Batches and expiry

Batches and expiry keeps each product's stock by batch, with its manufacturing and expiry dates. Orders take the batch that expires first, expired stock is never sold, and you can trace every batch from the supplier to the customers who received it.

Track a product by batch

1. Open the product and, on its Stock card, choose Inventory settings.
2. Tick Track batches and expiry, and enter its shelf life in days if it has one: a batch received with a manufacturing date then gets its expiry date worked out.
3. Save. Stock already there goes into one batch called OPENING; give it an expiry date from the Batches tab if it needs one.

Batch tracking can be turned off only when the product has no stock.

Receiving batches

When you receive a batch-tracked product (Receive stock, or Receive goods on a purchase order), enter the batch number, the manufacturing date and the expiry date for each line. Receiving more of a batch number that already exists adds to that batch. An adjustment that adds stock asks for the batch too.

First expiry, first out

• Orders reserve and ship the batch that expires first (then the oldest batch), across warehouses as usual.
• Expired stock isn’t sold: it doesn’t count as available, and orders and shipments skip it. Move it to damaged, or write it off with an adjustment.
• Transfers, status changes and adjustments can name a batch, or leave it to first-expiry-first-out.
• Each shipment and its delivery note list the batches that went, with the quantity from each.

The Batches tab

Inventory → Batches lists batches in stock, those expiring within 7 to 180 days, expired batches still in stock, or all of them. Open a batch to see its dates, where its stock is, and where it went: every receipt, order, shipment, transfer and adjustment, so a recall reaches every customer who received it. People with Manage inventory can correct a batch’s dates and add the supplier’s batch number.

Expiry alerts

Each day, batches with stock that expire within the warning period (30 days unless you change it on the Batches tab) give the low-stock contact (Inventory → Warehouses) one task each, saying how much is left and where.

The Chemicals app and stock

With Batches and expiry on, a chemical product can be linked to stock:

1. Open the product in Chemicals → Products. Under Stock, choose Create stock item (a product of the same name and unit, tracked by batch), or link an existing product.
2. Receive its stock with batch numbers and expiry dates, as for any batch-tracked product.
3. When a price offer is accepted, the order reserves the stock. Quantities convert between kg, g and MT, and between L, mL and KL.
4. When the order is dispatched, its stock is issued: batches you name first, then first-expiry-first-out. The batches used are written on the order’s lines. An order without enough stock can’t be dispatched.
5. Cancelling a confirmed order releases its stock.

The product list and the offer lines show how much is in stock.