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.

Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at Product Management.

Product Management in Dolibarr is the part of the system that controls your full product lifecycle. That means everything from the moment you define what a product is, all the way through to how it sits in your warehouse, how it gets manufactured, and how it moves out the door. If you work with physical goods or services in any structured way, this is the area of the system you will be living in most.

Let’s walk through what Product Management is actually made up of. There are seven sub-modules, and each one handles a distinct part of the product world.

The first is Products and Services, which is your master catalogue. Think of this as the source of truth for everything your business sells or uses. Every item, every service, every component — it lives here first.

The second is Stock and Warehouse Management. This gives you real-time visibility into your inventory. You can see what you have on hand, where it is physically located, and how stock levels are changing as things move in and out.

Third, you have Barcodes. This module handles both the generation and scanning of barcodes, which is useful when you need to speed up receiving, picking, or stocktaking processes.

Fourth is Batches, Lots, and Serials. This one is all about traceability. If you need to track which batch a product came from, when it was made, or which serial number belongs to which unit, this module gives you that level of detail.

Fifth is Product Variants. This is where you manage combinations of things like colour and size. So if you sell a t-shirt that comes in three colours and four sizes, you don’t need twelve separate catalogue entries — you manage it as one product with variants.

Sixth is the Bill of Materials. A Bill of Materials tells the system what components go into making a finished product. It’s the recipe. If you manufacture anything, this is a foundational module because it defines what raw materials or sub-assemblies you need before you can produce the end result.

And seventh is Manufacturing Orders. This is where MRP-driven production happens. MRP stands for Material Requirements Planning, and what that means in practice is the system can look at what you need to produce, check your Bill of Materials, and work out what stock you need to fulfil that production run.

Now let’s talk about how all of this connects together in a typical workflow. The process starts with your Catalogue — you define what you’re making or selling. From there, you move to your Bill of Materials, where you specify what components are required. That feeds into a Manufacturing Order, which triggers the actual production process. Once production is complete, you get a Stock Movement — meaning your finished goods are recorded as entering your warehouse. And then finally, those goods flow out through Sales and Shipping.

So the chain looks like this in practice: you set up your product, you define its recipe, you raise an order to make it, the stock gets updated when it’s done, and then it goes out to the customer. Each step feeds the next, which is what makes this module set so powerful when you have it configured correctly.

It’s also worth noting how Product Management connects to the rest of the Dolibarr system. Customer Orders consume your stock when a sale is made, so the two are tightly linked. Purchase Orders work in the other direction — when your stock is running low, you use Purchase Orders to replenish it from your suppliers. And if you want to understand how profitable your products actually are, the Margins module ties in here too, letting you see product profitability across your catalogue.

So to pull it all together — Product Management is the backbone of your operational system. It’s not just a list of things you sell. It’s a connected set of tools that track what you have, how you make it, what it costs, and how it moves. Whether you’re a product-based business, a manufacturer, or somewhere in between, understanding these seven sub-modules and how they interact will save you a significant amount of time and guesswork.

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

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.