5.2: Introduction (SCM P1 M5L2)

Serial, batch, and owner numbers allow companies to trace their products through D365FO.

The numbers are used for:

• Tracing purposes
• Quality assurance
• Warranties

Traceability is useful for quality assurance purposes and when dealing with product warranties. The tracing functionality is especially important for products that represent a certain risk, such as medicine or chemicals, where defects in production could lead to the product’s recall. It is equally important for guaranteed items to be able to trace back to when the product was manufactured or sold. Serial and batch numbers allow for this kind of functionality.

You can assign serial numbers, batch numbers, or both to an inventory product. Serial numbers are assigned to individual items, and batch numbers are assigned to a set of products.

NOTE: Lot ID is the term that refers to a transaction and not a product dimension, such as serial and batch numbers. A Lot ID is assigned automatically to each sale or purchase line when you create it. The number is taken from the number sequence that is associated with the number sequence reference Lot No. in the inventory parameters. You cannot make transactions without a Lot ID being assigned, unlike when you use batch numbers that you can either select to use or not.