NC State Inventory Audit Simulation
A 3D warehouse where accounting students learn to audit inventory by doing it — and instructors see exactly what each team found and missed.
- Client
- NC State University, Poole College of Management
- Status
- Ongoing
- Platform
- Web browser, Unity
The simulation
Student teams step into the role of auditors at a beverage distributor. Before they can reach the warehouse floor they have to work the office the way a real auditor would: get credentials from the security guard, pull invoices from the filing cabinet and talk with staff. Then they inspect pallets of product — checking labels, counts, volumes and expiration dates — and tag the exceptions they find.
What we built
- A configurable warehouse. Small, medium and large warehouse layouts, with exceptions seeded across the pallets, so instructors can match the exercise to the class.
- Characters and interactions. A cast of office and warehouse staff with conditional dialogue, locked doors and an audit-manager character, so the procedure matters, not just the answers.
- Instructor tools. An answer key showing which exceptions each group found or missed, percentage summaries by pallet row, and reports sent to instructors and students by email.
- Class management. Batch upload of student rosters and group logins.
- A guided tutorial that walks new students through inspecting a pallet and reporting an error.
A long-running partnership
The simulation has grown alongside the course over several years, shaped by instructor feedback each semester — from more diverse characters to new reporting features that make grading faster. It's still in active development today.