All posts by SUN - Purchase

000DOL, 01 - Product Management

Batches Lots Serials

Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at Batches, Lots & Serials.

If you have ever bought a product that was recalled, or wondered how a manufacturer tracked down exactly which production run had a defect, then you have already experienced why this topic matters. Batch, lot, and serial tracking gives you full traceability of your products, whether you are receiving goods into your warehouse, running a manufacturing floor, or trying to answer a customer’s question about where something came from.

So let’s start with the three traceability levels, because they are not interchangeable and each one suits a different situation.

First, you have batch tracking. This is the method you reach for when you are dealing with food or pharmaceutical products. The core idea is that a batch represents a group of items that were produced together, under the same conditions, at roughly the same time. If something goes wrong with that batch, you can identify every unit in it instantly. Think of a food producer who needs to pull product from shelves. Batch tracking tells them exactly which items are affected and where they went.

Second, there is lot tracking. A lot is similar in spirit to a batch, but it is more commonly used as a manufacturing run identifier. It is the label you attach to a group of items that came through your production process in the same run. This is your go-to in general manufacturing contexts where you want to group products by production event rather than by formula or recipe.

Third, and the most granular level, is serial number tracking. This one is used when every single unit needs its own unique identity. Electronics are the classic example. Each device gets its own serial number, and that number follows it through its entire life. You can look up one specific unit and know exactly where it was made, when it shipped, who received it, and what has happened to it since. If a customer calls in with a problem, you pull up the serial and you have the full picture.

Now, those three approaches answer the question of how granular your tracking needs to be. But how does the system actually capture this information in practice?

The two main points where you assign a batch, lot, or serial are on receipt and during manufacturing. When goods arrive at your warehouse, that is your first opportunity to record the identifier. Your team logs the batch or lot number from the supplier’s documentation, or scans the serial numbers for individual units. From that moment on, the system knows those items exist and can track what happens to them.

If you are manufacturing in-house, the identifier gets assigned at the production stage. As items come off the line, they get grouped under a lot or batch, or they get individual serial numbers stamped or logged.

Another important feature in this area is expiry date management. For anything perishable, whether it is food, medicine, or time-sensitive components, you can attach an expiry date to a batch or lot. The system then lets you manage stock rotation properly, flagging items that are approaching or past their use-by date. This is essential for compliance in regulated industries and just plain good practice in any context where you are holding perishable inventory.

And then there is traceability reporting. This comes in two directions. Forward traceability means you start with a batch or serial and follow it forward through the supply chain. You can see where a product went, which customers received it, which orders it fulfilled. Backward traceability goes the other way. You start with a finished product or a customer complaint and trace back to find the source. Which batch of raw material was used? Which supplier did it come from? Which production run produced this unit? Both directions give you powerful tools for quality management, recalls, and audits.

This functionality does not sit in isolation. Batch, lot, and serial tracking connects directly to two other areas of the system. The first is Stock and Warehouse Management. All of the movement of tracked items through your locations, your receipts, transfers, and dispatches, flows through the warehouse management layer. That is where physical stock levels and locations are recorded alongside the traceability identifiers. The second connected area is Manufacturing Orders. When you are producing goods internally, manufacturing orders are the point where lots and batches get created and assigned. The two modules work together to give you a complete view from raw material through to finished goods.

So to bring it together: if you need to track groups of products that were made or received together, you use batch or lot tracking. If you need to track individual units, you use serial numbers. You capture the identifiers on receipt or at the point of manufacture, you optionally attach expiry dates, and then you use the traceability reports to trace products forward to customers or backward to sources. And the whole thing ties into your warehouse and manufacturing operations.

That’s it for this episode of the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Thanks for listening.

000DOL

Bill Of Materials Bom

Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at Bill of Materials, or BOM for short.

So what exactly is a Bill of Materials? Think of it as the recipe for a finished product. It tells you every component you need, how much of each one, and how they all fit together before you can produce your end result. If you’ve ever followed a recipe that said “to make this dish, you need these ingredients in these amounts,” a BOM works on exactly the same principle, just applied to manufacturing and assembly.

