A Guide to Product/Service Statuses and the Differences Between Them

Every product/service in Daftra carries two different kinds of status that appear together in the products list: a primary status set manually (Active, Inactive, Suspended), and a stock status calculated automatically from the inventory balance (In Stock, Low Stock, Out of Stock), which appears for products only. This guide explains the meaning of each status, the precise difference between “Inactive” and “Suspended,” and the effect of each on issuing new transactions, on reports, and on past transactions.

Primary Status of the Product/Service

Status	Meaning
Active	The default status for any new product/service; available for normal use across all system screens.
Inactive	Reached via the “Disable/Inactive” option.
Suspended	Reached via the “Suspend” option, separate from the “Inactive” status.

How to change the status: directly from within the product/service edit form, or from the products list itself by selecting one or more products/services and then using a bulk action (Activate, Deactivate, or Suspend) on everything selected at once.

Restrictions on changing the status to “Inactive” or “Suspended” (the same restriction applies to both statuses):

• If the product/service is selected within the cash-on-delivery fee settings, it must be removed from there first.
• If the service is set as the default service in the bookings system, it must be replaced with another service first.

Stock Status

Status	When It Appears
In Stock	The product is “Active,” and either doesn’t track stock, or tracks it and its balance is greater than zero.
Low Stock	Tracks stock, and its balance is greater than zero but has reached or fallen below the “Low Stock Threshold” set for it.
Out of Stock	“Active” status and tracks stock, with a balance of zero or less.

The “Low Stock Threshold” is a numeric field you set yourself on each product from its edit form; if left blank, the “Low Stock” status is never calculated for that product.

The Difference Between “Inactive” and “Suspended”

In practice, the system treats the two statuses almost identically everywhere: the product/service is prevented from being selected in any new transaction, and its stock cannot be adjusted, regardless of whether it is “Inactive” or “Suspended.” The only noticeable difference appears in certain inventory reports only, which still count “Suspended” products’ balance within the inventory value while excluding “Inactive” ones entirely (full detail in the Reports section below). Therefore:

• Use “Suspended” for a product/service you want to temporarily stop from appearing in new transactions while keeping its balance within inventory value reports.
• Use “Inactive” for a product/service you no longer use, and want excluded from inventory reports as well.

Effect on Issuing New Transactions

“Inactive” and “Suspended” have exactly the same effect here, with no difference at all:

• The product/service cannot be selected when creating a sales invoice, quotation, sales order, purchase order (or anything derived from it such as invoices, quotations, and credit/debit notes), or a sale transaction in Point of Sale (POS).
• It doesn’t appear in search results or when its barcode is scanned within POS.
• It cannot be selected as a raw material when adding a manufacturing production plan.
• A stocktaking adjustment or manual inventory requisition cannot be performed for it; an error message appears naming its actual status.

Effect on Reports

This is where the only real difference between the two statuses shows up, though it isn’t consistent across all system screens:

Report / Filter	Includes “Suspended”	Includes “Inactive”
Inventory Value	Yes	No
Inventory Operations Summary	Yes	No
Product Profits	Yes	No
Stock Movements per Product	Yes	No
“Low Stock” filter in the products list	Yes	No
“Low Stock” indicator on the dashboard	No	No
“In Stock” / “Out of Stock” filter in the products list	No	No
Sales/Profitability reports by product	Yes (no exclusion by status)	Yes (no exclusion by status)

Most inventory reports exclude “Inactive” only and keep “Suspended,” while the low-stock indicator on the dashboard and the “In Stock”/”Out of Stock” filters in the products list exclude both statuses together. Sales and profitability reports by product don’t exclude any status at all, because they are built on historically recorded transactions rather than the product’s current status.

Effect on Past Transactions

• Changing a product/service’s status (to Inactive, Suspended, or back) has no effect whatsoever on any of its previous invoices, purchase orders, or stock movements; these transactions continue to display the same name, price, and total as they did at the time they were issued, and can be viewed and edited with no restriction tied to the product’s current status.
• You can continue to view the product/service, edit its other data, clone it, or delete it, regardless of its status (Active, Inactive, or Suspended) — none of these four actions is restricted based on status.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What’s the practical difference between “Inactive” and “Suspended”? No difference in blocking new transactions or adjusting stock; the only difference shows up in certain inventory value reports, which still count “Suspended” products/services and exclude “Inactive” ones.
• Does a “Suspended” product/service appear in Point of Sale (POS)? No, it is excluded in exactly the same way as “Inactive.”
• Are my old invoices affected if I deactivate or suspend a product/service used in them? No, previously issued invoices and transactions remain exactly as they are, unchanged.
• Why did the system refuse to change a product/service’s status to “Inactive” or “Suspended”? Most likely because it’s selected within the cash-on-delivery fee settings, or because it’s a service set as the default service in the bookings system; adjust that first.
• Can I change the status of several products/services at once? Yes, by selecting more than one item from the list and then using the bulk Activate, Deactivate, or Suspend action.