When you receive goods against a purchase order and one or more of the received products are batch or serial tracked, Qoblex asks you to record exactly which batch or lot numbers arrived before the goods receipt note can be authorized. This keeps your stock traceable for recalls, expiry management, and audits.
This article explains the “Collect Batch Information” step that appears when you authorize a goods receipt note. After reading it you will know the three ways to enter batch or serial numbers (typing rows by hand, pasting a list, or auto-generating a sequence), how the allocation counter works, and why serial-tracked items need one number per unit.
When the batch step appears
You record the quantities that arrived on the draft goods receipt note first. When the note is ready, you select the “Authorize” button in the top-right of the goods receipt note. At that point Qoblex checks each line item: if any received product is batch or serial tracked and does not yet have its full quantity assigned to batches, the “Collect Batch Information” dialog opens instead of authorizing straight away. Its description reads:
One or more line items are batch or serial tracked. Assign batches before authorizing.
You must fill in batch details for every tracked line before authorization can go through. Lines that are already fully batched, and products that are not batch or serial tracked, do not appear in this dialog and need no action here.
Important: The goods receipt note cannot be authorized until every tracked line is fully allocated. The “Confirm” button in the dialog stays disabled while any line is short of, or over, its received quantity.
Reading the allocation counter
Each tracked product shows an “Allocated” badge, for example Allocated: 8 / 10. The first number is how many units you have entered batch details for so far; the second is the quantity you received on that line.
- The badge turns green once the line is fully allocated (the two numbers match).
- It stays amber while the line is under-allocated or over-allocated.
Every tracked line must reach a green, fully allocated state before you can select “Confirm”.
Three ways to enter batch or serial numbers
Each line offers three entry modes. Choose the one that fits how many numbers you need to record. Switch modes per line using the “Add batch”, “Bulk Insert”, and “Auto Generate” buttons.
1. Type rows by hand (“Add batch”)
Use this when you received a small number of batches, or when each batch has its own expiry date. Select “Add batch” and fill in each row:
- “Batch N°” — the batch or lot number for this row.
- “Expires At” — the expiry date, if the product has one. Leave it blank if it does not expire.
- “Quantity” — how many units belong to this batch.
Select “Add batch” again to add another row, or the remove icon to delete a row. The line is fully allocated when the quantities across your rows add up to the received quantity. Every row must have a batch number, and no row may have a quantity of zero.
2. Paste a list (“Bulk Insert”)
Use this to record many serial numbers quickly. Select “Bulk Insert” and paste your numbers into the box. The placeholder shows the expected format:
Paste serial numbers separated by semicolons (;)
Qoblex splits your text on each semicolon and treats every value as one unit (quantity 1). The line is fully allocated when the number of pasted values equals the received quantity.
Bulk Insert does not set expiry dates. If your items expire, enter them by hand with “Add batch” so you can record an expiry per batch.
3. Auto-generate a sequence (“Auto Generate”)
Use this to create a run of numbered batches or serials automatically. Select “Auto Generate” and fill in:
- “Prefix” — text placed before each number (optional).
- “Sequence Start” — the first number in the run.
- “Suffix” — text placed after each number (optional).
- “Batch Count” — how many numbers to generate.
Qoblex builds each number as prefix, then the running sequence number, then suffix. A live “Example” line previews the first three, for example Example: LOT-1, LOT-2, LOT-3... (the trailing ... appears when you are generating more than three). The line is fully allocated when “Batch Count” equals the received quantity.
Auto Generate does not set expiry dates either. Enter expiry manually with “Add batch” if your items expire.
Serial-tracked products
A serial number is simply a batch with a quantity of one, so serial-tracked lines are handled by the same dialog. To record serials:
- With “Add batch”: enter one row per physical unit, each with quantity 1.
- With “Bulk Insert”: paste one serial per unit, separated by semicolons. This is the fastest way to enter many serials you already have printed.
- With “Auto Generate”: produce a numbered run when you are assigning the serial numbers yourself.
Because each serial is one unit, the line is fully allocated when the count of serial numbers matches the received quantity.
Confirming and authorizing
Once every tracked line shows a green, fully allocated badge, select “Confirm” at the bottom of the dialog. Qoblex records which specific batches or lots you received against each product, splitting a single line across several batches where needed, updates your batch-tracked stock, and then authorizes the goods receipt note in the same step. Select “Cancel” to close the dialog without recording batches or authorizing; the goods receipt note stays in draft.
For a batch-tracked product, if a batch number you enter already exists at that location and its expiry date matches, Qoblex adds the received quantity to that existing batch instead of creating a duplicate.
Important: This reuse only works when the expiry dates match. If you enter an existing batch number with a different expiry date, Qoblex stops and shows “Batch {number} expires at different date. Cannot reuse existing batch with different expiration date.” For serial-tracked products a serial number can never be reused: re-entering an existing serial stops with “This is serial tracked product variant. Cannot reuse existing serial number.” In both cases, use a different number (or the matching expiry date) to continue.
What Qoblex does automatically
- Detects which received lines are batch or serial tracked and only prompts for those.
- Keeps a running “Allocated” count per line and blocks confirmation until each line matches its received quantity.
- Treats each pasted or auto-generated entry as one unit, so serial counts line up with the received quantity.
- Creates the batch inventory records, updates on-hand stock per batch, and authorizes the goods receipt note when you confirm, so the batches are immediately available for tracing and for shipping on later sales orders.