Streamlining Compliance: Lot & Serial Number Tracking in Business Central

Explore lot and serial number tracking in Business Central using apps for regulatory compliance.

For small and medium-sized businesses in the distribution and manufacturing sectors using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, managing lot and serial numbers for inventory tracking is a significant challenge. Integrating Warehouse Insight, a robust app designed for Business Central, offers a solution to these challenges.

The Warehouse Insight app not only helps address stringent regulatory compliance but also enhances warehouse accuracy and boosts efficiency with advanced mobile devices and barcode integration, thereby streamlining inventory management processes. Warehouse Insight is a Warehouse Management System (WMS) with various features that help streamline and refine the management of lot and serial numbers in Business Central.

Key Benefits when managing lot and serial numbers include:

Immediate access to inventory data, essential for timely decision-making.
Compatibility with a range of barcode scanners and mobile devices, offering versatility in operations.
User-friendly interfaces, ensuring ease of use across various warehouse settings.

Item Tracking Information — Some locations and item tracking configurations require that the user enters Item Tracking information in day to day internal Warehouse Processes, such as when putting an item away after receiving, when performing an ad-hoc movement using the Item Reclassification Journal, or performing a Pick for a Sales Order prior to shipping. This is especially important for strict item tracking industries such as Businesses who buy and sell food related items. You will see that in the Warehouse Put-away process, you may only have a single lot number per line:

Streamlining Regulatory Compliance

Warehouse Insight helps simplify regulatory compliance for small and medium-sized businesses by:

Offering automated reporting tools, designed to meet specific regulatory requirements.
Facilitating adherence to industry standards and practices, ensuring operational compliance.
Integrating barcoding, enhancing inventory receiving accuracy and real-time tracking.

The Warehouse Insight app is a valuable tool for small and medium-sized businesses in distribution and manufacturing, offering streamlined compliance and improved warehouse management. Its integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and advanced tracking capabilities provides substantial benefits.

Business owners and decision-makers are encouraged to explore Warehouse Insight for its potential to transform their warehouse management strategies. For more information and to get started, please visit the Warehouse Insight app page and reach out to your Microsoft Partner.

Automated Efficiency: By replacing manual, time-consuming processes with automated solutions, Warehouse Insight significantly reduces errors and increases operational efficiency.
Enhanced Inventory Accuracy: The app excels in lot and serial number tracking, providing immediate access to inventory data. This feature is crucial for maintaining accurate inventory levels and making timely decisions.
Regulatory Compliance: Warehouse Insight automates regulatory reporting and ensures adherence to industry standards, simplifying the compliance process for businesses.
Technology Integration: Warehouse Insight supports a variety of barcode scanners and mobile devices, alongside user-friendly interfaces, making it adaptable to different operational needs. The integration of RFID technology further enhances inventory management accuracy.

Compliance and Tracking Challenges

Small and medium-sized businesses face significant challenges in adhering to industry-specific regulations and managing complex inventory systems. Traditional methods, which often involve manually recording lot and serial numbers with a pen and clipboard and then entering them into a computer, are time-consuming and error-prone. This inefficiency is a major barrier to streamlined operations. Warehouse Insight, integrated with Business Central, offers a modern solution by replacing this outdated approach with an automated, more accurate system, thereby reducing errors and ensuring compliance with industry standards.

Lot and Serial Number Tracking - Item Record — Here is a screenshot of the Item Tracking section of an Item Record. Here you can control Default Number Series for an Item for Lot Numbers and Serial Numbers, along with the Item Tracking Code and Expiration Calculation. These settings control how a specific item's tracking will be handled in the system, with respect to the configurations in the second image.

Lot and Serial Number Tracking - Item Tracking Lines — Here is a screenshot of the Item Tracking Lines when receiving. Not all item tracking codes require Item Tracking Lines when receiving, this is dictated by the Item Tracking Code the Item on the Purchase Order uses.

Item Tracking Lines — Complete Item tracking Lines prior to posting the transaction could look as follows.

Lot and Serial Number Tracking - Warehouse Insight — We translate the above into a scanning based process in Warehouse Insight.

Printing a label — You can also print a label when receiving.

Lot and Serial Number Tracking - Item Tracking Lines to Purchase Order — Item Tracking Lines can be a many to one relationship to the Purchase Order Line (e.g. you can enter multiple lot numbers for a single purchase order line)

Efficient Lot and Serial Number Tracking

Warehouse Insight excels in precise lot and serial number tracking, a critical aspect for small and medium-sized businesses to maintain inventory accuracy. For example, the app provides:

Immediate access to inventory data, essential for timely decision-making.
Compatibility with a range of barcode scanners and mobile devices, offering versatility in operations.
User-friendly interfaces, ensuring ease of use across various warehouse settings.