Overview
The "Check Item" command on the scanner tells you what a barcode represents, and gives you information about the associated stock quantities and locations. This command is useful in a variety of contexts, such as,
- Verifying that a barcode is correct
- Looking up stock information for a product
- Finding the sales order or purchase order that contains an item
- Finding the location at which pallets are stored in warehouse
- Finding the locations holding stock of an item
- Looking up lot ID information from a barcode
Instructions
It couldn't be easier. Just select the Check Item command from the main menu and scan the barcode into the box. The associated information is shown below the box, including: Product ID, Lot ID, suggested packing, quantity in stock, locations containing stock, and item description. If the barcode doesn't have a Lot ID or suggested packing in the barcode lookup table, which is very common, that information won't be shown.
The menu button on the Check Item page gives you two additional commands: "Sales orders for item" and "Purchase orders for item", which both apply to the previously scanned item. In some warehouse contexts, these commands can be useful to tell you what sales orders or purchase orders contain an item. For example, if you are receiving an order and don't know what the PO is, you can scan an item in the shipment to see the possible POs. For sales orders, you may have items brought to a packing area for multiple sales orders, and you may want to know which sales order a particular item applies to.
There are many uses for the Check Item command based on these simple instructions, but to understand the advanced applications, you need to understand exactly how it works.
How does it work?
The Check Item command is based on the barcode lookup table. When you scan a barcode into the Check Item barcode box, the first thing the scanner does is look up that barcode to find the associated information in the barcode lookup table.
The barcode lookup table associates a barcode with a Product ID, Lot ID, and suggested packing. A record in the table may or may not include the Lot ID or suggested packing fields, and their values will just be blank if they aren't included. You can think of the lookup table as an Excel spreadsheet with the barcode in column A, and the Product ID, Lot ID, and suggested packing in columns B, C, and D. Whenever you scan a barcode, the scanner will lookup the barcode in column A and then fill in the information from column B, C, and D into your receive operation.
Example lookup table
A |
B |
C |
D |
Barcode |
Product ID |
Lot ID |
Suggested packing |
200000137526 |
3LID5023-14 |
14MAR03A |
72/1 |
200000353940 |
3LID6040-14 |
|
|
In the lookup table above, the barcode 200000137526 corresponds to Product ID 3LID5023-14 with Lot ID 14MAR03A and suggested packing 72/1. The next barcode corresponds to 3LID6040-14 but has a blank Lot ID and suggested packing.
You can see from this table what information the scanner retrieves from the lookup: Product ID, Lot ID, and suggested packing. The remaining information that is displayed is based on further retrieval of stock and product record information based on these first pieces of information from the barcode lookup table.
Stock quantity information
The stock quantity displayed for the checked item includes all stock quantity on hand matching the barcode. The quantity on hand does not take into consideration sales that haven't yet been picked or purchases that haven't yet been received. If you've received or picked orders on the scanner, though, then those operations are obviously included in the calculation along with any other operations you've done on the scanner (stock take, transfer, etc.).
Other than the operations that you've recorded on the scanner, the stock levels are based on records downloaded to the scanner when you last synchronized the scanner with your account. Obviously if other people have made stock changes since then, your scanner would have no way of knowing about those changes.
For simple purposes, that's all you need to know, but for advanced applications, we need to answer some more subtle questions: What does it mean to say that the stock quantities shown are those that match the barcode? If the barcode lookup indicates a suggested packing of 72/1, will the quantities displayed include cases packed 36/1? If the barcode lookup doesn't indicate a Lot ID, will the stock on hand that have Lot IDs be excluded? Knowing the specifics of what match means will make certain advanced applications possible.
What matching means
Matching in the Check Item function determines what items are included in the quantity information displayed. In any circumstance, matching items need to match the Product ID. The subtlety pertains to the Lot ID and the suggested packing.
In the check item function, if you scan a barcode that does not have a Lot ID in the barcode lookup table, the scanner interprets that to mean, "Show me the total quantity of items matching the Product ID regardless of whether the stock has or doesn't 'have a Lot ID." If you scan a barcode that does have a Lot ID in the barcode lookup table, the scanner interprets that to mean, "Show me the total quantity of items matching the specific Product ID and Lot ID; items not having Lot IDs excluded."
In simplified terms, if the barcode you scan into Check Item doesn't include a Lot ID, you get everything; the barcode does include a Lot ID, you get only those. In the common uses of Check Item, you are scanning the barcode on a specific item. Given this explanation, you can now understand that the quantity displayed by Check Item will be as specific as the barcode is with respect to Lot ID.
