About Serial and Lot Numbers in Material Transactions

If you use Sage 300 Serialized Inventory and Lot Tracking, you can allocate serial numbers and/or lot numbers to items that you remove from or return to inventory in the following types of transaction:

• Material usage. When you process material usage transactions that include serialized or lotted items, you use the Serial/Lot Numbers Allocation screen to allocate serial numbers or lot numbers to items.
• Material returns. When you process material return transactions that include serialized or lotted items, you use the Serial/Lot Numbers Generation screen to reassign serial numbers or lot numbers to items you are returning to inventory.

Note: You can use adjustments to transfer material usage or material return transactions for serialized or lotted items to a different contract, project, or category. However, you cannot adjust these transactions using the Adjustment type. If you need to change the quantity or an item number used in a transaction, you can process a material return, then process another, correct, material usage transaction using the correct quantities and items.

Serial Numbers

You use serial numbers to track inventory items from the point of receipt through to the point of sale.

You can also use serial numbers to track items returned by the customer, and back to the vendor.

Before you can assign serial numbers to items:

• Select the Serial Number option in the I/C item record to serialize the item.
• Create serial numbers for the item and inventory location.

  You create serial numbers for items either when you receive them (in Inventory Control or in Purchase Orders), or using the Serial/Lot Reconciliation screen in Inventory Control.

  To check serial numbers available at any location for an item you plan to use in material transactions, use the Serial Number Inquiry screen (available in Inventory Control).

Lot Numbers

Lot numbers are used for tracking stock from the point of receipt through to the point of sale, and can be used to track returned items from the customer and back to the vendor. For example, a food distribution company can use lot numbers to record purchases and sales of unique lots.

Some industries, such as pharmaceuticals and meat-packing, are legally required to track the items that they purchase, manufacture, and ship.

Unlike serial numbers, many different items can share the same lot number.

Other Requirements

Before you can allocate serial numbers or lot numbers to items in transactions:

• The I/C item record must require serial numbers or lot numbers.
• Sufficient serial numbers or lot numbers must be available for the item at the inventory location from which you are shipping the items.

  Use the Serial Number Inquiry and Lot Number Inquiry screens in Inventory Control to check whether serial numbers or lot numbers are available for the items you plan to use in a material usage transaction.

  If the I/C item record allows the serial quantity or the lot quantity to be different from the entry quantity, you can post a transaction even if you have not allocated numbers to the total quantity of serialized or lotted items.

• If you are returning serialized inventory, identify the serial numbers assigned to the items, as well as the contract, project, category, and resource used in the transaction that transferred the items to the job.
• If you are returning lotted items to inventory using material returns transactions, identify the lot, or partial lot, from which you are returning items.