1. Business Use Cases — Examples

In industries such as chemical, biological, and food, national regulations often require batch-based traceability. Standards like GMP and GSP mandate that companies track products by batch. Items with a shelf life are commonly managed at the batch level for precise control.

2. Detailed Description of Batches

2.1 Enabling Batch Management

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• Batch management is an industry plugin for the inventory and order management module. It is disabled by default. A CRM administrator must enable it on the Inventory Management page. Navigation: CRM Management -> Business Rules Management -> Inventory Management -> Plugin Management -> Industry Plugins.
• Whether you use the full version (Type A) or the integration version (Type B) of the inventory module, you can enable the Batch & Serial Number Management plugin.
• When the plugin is enabled, the system initializes the Batch object.
• Enabling the plugin is irreversible.
• Enabling the plugin does not automatically enable batch management for every Product. For Products that require batch control, go to the Product object and enable batch management for each specific Product.

2.2 Batch Operations

2.2.1 Create a New Batch

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• Manual creation entry: Batch list page.
• Import: see https://help.fxiaoke.com/2615/3eab/856c/5765#header-2
• Batch Number: The primary attribute of a Batch is its Batch Number. Batch Numbers must be unique.
• Linked Product: When creating a Batch, you must link it to a specific Product. The linked Product must be in “Published” status and have batch management enabled.
• Fixed Approval Process: You can create approval flows in Approval Flow Management. A new Batch can automatically trigger the approval flow upon creation. See Approval Flow Management: http://help.fxiaoke.com/2615/9ad7/bfce/1a8d/22de
• Note: A Batch can be referenced by related objects regardless of approval status. Once a Batch is approved, it cannot be edited or withdrawn, and it supports printing.

2.2.2 Batch Inventory

• For Products with batch management enabled, you must select a Batch when creating an Inbound Order. After the Inbound Order is confirmed, if this is the Batch’s first inbound, the system will automatically create the corresponding Batch Inventory record and increase the Batch Inventory quantity.
• On the Batch list, you can view a Batch’s total Batch Inventory across all Warehouses. Click a Batch to view all Batch Inventory records for that Batch.

2.2.3 Inbound of Batch-controlled Products

• For Products with batch management enabled, you must select the corresponding Batch during inbound. After the Inbound Order is confirmed, the system automatically increases the Batch Inventory and the overall Inventory.

2.2.4 Outbound of Batch-controlled Products

• For Products with batch management enabled, you must select the corresponding Batch for outbound operations such as shipping or transfer. The system validates that the Batch Inventory quantity is sufficient; outbound succeeds only when the Batch Inventory has enough quantity.
• After outbound confirmation, the system automatically decreases the Batch Inventory and the overall Inventory.

2.3 Distinct Business Characteristics of Batches

• Unlike serial numbers, a Batch can contain multiple units of product. Inbound increases the Batch Inventory quantity; outbound decreases it by quantity.
• In the Batch Inventory object you can view inventory details for each Batch. Batch Inventory does not include frozen or available subdivisions—only actual quantity.
• You can set production date, expiration date (Shelf Life), and “days-before-expiration” warning for each Batch. If you set the warning days and enable near-expiration alerts, the system will send reminders.
• During outbound, you can view each outbound Batch’s expiration date to avoid shipping expired items.

2.4 Important Notes and Limitations

• To enable batch management for a Product, the Product must have no existing Inventory records. If prior inbound operations produced Inventory records, you cannot enable batch management for that Product.
• For Products with existing Inventory records that require batch management, contact ShareCRM Support to apply for a special customer request. They can assist with initializing inventory data or deleting specified Product inventory records so batch management can be enabled.