Flowtrac Review: Pros and Cons

What is Flowtrac?

Flowtrac is designed for businesses of all sizes, from 5 to 5,000 employees. It has many inventory management features to track your products, assets, labor and processes efficiently. Customization can be done to suit existing work processes and incorporate existing hardware. FlowTrac uses barcode and RFID technology to provide better, faster, and more accurate real-time tracking.

The goal of Flowtrac is to be an intuitive, client-centered service for streamlining product, asset, and process management.

Our Ratings

Features

Through the evaluation of Flowtrac, we focused on a few key features of inventory management systems.

Add and Track New Products or Assets

First and foremost, creating a new product begins by determining what you are adding. You can include items, parts, raw materials, consumables, assets, stock, and more. Since Flowtrac is used by all sorts of industries, you can really customize what you want to track.

There are a variety of fields to fill in, with these 7 being required:

• Active
• Track by
• Product
• Barcode
• Type
• Expiration
• Taxable

A barcode will be required for all products, even if they aren’t needed. You can assign your own or auto-generate them in Flowtrac. You can also generate QR codes, though you’ll need to consult with a Flowtrac customer success manager to do so.

You can add a lot of details, depending on what sort of products or assets you’re working with. Optional product information can include:

• Cost
• List and sell price
• Bill of Materials and Bill of Processes
• Min-max
• Default suppliers
• Weight
• Categories and subcategories

Multiple products can be created simultaneously with product imports from spreadsheets.

Once added, you can easily track assets. The Calendar and Time Clock features in particular are a nice addition for any businesses which require date- and time-based asset tracking.

Scanning Options

One of Flowtrac’s key features is the Quick Receive function offered through the mobile apps. Users scanning in received orders can add an electronic signature, take a photo, and type up notes detailing the receipt. This creates an instant audit trail and record of inventory.

Flowtrac has multiple ways to scan inventory into your system:

• Mobile phones with the iOS or Android apps
• Barcode scanner hardware
• RFID readers

By incorporating multiple scanning methods, users can select whichever fits best of their existing workflows. It’s worth noting, implementing RFID readers can be cost-prohibitive. Flowtrac has actually helped businesses adapt their inventory management systems after a failed RFID implementation.

Reporting and Analytics

Finally, Flowtrac offers a variety of reporting and analytics capabilities. You can build highly visual charts from any data window in the grid, such as products or orders. Data can be presented as graphs, pie charts, or other ways.

Then you can use subscription lists to automatically email finished reports to select contacts. These can include employees, vendors, suppliers, shareholders, and other professional connections.

What Features Are Missing?

There were a few features which could have been improved to make using Flowtrac a better experience:

• Accounting capabilities: Flowtrac does inventory very well, but you’ll need to integrate with a top accounting software to manage things such as reorders, purchasing, etc. This is not going to work as an ERP and provide both financial management and operations. Flowtrac can integrate with accounting software like QuickBooks (both online and desktop versions), Xero, NetSuite, SAP, Oracle, and more.
• Manufacturing functionality: While Flowtrac does offer light manufacturing capabilities, mostly in the form of kitting and assemblies, it doesn’t offer full manufacturing features, such as production scheduling, demand forecasting, purchase planning. Again, this isn’t really a dealbreaker, but for businesses hoping to combine inventory and manufacturing, Flowtrac might not be the right fit.
• Visual help documentation: A final nitpick, but the documentation provided in the Knowledge Base does not include visuals. For some users, this might make learning how to best use the software difficult.

Pricing Plans

FAQs about Flowtrac

What is Flowtrac used for?

Flowtrac is used for managing inventory, assets, and work-in-processes at businesses ranging from 5 to 5,000 employees.

How much does Flowtrac cost?

Flowtrac’s pricing is project-based, though generally starts at $100 per month per user. On-premise solutions are available for a one-time perpetual license fee. Annual maintenance costs are offered as well to ensure the upkeep of on-prem solutions.

What are the features of Flowtrac?

Some of the primary features of Flowtrac include:

• Warehouse Management
• Asset Tracking
• Work in Process
• Inventory Control
• Load and Delivery

However, the software can also be customized to better fit your business needs.

The mobile app, which is available on iOS, Android, and barcode scanners, allows for Quick Receive using an electronic signature, photo, or typed note.

What integrations does Flowtrac allow?

Flowtrac’s open API allows for connection with most modern cloud-based systems. A few main ones include:

• QuickBooks (online and desktop versions)
• JIRA
• ShipStation
• Shopify

Flowtrac can customize integrations depending on existing software. By allowing all these integrations, Flowtrac can minimize double entries and other common issues when managing inventory between multiple locations.

Alternatives

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Finale Inventory

Price Range

   $     $     $     $     $   

   $     $     $     $     $   

Starting Price

$99/month

Client OS

Web

Deployment

Cloud Hosted

What We Like

Offers comprehensive features.

Has a general help center, video tutorials, and allows specific service requests

Imports existing product data from spreadsheets and external systems

What We Don’t Like

Only offers dedicated account managers on some plans

May not be affordable for smaller businesses

Not a substitute for an ERP or MRP

Demo Pricing

inFlow Inventory

Price Range

   $     $     $     $     $   

   $     $     $     $     $   

Starting Price

$89/month

Client OS

Windows, Web

Deployment

Cloud Hosted

What We Like

Audit trails that highlight abnormal behaviors

Base package includes sales and purchasing

Unlimited user accounts to track transaction processing

What We Don’t Like

Difficult for multiple warehouses

Limited integrations

No lot code tracking

Demo Pricing

Fishbowl Inventory

Price Range

   $     $     $     $     $   

   $     $     $     $     $   

Starting Price

$4,395 (perpetual license)

Client OS

Windows, macOS

Deployment

Cloud or On-Premises

What We Like

Competitive pricing; does not require a subscription

Integrates with QuickBooks

Can function as a light MRP system

What We Don’t Like

Somewhat steep learning curve

Transactions do not post to QuickBooks in realtime; manual or scheduled sync only

Customizations can lead to difficult support scenarios

Demo Pricing

Summary of Flowtrac

Based on our experience using Flowtrac, we’d recommend this software for businesses looking for custom inventory management. A lot of software requires the business to adapt their main processes to fit. Flowtrac uses customization to do the opposite - letting users keep their existing workflow. This robust solution can work for every type of business, from eCommerce to nonprofits, though we would not recommend this solution to businesses looking for a dedicated manufacturing or MRP solution.

Flowtrac SaaS pricing starts as low as $100 per month per user. Support documentation on the site’s Knowledge Base allows users to maximize the software. There are plenty of helpful tips as well, all for free. Traditional support is available over phone, email, and chat. Request a quote for on-premise, perpetual licensing plans.

Overall, we were very impressed with what Flowtrac had to offer as an inventory management system.