Traceability

Traceability answers where a serial-numbered or batch-numbered item came from and where it went: which supplier's receipt brought in a batch of regulators, which work used them, and which units are still on the shelf. Use it when a supplier recalls a batch, when a customer reports a faulty part, or when an inspector asks for the history of a unit.

Only items tracked by serial or batch number appear here. Bulk propane delivered into a customer's tank is billed from Deliveries and has no serial or batch number.

How to find a unit when you have its label or number

1. Open Traceability.
2. Scan the label, or type the item ID or the serial or batch number into Scan or search....
3. Choose the match under Entities. Recent lists the units you last opened from this browser. When nothing matches, the page says No matches.

The unit opens in the traceability graph.

How to read the graph when you need a unit's history

1. Each box is a unit (a serial number or a batch) or an activity (a receipt, an adjustment, a split, work that used or made units). Arrows run from what went in to what came out.
2. Choose a box to open its details in the sidebar: its Attributes, what Produced by it and what it was Consumed by, its Inputs and Outputs, Splits, Serials and Step records. Copy ID and Copy link share it with someone else.
3. Use Search nodes to find one unit in a large graph, Increase hops and Decrease hops to show more or fewer steps around it, and Isolate lineage to hide everything not linked to the chosen unit.
4. Switch between Top-down layout and Left-right layout, use Fit to view to see the whole graph, and Show legend to explain the colours and shapes.
5. Choose Back to traceability to search for another unit.

When a batch is partly used, the used part and the remainder become two linked units, so the graph shows exactly which quantity went where. When two lots of the same batch are joined, the quantities add up and the earliest expiration date is kept.

How to see why a unit expires when it does

Where a unit carries an expiration date, the Expiry trace shows how the date was set: where the unit came from, the shelf-life rule that set it (a fixed duration, a date entered at receipt, or the earliest expiry of what went into it), and the date it holds now. To change the date, use Edit Expiry on Tracked Entities in Inventory, which asks Why is the expiration being changed?.

Where this fits

Units are created when a receipt posts, move with shipments, transfers and picking lists, and are listed with their status on Tracked Entities in Inventory. A unit that fails an inspection is handled in Quality.