Inventory Receiving Processes for Serial Controlled Items

An Oracle White Paper April 2008

Inventory Receiving Processes for Serial Controlled Items

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 Scope ............................................................................................................................................ 3 Serial Number Uniqueness........................................................................................................ 4 Defining Serial Number Control for Items ............................................................................ 5 Serial Number Generation ........................................................................................................ 7 Serial Number Assignments...................................................................................................... 8 Technical Details......................................................................................................................... 9 Serial Number State or Status .............................................................................................. 9 Accepted and Assigned Statuses ........................................................................................ 10 Explanation of MARK_Ids ................................................................................................ 13 Profile option - 'INV: Restrict Receipt of Serials' ........................................................... 13 RMA Receipts for Serial Controlled Items ........................................................................... 14 Inter-org Shipment Creation for Serial Controlled Items .................................................. 15 Technical Details .................................................................................................................. 15 Dropship Receipts for Serial Controlled Items.................................................................... 19 Technical Details .................................................................................................................. 20 Receiving Open Interface support for Serial Controlled Items......................................... 22 Appendix A - List of Tables Used in Serial Numbers Storage And Processing ............. 23 Appendix B - Troubleshooting Some Common Issues...................................................... 25 Appendix C - Shortnames of the Forms Related to Serial Number setup and Entry.... 26 Appendix D - At a glance. .................................................................................................. 27

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Inventory Receiving Processes for Serial Controlled Items

INTRODUCTION

A Serial Number is a unique number assigned to each discrete unit of an item that is stored in inventory. A serial number can also be defined as a set of characters that uniquely identifies a single unit and can be used for traceability and warranty purposes. Serial numbers are valuable in quality control, as once a defect is found in the production of a particular batch of product, the serial number will quickly identify which units are affected. Serial numbers are also used as a deterrent against theft and counterfeit products in that serial numbers can be recorded, and stolen or otherwise irregular goods can be identified. Oracle Inventory provides complete serial number support for inventory transactions. Serial number control can be enabled for specific items in inventory. For items under serial number control, a unique serial numbers is assigned to each individual unit and thereafter the same serial numbers is referenced each time a material transaction is performed.
SCOPE

This white paper details the receiving processes for serial controlled items performed via desktop application. It explains the basic setup involved in using serial numbers and provides technical details about the serial numbers and serial controlled items and related receiving processes. It does not discuss Mobile Applications or WMS specific details for receiving. It also does not discuss the serial number attributes as they are specific to WMS.

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SERIAL NUMBER UNIQUENESS

A Serial Number must be unique so that it can be tracked. Uniqueness of Serial Numbers can be enforced at various levels. This is defined at the inventory organization level.

Within Inventory Items: Once a serial number is assigned to a particular item, it cannot be assigned to the same item regardless of the inventory organization. For example if serial number SN100 is assigned to item A, serial number SN100 cannot be assigned to any other instance of item A in any other inventory organization. This also includes CTO items derived from base model A. However, same serial number SN100 could be assigned to item B in any inventory organization. Within Organizations: In addition to the restrictions Within Inventory Items control,
the same serial number cannot exist twice within the same organization. For example if serial number SN100 is assigned to item A, it cannot be assigned to Item B in the same inventory organization. However, SN100 can be assigned to item B in any other organization.

Across Organizations: In addition to the restrictions Within Organizations, once a

serial number is assigned to an item, it cannot be assigned to any other item regardless of organization. For example if serial number SN100 is assigned to item A, it cannot be assigned to item B in any organization. If uniqueness Across Organization is assigned to to any organization it restricts the serial numbers in all other organizations. If one organization dictates Across Organizations, all other organizations must do so too. In Oracle Inventory, Organization Parameters window is used to define the uniqueness of serial numbers in an inventory organization. Inventory -> Setup -> Organizations -> Organizations

Figure 1: Serial Number Uniqueness Setup

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DEFINING SERIAL NUMBER CONTROL FOR ITEMS

Serial number control for an inventory item can be defined when the item is created. An item can have following serial number controls:

At Receipt: Serial numbers are created and assigned when the item is received into
The serial number control attribute is controlled at Organization Level, which means that same item in different inventory organizations can have different serial number control defined.

inventory. Thereafter, for any material transaction, serial number for each unit must be provided.

