With batches and best-before dates (BBD), you can manage stock in Pickware in a traceable way – e.g. for recalls, quality documentation, or to keep an eye on remaining shelf life. To make this work reliably, Pickware controls this behavior through tracking profiles on the product.
What tracking profiles are available?
In the General tab under the heading Bestandsführung (Inventory Management), you can define individually for each product which information should be tracked during goods receipt and movement. The following tracking profiles are available:
Batch only
→ The product is marked in Pickware as batch-tracked. Specifying a batch becomes mandatory for all stock movements of the product. If a batch is stored, it is automatically carried along.Best-before date only
→ The product is marked in Pickware as best-before-date-tracked. Specifying a best-before date becomes mandatory for all stock movements of the product. If a best-before date is stored, it is automatically carried along.Batch & best-before date
→ The product is marked in Pickware as both best-before-date- and batch-tracked. Specifying a best-before date and a batch becomes mandatory for all stock movements of the product. If both batch and best-before date are stored, both are automatically carried along. The batch number is the primary identifier in this case.
If you want to set the tracking profile for many products at once, you can also configure this via bulk edit in the product overview. Products with inventory management disabled are skipped, since tracking requires active inventory management.
Can I change the tracking profile of a product?
The tracking profile is forward-looking. It defines which information Pickware expects from now on. Data already recorded is not automatically deleted.
So if you switch from Batch & best-before date to best-before date only, existing batch numbers remain – but going forward, only the best-before date is mandatory. If you later switch back to Batch & best-before date, Pickware will require the missing batch information for future movements.
Behavior of variants and bill of materials
If you work with variant products, the tracking profile is set per variant. There is no automatic inheritance to variants.
For bill-of-materials products, no tracking profile is set on the bill-of-materials product itself. Tracking is configured exclusively via the sub-products, so that batch and best-before date are tracked in the warehouse process at the level of the items actually picked.
Batch-pure storage locations
Pickware works with batch-pure storage locations. This means: for a batch-tracked product, you are prevented from storing different batches at the same storage location. This makes it clear in all subsequent processes which batch is located at the storage location – and the batch can be carried along automatically.
If, due to your warehouse conditions, you need to physically store multiple batches at the same location, you can split the storage location in Pickware into several virtual bins/storage locations (e.g. Shelf A-1 top, Shelf A-1 bottom). This way, the physical warehouse setup stays the same, while the assignment remains unambiguous.
Storage location Unknown
Storage location Unknown is the exception. Since this is not a classic storage location, multiple batches of the same product can be booked to Storage 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 for stock of these products to have 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 performed 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 at Storage location Unknown. Since Pickware cannot know in this special case which batch was shipped, correction bookings without batch information need to be made.
You can add the missing best-before date and batch information afterwards by simply removing the quantities without a batch from stock and restocking them with the correct batch.
Behavior in the WMS App
With the WMS App, tracking information is fully captured during goods receipt and automatically carried along during warehouse processes and shipping.
Batch numbers and best-before dates can be conveniently captured via scanner or entered manually.
You can find more information on working with batches in the WMS App here.