Prepare a deliberately awkward sample
Use a short, anonymized dataset rather than a complete production export. Include two similar variants, an item bought in boxes and sold individually, a damaged unit and an open order. Remove customer identities, confidential supplier prices and payment details unless a separately approved demonstration requires them.
Write down expected starting quantities yourself. For a fictional item, begin with 18 sellable units and two held aside for inspection. Agree whether the held goods belong in a separate location or status. The point is to detect misunderstanding before the demonstrator performs a receipt or sale.
Demonstration steps: follow the ordinary sequence
Ask the receiver to accept part of a purchase order, confirm the received unit and identify the remainder. Ask the order processor to reserve goods, partially fulfill an order and cancel the unfulfilled balance. Finally, ask the stock owner to explain the resulting physical and available quantities.
Require the team to open the underlying records. A total on a dashboard is insufficient if nobody can explain the route to it. Note what was automatic, what was manually corrected and what depended on a particular plan or add-on. If a feature is promised for later, record it as unavailable for this decision.
Include a wrong action and a recovery
Enter an incorrect quantity in the demonstration and ask how it is corrected, who may do so and whether the correction remains visible. Ask what happens when the receiver scans an unknown code or encounters a purchase unit different from the stocking unit. inFlow documents separate standard, purchasing and selling units, with a limitation for serialized products; test your own combinations rather than assuming every feature composes.
For imports, request a small sample using the vendor's template. inFlow documents product details and stock levels as distinct import types. Your acceptance test should prove that the intended fields change and unrelated fields do not. An error message is useful evidence when it prevents a dangerous mapping.
Verify outcomes without inventing precision
Use pass, fail, needs clarification and not tested. Add a short observation beside each result: “receiver completed without admin access” is stronger than “easy to use.” Include the staff member who did the task and the plan demonstrated. A feature seen in an enterprise demonstration does not establish its availability on your proposed subscription.
Close by asking for a written quote and answers to unresolved mandatory items. Do not average a critical failure into a high overall score. A system that cannot safely represent your stock ownership should remain unselected even if its reporting is attractive. Keep the sample data and script for a second vendor so the comparison is repeatable. This checklist is a purchasing method; Shelf to Order has not performed these customer-account demonstrations on your behalf.
Sources used for this page
These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.
- inFlow CSV import documentation — Merchant documentation · inflowinventory.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-24
- inFlow units of measure — Merchant documentation · inflowinventory.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-24