Inventory Traceability Software: Following Every Unit From Dock to Shipment

Inventory problems are usually traceability problems in disguise

Inventory traceability software matters because most inventory mistakes are not mysterious. They are untracked. Research shows that as warehouses scale, small gaps in process become large gaps in visibility. When counts drift, when locations are wrong, and when units go missing, the question is rarely, "Who stole the inventory." The question is, "Where did the record stop matching reality."

Many brands come to G10 after living with inventory data they could not defend. They could not explain why counts changed. They could not prove where a unit went. They could not reconcile what the system said with what the warehouse floor showed. Inventory traceability software fixes that by creating a clear chain of custody for every unit movement.

As Maureen Milligan said, "Most of the customers who come to us from another 3PL, their challenges have always been access to their data, order accuracy and efficiency, and basically just meeting the committed requirements. So we've seen a lot of people come disillusioned by their last 3PL, where their orders weren't getting fulfilled in time, their inventory accuracy was not there, and they were not able to satisfy customer orders." Traceability is how you replace disillusionment with evidence.

Traceability requires real time event capture

Inventory traceability software is only as strong as the event history it captures. If events are recorded later, the history becomes blurry, and investigations become slow. Real time capture turns the history into a reliable record.

Bryan Wright described what real time traceability looks like when he said, "Absolutely. We have portals that show you the data. We have history that shows you all of that tracking. It shows the product landed on the dock at 8 o'clock. At 8:10, John picked it up and took it to location XYZ, and at 10 o'clock, we picked two items off of that pellet in the location 1, 2, 3, 4, order, you know, ABC, and at 11 o'clock, we packed it, we put it in this box and put this label number on it, and all the way through the process onto the truck and to the customer." Inventory traceability software applies this same idea to inventory movements, not just orders.

Scan-based workflows create the proof trail

Traceability collapses without scanning. If a pallet gets moved without a scan, the system cannot know where it went. If a unit gets picked and staged without a scan, the system cannot confirm what happened. Scan-based workflows are what convert physical movement into traceable data.

As Connor Perkins said, "You want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper. You can lose a lot of money in this industry by you know having people ship stuff wrong, or store it wrong, and now it's lost somewhere. So having a 3PL and WMS that is 100% scan-based is crucial." Inventory traceability software depends on this because scanning is the proof.

Connor also said, "One of the pain points our clients have experienced with previous 3PLSs is inventory accuracy; maybe their previous 3PL wasn't great at picking the orders accurately. So they were losing money by shipping wrong items or wrong quantities of items." Traceability helps identify where accuracy breaks down, whether it is receiving, putaway, picking, or adjustment behavior.

Receiving and putaway are the first traceability test

Inventory traceability software is most valuable when it starts at the beginning. Receiving is where the inventory story begins. If inbound counts are wrong or locations are not captured correctly, everything downstream gets harder. Research shows that receiving accuracy and putaway discipline are major drivers of inventory accuracy because they determine whether the system knows what you have and where it is.

Traceability software should record what arrived, when it arrived, who received it, and where it was put away. When counts drift later, the first question becomes answerable: did the variance start at receiving, or did it happen later.

Cycle counts and adjustments need a clear audit trail

Adjustments are where inventory trust often breaks. If adjustments happen without context, the platform becomes a black box. Inventory traceability software should show the reason, the timestamp, and the user behind every adjustment. Research shows that teams improve faster when adjustments are transparent because they can see patterns instead of repeating mistakes.

Traceability also supports cycle counts. A cycle count is more valuable when it can be linked to the transaction history that led to the variance. That connection turns a cycle count from a correction into a lesson.

Portals make traceability usable for brands

Traceability is not helpful if brands cannot access it quickly. A portal makes inventory traceability software practical by exposing real time visibility and transaction history without requiring a report request.

As Maureen said, "We're in the last stages of developing a new portal that will give customers real-time visibility to their on-time order fulfillment, inventory accuracy, and even inventory levels so that they can monitor those things directly in our systems." Inventory traceability software works better when brands can monitor inventory accuracy and inventory levels directly.

Connor described how transaction history supports investigations when he said, "Our clients get best-in-class visibility and transparency. They can see their daily orders, they can see KPIs, and they can see historical transactions. They can look at a daily level or go into the more granular version where they're looking at transactional history on an item." Inventory traceability relies on that item-level history because the story is in the transactions.

He also said, "You have easy access to reporting and you can export to Excel, or really any format that you like you know directly from our WMS portal." Reporting access helps brands audit traceability and validate improvements over time.

Traceability reduces stockouts and oversells by making inventory trustworthy

When inventory traceability is strong, brands can trust available-to-sell inventory. That reduces oversells and prevents the customer experience damage caused by backorders and cancels. Traceability also reduces emergency replenishment because teams can see what is truly running low and why.

As Maureen said, "We will take in your inbounds, we will get them received and reported back to you within our SLAs, and oftentimes more quickly than what we contracted for. We will ship your orders out the day they're required. And our inventory accuracy is generally right there at that 99.7% that we agreed. So that's one of the areas where we really do excel, and where we've been able to win business." Inventory traceability software helps make that accuracy measurable and defensible.

Traceability rebuilds confidence after bad data

Brands often switch 3PLs because inventory stopped being believable. Variances piled up. Adjustments looked random. Promises broke. Inventory traceability software rebuilds confidence by making movement traceable and by making exceptions easier to investigate.

As Maureen said, "For customers who have come to us from a bad 3PL relationship, they experience relief. They're suddenly seeing their business scaling, that the data supports what we agreed to, and then the trust begins to build." Traceability contributes to that relief because inventory truth makes planning possible again.

Inventory traceability software is now essential

As SKU counts rise and warehouses move faster, inventory mistakes compound quickly. Inventory traceability software requires real time event capture, scan-based execution, portals that expose transaction history, and reporting that supports continuous improvement.

As Connor said, "This is one of our strengths. G10 is on the cutting edge for this kind of transparency and feedback for clients." If your brand wants fewer inventory surprises, fewer oversells, and fewer days lost to reconciliation, traceability is a practical place to focus.

If you want to see what traceability looks like when every unit movement is captured and visible, ask for a walkthrough that maps your inventory pain points to a clearer, more defensible visibility model.