search-icon

Traceability is the ability to track every part and product throughout the manufacturing process, from the moment when raw materials enter the factory to the moment when final products are shipped. Knowing which exact components make up a finished product is essential to quality assurance, inspection and control.


Tracking of components is available only for finished products, and components, with the following costing methods:

  • FIFO - Serial Number
  • FIFO - Batch
  • FEFO - Serial Number
  • FEFO - Batch
  • Special - Batch
  • Special - Serial Number


Tracking of components is implemented as mapping of batches/serial numbers of components to batches/serial numbers of the finished products. Such mapping can be done at any stage of the production process: at the beginning, during production and/or at the end of the production.


This article assumes you have some familiarity with the DEAR production module, we recommend starting with the articles below. 


NOTE: Access to the production module requires adding a subscription to the module to your DEAR Inventory paid plan. See Adding Trials of the POS, B2B, API, Automation and Production Modules to Paid Plans for more information.



Prerequisites:

  • Getting Started with the Production Module
  • Production BOM
  • Managing Production Orders
  • Production module subscription is required. 
  • Permissions:
    • Users will need the Settings: Your Company - General Settings permission in order to configure traceability settings. 
    • Users will need the Inventory: Products & Families and Production Bill of Materials permission to turn trace components on or off for a BOM Version. 
    • Users will need Production List & Tasks permission to map batch/serial components to finished products. 
    • Users will need the Production Reporting permission to access the Finished Product Traceability report. 


Table of Content:


Configure traceability settings

[back to top]


DEAR allows you to track components either all of the time, some of the time, or optionally at the production BOM level.  To configure traceability settings, go to Settings → General Settings → Production Process Customisation and select one of the following options from the Product Tracing field:


Tracking of components is available only for finished products, and components, with the following costing methods:

  • FIFO - Serial Number
  • FIFO - Batch
  • FEFO - Serial Number
  • FEFO - Batch
  • Special - Batch
  • Special - Serial Number


Trace components for a production BOM version

[back to top]


This feature only applies to organisations where Product Tracing is set to Optionally Traced. The product must be a finished product with a production BOM, and must also have one of the following costing methods:

  • FIFO - Serial Number
  • FIFO - Batch
  • FEFO - Serial Number
  • FEFO - Batch
  • Special - Batch
  • Special - Serial Number


Product tracing is applied at the production BOM version level - some versions may be traced, while others may not be traced.


Go to Inventory → Products → [select product], go to the Production BOM tab, and select a BOM version. Check the Product Tracing box to turn on product tracing for this product. 


Map batch/serial components to finished products

[back to top]


The Batch/Serial Traceability tab is activated for a production run once the order is released and a production run has been created. On this tab, you can map component batch/serial numbers to finished product batch/serial numbers. Mapping can take place before, during, and after production.

The tab will be visible if traceability settings are set to Always traceable, or if set to Optionally traceable and product tracing turned on for the production BOM version selected for the order. 


NOTE: If a production BOM contains multiple finished products, product tracing must be turned on for a finished products to map batch/serial components to that product. The finished product must have a batch/serial costing method to map batch/serial components to that product. 


Before production starts

[back to top]


To map components to finished products before production starts, you will need to reserve the components and specify batch/serial numbers for the output products of an operation. 


Component reservation is executed on the Production Run - operation level manually before the production process starts, i.e. before Start button is pressed for the operation, but after Auto-consume button is pressed to populate the components and their locations to the components grid in the operation. 


Check the checkbox in the Reserved column of the components grid to reserve components. Please see Managing Production Orders - Reserve components for a production run for more information. 


You can view and edit (only for products with Special - Batch/Special - Serial costing method) the reserved components from the Reservation tab. 


Next, go to the Output tab of the production run and add a finished product, entering a serial/batch number and expiry date if applicable. This is possible at any point after a production order is released and a production run is created. This will add the product to the Batch/Serial Traceability tab. 


During and after production

[back to top]


Finished products are added to the Batch/Serial Traceability tab automatically when a batch/serial finished product is added to the Output tab, Output dialog, or the MES app. Components are added automatically to this tab when they are reserved or consumed during consumption.


View and edit batch/serial traceability 

[back to top]


Now, you can go to the Batch/Serial Traceability tab to see which components map into which finished products. Click a finished product to see the list of traced components. From this tab, you can edit the pre-defined values and select another batch/serial number for the component.


NOTE: Mapping does NOT mean selecting the batch/serial number itself, but defining which component batches are used in which finished product batch. FIFO products without a batch or serial number cannot be mapped. 


In the case of several batches being used for one finished product batch/serial number, the Add line or Scan function allows adding an additional component batch. This tab can be edited and updated until the order is completed.


Individual mapping lines can be deleted by clicking the X symbol next to a line, or press Clear to remove all mapping lines. 


Search allows searching of finished products and components by finished product SKU, name, batch/serial number and component SKU, name, batch serial/number. 


Print tracing list

[back to top]


Print the Production Run Traceability document from the Batch/Serial Traceability tab, pressing Print



Product traceability reports

[back to top]


You can use the Finished Product Traceability reports to see exactly what components have been used for a finished product, including explosion of nested products. 


The Batch/Lot Recall function also shows which finished products a product has been used in, but also shows the suppliers, customers, and stock on hand of that batch, and can prepare recall letters for your customers.

Did you find it helpful? Yes No

Send feedback
Sorry we couldn't be helpful. Help us improve this article with your feedback.