Most of this topic applies to Stock Movements In, except that the option Allow Serial No. field to be left empty is not available for Stock Movements In.

When buying Serial numbered stock, the transaction option Allow Serial No. field to be left empty is available.

This is used in the same way as when selling Stock.

If this option has been selected, you may leave the Serial No. field empty and you may enter a Qty. other than 1.

This will automatically cause the Transaction to be Batched if you have not entered a Serial Number.

The Serial Numbers should be entered when processing the batch (see below).

If you wish to produce a Credit Note for a Serial Numbered stock item for which the Serial Number is not available, this can be done by selecting the transaction options Allow Serial No. field to be left empty and Do not Update Stock.

No Stock Movement will be created to return the stock but the Customer record will be updated.

A Stock Movement can then be created to move the Serial number into stock when it is known.

If you know which Serial Numbers are being Purchased, or you wish to apply your own Serial Numbers to the items, you can enter the Qty. to be Purchased, and click on the Serial Number button; the Serial Number Entry window will be displayed.

This can have two appearances selected by the two functions at the top of the window, the Default Serial Entry Mode being set in Stock Options - Record tab:

This window enables you to generate the Serial Numbers, but if you click on the Quick Entry function, you can just type in the Serial Numbers, which in this case do not have to be numeric or sequential.

To return to the window shown here, click on the Detailed Entry function.

If the quantity is more than 1 and the Serial numbers are sequential, you can enter just the first Serial number and generate the remaining Serial Numbers.

This is done using the Prefix; First Number; Suffix and Step Size fields.

Click on the Update Details function to save the changes.

If the Serial Numbers are not in any sequence, you should enter them individually on the Quick Entry window.

In this view, you can just type in the Serial Numbers pressing tab between each one. They do not have to be Numeric or sequential. If you wish, you can enter the additional information (Lot Number etc.) in the lower part of the window.

Click on the Update Details function to save the additional information.

The Quick Entry can be used if you are using a Bar Code reader or have the Serial Numbers in a list and you want to type them in.

Both the Detailed Entry and Quick Entry windows have an Import function. This enables you to generate the Serial Numbers from a file.

Click on the Import function and select the Import file.

A simple Tab delimited text file should be used. This type of file can be generated from a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet.

When you have set up the details, click on OK, and you will be returned to the Purchase Order Detail window.

If more than one Serial Number has been entered then the text ‘<multiple>’ is shown in the Serial Number field.

The Serial Numbers will be shown on the Purchase Order and on the Delivery Note.

If you have not entered the Serial Numbers when entering the Order, they will have to be entered when Deliveries occur and the Batched Order is processed.

Having selected the Order from the Batch list, click on Detail.

On the Detail window, process each line:

Click on the To Receive button, if all the Ordered quantity is being received, or enter the actual quantity in the Qty Received box.

Then click on Serial Number, and the Serial Number Entry window is displayed. This is used in the same way as described above.

When you have set up the details, click on OK, and you will be returned to the Detail window.

The Serial Numbers and their Movements can now be seen in the Stock record by clicking on the Serial No. function.