Find the right batch before the next shipment

At a glance

Frappe ERP's batch records identify groups of an item, while serial records identify individual units. Those records give your team a basis for tracing stock through recorded movements. Make the identifiers match the physical goods, then test a specific investigation. Batch setup alone does not prove that a complete recall report exists for your manufacturing process.

Start with the label

A supplier calls about a suspect batch while your warehouse is preparing the afternoon shipment. Someone remembers receiving it, but the carton label and the stock description use different references. Before anybody can decide what to stop, the team has to establish which physical goods the warning concerns.

That is where a traceability pilot should start. Frappe documents batch identification on stock transactions and serial records with supplier and customer context. The benefit is a recorded identity that can travel with the goods, provided staff capture it at each relevant movement.

The cited official documentation is the version 13 source. Batch and serial entry interfaces can differ across releases; verify the transaction method on your target version. Use the records below as a process model, not as instructions to copy an older entry screen.

Choose the right identity

A batch groups multiple units under a shared identifier. A serial number distinguishes a particular unit. Choose according to the question you need to answer. A supplier lot problem concerns a group; a service call about a specific machine concerns an individual unit. Some operating designs require both kinds of identity.

Define who creates the identifier and what physical label the receiver must check. If your internal batch number differs from the supplier's lot number, preserve an unambiguous cross-reference. Do not make the warehouse guess which handwritten number on the delivery paperwork belongs in the record.

Decide the model before opening stock is loaded. The official documentation warns that batch and serial settings cannot simply be toggled after transactions exist for the item. Have the implementation team demonstrate the supported correction approach for your release rather than assume you can change the tracking policy after launch without preparation.

Record the actual movement

Creating an identifier is not the same as placing goods in stock. Frappe's serial documentation explicitly distinguishes the Serial No record from the stock transactions that affect inventory. That matters during migration: a list of serial numbers is not proof that the opening quantities are in the right warehouse.

Walk a representative item through receipt and an internal transfer. Ask the operator to identify the physical label before selecting its system record. Include a mixed delivery containing more than one supplier lot. A shortcut that assigns the whole receipt to the first visible label can make a tidy report unreliable.

Choose a practical way to capture identifiers at dispatch as well. If scanning is required, test the actual label and device with your configured software. Do not assume an unreadable supplier barcode becomes useful because your proposal mentions barcode support. Manual fallback needs the same verification of item and identity.

Explain where it went

Worked example, hypothetical and not an ERPNova result: a batch receipt contains 300 units. Your team ships 180 units and records 12 units as scrapped, leaving 108 units on hand, assuming no other movements. The investigation needs evidence for all 300 units. Finding the 108 remaining units does not explain the goods that already left.

Use that distinction when specifying a trace report. For a purchased item sold unchanged, the relevant evidence may be its receipt and outward movements. For manufactured goods, the question may cross from a raw-material batch through production into several finished batches. Demonstrate those relationships with your own process.

Do not promise a one-click recall from the existence of batch fields. Give the implementer the exact question your quality owner must answer and grade the required report separately. If a custom query or additional capture is needed, include its maintenance and acceptance evidence in the scope.

Keep exceptions traceable

Returns deserve their own test. A customer can return a unit whose label is damaged, or send back a different serial number from the one shown on the original dispatch record. Decide who investigates the mismatch before the returned item becomes available for another shipment.

Expiry is another separate decision. Frappe's batch documentation includes expiry dates and describes filtering in stock transactions using the batch expiry and posting date. Test the release-specific behavior with your own policy, including a corrected posting date. An expiry date does not by itself establish every rule your industry requires for release or quarantine.

Keep physical segregation aligned with the system procedure. A labelled hold area is useful only if staff know who can release it and where that decision is recorded. Ask a picker to attempt the prohibited movement in the pilot; a written policy that the configured process silently bypasses still needs work.

Rehearse an investigation

Give a warehouse colleague a batch reference they did not create and ask them to assemble the movement evidence. Observe where they need help. A missing supplier cross-reference may be a master-data problem; an unexplained production link may require a report. Those are different fixes.

Set a realistic retrieval exercise with the quality owner, without claiming a universal response time. Retain the records the investigator used and the unresolved questions. The exercise should establish what the current data can prove, not reward somebody for producing an attractive export quickly.

Bring ERPNova a supplier label and the trace question you need answered to an ERP audit. Ask for a pilot covering opening stock, a mixed receipt and an outward movement. For the release decision after identification, continue with our quality-inspection guide; it separates recording a test result from authorizing the goods for use.