Serial tab

You can configure the following optional fields on the Serial tab to control specific settings and behavior for serial numbers when end to end tracking is used for the item.

Configuring serial numbers

Parsing – Fixed section

Use this section if the serial number that is in portion of the bar code that contains the serial number always begins in the same position.

Note: If the Fixed method is used, the Delimited Parsing (described below) must be zero.

Starts at Position

This is the position of the bar code string where the serial number begins.

Example: If the serial number always starts at the 11th character of the data, this is 11.

Parsing – Delimited

Use this section if the portion of the bar code that contains the serial number can vary and is indicated by a delimiter somewhere in the string.

Note: If the Delimited method is used, the Fixed Parsing (described above) must not be defined.

Starts after

If you use delimited, this is a number between 1 and 9 that indicates the count of the delimiter indicator defined below in the Occurrences of setting.

Note: If using the delimited method, both Starts After and Occurrences of settings must be used.

Occurrences of

This is the number, letter, or other characters used to indicate that the serial number portion of the bar code is immediately following.

Note: If you use the delimited method, both Starts After and Occurrences of settings must be used.

Example: If the serial number starts after the second asterisk (*) in the data, the setup for these data elements is:

Starts after two occurrences of *.

Length (characters)

This is the number of characters that make up the actual serial number. The system bar code can include more characters, but the serial number is only a portion of the string that is scanned. The length applies to either of the parsing rules (fixed or delimited) defined above.

Masking Format:

You can define a masking syntax to ensure that the correct format is followed for the string that is scanned as the serial number.

Regardless of when the serial number is scanned, the masking format is checked to ensure the number that is scanned is consistent with a syntax identified for the item. If it is not, the user cannot complete the transaction.

These are possible masking configuration values:

N Numeric
A Alpha
C Alpha or numeric
D Character (-, #, *, etc.)
B Blank space

Examples:

  • If the item’ serial number is AABBCC1234, the masking format is AAAAAANNNN.
  • If the item’s serial number is SER-90800Z-10001, the masking is AAADNNNNNADNNNNN

Parsing for Multiple Serial Bar Codes

These parameters are used to separate into individual serials a long bar code that includes multiple serial numbers. These serials can be separated by either using a number of fixed length characters or by using a delimiter to break up the serials. These allow the system to break the bar code into a series of ‘Serial Number Long’ values.

Fixed Length

Fixed length identifies the length of the full string that contains one serial number.

Example:

  • Fixed length = 10
  • Barcode scanned = T709Z87124Y324A80909G767R09821

    This bar code contains three separate serial numbers; each is 10 characters as defined by the Fixed Length of 10.

  • T709Z87124
  • Y324A80909
  • G767R09821

    This character string can contain only the serial number or more data in addition to the serial number. If it contains more than the serial number, the parameters defined in the Serial Number Configuration section can be defined to extract the serial number from a longer string.

Delimited by

Delimited by identifies the delimiter that indicates how a full data bar code string is broken into individual serial numbers.

Example:

  • Delimiter = Z
  • Barcode scanned = ZT709987Z24Y324AZ090944G76ZR09821
  • This barcode contains four separate serial numbers indicated by each occurrence of Z.
  • T709987
  • 24Y324A
  • 090944G76
  • R09821

    This character string can contain only the serial number or more data in addition to the serial number. If it contains more than the serial number, the parameters defined in the Serial Number Configuration section can be defined to extract the serial number from a longer string.

Serial Increment Rules

The system uses these parameters when the serial number structure for the item is sequential. Use this setting for two scenarios:

  • The product always has sequential serial numbers and every time a bar code is scanned the system creates or uses the next defined number of serials in a sequence.
  • The user scans a range of serial numbers and the product has all sequential serial numbers. By scanning the first and last number of a range, the system determines all of the serial numbers within that range.

Increment Start Position

If the number of serial numbers represented by a bar code is greater than one, you must specify which portion of the serial number to increase to generate the other serial numbers. This is determined by defining the Increment Start Position for which the numbers increase and the Increment Length to indicate the length of the portion of the serial that to increment.

This configuration also applies if you can use a range to capture multiple serials that are in a sequence.

Increment Length

The length applies to either of the parsing rules (fixed or delimited) defined above. When used with the Increment Start Position, it represents the number of characters that are included in the portion that is increasing.

Example:

If the serial number in the bar code data is AABB123CC and the bar code represents 10 serial numbers, AABB123CC, AABB124CC, AABB125CC, … AABB132CC, the system must add one to the number found in the fifth, sixth, and seventh characters of the serial number.

In this case, the Start Position would be 5, and the Length would be set to 3.

If only one serial number is represented by a barcode, these settings are ignored.

Automatically Increment Serials

The system can also record the scanning of multiple serial numbers by performing a single scan. For example, the user can scan the bar code on a case label and the system automatically records the serialized contents because they are always in sequence.

When the Automatically Increment Serials flag is checked, the system takes the first serial number found from the bar code string and automatically creates or utilizes the next sequential serial numbers as configured.

Note: The individual serial numbers are never handled separately when you use this configuration for an item. The scan of one serial always implies the use of the next sequential serial numbers as defined in this configuration.

If you use this feature, you must define the Serials per Barcode described below must.

Serials per Barcode

This is the number of serials the system adds with each scan if the Automatically Increment Serials flag is active.

For example, if the barcode represents 10 serial numbers, set the default for C to 10. The default value for this is 1.

Customer detail

Access the Customer screen and display the detail information for a customer.

Click the Miscellaneous tab. The Catch Outbound Weight field overrides the configuration for the item. For example, if the item to be picked is defined on the Item screen as Outbound Catch Weight = No but this field is set to Yes, then the item still requires outbound weight capture.