Let’s walk through the structure of a BOM, because this is where it gets really clear. Imagine you’re looking at a diagram on screen. At the very top you have your finished product. Hanging off that finished product are three components: Component A, Component B, and Component C. Component A requires two pieces. Component B requires half a kilogram. And Component C requires one metre. Now here’s where it gets interesting. Component B itself has a child underneath it called Sub-component B1. That means your BOM isn’t just a flat list. It can be multi-level, going deeper and deeper as needed. You might have a component that is itself made up of other parts, and those parts might have their own sub-parts. This nesting is what makes a BOM powerful, because it captures the full picture of what goes into your product at every level of assembly.

Now let’s talk about the key fields you’ll encounter when you’re working with a BOM in practice.

First, you have your finished product itself, along with the quantity that particular BOM produces. So if one run of this BOM produces ten units, that’s recorded right at the top level.

Next, you have your individual components, each with their own quantities and units. And as you saw in the structure example, those units can vary. One component might be measured in pieces, another in kilograms, another in metres. The system handles all of that, so you don’t have to convert anything manually.

Then there’s something called the scrap factor. This one’s worth paying attention to. When you set a scrap factor on a component, the system automatically over-allocates that material. In other words, if you know from experience that you lose a certain percentage of a raw material during production due to waste or off-cuts or spoilage, you tell the BOM that, and it will automatically request more than the theoretical minimum. You don’t have to manually calculate that buffer every time you create a manufacturing order. It’s baked right in.

Finally, there’s the work centre field. This tells the system where in your facility or production setup a particular component or assembly step happens. Different components might be processed in different locations, and the work centre field captures that routing information.

Now, a BOM doesn’t exist in isolation. It connects to two other important areas of the system. The first is Manufacturing Orders. When you actually want to produce something, you create a Manufacturing Order, and that order executes the BOM. Think of the BOM as the plan and the Manufacturing Order as the action. The BOM says “here’s what you need and how much,” and the Manufacturing Order says “okay, let’s actually make it now.”

The second connected area is Stock and Warehouse Management. When a Manufacturing Order is created from a BOM, the system uses the component list to reserve stock from your warehouse. So if you need two pieces of Component A, the system checks whether you have them available, and reserves them so they don’t get allocated to something else in the meantime. This tight link between your BOM and your stock levels means you always have visibility into whether you actually have what you need before you commit to production.

To bring it all together: a BOM is your single source of truth for what a product is made of. Get it right, and everything downstream, your manufacturing orders, your stock reservations, your scrap allowances, flows from it automatically. Get it wrong, and you’ll find yourself short on materials or producing more waste than you planned for.

Whether you’re setting up a BOM for the first time or reviewing an existing one, the key things to check are that every component is listed with the correct quantity and the right unit of measure, that scrap factors reflect your real-world waste experience, and that work centres are assigned where relevant.

That’s it for this episode of the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Thanks for listening.

000DOL

Manufacturing Orders Mo

Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at Manufacturing Orders (MO).

So, what is a Manufacturing Order? Think of it as the central document that schedules and tracks a production run. When your business needs to make something, a Manufacturing Order is what kicks that process off. It pulls together your components, tells the system what you’re building, how much of it you’re building, and then tracks the whole thing from start to finish. As production happens, it consumes stock from your component inventory and, when everything’s done, it adds the finished goods back into your warehouse. That loop — components go in, finished product comes out — is what a Manufacturing Order manages.

Let’s walk through the lifecycle of a Manufacturing Order, because understanding the stages really helps you see how the whole thing fits together.

It starts in Draft. This is where you’re setting things up. You haven’t committed to anything yet — you’re just putting the order together, specifying what you want to produce and in what quantity. Think of it as your planning stage.

Once you’re happy with it, you move the order to Validated. At this point the system recognises the order as real and approved. You’re saying, yes, this production run is happening.

From there, it moves into the In Production stage. This is the active phase — work is underway, components are being consumed, and you’re recording progress as things get built.

Then comes Completed. The production run is done. The finished goods exist.

