Traceability
Managing inventory and holds
How to read your stock levels, place a lot on hold, record waste, adjust counts, add a manual lot, and manage finished-goods lots.
The Inventory page is your live picture of what's on hand. It tracks every ingredient lot you've received, what's left of each, and when it expires, and it's where you place holds, record waste, and correct counts. Keeping it accurate is what makes lot selection during production trustworthy.
Raw materials and finished goods
Inventory has two tabs:
- Raw Materials: your ingredient lots, grouped by ingredient. This is where day-to-day stock management happens.
- Finished Goods: the finished-good lots your batches have produced, with their lot code, batch, quantity, and status. Bulk left over from a batch appears here as its own lot; when you're ready, use the Package action on that row to turn it into packaged units.
Summary cards
Each tab opens with a row of summary cards above the table. The Raw Materials row shows Value on hand, Below reorder point, Lots on hold, and Expiring within 30 days. The Finished Goods row shows Value on hand at wholesale, Available to ship, On hold or in quarantine, and Expiring within 60 days. Click any card other than the value card to filter the table to what it counts; click it again, or remove its filter chip, to clear the filter.
Reading stock levels
On the Raw Materials tab, each ingredient shows a stock-level gauge against its reorder point, how many lots are on hand, the next expiry date, and a status: In stock, Low stock, Out of stock, or Utility. Click an ingredient to expand its individual lots.
Lot details
Click a lot to open its drawer. You'll see its lot code, quantity on hand, supplier, expiry, storage zone, when it was received, and its documents (this is where a per-lot certificate of analysis lives). The drawer also keeps that lot's waste and adjustment history, and it's where every per-lot action starts. Select Trace at the top of the drawer to trace that lot through production and shipments.
The sections below cover ingredient lots. Finished-goods lots have their own section further down.
Correcting a lot's details
A lot's details aren't read-only. Select Amend details to correct the supplier lot code, the expiry date, or the storage zone: the things most often typed in wrong at receiving, or discovered later on the physical label. Crown requires an amendment reason, and a Change history section in the drawer records what changed, when, and why.
Placing a lot on hold
A hold quarantines a lot so it can't be used until you clear it, for a suspected quality problem, a pending test result, or a supplier issue.
- Open the lot and place the hold
In the lot drawer, select Place on hold and enter a reason. The reason is required; it's recorded with the hold.
- The lot is flagged and blocked
The lot shows an On hold badge with your reason, and Crown won't let it be selected for a batch until you release it.
- Release the hold when resolved
When the concern is cleared, open the lot and select Release hold, then enter the reason you're releasing it. The release and its reason are recorded in the lot's history.
If the lot's hold changes while your form is open, Crown won't save over the change. Check the lot before you try again.
Recording waste
To write off product you've discarded, open the lot and select Record waste. Enter the quantity, choose a reason (expired, damaged, contaminated, spillage, quality reject, overproduction, or other), and add notes. To write off everything left in the lot, select Use all on hand, which fills in the exact quantity on hand. Crown reduces the lot's on-hand quantity and keeps the waste on its history.
Adjusting a count
When a physical count doesn't match what Crown shows, open the lot and select Adjust quantity. Enter the corrected on-hand figure and a reason (count variance, correction, transfer, return, sample, shrinkage, or other). Crown records the before and after so the change is traceable.
In the Adjust quantity form, when the current quantity is shown in kilograms or litres, the unit you count in follows in brackets, for example 9.90 kg (9900 g).
Finished-goods lots
Click a lot on the Finished Goods tab to open its drawer. It shows what's on hand, the lot's stock history (every change to its quantity, from bottling through samples, packs and shipments), its details, and its change history. It has the same actions as an ingredient lot:
- Adjust quantity: enter the actual quantity on hand and choose a reason: Count variance (a count that doesn't match, up or down, with a note), QC sample, Retained sample, Trade sample, or Donated.
- Amend details: correct the lot's best-before date, with a reason. Every lot from the same batch changes together, since they share one lot code.
- Record waste: enter how many were thrown out and choose a reason: Breakage, Expired, Contaminated, or Quality reject. To write off the whole lot, select Use all on hand, which fills in exactly what it holds.
- Place on hold: set the lot aside, with a reason, until you release the hold. See Holding a finished-goods lot below.
Lots counted in packages take whole numbers.
Assembled packs can't be adjusted from Inventory. To undo a pack, void it; see Bundles and assembled packs.
Holding a finished-goods lot
Select Place on hold in the lot's drawer, enter a reason, and select Place on hold again to confirm. Use a hold for damaged or mislabelled stock, a customer complaint under investigation, or any other reason the lot shouldn't be sold yet. The drawer then shows the hold reason and the date the hold was placed. While the hold is in place:
- Orders: Crown doesn't suggest the lot for an order. You can still assign it to one by hand, with a reason.
- Packaging and bundles: it can't be packaged or used in a bundle.
- Batch release: if its batch isn't released yet, releasing the batch leaves this lot on hold.
On the Finished Goods tab, a held lot's status shows on hold, the same as a lot waiting for its batch's release. Open the lot to see its hold reason.
To release the hold, select Release hold, enter a release reason, and select Confirm release. A lot from a released batch becomes available to sell again. A lot whose batch isn't released yet goes back to waiting for its batch's release.
If the lot's hold changes while your form is open, Crown won't save over the change. Check the lot before you try again.
Lots from a rejected batch
When a batch is rejected, its lots go into quarantine. The lot's drawer shows the quarantine reason and offers no Place on hold or Release hold. To clear the stock, select Record waste, or dispose of the batch from its batch page (see Releasing a batch).
Disposing of a batch writes off the stock left in its lots. The write-off appears in the lots' stock history as Quality reject, and their quarantine reason says Batch disposed. Crown won't accept a count that raises a disposed batch's lot.
Adding a manual lot
Most lots enter through receiving, which is the recommended path. For stock that didn't come through a receipt, such as opening balances when you first set up Crown, use Add lot. Enter the ingredient, lot code, quantity, and any expiry, zone, or supplier you have on hand.
What's next
Accurate inventory feeds straight into production. See Assigning lots to a batch for how lots are consumed, and How lot traceability works for how it all connects.