Hi All,
I would like to start a discussion regarding the real purpose of serial numbers. I will share my opinion and then we can discuss further.
I understand that serial number are linked to items and when items move then they are required to have serial numbers.
What I would like to ask is - to complete a purchase of an item when does the serial number become critical? When doing a sale when does the serial number become critical? I believe the main purpose of serial numbers is tracking warranties and is valid after sold, no? Or to determine if we actual sold a particular item to a customer…so mostly post transaction.
So if I where to receive the item without a serial number, create a shipment without a serial number, then later come into the system and attach a serial number to both transactions - will that sill work for what we require serial number to do?
So if serial number are not mandatory on items, and can be added at a different stage then at receipt and shipment, would that provide an advantage or disadvantage to the team doing the receipts and shipments?
We do have cases where the serial numbers are not visible to the team when receipting or shipping but the item is marked serialized and this slows the entire process down.
Now saying this, I believe that there has to be another mechanism to remind users that items are serialized but dont have any serial numbers as users tend to forget to complete processed and this will leave to system integrity being poor.
I would like to see a process where you complete a transaction and some kind of workflow is fired off to complete the serial number linking to items receipted.
What are your thoughts?
again my 2 cents 
regards
Hemant