Guidelines on stock records for immunization programme - Path

4. Reporting systems
Reports are forms on which essential information from a specific facility for a specific
time is sent to other levels on a regular basis.
Stock keeping and transaction records in a store are used to collect data for daily
activities. However, data should be presented in a way for easy review and decision
making. Reports provide necessary and essential information to decision makers.
4.1 Summary reports
Primary purpose of a summary report is to summarize all essential information
from a specific store for a specific period of time (usually monthly or quarterly).
They should contain all essential information - quantity in hand, consumption,
and losses/adjustments.
Lower-level facilities are usually given a reporting deadline, and each consecutive
level is given another deadline for reporting to the next level. For example,
health centers may be given until the first week of the following month to report to
districts, districts may have until the third week to report to the region, and the
region may have until the last day of the month to report to the central level.
Each level reports the beginning quantity in hand, receipts, the quantity issued
or used, losses and adjustments, and the end stock for a given period of time.
Summary reports should also include a place for comments, particularly explanations
for losses and adjustments. The responsible person completing the report should
sign the report and date it.
A simple report is a summary report listing the name of the facility, the reporting
period, the beginning quantity in hand, receipts, quantities issued or used, losses and
adjustments, and the ending quantity in hand. (Figure 12).
Well designed reports are self-balancing. The reader can determine whether the report
is mathematically correct by adding and subtracting the data on the report.
Self-balancing reports are helpful because supervisors can verify the calculations.
Unfortunately, self-balancing reports may not reflect actual quantities in hand if
districts complete the report without comparing the end balance with the actual
quantity in hand. Opening balances should be equal to the end balance of the previous
report. A physical inventory conducted at the beginning or end of the month, however,
may reveal a discrepancy in the beginning or ending quantity in hand. In that case,
the discrepancy should be reported as a loss/adjustment for the reporting period.
It is critical that the reported end balance equals the actual quantity in hand, so the
quantity to be ordered will be determined directly by the actual quantity in hand and
not by estimation.
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Vaccine stock management – <strong>Guidelines</strong> on stock records for immunization programme and vaccine store managers