In the first few weeks of an emergency response, you are more likely to be focused on reporting to your team. They will need to have up to date information about what has arrived in the warehouse, what has been sent out, and how much they have left. Donor reporting is likely to come later. But we will address some basics here.
- Know your donor’s requirements for reporting on stock. Talk to the program managers and/or stock owners about this and put the dates on the calendar.
- Set earlier dates for any inventory reports that will come from the field or sub offices, so that you will be able to process them before the donor reports are due.
- Run your warehouse month from the 26th of the month to the 25th of the next month. This way you will have time to collect any reports from sub offices, send reports to the main office, and put the data together before sending the report to the donor in the second week of the following month.