Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Traceability: Lot and Serial Tracking for Recalls

Enable lot and serial traceability

1. 1Decide per item whether you track by batch number, serial number, or both, and decide at which points the number is required.
2. 2Create tracking dimension groups (Product information management > Setup > Dimension groups > Tracking dimension groups) with Batch number or Serial number active, and set the physical and financial inventory options accordingly.
3. 3Set Active in sales process and other process flags on the group so numbers are captured at the sales issue, not just at receipt.
4. 4Assign the tracking dimension group to the released product, ideally before any transactions exist.
5. 5Capture the numbers at receipt (product receipt or inventory registration) and in production (report as finished with batch).
6. 6Record supplier lot references on batch records, plus attributes such as expiry or best-before.
7. 7Test: receive a lot, consume it into a finished good, ship the finished good, then run Item tracing from the raw material lot.

Recall workflow

Common pitfalls

• !Making batch number active at receipt but not at sales issue, so shipments do not carry the lot.
• !Allowing free-text batch numbers with no naming convention, which makes supplier lot matching manual.
• !Merging batches for convenience and losing the lot lineage.
• !Never rehearsing a trace, then finding in a real recall that production consumption was not recorded by lot.