The other field in the barcode lookup table that could be relevant to matching is the suggested packing field. This is the value that can indicate a specific case packing or even select automatically between case/each mode depending on how you've configured the scanner's settings. For Check Item, however, the suggested packing field is simply ignored. The displayed quantity information spells out the cases and eaches separately, so for most purposes the suggested packing would be superfluous.
Matching summary
Fields in barcode's lookup |
What's included in displayed quantity |
Lot ID not in lookup table |
Show the total quantity of items matching the Product ID regardless of whether the stock has or doesn't 'have a Lot ID. |
Lot ID in lookup table |
Show the total quantity of items matching the specific Product ID and Lot ID |
Suggested packing not in lookup table |
Show the total quantity of items regardless of case/each packing. |
Suggested packing in lookup table |
Show the total quantity of items regardless of case/each packing (same as above; the packing is ignored). |
The rules for matching are different for Check Item than for transactions. When you scan an item into a transaction, you have the option to specify a default Lot ID from the menu of options, which will apply to items for which the barcode's Lot ID in the barcode lookup table is blank. In Check Item, there's no ability to specify a default Lot ID; if the barcode doesn't have a Lot ID in the barcode lookup table, the quantities include all items with and without lots.
Advanced applications
Let us consider a more advanced usage. Consider items with serial numbers stored as their Lot IDs. If the barcodes on the scanned items associate with the specific serial numbers as Lot IDs in the barcode lookup table, then when you scan the barcode on one of these items, the quantity displayed will be "1", representing the specific item you are holding in your hand.
If what you'd like to know is the quantity of all such items (items having that Product ID) including all serial numbers, then you can simply scan or type in the Product ID into the barcode box rather than scanning the barcode that indicates a specific Lot ID. This technique works because the scanner automatically creates Product ID barcodes for all Product IDs, creating entries in the barcode lookup table that map the Product ID as the barcode itself to the Product ID along with a blank Lot ID and suggested packing. Thus when you scan or type the Product ID into the Check Item barcode box, it will be found in the lookup table (unless you turn off the "Automatic barcodes" feature in the settings).
Another advanced usage is finding the locations of pallets in a warehouse. In some warehouse applications, the pallet number is stored as the Lot ID of the pallet's barcode in the barcode lookup table so that whenever you scan the pallet's barcode, you select just that pallet of items, not all items of that type of product (Product ID). Let us imagine that you are now wanting to know where to find a pallet holding a product type in the warehouse (assuming pallets hold a single type). You can scan or type in the Product ID into Check Item, and the scanner will tell you the locations at which all the pallets are stored. You can also scan or type the pallet barcode of a specific pallet, if you had reason to locate a specific pallet and you knew its barcode.
Format of displayed quantity
Depending on your convention for representing cases in your inventory, the display of quantity can be different. Some companies keep track of their inventory of cases and units separately. For those companies, check item will display quantities in the format,
721.00 (10cs+1)
to show both the total quantity of everything converted to units (721), and also the breakdown of what is stored in cases versus units (in this example, 10 cases of 72 plus one open stock unit).
Other companies keep track of everything in units, independent of whether they are packaged in cases or lying around in open stock. Nevertheless, even companies that keep track of everything in units often want to know at a glance how many cases of items they have. To provide that information easily, the Check Item function will show you the case equivalent quantity in parentheses for products that have a defined standard packing. In the above example, if the company were keeping track of all quantities in units, Check Item would display the quantity as,
721.00 (10.01eq)
to indicate you have approximately 10 case equivalents in stock. The case equivalent is based on a conversion factor that is the first number in the standard packing. For example, if the standard packing is "72/1", then then conversion factor is 72. The conversion factor is also 72 if the standard packing is "72/2/1"; the conversion factor is just the first number, not the product of the numbers in the packing.
Item stock details
After scanning a barcode, you can select "Item stock details" from the menu to see a comprehensive stock accounting of all stock matching the product ID in the barcode's lookup table, including all lots and sublocations and packings. The space bar is a shortcut key for item stock details and also to exit the stock details page, allowing you to pop in and out of the stock details effortlessly.
The main page of check item shows a stock summary, but the comprehensive stock accounting is provides all the details. In simple inventory management use cases, the summary and the stock account may be the same.
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