About lot and serial numbers

If the Lot and serial tracking functionality is enabled in the Enable/disable functionalities (CS100000) window, you can set up tracking of stock items by lot or serial number, as well as by expiration date. About lot and serial number tracking gives additional information about this tracking.

Visma.net ERP provides flexible numbering schemes for lot and serial numbers and gives you the option to track different products differently.
It also provides different valuation methods to account for the cost of inventory per lot or serial number.
Kits may have their own serial numbers while also containing components that have lot and serial numbers.

A serial number is a unique number that identifies a single item of stock, such as a camera, DVD player, or bicycle.
Serial numbers can be generated by the system, or you can assign them manually on a per-item basis so the system reflects the numbers provided by the manufacturer.

A lot number is a unique identification code assigned to a specific quantity or lot of a product.
A lot number includes the information about the stock item model and may include an expiration date. The same lot number is assigned to every item of the lot.
The lot size is generally specified on the purchase order or on the Supplier details tab of the Stock items (IN202500) window.

Lot and serial numbers are defined at the item class level using the Lot/serial classes (IN207000) window.
Lot or serial classes are divided into three groups by their tracking method:

• Classes of items that are not tracked by either number; you should define at least one lot/serial class for such items.
• Classes whose items are tracked by lot numbers.
• Classes whose items are tracked by serial numbers.

Consider these guidelines when you are deciding which lot/serial classes to create:

• Define a class intended for items that will not be tracked.
  This class can be used as the default lot/serial class if most stock items will not be tracked by any property.
• Create separate groups of classes for items with serial numbers and items with lot numbers.
  Within each group, create separate classes for items with expiration dates and without them, if both types of products are involved in your business.
• Use separate classes to group items to which serial numbers are assigned on receipt and on usage.
  Items purchased for further sale generally are assigned numbers on their receipt, while items produced (and kits assembled) are assigned numbers on their sale or usage.
• Consider using additional classes for items with different issue methods: FIFO, sequential, date, and custom.

Visma.net ERP provides flexible tools to allow you to configure different templates for generating such numbers, or you can manually enter them.

Other settings of the lot/serial classes define:

• how and when the numbers will be generated,
• whether expiration dates are assigned and tracked, and
• what order is used for issuing the items from warehouses.

When creating a class whose items will be tracked by lot or serial numbers, you specify the following information in the Lot/serial classes (IN207000) window:

• Which tracking method is used for the class.
• Whether to track expiration dates or not.
• The maximum number of lot or serial numbers that can be assigned at once, controlled by the Auto-generate number batch size option.
  
• How the numbers are assigned.
• What the issue method is for items of the class.

If, on a document, a larger quantity of the item is specified, only the maximum number of lot/serial numbers will be generated with the excess quantity remaining with unassigned numbers. You can initiate assignment of lot/serial numbers for an unassigned quantity of the item manually.

The following table lists the assignment methods available.

The following table lists the issue methods for items in a lot/serial class:

Lot and serial numbers are segmented, and you can decide how many and what kind of segments there should be. Visma.net ERP supports the following types of segments:

You can use the Share auto-incremental value between all class items check box in the Lot/serial classes (IN207000) window to choose if the same numbering sequence should be used for all items of the same class, or if there should be separate incremental values for different items.

To prevent generation of similar serial numbers for different items of the same class, consider using different initial strings (auto-incremented values) for items of the class so that numbers for different items will be generated in non-intersecting ranges.

For example: Imagine that there are 10 items in a lot/serial class. During a year, no more than 1000 units of any item pass through warehouses.
The auto-incremental values for items can be selected in the following way: 000000, 100000, 200000,..., 900000.
If additional items (beyond 10) will be added to the class, new auto-incremental values can be used for them.

Each stock item is assigned to a lot/serial class that defines whether the items will be tracked by lot or serial numbers.

The following table describes typical procedures for a stock item: