Serial No Master

1Purpose #

Registers the individual serial numbers a serialised item is tracked by. A serial is the identity of one physical unit, so inward and outward movements, warranty and service history can all be pinned to that unit rather than to the item in general.

Registering a serial here does not put it into stock — quantities live in Branch-wise Serial Stock and in the transactions that move it.

2Step by step #

A serial number is one physical piece of a serial-tracked product, followed for life — sale, warranty, service.

1. Most serials are BORN on vouchers (purchase entry scans them in); this page is for openings and corrections.
2. Press Add (F3) , pick the Item * (serial tracking on) and type the Serial No * exactly as etched.
3. Record engine/companion numbers if the trade uses them.
4. Press Save (F5) and confirm; the serial can now be picked on vouchers and service jobs.

3How to use it #

1. Find (F2): search by serial number, item or remarks.
2. Add (F3): register a new serial. The cursor lands on Serial No.
3. Modify (F4): edit the loaded serial.
4. Delete: remove the current serial (view mode), with confirmation.
5. Save (F5): commit the add / modify. Serial No and Item are both required.
6. Cancel (Esc): discard the current edit.

4Field details #

• Serial No is the record's own key — see the uniqueness rule below.
• Item is the product the serial belongs to. Missing? Use the dropdown's ＋ Create new item footer to create it inline; it is then selected automatically.
• Qty defaults to 1 — a serial normally identifies a single unit. Change it only when one serial covers a pack.
• Is Obsolete retires a serial without deleting it, so its transaction history survives. Prefer this to Delete.
• Remarks is free text.

5Why is the item pick-list empty? #

• Items come from the Product master . At least one item must exist before a serial can be saved.
• Inactive items are hidden from the list.
• Branch visibility applies: an item shared only with other branches will not appear for this login.

6Rules and integrity #

• A serial number is unique across the whole company, not per item — it is the table's primary key. Registering the same serial against a second item is refused.
• Serial numbers already allocated to transactions must not be deleted; mark them Obsolete instead, or the transaction history loses its reference.
• Branch-wise quantities for a serial are maintained on the Branch-wise Serial Stock page, not here.

7Shortcut keys #

• F2 — Find: open the lookup and pick an existing record.
• F3 — Add: start a new record.
• F4 — Modify: put the loaded record into edit.
• F5 — Save.
• Esc — Cancel the edit, or close the open dialog.
• Enter — move to the next field. On the last field it triggers Save, and after saving the focus returns to Add so the next record can be keyed straight away.
• Tab — move to the next field without the Save-on-last-field behaviour.

Shortcuts belong to whichever copy of the page has focus, so a second tab of this page does not steal them. While this master is open embedded inside another page's Create dialog, its keys apply there instead.