Resolving "Stock Area Code is in use. Cannot discontinue." and "Parent stock area cannot be discontinued."

Overview

Everest refuses to discontinue a stock bin or stock area with one of two messages. "Stock Area Code is in use" means the bin still holds quantity for at least one item. "Parent stock area cannot be discontinued" means an active bin still exists under that stock area. Both are data-protection checks. This article explains how to empty the bin and discontinue the hierarchy in the correct order.

Information

Rules Everest enforces

• A bin cannot be discontinued while q_stk, reserved, on-order or RMA quantity is non-zero for any item, not only the items you are working on.
• A stock area cannot be discontinued while any child bin is still active.

Check what is still in the bin (read-only)

SELECT item_no, q_stk, q_on_reserve_comm, q_on_order_comm, q_on_rma_comm
FROM x_stk_area
WHERE area_code = 'BIN_CODE'
  AND (q_stk <> 0 OR q_on_reserve_comm <> 0 OR q_on_order_comm <> 0 OR q_on_rma_comm <> 0);

Do not filter by item. The bin may hold items you were not aware of.

Resolution (bottom-up)

1. Have the warehouse confirm which of the listed quantities physically exist.
2. In Everest, logged into the location that owns the bin:
   • Units that exist: Inventory > Inventory Adjustment > Stock Transfer from this bin to a valid active bin (for example MAIN).
   • Units that do not exist: Quantity Adjustment > Write-off Quantity, selecting this bin as the source.
3. Re-run the query above. It must return no rows.
4. Inventory > Stock Areas, select the bin, Options > Discontinue.
5. Select the parent stock area, Options > Discontinue. This is now allowed because no child bin is active.

Do not bypass these checks with a direct database update. See Deactivating stock areas via SQL: when it is safe and when it is not.