Import Stock Trace Assignments

Stock Tracing Component Only

To access this function start INSTALLATION Workshop and from the main menu select Transfer|Import External File|Import Stock Trace Assignments.

This utility is provided to allow CAPITAL to import serial numbers, batch numbers and other tracing properties contained in an external file. The file may be ASCII text or DBF (dBase III) compatible.

The most important fields include:

Field Name	Description
Name	The product code. This must matching an existing CAPITAL product code.
Location	The location code. This can be up to 8 characters long. If you are operating a multi-location stock system, it is important to specify the correct location code, otherwise stock may be adjusted at the wrong location.
Assignment	The assignment value to assign to the product code. For example, the serial or batch number.
Qty	The quantity of the assignment. If you are importing a serial number file then the Qty field will be ignored and a quantity of 1 will always be imported. You do not need to specify a Qty field when importing serial numbers.

Optional fields include:

Field Name	Description
Bin	The assignment's bin location if applicable.
Reference	Additional reference information relating to the assignment, if applicable.

File Structure

The file to import must have the following structure:

For serial numbers there must be at least two columns of data in the data file: the product code and the serial number. For batch numbers and similar properties (such as colours, sizes, lots, etc.) there should be at least 3 columns, the third being the quantity. If the company you are importing the data into operates with multi-location stock control then you must also specify a location column. If this is not done, stock will either fail to import or may import into products of the wrong location. There must be one product code in the data file for each assignment. For example:

Product Code Assignment (Serial Number)

ABC93181 1283183183

ABC93181 1273183184

ABC-VMLK3 2183177171

32B-MNSV 2183181333

391/31981B 7376165111

391/31981B 7376165200

391/31981B 7376165293

Hints & Tips

Stock items will automatically be assigned the property being imported if not already assigned this property. For example, if you are importing serial numbers and the serial number file being imported references product code ABC, then product code ABC will be assigned the 'serial number' tracing property after the import.
This utility should be used to import serial numbers you are transferring from another source or application, usually during initial set-up of your business system. You cannot use this utility to remove or replace existing serial numbers.
It is extremely important to keep in mind that you may specify a data Type for unique tracing properties. For example, if you specify a tracing property that is numeric, then only numeric values will be permitted to be imported. If you specify a Type of 'transaction' then only assignments that match the criteria of a valid transaction will be imported. To ensure that your assignments are not rejected by the system when importing, you should set the data Type of the tracing property to 'character' and you should leave its Input Format blank. For more information on this subject consult the topic: Stock Tracing Specifications.
If you are importing serial numbers, then keep in mind that the system will not permit the importing of duplicates. For example, if the serial number 123456 already exists, this utility will not import the value again. Serial numbers in CAPITAL may have two different types of 'scope'. In the first type of scope, a serial number must be unique for each specific product code. This means that the serial number 123456 be imported more than once, so long as it is assigned to a different product code each time it is imported. In the second type of scoping, a property is not limited to a specific product code. The serial number must be unique across all products. For example, serial number 123456 may only be assigned to one product across the entire stock database. If this behaviour is undesirable ensure that Limited To Product is unticked when importing for a selected property. For more information on this subject consult the topic: Stock Tracing Specifications.
This utility does not adjust physical stock quantities. You must use the Import Stock Quantities utility to perform that task. It is possible to import 50 serial numbers against a product code and have a physical stock quantity of 0, 100 or some other value. This is because CAPITAL permits 'unallocated' assignments--for example, product codes which track serial numbers without requiring that every product in the system have a serial number assigned to it.

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