At sales order issue: Serial numbers are created and assigned when the item is issued (shipped) against a sales order. Serial numbers are then required at ship confirm. If the item is received back on a Return Material Authorization (RMA), serial numbers are required. All other material transactions for this item bypass serial number information. No control: Serial number control is not established for the item. All material transactions involving this item bypass serial number information. Predefined: A predefined serial numbers is assigned to the item when it is received. Thereafter, for any material transaction, serial number for each unit must be provided
Inventory > Items > Master Items > Inventory Tab

Figure 2: Serial Number Control at Item Level The serial number control attribute is controlled at Organization Level, which means that same item in different inventory organizations can have different serial number control defined. The following table presents conditions where certain options can be changed back and forth:

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Table 1: Serial Control Change Conditions

Change back and forth between Dynamic entry at inventory receipt Dynamic entry at sales order issue Dynamic entry at inventory receipt Dynamic entry at sales order issue Predefined serial numbers Dynamic entry at inventory receipt Change back and forth between Predefined serial numbers No serial number control No serial number control Predefined serial numbers No serial number control Dynamic entry at sales order issue When Any time Any time Item has no onhand quantity Item has no onhand quantity Item has no onhand quantity Item has no onhand quantity

If Serial Generation is controlled at the Item level, the check for onhand quantity is against the sum of onhand quantities in all child organizations.

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SERIAL NUMBER GENERATION

The process of generating serial numbers does not assign serial numbers to units in inventory. It simply reserves specific serial numbers for an item, for later use.

If serial number control type is defined as Predefined for an item, the serial numbers for the item must be predefined for that item using the Generate Serial Numbers window. If the serial control is defined as entry At Receipt or At Sales Order Issue, serial numbers can be generated optionally. The process of generating serial numbers does not assign serial numbers to units in inventory. It simply reserves specific serial numbers for an item, for later use. Oracle Inventory uses the starting serial number prefix and the starting serial number specified in the Item window to load the number of predefined serial numbers requested. Any number of serial numbers can be generated for any item under serial number control using the Generate Serial Numbers Window. Inventory > On-hand, Availability > Generate Serial Numbers

Figure 3: Generate Serial Numbers Request

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SERIAL NUMBER ASSIGNMENTS

Once a serial number is assigned to an item, the combination of the serial number and the item is an entity known as a serialized unit. From that point on, Oracle Inventory tracks all movements and maintains the following information for each serialized unit:

Receipt or Ship Date - The date on which a material transaction for the serialized unit

was performed. This information is updated when serialzed unit is moved using material transactions.

Serial State - Oracle Inventory assigns one of the following states to the serialized unit:
Defined but not used, Resides in inventory, Issued out of inventory, or Resides in intransit.

Location - The organization, subinventory, and locator in which the serialized unit
currently resides. Material transactions update this information when the serialized unit is transferred. unit.

Revision level - The revision of the item when the serial number was assigned to the Lot number - During material transactions, the lot number is specified first and then
the serial number. Oracle Inventory tracks the lot from which a specific serialized unit originates.

