What is a Item Tracking in Business Central?

Business Central's system for assigning and tracking serial numbers, lot numbers, and package numbers on items.

Item Tracking in Business Central allows you to assign serial numbers, lot numbers, and package numbers to items throughout the supply chain — from purchase receipt to inventory to sales shipment. This provides full traceability for regulated industries, warranty management, and recall scenarios.

During a purchase receipt, you can assign tracking numbers to incoming items either manually or by scanning barcodes. BC enforces tracking rules based on the Item Tracking Code assigned to each item — some items may require serial numbers, others lot numbers, and some may need both.

Item tracking integrates with warehouse management, quality control, and expiration date tracking. When combined with goods receipts, it ensures that every unit received can be traced back to its purchase order, vendor, and lot — critical for industries like food, pharma, and electronics.

Related terms

• Goods Receipt — The process of recording received items against a purchase order in Business Central, updating inventory and triggering accruals.
• Warehouse Receipt — A warehouse-level document in BC for receiving goods, used when advanced warehouse management features are enabled.
• Vendor (Supplier) — A company or person from whom you purchase goods or services, represented as a Vendor Card in Business Central.
• Purchase Order — A formal document sent to a vendor to order goods or services, with agreed quantities, prices, and delivery terms.

How Zentriq helps

Zentriq's AI tools automate many of the manual processes around item tracking in Business Central. Learn about the Zentriq Agent or try Zentriq PunchOut to see how AI simplifies procurement in BC.