A shipment of mugs arrives with a packing slip that lists only SKUs. Or a vendor calls about a reorder and reads you a product code. You go to look it up in Altru and realize the item search screen wants a name, and nobody remembers whether it was entered as “Mug, Logo” or “Logo Coffee Mug 12oz.”
Finding merchandise by SKU in Altru is possible, but it’s rarely as quick as typing the code into a box and getting one result. Below are the approaches that work in practice, starting with the fastest and ending with the habits that make SKU lookups painless later.
First, confirm where your SKUs actually live
Before choosing a search method, check how your shop stored the codes. In Altru, merchandise is organized into departments and items, and items with sizes or colors usually have variations under them. Depending on who set things up, the vendor’s SKU may be sitting in a dedicated SKU or product code field, in the barcode field, on each variation, or typed into the item name or description.
Open three or four items you know well and note where the code appears. If it’s inconsistent across items, that explains why searches feel unreliable, and it’s worth fixing before anything else (more on that below).
Also check whether your item search screen lets you filter on the field that holds the SKU. Search screens differ in which fields they expose, and they can change between Altru releases. If you can’t tell, test it with a SKU you know is entered, or ask Blackbaud support whether SKU is a searchable field on the merchandise item search in your current version.
Option 1: Scan or key the barcode at the point of sale
If your SKUs are also your barcodes, the sales screen is often the fastest lookup you have. Scanning or typing the code in daily sales should pull up the matching item. That’s useful for a quick “what is this and what does it cost” check.
Two cautions: don’t finish the transaction if you only wanted a lookup, and remember that this tells you about the item at the register, not its full setup. For cost, vendor, or inventory details you still need the item record.
Option 2: Build a saved merchandise query
For back-office work, a query is the most dependable route, and you only have to build it once.
- Create an ad-hoc query on merchandise items (or on variations, if your SKUs live at the variation level).
- Add a filter on the SKU field and set it to prompt for a value at run time, so staff can type a code each time without editing the query.
- Use “contains” rather than “equals” if your codes sometimes have prefixes, dashes, or trailing spaces.
- Output the fields people actually need: item name, variation, department, SKU, barcode, price, cost, and vendor if you track it.
- Save it with a clear name, such as “Merchandise lookup by SKU,” and share it with the shop and finance staff who need it.
The prompt is what turns a report into a search tool. If prompting on that field isn’t available in your setup, a fallback is a query that outputs every item with its SKU, exported to a spreadsheet where anyone can use Find.
Option 3: Keep an exported SKU list for receiving
When someone is checking in a large delivery, running a lookup per line is slow. A better approach is to export the query above (without the filter) to a spreadsheet before the shipment comes in, then sort or match against the packing slip. Refresh the export whenever items are added, or you’ll be matching against stale data.
This works fine for receiving and inventory counts. Just don’t treat the spreadsheet as the source of truth for prices or quantities, since edits there don’t flow back into Altru.
Make future lookups easier
Most SKU search trouble comes from inconsistent data entry, not from the search screen. A few rules help:
- Pick one field for the SKU and use it every time. Write it into your item setup checklist so new staff and seasonal buyers follow it.
- Decide on item vs. variation. If a shirt comes in five sizes with five vendor SKUs, the codes belong on the variations, not crammed into the parent item.
- Standardize the format. Settle whether you keep the vendor’s dashes and leading zeros, and stick to it. A search for “00123” won’t match “123.”
- Don’t rely on the item name as a search key. Putting the SKU in the name works until someone edits the name for the receipt.
- Clean up the backlog in batches. Run the full-item query, find records with a blank or misplaced SKU, and fix them department by department rather than all at once.
Quick answers
Can I search for a SKU from the main Altru search?
Don’t count on it. Global search is built mainly around constituents and common records. For merchandise, use the item search, the point-of-sale screen, or a query.
Why does my SKU search return nothing when the item exists?
Usually the code is stored in a different field, on a variation instead of the item, or in a slightly different format. Open the item record and check exactly what was entered.
