Tracing a lot forward and backward

When you need to answer "where did this come from?" or "where did this go?", Crown runs the trace for you. Enter any lot code and Crown follows the recorded links in both directions, so you can investigate a supplier problem or a customer complaint in minutes. This article covers running a trace and turning the result into a record.

Running a trace

1. Open Traceability

   Select Traceability from the main menu.

2. Enter a lot code

   Type any lot code: an ingredient lot, a batch number, or a finished-good lot. Crown resolves which type it is automatically; you don't pick a category first.

3. Read the chain

   Crown draws the full chain around that lot, linking backward to where its inputs came from and forward to what they became.

Crown QMSA resolved trace showing the lot → batch → finished good chain

Backward and forward

A trace reads in both directions from whatever lot you entered:

• Backward: from a finished-good lot to the batch that produced it, and from there to every ingredient lot that went in and the supplier receipt each came from.
• Forward: from an ingredient lot to every batch that consumed it and the finished-good lots those batches produced.

What else the trace shows

Depending on what you traced, Crown adds a summary:

• For an ingredient lot: a mass-balance view of how much you received versus how much was consumed, wasted, and is still on hand, shown as an accountability percentage.
• For a batch: the batch's actual yield against the recipe's expected output.

Exporting a mock-recall record

The trace screen times how long the lookup took and lets you export a mock-recall PDF of the result, a ready-made record you can file for your recall readiness exercises. Exporting it also logs the exercise to your recall plan.

What's next

To understand how the chain is built in the first place, see How lot traceability works. The links come from everyday work: receiving records where lots enter, and assigning lots to a batch records where they're consumed.