V8 - Serial inventory

Although all serial items are included on the Items list (Operations menu > Inventory > Items), this list is not designed to provide specific information on each serial unit you have in inventory or that of each serial unit sold. The Serial Inventory list (Operations menu > Inventory > Serial inventory), however, fills this important gap. It includes the item name, its serial number, the location where it is housed—or the customer to whom the unit was sold, its status (in-stock, used, shipped, or adjusted out). If a warranty was defined for the item, the Serial inventory list also includes the type of warranty, along with its start and end dates. 

Under Inventory settings (Settings > Inventory settings), you can select Value serials by specific ID, which means that each serial item brought into the system will keep the exact value it was entered in, regardless of the valuation method.

The Plus and Pro plans of SOS Inventory support serialized inventory.

Enabling serial tracking for an item

To turn on serial tracking for an item, do the following:

1. If you are creating a new item, perform Step 1a or 1b, then skip to Step 3. (For an existing item, skip Step 1 and go to Step 2.)
   1. On the Task bar, go to the Quick Add menu and select Item (Quick add > Inventory > Item) or
   2. Go to the Items list (Operations menu > Inventory > Items), then select Add new.
       
2. If you need to enable serial tracking for an existing item, open the item record for editing by selecting the Edit button for that item on the Items list.
    
   warningIMPORTANT: If you want to convert a current item to being serial tracked, first you must zero out the quantity and value of the item using an adjustment transaction, noting the total value for the adjusted item.
3. On the item Edit page, turn on the Track serial numbers setting, make any other changes if desired, then save the changes.
    
4. Load (or reload, if you completed Step 2) stock levels into inventory.
    
   warningIMPORTANT: You MUST create or edit the item first and set it as serial tracked before loading quantities via an item receipt (the recommended method) or load one unit at a time via the Serial inventory page (Operations menu > Inventory > Serial inventory). A bulk edit cannot be used to change the quantity or value of serial items.  

Automating serial numbers

In the Purchasing settings (Settings > Purchasing settings), you can enable settings to automate the generation of serial numbers, add a prefix to the number, set the number length, and either generate the numbers randomly or keep them in sequence by providing a starting sequence number.

Using serial items on transactions

Once serial tracking has been enabled, whenever you specify that item in transactions, the system will prompt you to do one of the following:

• Assign a serial number to every serial unit that is added to inventory via an item receipt or is an output of a build or process. A serial number for each serial unit that is received or manufactured must be specified before it can be added to inventory.
• On other types of transactions, identify which serial unit is being referenced by selecting its associated serial number. When shipping a serial item, for example, it is important to indicate on the transaction which serial unit is being sent to your customer. Pick from the transaction dropdown for that item the serial number that matches the unit you are shipping. This same principle applies to serial items on transfers, adjustments, pick tickets, returns, and rentals, as well as the input items used on builds and processes.

Assigning a serial number to a serial unit on an item receipt or an output on a build or process transaction

As an example of serialized inventory, when you create an item receipt to receive five units of serial item Armenian Mantel Clock into inventory, the system will provide in the Description column a S/N (serial number) field for each serial unit, as shown in the screenshot below. Note that the screenshot also includes an Upload button and a field option labeled Auto serial/lot numbers.

Use any of the following options to assign serial numbers to items:

• Scan or manually type a number in each S/N field. This is commonly used when receiving serial-tracked items from a vendor.
• Authorize SOS Inventory to assign system-generated serial numbers. This is the most convenient option when using a build or process transaction to manufacture serial-tracked items. When you check the Auto serial/lot numbers box on the transaction, the S/N field boxes disappear. When the transaction is saved, the system assigns serial numbers according to the automated serial number specifications established by your company in the Purchasing settings (Settings > Purchasing settings). Open the saved transaction to see the serial numbers assigned.
• Create a .csv file that contains the serial numbers, then select the Upload button to import the file. SOS Inventory will use the numbers contained in the file to populate the S/N fields. 

   

  edit_noteNOTE: If you elect to upload the serial numbers via a .csv file, the number of serials included in the file must match the quantity specified for that serial item on the transaction. 

Matching a serial unit on other transactions or an input on a build or process transaction

After serial units have been assigned their respective serial numbers, you must indicate on transactions which unit(s) you are shipping, adjusting, transferring, etc.  Select from the transaction dropdown in the Description column the serial number that corresponds to the unit being shipped, adjusted, transferred, etc. Below is a screenshot of the serials available in the dropdown for our Armenian Mantel Clock example:

Adding the historical records of serial items to a customer

If you want to add historical records of serial items that are at a customer site, select the customer name from the Customer dropdown list when entering a new serial item on the Serial inventory page. Either way, once you add a serial item to either a location or a customer, it cannot be changed by editing the serial item, but only via transactions like shipments or returns.

Viewing the history of a serial item

To access a serial item's history, go to either: (1) the Serial inventory list (Operations menu > Inventory > Serial inventory) and use the item’s Actions menu to select Transaction history; or (2) the Serial unit history report (Operations menu > Reports > Inventory > Serial unit history).

Using warranties with serial items

To use a warranty for a serial item, the warranty must be defined in SOS as well as assigned to the item in the item definition.

Once your warranties are configured and assigned to items, warranty information for serial inventory items will be included on packing lists of shipments to customers if Show warranty on serial units is enabled under the Shipment section of the Sales settings (Settings > Sales settings). The warranty goes into effect on the date the item is shipped and may be changed manually by editing the serial record on the Serial inventory list.

Warranty information will be added automatically to the serial unit’s edit page, which is stored under the Serial inventory list. The information also can be viewed on that list by enabling the warranty-related columns with the Column chooser.

See Warranties for more information about creating and using warranties.