About Serialized Inventory and Lot Tracking

If you have a license to use Serialized Inventory and Lot Tracking, you can assign serial numbers and/or lot numbers to items when you process transactions in Inventory Control. You use the serial numbers and lot numbers to track items from their receipt in inventory to their sale to customers and beyond.

Defining Formats for Serial Numbers and Lot Numbers

Before you use serial number and lot numbers in transactions, you must define formats for the numbers.

You use the Mask Structures screen to define serial number and lot number formats.

For more information, see About Mask Structures and I/C Mask Structures Screen.

Setting Up Warranties and Contract Codes for Serialized and Lotted Items

Because high-value items often have warranties available to customers and quality guarantees from vendors, you should set up warranty codes and contract codes for use with serialized and lotted items.

For more information, see I/C Contract Codes Screen and I/C Warranty Codes Screen.

Options for Processing Serial Numbers and Lot Numbers

You use the I/C Options screen to specify settings that determine how to process transactions for serialized and lotted items, including:

Default masks to use when you add new item records for serialized and lotted items, and the separators you can use in mask structures.
Whether you must allocate or generate numbers for all the serialized or lotted items in a transaction before you can save the transaction.
The default number of days from receipt into inventory before serialized or lotted items expire (or "go bad," as for medicines and food items), and whether to display a warning or an error message, or no message, if you use an expired serial or lot number in a transaction.
Whether you can use the quantity ordered (rather than the quantity shipped) when allocating serial numbers and lot numbers in Order Entry.
How to allocate serial numbers and lot numbers when allocating numbers automatically.

For more detailed information about the settings you can choose for Inventory Control, see I/C Options Screen.

Options for Serialized and Lotted Inventory Items

You specify whether a particular item is serialized and/or lotted in the I/C Item record.

To designate an item as serialized, you select the Serial Number option.
You use the Serials tab that becomes available to specify the next serial number to assign to the item, and the codes and conditions for the warranty and contracts that apply to the serialized item. You can also override default settings, such as the serial number mask and days to expiry.
To designate an item lotted, you select the Lot Number option.
You use the Lots tab that becomes available to specify the next lot number to assign to item quantities, and the codes and conditions for the warranty and contracts that apply to the lotted item. You can also override default settings, such as the lot number mask and days to expiry.

For more information about the options you can select for serialized and lotted items, see I/C Items Screen.

Assigning Serial and Lot Numbers in Transactions

When you process transactions for serialized and lotted items in Inventory Control, you are prompted to allocate or generate numbers for the items.

For more information on how to assign serial and lot number in specific types of transactions, see the following topics:

If you plan to use a bar code reader to enter serial numbers in transactions:

Program the scanner to add a carriage return after the number.
When you enter multiple serial numbers in transactions, first click a blank line on the Serial Number table. If you point to the Next Serial Number field when scanning a bar code, for example, you will have to click Add to add the number to the table.

Maintaining and Reporting Serial and Lot Numbers

You perform the following tasks to maintain records for serialized and lotted items:

Use the following reports and inquiry screens to determine the status of the serial and lot numbers in your system: