Is moving from our Excel file to VidiStock hard?

No. Export products, daily sales and stock balances from Excel as CSV and load them. You can keep working with CSV until an ERP connection is set up.

Can we take VidiStock's suggestions into Excel?

Yes. Order suggestions and all analysis tables can be exported to Excel; many users review the suggestion in Excel and create the order in the ERP.

Can we bring our Excel formulas into VidiStock?

Not directly. VidiStock calculates safety stock, reorder point and order quantity with its own formulas; the parameters (service level, lead time, minimum order, case size, target cover) are changed on the product card and in Settings. The formulas are documented openly.

VidiStock or Excel? When each is enough for inventory planning

Compares inventory planning in Excel with VidiStock on forecasting method, safety stock, error measurement, multiple warehouses, currency and maintenance effort, including when Excel is enough.

Excel is the most common tool for inventory planning: flexible, familiar and free of extra cost. As the number of products and warehouses grows, the same flexibility turns into maintenance effort and hidden errors. This page puts the two approaches side by side.

Comparison

Topic	Typical Excel approach	VidiStock
Demand forecast	Average of the last 3–6 months or the same period last year; the same formula for all products	The demand pattern is determined for every product; exponential smoothing and seasonal models for regular products, the Croston family for intermittent ones; selected by backtesting
Forecast error	Usually not measured	WAPE, bias and MASE for every product and warehouse; trend from run to run
Safety stock	Fixed number of days (“15 days of stock”) or a value entered by hand	Calculated from forecast error, lead time and its variability, and service level
Order quantity	By hand or a simple “target − on hand” formula	Reorder point, economic order quantity or target cover; open orders deducted; rounded to minimum order and case size
Multiple warehouses	A separate sheet or column per warehouse; balancing between warehouses by hand	Every product and warehouse is planned separately; transfers from surplus to shortage are suggested
Currency	Rates entered by hand; FX risk usually not calculated	Central bank rates fetched daily; break-even rate and FX scenario for foreign-currency buying and selling
Data freshness	The file is refreshed by hand every time	From the ERP on a schedule, or by CSV
Traceability of the calculation	In formula cells; copy errors may go unnoticed	A step-by-step breakdown of every suggestion
Extra cost	None	Subscription or licence
Flexibility	Unlimited; everything can be customised	Parameters are changed, formulas are not

When is Excel enough?

If most of the following apply to you, Excel is probably enough and separate software would be an unnecessary cost:

A few dozen products, one warehouse.
Regular demand; little seasonality or promotion effect.
Short, reliable lead times; running out costs little.
The person planning is the one who designed the file and keeps it up to date.

When does VidiStock make a difference?

Hundreds or thousands of products, several warehouses or branches.
Fast-moving and slow-moving products together (one formula does not fit both).
Long or variable lead times; buying in foreign currency.
You want capital tied up in stock and overstock to be visible.
The basis of order decisions must be explainable (to management, auditors or a new employee).

What does switching look like?

VidiStock does not require you to give up Excel completely. You load product, sales and stock data as CSV; suggestions and analyses can still be exported to Excel. In the next step an ERP connection removes manual data transfer.