If you need to record the serial, batch or lot number of individual items that are scanned and generate a report of which items were shipped to specific customers, GroovePacker can help you do so.
This feature is enabled per product so it is possible to have a mix of items that will require a serial or lot number and others that will not.
This article is about a feature that prompts the user to enter or scan the serial, lot or batch number in a separate step. If your serial, lot or batch number is part of your product barcode please see this article.
How it works
GroovePacker will record any value that is scanned from a barcode or keyed in by hand. It is saved as a text string, so while it is referred to as a Serial Number, Batch number or a lot number, it could be any string of letters or numbers that you would like to save and export later.
When an item that will require recording is suggested for scanning a notice is shown to the packer to let them know a lot/serial number will be required after the item itself is scanned. As soon as the item has been scanned a popup will request the Lot/Serial to be keyed in or scanned.
By default, any string of letters or numbers will be accepted unless it matches a product barcode. This prevents the packer from accidentally recording the barcode of the next item instead of the Lot/Serial of the previous item.
Validating Lot, Serial or Batch numbers
If all of your Lot-Serial numbers have a prefix, it is possible to have GroovePacker check for and only accept a Lot/Serial that includes the prefix. This option can be enabled using the Require Serial/Lot Prefix switch in Settings > System Settings > Scan and Pack Options.
Enabling Serial/Lot Recording
It is possible to record up to two Serial/Lot numbers for each product. To enable the option for individual products, open the product record by clicking it's name in the products list and then click on the Scan & Pack Option tab. The feature is enabled using the switches labeled "Record Serial Number"
The option can also be set for many products at once using the Product CSV importer. To do so you'll need at minimum 1 column with the products SKU, and another that you will map to REC SERIAL 1. In the REC SERIAL 1 column, you will indicate whether the option should be enabled or disabled by entering TRUE to enable it or FALSE to disable it. If nothing is entered on a row then the setting will not be modified for the product on that row. The option to record a second serial is done the same way. If you have your products in GroovePacker already and would like to apply this setting to many products you can use the export product to CSV option to get a list of all of your items. In the current export format, the Serial/Lot recording option is set using columns record_serial and second_record_serial. These should be mapped to REC SERIAL 1 and REC SERIAL 2 respectively.
Exporting Lot or Serial Numbers that have been recorded
The values that are recorded can be exported to a CSV file that includes the order data of every order that had a value recorded. To export this file navigate to Settings > Backup & Export > Serial Export
There you'll be able to choose a start and end date up to 30 days in the past, and generate a file.
