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Lots and traceability

A lot is a traceable batch of one variant — a particular production run or a particular delivery, kept identifiable after it has gone into stock.

Stock quantities and lots covers the basics: what a lot holds, and that lots rotate first-expiry-first-out, so the earliest-expiring batch is picked first. Read that first if you are meeting lots for the first time.

This page covers what follows from those rules — why only some variants have lots, why a lot can never be edited, and what the whole thing is for.

Only some variants have lots​

Lot tracking is optional, and most stock does not need it. A variant without lots simply has none: its stock carries no lot, and nothing on its pages refers to one.

There is no setting to turn lot tracking on for a variant. A variant has lots because lots were created for its stock — when it was received, or when it was put away. It is not a switch you flip in advance.

So "this variant has no lots" means none were ever recorded for it, not that a feature is disabled.

Why the capability is always there​

The columns supporting lots exist on every stock record whether or not they are used.

That is deliberate, and it is about cost of change: carrying an unused column is nearly free, while retrofitting traceability onto a warehouse already holding stock is not. The capability waits, unused, until something needs it.

A lot cannot be changed​

Once created, a lot is immutable. There is no editing it.

The reason is what a lot is for. A batch reference that could be altered afterwards would be worthless for tracing — the whole value is that the record of which batch this stock came from cannot move.

If a lot was recorded wrongly, the correction is to move the stock onto a correct lot, not to rewrite the original.

Rotation happens on its own​

Because lots carry expiry dates, Yessort picks the earliest-expiring batch first without anyone deciding it each time.

That is the everyday payoff, and it is worth knowing it is automatic: you do not choose a lot when picking, and stock does not sit going out of date behind a newer batch. See stock quantities and lots.

What lots are for​

Recalls. If a batch is bad, lots are what turn "somewhere in our stock" into a list of exactly which stock and where.

Shelf life. Two batches of the same variant with different expiry dates are different things operationally, and only lots keep them apart.

Provenance. Answering which delivery a particular unit came from, months later.

Lots and locations are different questions​

A lot says which batch stock belongs to. A location says where it physically is.

The same lot can sit in several locations, and one location can hold several lots. Neither answers the other's question — see location types.