And finally, Stock Updated. This is where the system catches up with reality — your finished goods are added to inventory, and the components that were used are deducted from stock. The books reflect what actually happened on the floor.

So that’s five stages: Draft, Validated, In Production, Completed, and Stock Updated. Each one represents a meaningful checkpoint in the production process.

Now let’s talk about how you actually work with a Manufacturing Order day to day.

The first thing you do is create the MO from a Bill of Materials, which you might hear referred to as a BOM. A Bill of Materials is essentially the recipe — it lists every component you need and in what quantity to produce the finished item. When you create a Manufacturing Order, you reference that BOM and specify how many units you want to produce. The system uses that information to work out exactly what stock it needs to pull.

Next, you check and reserve your component stock. Before you can actually build anything, you need to know the materials are available. The system lets you verify that the components are on hand and reserve them so they’re earmarked for this production run and not accidentally allocated elsewhere.

After that, you record production progress as work happens. This keeps the system up to date in real time, so your inventory and production data stay accurate throughout the run rather than only at the end.

And finally, when the run is done, you complete the MO. That’s the action that triggers the finished goods being added to stock — closing the loop we talked about earlier.

There are a few related areas you’ll want to be familiar with alongside Manufacturing Orders. The Bill of Materials is the starting point for every MO, so understanding how BOMs are structured is essential. Stock and Warehouse Management ties in closely, since every MO both draws from and contributes to your inventory. And if you’re tracking the cost side of things, the Margins module connects to MOs for production cost tracking — useful for understanding how profitable each production run actually is.

That’s it for this episode of the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Thanks for listening.

000DOL

Purchase Orders Po

Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at Purchase Orders, or POs as we tend to call them day to day.

So what is a Purchase Order? At its core, a Purchase Order is a formal order you send to a supplier. It’s the document that kicks off the buying process on your end. Once a PO is in play, it does two important things downstream. First, it triggers the goods reception process, so when your delivery arrives you have something to match it against. Second, once that delivery happens, it generates the supplier invoice for you automatically. That tight link between ordering, receiving, and invoicing is what makes Purchase Orders such a central piece of the procurement workflow in Dolibarr.

Now let’s talk about the lifecycle of a Purchase Order, because understanding where a PO sits at any given moment tells you exactly what can and can’t happen next. The wiki shows this as a flow through six stages, so let me walk you through each one.

It starts as a Draft. This is your working document. Nothing has been committed yet. You’re pulling together the supplier, the line items, quantities, prices. Think of it as your scratchpad before anything official happens.

From Draft, a PO moves to Approved. This is where a sign-off happens. Depending on how your approval workflow is configured, this might happen automatically for low-value orders or it might require a manager to manually approve it when the order value crosses a certain threshold. More on that in a moment.

Once approved, the PO moves to Sent. This means the order has gone out to the supplier. They know what you want and when you want it.

Here’s where it gets interesting. When goods start arriving, the PO can enter a Partially Received state. Not everything has to arrive at once. If your supplier sends you half the order today and the rest comes next week, Dolibarr handles that gracefully. You receive what arrived, and the system keeps track of what’s still outstanding. That outstanding portion becomes a back-order that stays on the PO until it’s fulfilled.

Once everything has arrived, the PO moves to Fully Received. That’s your confirmation that everything you ordered has come through the door.

And finally, the last stage is Invoiced. At this point the supplier invoice has been generated and the financial side of things is locked in.

So that’s the six stages: Draft, Approved, Sent, Partially Received, Fully Received, and Invoiced. Each stage is a checkpoint that keeps your procurement process structured and auditable.

Now let’s look at the key features that make Purchase Orders in Dolibarr genuinely useful.

First up is multi-currency support. If you’re buying from international suppliers, you can raise a PO in the supplier’s currency. You don’t have to manually convert everything back to your home currency before you enter it. The system handles that.

Second is the approval workflow, and this one is worth pausing on. You can configure thresholds so that smaller orders go through automatically while larger ones require explicit approval before they move forward. This gives you financial controls without creating unnecessary friction for routine purchases.

