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Create and Apply an Item Serial Scheme

Create a serial scheme, apply it to items, and capture serial numbers during receiving and shipping.

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Use this article when you need to track individual units of an item using serial numbers or other unique identifiers, such as IMEIs, rather than just tracking quantity at the SKU level. Serial numbers are necessary when you need to trace a specific unit for things like warrant claims, recalls, or high-value items. Without a serial scheme in place, InfoPlus can't require or enforce serial capture and orders containing serialized items may get stuck at shipping until the missing serial numbers are recorded. This article does not cover Product ID Tags (PITs), which work alongside serial schemes to control pick-level serial assignment.

 

Before You Begin

  • Permissions: You'll need access to create and edit Item Serial Schemes and Item Records.
  • Prerequisite: The Item Record you want to track must already exist. See Create/Edit Items. 
  • Materials to have on hand: A list of the SKUs that need serial tracking and whether you need to capture additional identifiers, like IMEI, alongside the serial number. Contact InfoPlus Support to add customer identifier fields to your site. 

 

Steps

1 - Create an Item Serial Scheme

  • Go to the Item Serial Scheme table
  • Click Create New
  • Enter a Name for the new scheme

2 - Set the Receiving and Shipping Behavior

ItemSerialSchemeBehav

  • Choose the needed option for Receiving and Shipping Behavior: Disabled, Optional, Required

    • Disabled: No serial number needed to receive or ship the item

    • Optional: Serial numbers can be entered, but are not required

    • Required: Serial numbers are required for every unit to be received or shipped. Receiving and Shipping processes are both stopped if this option is used and there is no serial number entered.

  • Set Required Unique to Yes if each unit of this SKU needs a different serial number. Different SKUs can still share a serial number.
  • Set Allow Unique Serial Returns to Yes if a previously shipped serial number should be re-receivable on a return. 

3 - Apply the Scheme to an Item

  • Edit the Item Record
  • On the Operations tab, choose the correct Item Serial Scheme and Save

4 - Receive Item Serials

  • Confirm the Receiving Behavior is set to Optional or Required
  • In the mobile app, go to Inventory > Receiving
  • Complete receiving as normal. InfoPlus prompts for serial numbers at the Receipt Quantity step.

If you're using a quick receipt instead of a standard receipt, InfoPlus automatically requires a serial number for the item, even if your scheme says Optional. See Quick Receipt Item Serial Numbers for the full process.

Quick Receipt Configuration (overrides scheme setting): 

  • Receiving Behavior = Required

  • Shipping Behavior = Required

  • Required Unique = Yes

5 - Capture Item Serials Before Shipping 

  • Confirm the Shipping Behavior is set to Optional or Required
  • In the mobile app, go to Orders > Serial Numbers
  • Enter the Order Number, select the Line Item, and enter the Serial Numbers for that line
  • When all serial numbers are entered, proceed to the Ship Station

6 - Sorting Items for Serial Numbers

  • Make sure to also sort by LOB and SKU 

 

What You Should See

Once all required serial numbers are captured, InfoPlus closes out the serial capture step in the mobile app and lets you move on to the Ship Station to ship the order. You can confirm the serials were recorded by going to the Item Serial table, where each entry is tied to its item receipt, ASN, or order, and the In Inventory field marked as True. Auditing is also now available on the associated Order and existing Item Serial record. 

 

Troubleshooting

If you see, "Cannot Ship Order: This Order contains items which must have serial numbers recorded prior to shipping": 

Why this happens: a SKU on the order has an Item Serial Scheme with Shipping Behavior set to Required, and the outbound serial numbers haven't been captured yet.

How to fix it:

  • Go to Orders > Serial Numbers in the mobile app and capture the required serials for the order before shipping.
  • If this SKU shouldn't require outbound serial capture, edit the item's Operations tab and change the Item Serial Scheme, or set its Shipping Behavior to Optional or Disabled.

If you're not being prompted for a serial number during receiving or shipping: 

Why this happens: the item either doesn't have a scheme applied, or the scheme's Receiving or Shipping Behavior is set to Disabled.

How to fix it:

  • Check the item's Operations tab to confirm the correct Item Serial Scheme is applied.
  • Check the scheme itself to confirm the Receiving or Shipping Behavior is set to Optional or Required.

If you can't reuse a serial number for a return:

Why this happens: Allow Unique Serial Returns is set to No, or the existing Item Serial record still shows In Inventory as True.

How to fix it:

  • Set Allow Unique Serial Returns to Yes on the scheme if you want to allow this.
  • Confirm the original Item Serial record shows In Inventory as False before trying to re-receive it.

 

Next Steps