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TECHNICAL DETAILS

All serial numbers are stored in MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS (MSN) table. This is the table Serial Number generation program populates, given the number of serial numbers to create and the starting number and prefix. All material transactions involving serial numbers are stored in MTL_UNIT_TRANSACTIONS (MUT). Individual applications like shipping and receiving have additional tables to process transactions involving serial numbers. See Appendix A for a list of tables used for serial number processing in Oracle Inventory and Receiving.
Serial Number State or Status

Oracle Inventory assigns a current status to the serialized unit. This status determines where the unit is and for what transactions it is available. This value is stored in CURRENT_STATUS field of table MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS. The values in CURRENT_STATUS field can be: 1 Defined, but not used 3 Resides in Stores 4 Issued out of Stores 5 Resides in Intransit 7 Resides in receiving 8 Resides in WIP A serialized unit is available to be used for a particular transaction according to the following criteria: Table 2: Serial Number Availability Current Available to be Status 1 3 4 5 received into stores in any transaction requiring serialized units received into stores by an intransit receipt transaction. received into or issued out of stores in any transaction requiring serialized units. issued out of stores in any transaction requiring serialized units

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Accepted and Assigned Statuses

The type of transaction determines which statuses are valid for the transaction, and which status will be assigned to the unit after the transaction. A transaction may accept one or more statuses, but it only assigns one status. A transaction may accept serial numbers that have not yet been defined (Dynamic entry). Table 3: Issue Transaction Accepted and Assigned Statuses Issue Transaction Serial Control Accept Status Type Any Issue transaction Sales Order Issue No Serial Control Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Sales Order - na Resides in Stores used Resides in Stores Dynamic Entry Resides in Stores - na Resides in Stores - na Resides in Stores Defined, but not used Intransit Issue (Interorg transfer) Resides in Stores Dynamic Entry - na Assigned Status - na Issued out of Stores

Sales Order Issue

Defined, but not Issued out of Stores

Standard Issue

Standard Issue Subinventory Issue

Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Sales Order

Issued out of Stores

- na Resides in Stores

Subinventory Issue Intransit Issue

- na Resides in In-transit

Intransit Issue (Internal Sales Order)

Resides in In-transit

Dynamic Entry at Sales Order

- na -

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Table 4: Receipt Transactions Accepted and Assigned Statuses Assigned Status Receipt Transaction Serial Control Accept Status Type Any Receipt transaction Sales Order RMA Receipt (see also RMA
Receipts for Serial Controlled Item section)

No Serial Control Predefined used

- na -

- na -

Defined, but not Resides in Stores

Sales Order RMA Receipt

Dynamic Entry at Receipt

Sales Order RMA Receipt

Dynamic Entry at Sales Order

Standard Receipt

Predefined

Standard Receipt

Dynamic Entry at Receipt

Standard Receipt Subinventory Receipt

Dynamic Entry at Sales Order

Issued out of Stores Defined, but not used Issued out of Stores Dynamic Entry Defined, but not used Issued out of Stores Dynamic Entry Defined, but not used Issued out of Stores Defined, but not used Issued out of Stores Dynamic Entry - na Resides in Stores - na -

Resides in Stores

Defined, but not used

Resides in Stores

Resides in Stores

- na Resides in Stores

Subinventory Receipt

Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Sales Order

- na -

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For intransit shipment receipts, serial control at both source and destination organizations determines the accepted and assigned status of the serial numbers. Table 5: Intransit Shipment Receipt Transactions Accepted and Assigned Statuses Serial Control Assigned Status Serial Control at Accept Status at Source Org Destination Org Predefined Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue No Serial Control Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue No Serial Control Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Resides in Intransit Resides in Stores

Predefined Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue

Resides in Intransit - na Resides in Intransit Resides in Intransit - na Resides in Intransit

(only if receiving ISO shipment)

Defined, but not used - na Resides in Stores

Defined, but not used - na Resides in Stores

Defined, but not used (only if receiving

inter-org shipment)

Issued Out of Stores

(only if receiving inter-org shipment)

Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue No Serial Control No Serial Control

Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue No Serial Control Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt

Resides in Intransit
(only if receiving ISO shipment)

Defined, but not used

- na Defined, but not used Issued out of Stores Defined, but not used Issued out of Stores Dynamic Entry

- na Resides in Stores

Resides in Stores

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No Serial Control
When a serial number is used in a transaction, the mark_id fields get populated as soon as the user identifies the serial number they want to use.

Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue

Explanation of MARK_Ids

- na -

- na -

MTL_SERIAL_NUMBER table has 3 mark_id fields: GROUP_MARK_ID, LINE_MARK_ID, LOT_LINE_MARK_ID. These fields are used to ensure that that serial numbers used by one user's session do not become available incorrectly to another user. Oracle Inventory uses serial number marking and un-marking routines to update these fields. When these fields are populated, the serial number is locked and is not available for any transactions. When a serial number is used in a transaction, the mark_id fields get populated as soon as the user identifies the serial number they want to use. These fields are made NULL or un-marked, once the transaction is complete, thus locking the serial number during its processing. There are known issues when some transactions fail to un-mark these fields due to unexpected termination of the transaction. If the transaction is stuck and can be found in Pending Transactions or Transaction Summary forms, then deleting the transactions from the form should un-mark the serial numbers too. But if the related transaction cannot be found in these forms, then the only way to un-mark these fields then is to apply a datafix.
Profile option - 'INV: Restrict Receipt of Serials'

This profile option can be set to Yes or No. Default value for the profile is No. This profile determines if users can receive into stores the serial numbers that have been issued out of inventory and are in status 4 Issued out of Stores. In case of receiving an RMA, it may be required to receive the serial number that was shipped on the original sales order. If this is required, then the profile value should be set to No. When set to Yes, Oracle Inventory does NOT allow receipt of serial numbers that have a status of 4 Issued out of Stores.

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RMA RECEIPTS FOR SERIAL CONTROLLED ITEMS

There is no validation for revision, lot, or serial numbers against inventory tables in Order Management at the time of RMA creation.

Receiving utilizes the Validate Serial Numbers on RMA Receipt option defined at the inventory organization level to determine which serial numbers can be received on an RMA receipt. Purchasing Responsibility > Setup > Organizations > Receiving Options

Figure 4: Receiving Options When this option is checked, the Serial List of Values (LOV), at the time of receipt, will contain only the valid Serial Numbers that were entered on the RMA Line (Return Lot and Serial detail form for RMA Line in Order Management). Manual entries are also validated against the Serial Numbers that were entered on the RMA Line. For example, if SN100 - SN109 is entered on the RMA Line, the Receiver cannot enter any Serial Numbers other than SN100 - SN109 (SN100 - SN109 should be valid); if Serial Number SN200 is entered manually, an error will be displayed. But if no Serial Numbers are entered on RMA line or Validate Serial Numbers On RMA Receipts is NOT checked, all the valid serial numbers for the item in that inventory organization are displayed. Note: The validation is based on the Serial Numbers entered on the RMA Line, not the Serial Numbers referenced and Shipped on the corresponding Sales Order Line. There is no validation for revision, lot, or serial numbers against inventory tables in Order Management at the time of RMA creation. In addition to above validation, system also checks the value of profile INV: Restrict Receipt of Serials and will allow receipt of a serial number in status 4 Issued out of Stores only if the value of profile is No.

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INTER-ORG SHIPMENT CREATION FOR SERIAL CONTROLLED ITEMS

Inter-organization transfer is a process of transferring materials from one inventory organization to another. Both inter-organization transfers and internal orders achieve the same purpose. The process of inter-organization transfer is initiated by the organization that needs some goods either to continue its production line or to meet sales demand or any other reason. The organization that initiates the process is referred to as the Destination Organization. The organization to which the Destination Organization requests to send the goods is referred to as the Source Organization.
Technical Details

