Overview

This blog is second in three part series on the use of serial numbers in Business ByDesign. This blog focuses on use of serial numbers in Make To Stock business process.

Serial Numbers in Business Scenarios

Make To Stock

A typical Make To Stock process goes through the following steps:

Production Proposal -> Production Order -> Task Confirmation

This section shows various steps and ways to capture serial numbers during Make To Stock process.

Production Proposal

Production Proposal represents the finished goods to be produced. A Production proposal can be created manually or generated via MRP. This step is the same as for non-serialized items

Production Order

Production Order is automatically created after Production Proposal is released (provided that Production Request process is automated). This step is same as for non-serialized items

Task Confirmation (Make)

For make task confirmation entering or generating serial numbers are mandatory for serialized products. This is true for both output and input products.

Thus it is a three step process:

1. Enter the serial numbers for the serialized input products (if any)
2. Enter the serial numbers for serialized output product
3. Create Serial Number Hierarchy if genealogy reporting is required. This establishes the relationship between each individual output serial number with individual input serial number(s)

Following table shows different options available for creating and entering serial numbers.

Output Product Serial Numbers

i) Manual:

Serial Numbers are manually entered in the “Next Serial Number” field

ii) Upload (via Excel):

A simple excel file with serial number column (without header) is created

This file is uploaded using the upload button

iii) Automatic generation via “Generate” button:

When the “Generate” button is clicked, system prompts for the number of serial numbers to be generated.

Based on Serial Number template, serial numbers are automatically generated

Input Product Serial Numbers

The method of entering serial numbers manually, upload via excel and bar code input are similar to that of Output Product Serial Number described above.

Serial Number Hierarchy

Serial Number Hierarchy establishes the relationship between each individual output serial number and corresponding input product serial number(s) which have gone into making of that product

Serial Number Hierarchy can be entered manually or uploaded via excel:

i) Manual:

Input Product ID and Input Product Serial Number are entered manually using “Add Row” button

ii) Upload (via Excel):

A simple excel file with output serial number, input product id and input serial number is created. There is no header in this file.

This file is uploaded via the “Upload Hierarchy” button

Summary

In summary, this blog provided a detailed step by step use of serial numbers in Make To Stock business process. Next part of this blog series will focus on use of serial numbers in Order To Cash process, serial number inventory visibility & genealogy and related data sources and reports.