Third is partial reception and back-order tracking. You already heard this touched on in the lifecycle walkthrough. The point is that you don’t have to wait for a complete delivery to start processing what’s arrived. You can receive in stages, and the system keeps a running tally of what’s still due. That’s especially handy when you’re dealing with suppliers who ship in batches or when lead times are unpredictable.

Fourth is automatic stock updates on reception. When you mark goods as received against a PO, your stock levels update automatically. You don’t have to go into a separate stock module and manually adjust quantities. The reception event does that work for you in the background. This keeps your inventory accurate in real time.

Those four features together mean that a Purchase Order isn’t just a piece of paperwork. It’s a live document that drives actions across multiple parts of the system.

Finally, it’s worth knowing how Purchase Orders connect to other areas of Dolibarr. When goods arrive, that flows into Delivery and Reception. Once the PO is fully or partially received, it ties into Supplier Invoices and Credit Notes, which is where the financial reconciliation happens. And as we just mentioned, the reception event feeds directly into Stock. So if you’re working in any of those areas and something looks off, it’s often worth tracing back to the originating Purchase Order to understand where things stand.

That’s the full picture of Purchase Orders in Dolibarr. From raising a draft all the way through to invoicing, the PO is the thread that connects your supplier relationship to your internal receiving and financial processes.

That’s it for this episode of the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Thanks for listening.

000DOL, 01 - Product Management

Stock Warehouse Management

Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at Stock & Warehouse Management.

If you’ve ever wondered how NZRT keeps track of what’s in stock, where it is, and when you’re running low, this is the episode for you. Stock and Warehouse Management is the part of the system that gives you real-time visibility into your inventory levels across one or more warehouse locations. And when things start getting low, it doesn’t just sit there quietly — it sends you an alert.

Let’s walk through what this module actually does for you.

First up, you have support for multiple warehouse locations. Whether your business operates out of one building or several sites across the country, the system can track stock in each of those places separately. You always know not just how much of something you have, but exactly where it is.

Next, there’s the concept of stock movements. Every time something changes in your inventory, the system records it as a movement. Stock can move in, move out, be transferred between locations, or be adjusted. Those four types cover pretty much every scenario you’ll encounter in day-to-day operations.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about what actually triggers those movements, because this is where things get interesting. There are four main actions that drive stock changes in the system. When a customer order is shipped, that’s stock going out — the system records a movement in the outbound direction. When a purchase order is received, that’s stock coming in. If you’re running manufacturing orders, things work in both directions at once: when a manufacturing order is completed, finished goods are recorded as coming in, while the components that were used up are recorded as going out. And finally, you can also make manual inventory adjustments, which can go either in or out depending on what you’re correcting.

So the system is constantly listening to what’s happening across your orders, your purchasing, and your production, and it’s keeping the numbers up to date without you having to enter every single change by hand. That’s a big deal when you’re managing a busy operation.

Now, what happens when stock gets too low? That’s where minimum stock threshold alerts come in. You can set a minimum level for any item, and when your inventory drops below that level, the system flags it. You don’t have to be watching the numbers all day — the system does that watching for you and tells you when it’s time to reorder or replenish.

There’s also inventory valuation to think about. The system supports two common methods for calculating what your stock is worth. The first is FIFO — which stands for first in, first out — meaning the oldest stock is assumed to be sold or used first when calculating cost. The second is average cost, where the system tracks a running average price based on everything you’ve paid for that item over time. Which method you use depends on your accounting preferences, but either way, the system handles the maths for you.

You also have access to physical inventory and stock count features. This lets you periodically verify what the system says you have against what’s actually sitting on the shelf. It’s good practice for catching discrepancies before they grow into bigger problems.

And for businesses that need to track items at a more granular level, there’s batch and lot tracking, as well as serial number tracking. This is useful when you need to know not just that you have fifty units of something, but exactly which batch they came from or which serial number belongs to which item. This matters a great deal for compliance, product recalls, or warranty management.

