MicroBiz allows you to track the serial number of items carried in inventory and sold. You can set up MicroBiz whether serial numbers are required to be attached to an item being:
- received in a vendor shipment
- sold or returned in a register transaction
- sold in a customer order
- transferred from one store to another
- part of an inventory adjustment.
To set up serialized inventory in your system, please take the following steps:
Set Up
Step One: Turning On Serial Number Add On Feature
To activate Serial Number Tracking at your store, first go to the Add On settings (Settings>General>Add On Features) and activate Serial Numbers.
Step Two: Set Serial Number Global Settings (Optional)
After activating Serial Numbers in the Add On Features settings, you will have to ability to set default settings to be used when new product records are created. Go to Settings>Advanced Settings>Product Settings. These settings will determine the default settings for serial numbers when a product record is created. You can always modify these settings in the Product Record. Options include:
- Optional - New product records will have serial numbers set to 'Optional'. Optional means that serial numbers may be attached to items when receiving them in a vendor shipment and on register sales transactions and customer orders - but serial numbers are not required on these transactions. However, setting this to Optional will cause the Serial Number tab to appear in a product record - even it the item does not have serial numbers.
- No Tracking - Serial numbers will not be required on sales and inventory transactions. If this is set to No Tracking, the serial number tab will not appear in new products by default, but you can turn on serial numbers for on a product-by-product basis using the Settings tab in the Product Record (see below).
- Sales Required - Serial numbers will required to be attached to items sold in a register transaction and customer orders. However, setting this to Sales Required will cause the Serial Number tab to appear in a product record and a serial number to be required at sale even it the item does not have serial numbers. We recommend setting this to 'Yes' only if all or almost all your products sold use serial numbers.
- All Transactions Required - This will require serial numbers to be attached to items when they are added to stock in a vendor shipments and on register sales and customer order transactions. However, setting this to All Transactions will cause the Serial Number tab to appear in a product record and be required when receiving or selling items - even it the item does not have serial numbers. We recommend setting this to 'Yes' only if all or almost all your products sold use serial numbers.
Note: Unless all or almost all of your products are sold with serial numbers, we recommend setting this Global Setting to 'No Tracking'.
Step Three: Confirm/Configure Serial Number Settings in Product Record
You can override the Global Serial Number Settings in the Product Record Settings tab. The Product Record Settings tab contains the same options as the Global Settings, but apply only to the selected product. When you activate a serial number setting, the Serial Number tab will appear in the Product Record.
Adding Serial Numbers to an Item or Transaction
When you add an serialized item to a register transaction, customer order or vendor shipment, a circular icon will appear at the right portion of the line item. This indicates the serial number status of the item:
Gray - Serial number optional but not required
Green - Serial number has been successfully attached
Red - Serial Number is required
When you click on this icon, or select the line and click on the 'Add/Edit Serial No.' button, you will be presented with a pop-up that allows you to attach a serial number to a line item.
At this point you can scan the barcode of the item or enter the SN in the search box. If the SN is not found, a 'Add New' button will be presented which will save the serial number to the product record/transaction.
If the serial number is in the system, you can start by pressing the Add New button at the top right of the pop-up. This will open a line to allowing you to enter the serial number to the list.
If you are searching for a serial number for the item in the system, you can press the blue 'S/N List' button on the right side of the screen. This will present a list of serial numbers that can be attached to the transaction.
Product Record Serial Numbers
The Serial Number tab displays two sub-tabs: Serial Numbers in Stock and Serial Numbers Sold. Above the table, the product record compares units in stock vs serial numbers attached. There is also a Store filter allowing you to view serialize numbers by store location.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
Entered Serial Number Not Displayed in Product Record - The Serial Number tab in the Product Record contains a Store filter. If you have multiple store locations, please confirm that the correct store is selected.
Cannot Attach Serial Numbers to a Recently Created Product Record - To add serial numbers to a item, the item must have open stock equal or greater than the number of serial numbers being attached. After adding stock manually to a recently created item, or an item that has 0 open stock be sure to press the orange 'Save & Continue' button to save the open stock to the database before attempting to add serial numbers.
The 'Add Serial Number Button' is not active on a the Action Panel of my customer order - Serial numbers cannot be added to orders with a status of Draft. If your Add Serial Number button is not active, please confirm that your order has a status of Open or a status.
The Serial Number Tab is appearing in Product Records that do not need serial numbers - If you set the global serial number settings (Settings>General>Advanced Settings>Product Settings>Default Product Serial Number) to Optional or Required, the Serial Number tab will appear in all inventory Product Records. If you would like the Serial Number tab only to appear on products with serial numbers, set the global setting to 'None' and use the product-level serial number settings.
The Save serial number button remains inactive and I cannot save the serial number - You cannot add more serial numbers than the open stock of a product. The lower part of the 'Add Serial Number' pop-up compares the open stock to the serial numbers added. Please confirm that SN > Open Stock.