Getting Started with Mobile Warehouse Scanning in Business Central

Introduction and Session Overview

All right. Good afternoon and good morning, everyone. Today I’m going to take you through what’s required to get ready for doing mobile volumes.

Warehouse Insight and WMS Express are the solutions we offer. WMS Express is free for barcode scanning and provides mobile access to information within a warehouse, allowing you to collect that information using a mobile device.

Quite often when we start projects, people aren’t really sure what they need from a barcoding perspective to get started. That’s what we’re going to cover today: how to get set up and how to bring information in using handheld devices.

Options for Capturing Warehouse Data

There are a few different options available. The ideal situation is using vendor or manufacturer barcodes. When you’re receiving product and putting it on the shelf, most products today already have barcodes on them.

Sometimes that’s not possible, and the product doesn’t have a barcode. In that case, you can print your own barcodes. You can pre-print them before the product arrives, attach them to the product, scan them in, or print them during the receiving process.

RFID is also an option in some specialized cases. We’re not going to focus on RFID today, but it is supported if you need it.

Another very accessible option is OCR, or optical character recognition. With OCR capabilities available in Warehouse Insight and WMS Express, you may not need barcodes at all in certain scenarios.

Using Vendor and Manufacturer Barcodes

Using existing vendor or manufacturer barcodes is often the easiest approach. We don’t care what type of barcode it is, whether it’s a UPC or a custom format.

We can cross-reference whatever is in that barcode with Business Central using item references, the GTIN field on the item card, or even the item number itself if that’s what’s encoded.

If you’re using a custom field in Business Central to track barcode values, we can support that as well through barcode rules.

Barcode rules allow us to extract information like item number, serial number, quantity, and unit of measure from almost any barcode format. In an ideal setup, you simply scan what comes in the door and everything works automatically.

Printing Your Own Barcodes

If you need to print your own barcodes, you can do it before receiving or during the receiving process. Labels can be printed and applied to boxes, then scanned as product is received.

Business Central includes standard item label reports, and we also provide tools to help generate barcodes. Often, customers want to tailor the label layout or data to meet their specific needs.

In some cases, you may need a custom report layout built in Word or Microsoft Report Builder. Occasionally, you may even need a completely custom report if you have special business logic, such as printing multiple labels for items inside a box.

All of this can be done directly within Business Central without any third-party software.

Barcode Generator and Cloud Printing

The barcode generator extension makes it easy to add barcodes to reports, including GS1-128 barcodes that aren’t available in standard Business Central.

The PrintNode connector enables cloud printing. This allows labels to be printed directly from a handheld device to a specific printer as soon as the print command is triggered.

One particularly valuable feature is the sample barcode list. Even if that’s the only part of the barcode generator you use, it’s worth having for testing and operational purposes.

Working with Barcode Rules

Barcode rules define what information is contained within a barcode and how that information is extracted. These rules are based on regular expressions.

You don’t need to understand regular expressions yourself. Our consultants and support team handle that, and there are standard rules included that cover most common scenarios.

Using these rules, we can pull item numbers, variants, serial numbers, lot numbers, package numbers, and units of measure from barcodes automatically.

Receiving Inventory with Mobile Devices

Receiving is usually the first point of interaction with barcodes or OCR. As products come in the door, scanning provides physical verification and helps maintain inventory accuracy.

Within the receiving interface, users can scan barcodes, print labels if needed, or manually enter quantities. Labels printed during receiving can be applied immediately and scanned to ensure accuracy.

If RFID is used, it can also be scanned within the same process.

Using OCR Instead of Barcodes

OCR allows you to scan printed text just as quickly as a barcode, provided the text is legible. This is useful when item numbers or lot numbers are printed on packaging without barcodes.

You can scan the item number, then scan printed lot or serial numbers, and record them without typing anything manually. Once captured, you can print barcode labels for ongoing warehouse use.

OCR is especially valuable for existing warehouses where bin codes are already printed on racks. Instead of re-labeling everything, you can simply scan the existing text.

Comparing Handheld Devices

Different handheld devices offer different capabilities. High-end devices provide long-range scanning, extreme durability, and higher performance.

More affordable devices may be less rugged and slightly slower, but they are still very effective and can be deployed in greater numbers for the same cost.

Both types support barcode scanning and OCR, with slight differences in how scanning is triggered and confirmed.

Practical OCR Examples

When scanning with OCR, the device only recognizes text that matches expected patterns, such as item numbers or bin codes. Irrelevant text is ignored.

OCR rules, similar to barcode rules, ensure accuracy by distinguishing characters like letters and numbers correctly. This helps prevent data entry errors.

Scanning bin labels, item numbers, and lot numbers using OCR can significantly reduce setup time and manual effort.

Additional Data Entry Options

Scanning isn’t mandatory in all cases. Users can manually select items and enter quantities directly on the device if needed.

Devices also include camera functionality for capturing photos of damaged goods or other issues. These images are stored in Business Central with the relevant documents.

Wrap-Up and Next Steps

To summarize, you can prepare for mobile scanning by using vendor barcodes, printing your own barcodes, or leveraging OCR to capture text directly.

If you have questions, visit our website for application and hardware details, or reach out to us directly. We’re happy to help with hardware selection, barcode setup, and OCR scanning.

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