Defining "Intelligent" Lot and Serial Numbers with Prefixes

You can assign prefixes to lot and serial numbers that include variable information such as the current month/day/year, the site, the reference type/number/suffix, and/or a literal value, as well as any constant values you specify.

You can also still type in a standard prefix such as "SN-".

Maximum size for lot numbers, including the prefix, is 15 characters.  Maximum size for serial numbers, including the prefix, is 30 characters.

Defining an Intelligent Lot Prefix

To define an intelligent prefix to use with lot numbers:

1. Click Lot Definition on one of these forms:
   • For a global lot prefix that applies to all items, click Lot Definition on the Inventory Parameters form.
   • For a lot prefix that applies to a specific item, click Lot Definition on the Items or Multi-Site Items form. This prefix overrides any global lot prefix.
2. On the Prefix Definition form, add a line for each segment of the prefix.
3. To specify the segments of the prefix:
   • Click in the Segment Value field and select from the list of placeholder options. See the table below for explanations of the options.
   • You can include as many segments as you need in the prefix. However, the lot length is limited to 15 characters.  If you specify a prefix that could be greater than or equal to the limit, you receive a warning.
   • To include a constant, for example a hyphen, specify Constant in the Segment Value field and then specify the character(s) in the Segment Placeholder Value field.
   • To change the order of the segments, click the Up and Down buttons.
   • The full prefix (using placeholders) is displayed in the Prefix field.
4. Click OK to return to the previous form, where the prefix is displayed in the Lot Prefix field.

Defining an Intelligent Serial Number Prefix

To define an intelligent prefix to use with serial numbers:

1. Click S/N Definition on one of these forms:
   • For a global serial number prefix that applies to all items, click S/N Definition on the Inventory Parameters form.
   • For a serial number prefix that applies to a specific item, click S/N Definition on the Items or Multi-Site Items form. This prefix overrides any global serial number prefix.
2. On the Prefix Definition form, add a line for each segment of the prefix.
3. To specify the segments of the prefix:
   • Click in the Segment Value field and select from the list of placeholder options. See the table below for explanations of the options.
   • You can include as many segments as you need in the prefix. However, the serial number length is limited to 30 characters.  If you specify a prefix that could be greater than or equal to the limit, you receive a warning.
   • To include a constant, for example a hyphen, specify Constant in the Segment Value field and then specify the character(s) in the Segment Placeholder Value field.
   • To change the order of the segments, click the Up and Down buttons.
   • The full prefix (using placeholders) is displayed in the Prefix field.
4. Click OK to return to the previous form, where the prefix is displayed in the S/N Prefix field.

Prefix Segments and Placeholders

On the Prefix Definition form, select from the options in this table to create the segments of the prefix. After you specify the segments and the order, they display in the Lot Prefix or S/N Prefix field as tokens, or placeholders, that are replaced by the assigned values when the numbers are actually generated.  See our examples.

NOTE: We recommend that Ref Num, Ref Line/Suffix, and Ref Release placeholders should be followed by a constant value of a hyphen (-) to ensure that results are as expected. We suggest that you use a hyphen because many other characters cannot be read in a bar code.

Related Topics

Creating Lot Tracked Inventory Items

Preassigning Lot Numbers

Tracing Lot-Controlled Materials