An inter-org transfer entered in inventory or a ship-confirm to an internal sales order in order management, initiates the process of inter-org shipment creation. These processes populate the interface tables MTL_TRANSACTIONS_INTERFACE (MTI) and MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS_INTERFACE (MSNI). MTI is populated with transaction details and MSNI with the serial numbers that are being shipped. Inventory Transaction Manager picks up these records from the interface tables and creates an issue transaction in the source inventory organization. See Figure 5 for a process flow diagram of the intransit shipment creation. NOTE: There are other tables used in the process that are not listed here like MMTT, MTLI etc. Figure 5 shows only those tables that are most relevant to the process being described. If the serial numbers do not already exist in the organization, then they are first created and records inserted in MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS (MSN) table. The transaction lines are recorded in MTL_MATERIAL_TRANSACTIONS (MMT) and related serial numbers transactions are recorded in MTL_UNIT_TRANSACTIONS (MUT). The status of the serial numbers is updated to Resides in In-transit (Status = 5) in MSN. Please refer to Accepted and Assigned Statuses section for more details about the serial number status for specific transactions. Once the issue transaction is completed, Inventory Transaction Manager populates Receiving Open Interface table RCV_TRANSACTIONS_INTERFACE (RTI) with the shipment line details to create an internal shipment in the destination organization and invokes the Receiving Transaction Manager in online mode. If the transfer type between the two organizations is Direct, then RTI is populated to create a receipt directly. If the transfer type is Intransit, then RTI is populated to create an expected shipment that can then be received in the destination org. Receiving Transaction Manager picks up the records from RTI and reads the serial details from MSNI and creates the shipment in destination org depending on the transfer type.

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For Intransit: RTI.TRANSACTION_TYPE = SHIP RTI.AUTO_TRANSACT_CODE = SHIP Shipment header and lines are created in RCV_SHIPMENT_HEADERS (RSH) and RCV_SHIPMENT_LINES (RSL) respectively. For each serial number shipped, a record in inserted into RCV_SERIALS_SUPPLY (RSS) with supply_type = SHIPMENT. SHIPMENT_LINE_ID joins to RSL.SHIPMENT_LINE_ID to ensure that the serial number is related to a specific shipment line. Data in RSS is used by Serial Entry form at the time of deliver into inventory to ensure that same serial numbers are delivered to stores as the ones shipped. If a serial number is not present in this table for a shipment, it will not show on the Serial Entry form when delivering the shipment. Once the serial number is delivered into inventory, a serial transaction is recorded in RCV_SERIAL_TRANSACTIONS (RST) and the serial number is removed from RSS. The serial number transactions are recorded in RCV_SERIAL_TRANSACTIONS (RST). Initial transaction at the time of shipment creation is recorded as SHIPMENT transaction. When the serial number is delivered into inventory, the transaction type is TRANSACTION. RST.SHIPMENT_LINE_ID joins to RSL.SHIPMENT_LINE_ID and RST.TRANSACTION_ID joins to RCV_TRANSACTIONS.TRANSACTION_ID. NOTE: To see the serial control setup of the item and intransit shipment receipt transactions accepted and assigned serial number statuses, please refer to Table 5. For Direct: RTI.TRANSACTION_TYPE = SHIP RTI.AUTO_TRANSACT_CODE = DELIVER The shipment is received and delivered at the same time that it is created in the destination organization. The header and lines are created in RSH and RSL respectively. At the same time, receive and deliver transactions are recorded in RCV_TRANSACTIONS (RT) and RCV_SERIAL_TRANSACTIONS (RST). No records are populated in RSS, since the serial numbers are delivered directly into the receiving inventory.

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Direct transfer of serial controlled items between inventory organizations depends on the serial control of the item in source and destination orgs. Table below lists the allowed and disallowed combinations. Table 6: Direct Inter-org Transfers Serial Serial Control at Source Serial Control at Destination Org Org Predefined Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at SO Issue No Serial Control Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at SO Issue No Serial Control Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at SO Issue No Serial Control Predefined Dynamic Entry at Receipt Dynamic Entry at SO Issue No Serial Control Direct Transfer Allowed? Yes

Dynamic Entry at Receipt

Yes

Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue Dynamic Entry at Sales Order Issue No Serial Control

