Buffer vs Inventory

Buffer is used for general tracking of inventory & policies at the level of item + site. For example:

At Dallas Warehouse I have:

    34 LG 20" Flat Screen TVs
     2 Sony 52" Flat Screen TVs

Inventory is used for detailed tracking of inventory & policies at the level of item + site + other "distinguishable attributes", such as Condition Code, Lot, Serial, etc. For example:

At Dallas Warehouse I have:

    12 LG 20" Flat Screen TVs, having Lot # 3887734 and Condition "New"
    22 LG 20" Flat Screen TVs, having Lot # 3887735 and Condition "New"
     1 LG 20" Flat Screen TVs, having Lot # 3887735 and Condition "Damaged"
     1 Sony 52" Flat Screen TVs having Serial # 873324873 and Condition "New"
     1 Sony 52" Flat Screen TVs having Serial # 873324884 and Condition "New"

Buffer contains the logical inventory while the Inventory contains the physical inventory.

The physical inventory would tells you where the inventory is located through out a site (such as shelf X on aisle Y in room Z). This requires you to model sites with locations and the inventory object is associated with a location. This physical inventory is the domain of WMS. Look to WMS documentation for further detail.

The logical inventory is normally limited only to how much you physically have at a site. This is the aggregate of all physical inventory at all of the locations within the site. This logical inventory is what replenishment uses to determine when to order and the quantity of those orders. The goal of this design is to allow several buffers for the same item at the same site but with different program ids or some other logical difference in the inventory. Currently this isn't directly supported but has been achieved through configurations at achieve minimally sufficient functionality. With the advent of WMS, locations, and inventory model the primary module utilizing buffers is RPL. Look to RPL documentation for further detail.