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Alliance: batch tracking + scanning on mobil


bskallerud
Sidekick (Customer)
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Hi all

We are looking into the feasibility of batch tracking in Astea/Astea mobile. We are currently in the exploratory phase, and any advice or ideas are much appreciated.

The products in question are bottles/containers that we deliver to customers (and later pick up) or use as part of service.

Serialisation is not an option due to the demands this would put on logistics.

My idea is to have a bar code sticker (+print) on the product that is a combination of product id + batch (so it will have to be removed/added as part of production). The SA will then just scan the products upon delivery/pick up, and this will automatically update the service order with the products + batches.

Volume and ease of use are essential: an SA may do 20-25 deliveries a day, and each deliveries may include 2 to 15 products delivered and the same number picked up.

Best answer by Phil Seifert

Hi Bjørn,

This sounds very much like a deposit system for products the customer pays up front and then is refunded upon return.

The uninstall process in mobile is used for items and qty of one, not a summed quantity as would be defined in the batch thus the current demand material return is not applicable.

I know the Alliance application itself has functionality in the Customer Return module to take products back from the customer.  I am presuming you still need to manage the correct inventory as the products are expensive going out and coming back into inventory.

Customer Return module functionality is not something developed in Mobile Edge which needs to support this kind of process. 

The way I see it, you would need to log a material demand for a product with a qty to deliver that you are grouping together as a batch.  Later, you want to return this batch somehow so the customer is refunded what they have paid for the initial delivery and bring these back into inventory.  A customer return document is linked to an invoice and the customer return lines are controlled to contain only what is on the original inventory.

Honestly, I think this should be discussed with one of the Services business consultants as a potential custom BRD development.

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3 replies

Phil Seifert
Ultimate Hero (Employee)
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  • Ultimate Hero (Employee)
  • 1279 replies
  • Answer
  • January 28, 2025

Hi Bjørn,

This sounds very much like a deposit system for products the customer pays up front and then is refunded upon return.

The uninstall process in mobile is used for items and qty of one, not a summed quantity as would be defined in the batch thus the current demand material return is not applicable.

I know the Alliance application itself has functionality in the Customer Return module to take products back from the customer.  I am presuming you still need to manage the correct inventory as the products are expensive going out and coming back into inventory.

Customer Return module functionality is not something developed in Mobile Edge which needs to support this kind of process. 

The way I see it, you would need to log a material demand for a product with a qty to deliver that you are grouping together as a batch.  Later, you want to return this batch somehow so the customer is refunded what they have paid for the initial delivery and bring these back into inventory.  A customer return document is linked to an invoice and the customer return lines are controlled to contain only what is on the original inventory.

Honestly, I think this should be discussed with one of the Services business consultants as a potential custom BRD development.


Phil Seifert
Ultimate Hero (Employee)
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  • Ultimate Hero (Employee)
  • 1279 replies
  • January 29, 2025

Hi Bjørn,

I have been doing some thinking about this a bit more and there *may* be a method that might do what you are thinking without code changes.

What if you consider the batch_id as the serial number for the product so the batch itself is an item and then add the other products as components of that item.  It will mean some item management if you reconfigure the item with different components & pricing but you would only be managing a single product_id for a set of components which you can deploy and uninstall.

 


bskallerud
Sidekick (Customer)
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  • Author
  • Sidekick (Customer)
  • 203 replies
  • January 30, 2025

Thanks, Phil. 

We are discussing this a bit here. It gets overly complicated… sigh


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