No Yes

No

No Serial Control

Yes

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Figure 5: Intransit shipment creation process MSNI MTI Create inter-org transfer Ship confirm an internal sales order Populate Interface tables and call Inv Transaction Processor Populate RCV Interface and call RCV Txn Manager Receiving Transaction Processor RTI MSNI Expected Shipment Transaction in Destination Inventory Org RSH RSL RSS RST Issue Transaction in Source Inventory Org MMT MUT MSN

Inventory Transaction Manager Create Issue Transaction

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DROPSHIP RECEIPTS FOR SERIAL CONTROLLED ITEMS

Drop Shipments is a method of fulfilling sales orders by selling products without the order taker handling, stocking or delivering them. The seller buys the product and the supplier ships it directly to sellers customer. Supplier
Ships To

Customer
PO Invoice

Invoice PO

Shipment Notification

Seller (Sales Order)

Drop shipments are created as sales orders in Order Management (indicated as drop shipments when their source type is entered as External). The Purchase Release Concurrent program inserts records in Requisition Interface. Requisition Import program in Purchasing creates requisition. After requisition is approved, a Purchase Order is created from it and approved and communicated to the supplier. Supplier then ships the items to the customer and notifies the seller that goods have been shipped (via Advanced Shipment Notification) or sends an invoice to seller. Seller then creates a receipt for the PO, which creates inbound and outbound material transactions for accounting purposes. Then an invoice is generated to send to the customer. In case of drop shipments where item is serial controlled, the serial control level of the item determines how the serial numbers are processed at the time of inbound (receipt) and outbound (issue) transactions of the drop shipment. If the item serial number control is set to Dynamic Entry At Receipt or Predefined, then when doing an issue transaction, the serial numbers are retrieved from prior receipt transactions for the same item, warehouse and locator combination. Since no inventory is maintained for items used for drop shipments, the serial numbers are shipped as soon as they are received. If the item serial number control is set to Dynamic Entry At Sales Order Issue, no serial numbers are required at the time of receipt entry. At the time of issue transaction, one serial number per quantity is generated with appropriate prefix defined in the item setup.

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Technical Details

The Order Management API that processes the drop shipments is OE_DS_PVT.DropShipReceive (OEXVDSRB.pls). This API creates reservation, updates drop-shipment workflow and shipped quantity. It is called from inventory transaction processor to handle receipts with inventory destination. The decrement_inventory procedure in oe_ds_pvt inserts records in following tables for issue transactions. All the records inserted in the tables below for a particular transaction have the same transaction_interface_id. MTL_TRANSACTIONS_INTERFACE: For every receipt line (corresponds to records in RCV_TRANSACTIONS) MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS_INTERFACE: For every serial number in receipt (serial controlled items.) MTL_TRANSACTION_LOTS_INTERFACE: For every lot in receipt (lot controlled items).

See Figure 6 for a process flow diagram of the Dropship process for serial controlled items. NOTE: There are other tables used in the process that are not listed here like MLN, MTLI etc. Figure 6 shows only those tables that are most relevant to the process being described.

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Figure 6: Dropship process for serial controlled items

RTI MSN Receiving Transaction Processor Populate Receiving Tables Populate INV Interface and call INV Txn Manager
Inbound Material Transaction for Receipt

MMTT MSN

Save Dropship PO Receipt Populate Receiving Interface tables and call Receiving Transaction

Inventory Transaction Processor

Receiving Transactions

RSH RT

RSL MMT RST MUT

Create Receipt Transaction (increment inventory)

Is interface populated for issue Yes

Outbound Material Transaction for Issue

Return

No

Is this receipt for a dropship PO? Yes

Call OM DropshipReceive API

MTI MSN

Populate INV interface for issue transaction (decrement_inventory)

