With batches and best-before dates (BBD), you can manage stock in Pickware in a traceable way – e.g. for recalls, quality records, or to keep an eye on remaining shelf life. To make this work reliably, Pickware controls the behavior through tracking profiles on the product.
What do I need for batches and BBD?
Batches and BBD are only available in the combined plugin Pickware ERP, WMS & POS, at least on the Advanced plan. You cannot use the feature with the previous individual plugins, not even on a test system. After installation, you will find the area under Warehousing → Batches and BBD. If you don't see it after activation, clear the browser cache with a hard reload.
Attention: Switching to the combined plugin is permanent and cannot be undone. Therefore, test it on a test system first. You can have Pickware set up a staging domain for this.
Which tracking profiles are available?
In the General tab, under the headline Stock management, you can define for each product individually what information is tracked during goods receipt and stock movements. The following tracking profiles are available:
Batch only
→ The product is marked as batch-tracked in Pickware. Specifying a batch becomes mandatory for all stock movements of the product. If a batch is stored, it is carried along automatically.BBD only
→ The product is marked as BBD-tracked in Pickware. Specifying a BBD becomes mandatory for all stock movements of the product. If a BBD is stored, it is carried along automatically.Batch & BBD
→ The product is marked as both BBD- and batch-tracked in Pickware. Specifying a BBD and a batch becomes mandatory for all stock movements of the product. If batch and BBD are stored, both are carried along automatically. The batch number is the primary identifier.
If you want to set the tracking profile for many products at once, you can also configure it via bulk edit in the product overview. Products with stock management disabled are skipped, since tracking requires active stock management.
Can I change the tracking profile of a product?
The tracking profile applies going forward. It determines what information Pickware expects from now on. Data that has already been recorded is not deleted automatically.
So if you switch from Batch & BBD to BBD only, existing batch numbers are kept – but in the future only the BBD is mandatory. If you later switch back to Batch & BBD, Pickware requires the missing batch information for future movements.
Attention: Do not turn off tracking as long as batches are still stored on bin locations. If you then remove stock, the batch quantities no longer match, and the message Die Summe der Chargenmengen darf nicht größer als die Bestandsmenge des Produkts sein appears. Therefore, keep tracking active and correct batch quantities by adding and removing stock.
Behavior of variants and product sets
If you work with variant products, the tracking profile is set per variant. There is no automatic inheritance to variants.
For product set products, no tracking profile is set on the product set product itself. Tracking is configured exclusively via the sub-products, so that batch and BBD are tracked in the warehouse process at the level of the items actually picked.
Single-batch bin locations
Pickware works with single-batch bin locations. This means that for a batch-tracked product, you are prevented from storing different batches in the same bin location. As a result, it is clear in all subsequent processes which batch is in the bin location – and the batch can be carried along automatically.
If, due to your warehouse conditions, you have to physically store multiple batches in the same spot, you can split the bin location in Pickware into several virtual compartments/bin locations (e.g. Shelf A-1 top, Shelf A-1 bottom). This way the physical warehouse situation stays the same, and the allocation becomes unambiguous.
Bin location Unknown
Bin location Unknown is the exception. Since it is not a classic bin location, multiple batches of the same product can be booked to Bin location Unknown.
Stock with the note No batch information
Although Pickware only allows stock movements with batch information for batch-tracked products, it is possible that stock of these products has the note No batch information. Possible causes are that
a product for which stock has already been booked is marked as batch-tracked,
stock bookings were made via the API or database without specifying the batch,
an order with a batch-tracked product was shipped via the Admin and the batch-tracked product was stored in multiple batches on Bin location Unknown. Since Pickware cannot know in this special case which batch was shipped, correction bookings must be made without batch information.
You can add the BBD and batch information afterwards by simply removing the quantities without a batch and adding them back with the corresponding batch.
Behavior in the WMS App
With the WMS App, tracking information is fully captured at goods receipt and automatically carried along in warehouse processes and shipping.
Batch numbers and BBD can be conveniently captured with a scanner or entered manually.
When picking with the WMS App, Pickware automatically proposes the oldest batch for products with the tracking profile Batch, and for products with BBD the stock with the earliest BBD. You can find out exactly how these proposals are made in How does Pickware decide which bin location to remove stock from?.
You can find more information on handling batches in the WMS App here.
Correct or remove a batch
Correct a wrong BBD
Open Warehousing → Batches and BBD, find the batch, and select Open batch in the context menu. There you change the BBD. With the tracking profiles BBD only and Batch & BBD, the BBD is a required field.
Remove a wrong batch
First, transfer the stock to the correct batch in the product view. Once the wrong batch has no stock left, you can remove it via the context menu.