Getting Started with Planster: Quick Setup Guide

You will receive a welcome email from Planster with a personalized signup link. Click the link provided in the email and fill in some basic contact details to create your account.

The Planster menu, located on the left side of your screen, helps you quickly navigate through key sections of the app. Here's a brief description of each menu item:

• Home:
  Your dashboard and overview page providing quick insights and summaries of your inventory and planning data.

• Supply Plan:

  View and manage your inventory purchase recommendations, review projected inventory levels, and create purchase or work orders.

• Demand Plan:
  Set up, view, and adjust your inventory forecasts. Choose between Retail and Direct-to-Consumer forecasting models.




• Logistics:
  Track your inventory movements, manage inbound shipments, and oversee your logistics activities.

• Products:
  Add, edit, and manage your product catalog, including setting lead times, MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity).

• Warehouses:
  View your warehouses. Manage safety stock levels and target inventory levels for each product in each warehouse.

• Integrations:
  Review integration statuses with your WMS or 3PL systems and manage data synchronization settings.

• Suppliers:
  Manage your supplier information, assign SKUs to suppliers, and ensure accurate purchase planning.

• Account:
  Manage your Planster account details, settings, and preferences.

If you have a supported integration, you'll receive a direct link via email during onboarding to connect Planster to your Warehouse Management System (WMS) or third-party logistics provider (3PL). Simply click the link and follow the prompts to authorize and connect your account.

Quick Tip: Visit our Integrations page for detailed guides on each supported integration.

Once your integration is connected, Planster will automatically import your products and inventory data. If you're setting up manually:

• Navigate to Inventory → Products.

• Use the Bulk Upload option via CSV or manually edit inventory directly.

To optimize your planning, set the following parameters:

• MOQ, Lead Time, and COGS: Navigate to Products, select your SKU, and enter these values directly on the SKU line. (As a note, COGS may be set by your integration and locked from editing inside of Planster) 

• Safety Stock & Target Inventory: Navigate to Warehouses, select the warehouse, and set safety stock and target inventory values specifically for each SKU allocated to that warehouse.

Step 5: Manually Add Suppliers (if required)

If your integration doesn't support syncing suppliers:

• Navigate to Suppliers.

• Manually add suppliers.

• Allocate and specify which SKUs each supplier provides.

Again, depending on your integration this could happen automatically. Good to know how to do it, just in case!

Accurate demand forecasts are essential for inventory planning.

• Navigate to Demand Planning.

• Select either Retail or Direct-to-Consumer (DTC).

• Choose an appropriate forecasting model based on your business needs (Prophet, Linear, Exponential Smoothing, etc.).

After selecting your forecasting model:

• Review the generated forecast in the Demand Plan tab.

• Make manual adjustments if needed, based on known promotions, new product launches, or market shifts.

Now you're ready to see Planster in action:

• Go to Supply Plan.

• Review Planster’s inventory purchase recommendations based on your configured data.

• Convert recommendations directly into purchase orders or work orders.

Pro Tip: Your home page will show you important insights that you should know this week!
- Stale Orders
- Incoming Orders
- Forecast Accuracy
- Suggested Orders (to place this week)!

Next Steps

Congratulations! You're all set to start using Planster effectively. Regularly revisit your demand plan, keep your inventory data updated, and refine your settings for optimal results.

Need help? Explore our other articles or reach out directly to our support team—we're here to help you succeed!