MMT MUT Call OM process_order API to update the sales

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RECEIVING OPEN INTERFACE SUPPORT FOR SERIAL CONTROLLED ITEMS

Prior to 11.5.10, Receiving Open Interface (ROI) provided limited functionality to import receipts and did not support lot and serial related receipts. Enhancements done in 11.5.10 to ROI significantly improved the functionality supported via ROI. One of the enhancements done was support for lot/serial related receipts. In 11.5.10 and above, suppliers can include lot/serial information in an Advance Shipment Notice (ASN). For lot/serial controlled items, lot and serial information can be defined on all receiving transactions imported through ROI. These include receipts, transfers, inspections, deliveries, returns and corrections. The lot/serial information is optional throughout receiving and is mandatory only at delivery into inventory. NOTE: If lot/serial information is provided for receive and/or accept transactions transactions, then subsequent deliver transaction MUST be entered via ROI too. Users cannot mix ROI and desktop receiving transactions for lot/serial controlled items. To import receiving transactions for lot/serial controlled items, in addition to RCV_HEADERS_INTERFACE (RHI) and RCV_TRANSACTIONS_INTERFACE (RTI), following tables must be populated: MTL_TRANSACTIONS_LOTS_INTERFACE (MTLI) - For lot controlled items MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS_INTERFACE (MSNI) For serial controlled items MSNI.PRODUCT_TRANSACTION_ID links to RTI.INTERFACE_TRANSACTION_ID. MSNI.PRODUCT_CODE should be RCV. See metalink note 301281.1 for sample scripts for inserts into ROI tables for lot/serial controlled items. Also see metalink note 309896.1 for a list of ROI sample scripts for various document types and transactions.

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APPENDIX A - LIST OF TABLES USED IN SERIAL NUMBERS STORAGE AND PROCESSING

MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS This table stores the definition and current status of all serial numbers in Oracle Inventory. These serial numbers are also used in other areas of Oracle Manufacturing. The serial generation program populates this table, given the number of serial numbers to create and the starting number and prefix. MTL_UNIT_TRANSACTIONS This table stores a record of every material transaction of a serialized unit in Inventory. Records are inserted into this table through the transaction processor. Many serial numbers may be specified for a given transaction record. TRANSACTION_ID joins to MTL_MATERIAL_TRANSACTIONS.TRANSACTION_ID when only under serial control. TRANSACTION_ID joins to MTL_TRANSACTION_LOT_NUMBERS.SERIAL_TRANSACTION_ID when also under lot control. MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS_TEMP This table holds temporary serial number transaction records for a parent record in MTL_MATERIAL_TRANSACTIONS_TEMP. Data in this table will eventually reside in MTL_UNIT_TRANSACTIONS after processing by the transaction processor. TRANSACTION_TEMP_ID joins to TRANSACTION_TEMP_ID in MTL_MATERIAL_TRANSACTIONS_TEMP when under serial control. If also under lot control it joins to MTL_TRANSACTION_LOTS_TEMP.SERIAL_TRANSACTION_TEMP_ID. It is possible to have child records in this table without a parent record due to the autocommit feature of the Serial Number Entry form. Periodic deletion of irrelevant data from this table is desired. MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS_INTERFACE - This is the open interface table of serial information corresponding to material transactions posted to Oracle Inventory. The records in this table will be picked up and validated by the Transaction Manager and then transferred to their respective temporary table for processing. MTL_CC_SERIAL_NUMBERS - This table is used to store serial numbers associated to a cycle count entry involving a serialized item. This table is used only when the user has selected the serial control option "Count: Multiple Per Request" in the corresponding cycle count header. RCV_SERIALS_INTERFACE This table holds temporary serial number transaction records for a parent record in RCV_TRANSACTIONS_INTERFACE. Data in the RCV_TRANSACTIONS_INTERFACE table will eventually reside in

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RCV_SERIAL_TRANSACTIONS after they are processed by the transaction processor. . It is possible to have child records in this table without a parent record due to the automatic save feature in the Lot Entry and Serial Numbers forms. The receiving transaction processor deletes orphan rows during normal processing. RCV_SERIALS_SUPPLY This table stores information about the serial numbers that are currently available to transact for intransit shipments. . If you perform an intransit shipment between two organizations that are both under serial control, the receiving transaction processor maintains information about the serial numbers and the lots in which they were issued when the items were shipped. The Lot Entry and Serial Numbers forms use this information to ensure that the same serial numbers that were used for the intransit shipment are also used when you deliver the items to stores in the destination organization. RCV_SERIAL_TRANSACTIONS This table stores information about the serial numbers that are used when entering receiving transactions or intransit shipments.

