How are item bar-code labels generated?

There are two types of item bar-code labels: reserved and assigned.

  • Reserved bar-code labels have been printed but are not yet associated with an item.

  • Assigned bar-code labels are associated with an asset item that exists as part of an added asset in the Asset Management application.

    Note: There is one exception: Items that have a quantity higher than 1 use the same bar code for each component of the item. For example, if an item named CHAIRS has a quantity of 50, each of the 50 chairs in the item is assigned the same bar code.

Item bar codes must be unique throughout the Asset Management application. They are normally printed sequentially and assigned at random. The Asset Management application keeps track of the next available bar codes and ensures that no duplicate bar codes exist in the application.

Example

This example shows a typical bar-code assignment process:

  1. An HHT operator receives three new PCs, each with a monitor, CPU, and keyboard.

  2. The operator requests nine bar-code labels from the printer. The printer prints the next nine available bar codes and assigns them a status of Reserved.

  3. The operator affixes a label on each item in any order.

  4. The operator uses the Addition function of the handheld terminal to add the items, with the bar code of each CPU scanned as a parent item, and the bar code of each related accessory scanned as a child item to the appropriate CPU. At this point each item has a bar code associated with it, but the status of the bar codes is still Reserved.

  5. The operator downloads the Addition data.

  6. The Asset Management department imports the data into an interface file and processes the data to add three different assets, each with three items.

  7. When the assets are assigned asset numbers in Asset Management, the status of the bar codes associated with each item becomes Assigned. At this point the asset number is associated with the bar code, and therefore with the physical item.