--------|-------------|---------|
| **Upcoming** | Blue | Event has not started yet -- prep work may be underway |
| **Build Up** | Orange | Prep period has started (based on prep days setting) |
| **Active** | Green | Event is currently in progress |
| **Wind Down** | Pink | Event is ending -- time to start storing bins back |
| **Completed** | Gray | Event has ended and all bins are accounted for |
| **Cancelled** | Red | Event was cancelled before completion |

---

## Tracking Progress

Click any event card to open the **Event Progress** modal:

### Overall Progress Bar

A visual bar shows the percentage of bins that have been processed, with counts for:

- **Bins Pulled** -- How many bins have been retrieved from storage
- **On Floor** -- How many are currently on the sales floor
- **Stored Back** -- How many have been returned to storage after the event

### Updating Progress

1. Select an **Action**: Mark Bins as Pulled, Mark Bins on Floor, or Mark Bins Stored
2. Enter the **Count** of bins
3. Select the **Employee** performing the action
4. Optionally add **Notes**
5. Click `Update Progress`

### Progress History

A table at the bottom shows all progress updates with timestamps, actions, counts, employees, and notes.

---

## Editing and Deleting Events

### Editing

1. Click the edit button on any event card
2. Modify any field including name, dates, categories, target count, priority, status, or notes
3. Click `Save Changes`

### Deleting

1. Open the edit modal for the event
2. Click the red `Delete` button in the bottom-left
3. Confirm the deletion

> **Warning:** Deleting an event removes all progress history. If the event just needs to be cancelled, change its status to "Cancelled" instead.

---

## Event Templates

For recurring events (like annual Back to School), the system can save templates:

1. When creating an event, check `This is a recurring annual event`
2. After the event completes, it is saved as a template
3. Next year, click `From Template` and select the saved template
4. The system pre-fills all fields with last year's settings -- just update the dates

---

## Aging Reports

The **Aging** page provides a visual breakdown of how old your inventory is, organized by category.

### Accessing Aging Reports

Navigate to the Aging page from the Backstock section in the sidebar, or from the Reports page.

### Summary Stats

Four summary boxes at the top show bin counts by age bracket:

| Bracket | Range | Color | Meaning |
|---------|-------|-------|---------|
| **Fresh** | 0-90 days | Green | Healthy inventory -- recently acquired |
| **Aging** | 91-180 days | Yellow | Getting older -- consider floor rotation |
| **Stale** | 181-365 days | Orange | Needs attention -- prioritize for clearance or events |
| **Critical** | 366+ days | Red | Over a year old -- urgent action needed |

### Aging Chart

A horizontal stacked bar chart shows each category with its bins broken down by age bracket. Categories with more stale/critical bins are easy to spot.

### Filters

| Filter | Options | Purpose |
|--------|---------|---------|
| **Sort By** | Total Bins, Name A-Z, Oldest Bin, Most Stale | Change how categories are ordered |
| **Location** | All Locations, or a specific location | Focus on bins at a particular storage area |
| **Min Bins** | All, 1+, 5+, 10+ | Hide categories with very few bins to reduce clutter |

### Export

Click `Export` to download the aging data as a CSV file for further analysis in a spreadsheet.

---

## Reports & Analytics Page

The full **Reports & Analytics** page provides a comprehensive view with multiple report sections:

| Report | What It Shows |
|--------|---------------|
| **Inventory Aging by Category** | The main aging chart (same as the Aging page) |
| **Age Distribution** | A bar chart showing bin counts across age ranges |
| **Category Health** | A health score for each category based on age and bin count |
| **Location Utilization** | A table showing bins per location with average age |
| **Stale Inventory** | A list of the oldest bins that need attention |
| **Activity Summary** | Action counts, top performers, and most active categories over a time period (7, 30, or 90 days) |

### Exporting and Printing

- Click `Export CSV` to download all report data
- Click `Print` to generate a printable version of the reports page

---

## Team Notes

The **Notes** page provides a shared space for team communication about backstock:

### Creating a Note

1. Fill in the note form at the top of the page:
   - `Title` (optional) -- A short headline
   - `Your Name` -- Who is posting
   - `Note Content` (required) -- The message
   - `Start Date` (required) -- When the note becomes active
   - `End Date` (optional) -- When the note expires (leave blank for no expiration)
   - `Pin this note` -- Check to keep the note at the top of the list
2. Click `Post Note`

### Interacting with Notes

- **Filter**: Use the All / Active / Pinned buttons to filter the notes list
- **Pin/Unpin**: Toggle a pin to keep important notes visible
- **React**: Add reactions to notes
- **Comment**: Add threaded comments to discuss a note
- **Edit/Delete**: Modify or remove notes you created

> **Tip:** Use pinned notes for standing instructions like "Always check bin ages before stocking the floor" or "Storage Unit 112 key is in the cash drawer."

---

## Troubleshooting

### Events are not showing the correct status
Event status is calculated from the current date relative to the start/end dates and prep days. If the status seems wrong, open the event and verify the date fields are correct.

### The aging chart is empty
Make sure your bins have a Main Category assigned. Bins without a main category do not appear in the aging-by-category chart. Also check the "Min Bins" filter -- if set to "5+", categories with fewer than 5 bins are hidden.

### Bins to Pull shows zero but I have an active event
The "Bins to Pull" count depends on the categories selected for the event. If no bins match the event's categories, the count will be zero. Verify the event's category selections match the categories assigned to your bins.

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## Related Articles

- [Backstock Overview](/support/articles/backstock-overview) -- Understanding the Backstock dashboard
- [Managing Bins](/support/articles/backstock-managing-bins) -- How to add, edit, and manage individual bins
- [Bulk Bin Creation](/support/articles/backstock-bulk-create) -- Creating many bins at once
- [Categories & Locations](/support/articles/backstock-categories-locations) -- Setting up storage locations and custom categories