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APPENDIX B - TROUBLESHOOTING SOME COMMON ISSUES

1. When attempting to use a serial number in a transaction, following error occurs: APP-INV-05577: The serial numbers are not available for use in this transaction This error occurs when the MARK_ID fields in MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS table are populated and not cleared when the transaction using the serial number terminates. See Note 309710.1 for more details on this issue. 2. Unable to see lot/serial information when viewing receiving transactions using Receiving Transaction Summary form. Currently there is no visibility to lot/serial information from Receiving Transactions Summary form. Enhancement Request 6729677 is logged with development for the same. 3. When attempting to deliver an intransit shipment, following error occurs: FRM-40212: Invalid value for field FM_SERIAL_NUMBER Most common reason for this error is missing record in RCV_SERIALS_SUPPLY for the serial number. To check if a record is present in RSS for this serial number, execute the following query: SELECT * FROM RCV_SERIALS_SUPPLY WHERE SERIAL_NUM = &Serial_No AND SHIPMENT_LINE_ID = &Ship_Line_id; &Ship_Line_Id is RCV_SHIPMENT_LINES.SHIPMENT_LINE_ID and its value can be found on the Receipts form by placing cursor on a line and selecting (M) Help > Diagnostics > Examine If a record is present in RSS, but the error still occurs, then check the current status of the serial number. The serial number must have status of Resides in Intransit. See Table 5 If the status is also correct, then verify that the Mark_Id fields are NULL (or 1).

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APPENDIX C - SHORTNAMES OF THE FORMS RELATED TO SERIAL NUMBER SETUP AND ENTRY

INVSDOIO.fmb Inventory Organization Parameters form INVIDITM.fmb Inventory Master Item Form RCVSTDRO.fmb Receiving Options form INVTTESR.fmb Enter Serial Numbers form. This form is called from all transaction forms that require serial number entry. INVSLENT.pll Form Library for serial number entry form INVTTESR.fmb INVITSNU.fmb View Serial Numbers form. This form can be used to view the status of the serial number and its related transactions, if any.

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APPENDIX D - AT A GLANCE.

Serial Number Uniqueness (Org Level Setup) Code Meaning 1 2 3 -1 Unique within Inventory Items Unique within Organization Unique across Organizations None

Serial Number Generation (Org Level Setup) Code Meaning 1 2 -1 At Organization Level At Item Level None

Serial Number Control (Item Level Setup) Control Code Description 1 2 5 6 No serial number control Predefined serial numbers Dynamic entry at inventory receipt Dynamic entry at sales order issue

Serial Number Current Status (MTL_SERIAL_NUMBERS table) Current Status Meaning 1 3 4 5 7 8 Defined, but not used Resides in Stores Issued out of Stores Resides in In-transit Resides in Receiving Resides in WIP

Inventory Receiving Processes for Serial Controlled Items Page 27

Inventory Receiving Processes for Serial Controlled Items April 2008 Author: Sonia Ahmed Oracle Corporation World Headquarters 500 Oracle Parkway Redwood Shores, CA 94065 U.S.A. Worldwide Inquiries: Phone: +1.650.506.7000 Fax: +1.650.506.7200 oracle.com Copyright 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only and the contents hereof are subject to change without notice. This document is not warranted to be error-free, nor subject to any other warranties or conditions, whether expressed orally or implied in law, including implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. We specifically disclaim any liability with respect to this document and no contractual obligations are formed either directly or indirectly by this document. This document may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without our prior written permission. Oracle, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, and Siebel are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.