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Inventory items and states
An inventory item is one physical unit of a product at a location. If you receive 100 units of a product, Boxture creates 100 inventory items. Each item records:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Location | The warehouse the unit is in. |
| Bin location | Where in the warehouse it is. See Bin locations. |
| Container | The container the unit is in, if any. See Containers. |
| Product | The product or packing material. |
| State | Where the unit is in its life cycle (see below). |
| Status | New or Defective: the condition of the unit. |
| Serial number, Lot, Expires on | Only for products that track them. See Serial numbers, lots and expiry. |
| Order | The order the unit is currently allocated, picked or packed for. |
| Purchase order | The purchase order the unit was received on. |
| From bin / From container | The bin location and container the unit was last picked or taken from. |
| Received on, Created at | When the unit was received and when the record was created. |
Status: New or Defective
The status describes the unit's condition and is separate from its state. Orders ask for a status per order line: a normal sales order allocates New units, so defective units are never shipped to customers by accident. You can set the status when you receive, adjust or edit inventory. Defective units are also left out of the low-stock check (see below).
States
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Expected | The unit has been announced on a confirmed incoming order (purchase order, return order, or a transfer order on its way) but has not been received yet. |
| Available | In stock and free. Can be allocated, moved, adjusted and edited. |
| Allocated | Reserved for an order line. Not physically touched yet. |
| Picking | Allocated and on a pick list that is being picked. |
| Picked | Picked into a tote (or picked as a whole container), waiting to be packed. |
| Packed | Packed in a parcel of a shipment, waiting to be shipped. |
| Hold | Blocked: can't be allocated, picked or moved until released. See Holds and releases. |
| Expired | Past its expiry date. Can't be picked or packed, except for a scrap order. |
| Retired | No longer in the warehouse: shipped, removed by an adjustment, or used up. Retired units have no bin location or container and don't count in any total. |
Transitions
| Event | From | To | What triggers it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receive | Expected | Available | The unit is received on an order. See Receiving. If it is received with a hold reason it goes to Hold. If its expiry date has already passed it goes to Expired. |
| Allocate | Available | Allocated | Manual or automatic allocation. See Allocation. |
| Unallocate | Allocated | Available | The order is unallocated or cancelled, or the unit expired before it was picked. |
| Start picking | Allocated | Picking | The pick list line is being picked. |
| Cancel picking | Picking | Allocated | Picking of the line is cancelled. |
| Pick | Allocated, Picking | Picked | The unit is picked. This is not possible if the unit has expired, unless it is for a scrap order. |
| Unpick | Picked | Allocated | The pick is undone (only for units on a pick list). |
| Pack | Picked | Packed | The unit is packed into a parcel. |
| Unpack | Packed | Picked | The parcel is unpacked. |
| Expect | Allocated, Packed | Expected | The unit is shipped to another of your locations (for example on a transfer order) and is now on its way. |
| Expire | Available, Allocated | Expired | The expiry date is reached (checked every 15 minutes). |
| Hold | any | Hold | A receive with a hold reason, a picking problem, or a container hold. |
| Release | Hold | previous state, usually Available | The hold is resolved. |
| Retire | any | Retired | The unit is shipped, removed by a negative adjustment or by an order that removes stock, or consumed. |
| Unretire | Retired | Expected or Available | A serial number that left the warehouse comes back, for example on a return order. The existing unit is reused instead of creating a new one. |
A typical outbound flow is:
Available → Allocated → Picking → Picked → Packed → Retired
A typical inbound flow is:
Expected → Available
The inventory items list
You get to the list of individual inventory items by clicking a row on one of the inventory overview screens, or the Inventory Items tab of a container. The list is already filtered by what you clicked (location, product, status, bin location or container), and you can filter further on, for example, State.
The columns are: ID, Account, Location, Bin location, Container, Product number, Status, State, UN number, Serial number, Lot, Expires on, Received on, Created at, Order, From container and From bin location.
Retired units also appear in this list (filter on State = retired). They are meant to be removed for good after the period set in Purging › Retired inventory. Automatic purging is currently switched off, so for now nothing is removed.
Viewing an inventory item
Click an item to open it. You see the location, bin location, product, purchase order, state, status, serial number, lot, container, From bin and From container (where it was last picked or taken from), and when it was created. Links take you to the bin location, product, order and container.
Editing an inventory item
You can correct the details of a single unit while it is Available. Admins and Warehouse associates see Edit on the item. You can change:
- Product: if you choose a different product, details that the new product doesn't track (serial number, lot, expiry) are cleared.
- Status: New or Defective.
- Serial number: required for products with full serial tracking, and must still be unique.
- Lot and Expires on: only for products that track them.
Click Update Inventory Item, or Update and continue editing to stay on the page. If the unit is in a container that doesn't allow multiple products, the change is refused when it would mix products in that container.
WARNING
Editing changes the record of a unit in place. To change how many units you have, use Adjusting inventory. To change where units are, use Moving inventory.
Which unit gets used first
When Boxture has to choose units (for picking, removing, moving or putting into a container), it uses this order:
- Units that are loose or in an open container before units in a closed container.
- Units that expire soonest (first expired, first out).
- Units that were received earliest (first in, first out).
Low-stock notifications
Each product can have a reorder level per location, set under Reorder level. Whenever a unit is retired, Boxture counts the remaining available units of that product and status. If the count drops below the reorder level, a low stock messaging event fires. Your administrator can set up an e-mail for it under Messaging. Defective units never trigger this.