This is the final instalment on Item Card fields. This one will focus on the ‘Item Tracking’ and ‘Warehouse’ tabs. If you missed the last post which focused on the Item Card’s Planning tab, we’d recommend reading that before this one.
To briefly explain, item tracking is what lets users know where either specific items (serially tracked) or groups of items (lot tracked) are. Obviously, after they have been sold, the customer can do as they wish. If they don’t keep the item, the whereabouts aren’t gaugeable. But until that point, it can be used to track the location of items, even after movements between locations, bins or sales.
The Warehouse tab ties in to Business Central’s warehousing functionality. At its core, warehousing relates to the period following receipt of goods, up until they are shipped. In particular, where do the goods go after reaching the warehouse’s receiving bay? Are the goods handled in specific ways? How frequently is the stock counted? These are all key aspects to the warehouse that we will discuss.
Item Tracking
Item Tracking Code
The Item Tracking Code field allows you to select a defined Item Tracking Code Card for the Item in question. Here, you can configure whether the Item is serially tracked, lot tracked or both. As you can see from the image below, in this example the Card is on both for serial and lot tracking. You can also configure warranties and their lengths here. And so, the field lets you choose which of these defined Cards you wish to attach to the Item.
To show this in greater detail, if I click into the dropdown on the field, I can see the list of Cards below which have been configured. These all link to differing setups in relation to the tracking fields above. See below:
Serial No.s and Lot No.s
These two fields allow you to attach a number series to the Item in relation to either serial or lot tracking. I can choose from every No. Series set up in the system. See below:
Warehouse
Where you are running advanced warehousing functionality such as put-aways, this tab will be critical.
Warehouse Class Code
This field relates to a location within the warehouse you’d look to store the item in question. A typical use case for this is where the item needs to be kept in areas of specific temperature or climate. For example, one code could be ‘Frozen’, indicating this item is to be kept in a frozen environment.
Special Equipment Code
Special equipment relates to required apparatus for moving the item. Perhaps if the item is fragile or protective gear is necessary to move it.
Put-away Template Code
A Put-away Template Code allows users to set prioritised areas items come to after reaching the receiving bay in the warehouse. Typically, you want items arriving to a fixed bin where the rest of the quantity for that item is. Without a template, it’s not known where the goods will go in storage by default. This field establishes the movement of goods upon receipt and you specify which template you’re applying to which item, as for each item you may want them going to different areas of the warehouse.
Put-away Unit of Measure Code
Where the warehousing staff put the item away in a separate unit of measure, you can specify that.
Phys Invt Counting Period Code
This relates to the frequency of counting the stock levels for this item once it’s in the warehouse. We recently published a guide to stocktaking and cycle counting. Give that a read to gain a greater understanding on the area.
Last Counting Period Update, Next Counting Start Date, Next Counting End Date
These three fields are all relevant to stocktaking and cycle counting too. They contain the last and next date the stock will be counted. With this in mind, I’d recommend using the link in the section above to help get a greater grasp as to how the concept of counting stock is managed in Business Central.
Use Cross-Docking
Cross-docking allows you to transfer items directly from the receiving zone straight to the outbound zone where there’s sales demand, instead of putting the item away in the warehouse first.
Closing remarks
If you managed to stick around throughout all four posts in this miniseries, congratulations! We hope this has been of use! As always, if you have any questions, fire away! Contact Us here.