Finally, it’s worth knowing that Stock and Warehouse Management doesn’t work in isolation. It connects directly to three other areas of the system. Manufacturing Orders feed into it from the production side, as we just covered. Purchase Orders drive your inbound stock. And Shipping Management handles what goes out the door to customers. Changes in any of those three areas ripple through into your inventory automatically.

So to bring it all together — Stock and Warehouse Management gives you a live picture of your inventory, tracks every movement in and out, alerts you before you run dry, values your stock using recognised accounting methods, supports batch and serial tracking, and ties directly into your purchasing, manufacturing, and shipping processes. It’s the backbone of your physical operations.

That’s it for this episode of the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Thanks for listening.

000DOL, 03 - Supplier & Purchase

Supplier Purchase Management

Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at Supplier and Purchase Management.

This is one of those foundational areas of the business that touches almost everything else — from the moment you decide you need something, all the way through to the point where the bill is paid and the goods are on the shelf. In Dolibarr, this whole journey is often called the procure-to-pay cycle, and by the end of this episode you’ll have a clear picture of how it all fits together.

So let’s start at the top. Supplier and Purchase Management is broken down into six sub-modules, and each one handles a distinct stage of the process. The first is Suppliers, Vendors and Contacts — this is your address book for the supply side of the business. Every company or individual you buy from lives here, along with their contact details, payment terms, and any other information you need to manage that relationship.

The second sub-module is Supplier Pricing Requests. Before you commit to buying anything, you often want to know what it’s going to cost. This is where you manage that conversation — sending out requests for quotes, tracking the responses, and comparing what different suppliers are offering. It keeps the negotiation stage organised rather than scattered across your inbox.

Third is Purchase Orders. Once you’ve decided who you’re buying from and at what price, you raise a purchase order to formalise that commitment. The purchase order is your official instruction to the supplier — it says what you want, how many, at what price, and when you need it. It’s also the document that everything downstream gets matched against, so getting it right matters.

Fourth is Delivery and Reception. When your goods actually arrive, this module is where you record that fact. You check what came in against what was ordered, note any discrepancies, and confirm that the delivery is complete. This step is important because it’s the trigger that tells the rest of the system something physical has moved into your possession.

Fifth is Supplier Invoices and Credit Notes. After the goods are received, the supplier sends you an invoice. This module handles matching that invoice to your purchase order and your reception record — a process sometimes called three-way matching. If something was returned or a credit is due, credit notes are managed here too. This is the financial heartbeat of the whole process.

And sixth is Incoterms. These are the internationally recognised trade terms that define who is responsible for shipping, insurance, and risk at each stage of a delivery. If you’re dealing with international suppliers, knowing your Incoterms — things like FOB or CIF — is essential for understanding where your liability begins and the supplier’s ends.

Now, to bring all of that together, think about the procure-to-pay workflow as a straight line with six stops. It starts with your supplier. From there, you raise a pricing request — that’s your request for quotation, or RFQ. Once you’re happy with the pricing, you create a purchase order. When the goods arrive, you process the reception. The supplier then sends their invoice, which you match and approve. And finally, payment goes out.

So the sequence looks like this: supplier, then pricing request, then purchase order, then reception, then invoice, then payment. Each step feeds the next, and each one leaves a record in the system so you can trace exactly where any transaction is at any point in time.

It’s also worth knowing how Supplier and Purchase Management connects to the rest of Dolibarr. When you receive goods against a purchase order, that receipt automatically increases your stock levels in the Stock module. So your inventory is always reflecting what’s physically come through the door. On the finance side, this module feeds directly into Accounts Payable management — meaning your finance team has a live view of what you owe to suppliers and when payments are due.

Taken together, these six sub-modules give you end-to-end visibility and control over your supply chain. You know what you’ve asked for, what you’ve agreed to pay, what’s arrived, what’s been invoiced, and what’s been paid. Nothing falls through the cracks, and there’s a clear audit trail at every stage.

Whether you’re a small operation buying a handful of products from a couple of local suppliers, or you’re managing complex international procurement with multiple vendors and varying delivery terms, this module structure scales with you.

That’s it for this episode of the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Thanks for listening.