Importing Lot Counts and Keg Serial Numbers
Every inventory item keeps its stock as a list of lots. For most ingredients that is a lot number from your supplier. For kegs with serial number tracking turned on, every keg is its own lot, with its own serial number, so a brewery with 200 kegs has 200 lots on one item. Typing those in one at a time is slow. Import Lot Counts lets you upload a simple file, check a preview, and add them all at once.
When to Use It
Import Lot Counts adds stock to one item you have already created. It is the right tool when you have a long list of serial or lot numbers to bring in, such as an existing fleet of kegs when you switch on keg tracking.
| You want to... | Use |
|---|---|
| Create many different items and their stock from a spreadsheet | Import CSV on the Inventory page |
| Add a long list of serial or lot numbers to one existing item | Import Lot Counts on that item |
| Add a handful of lots by hand | Manually Create Inventory on that item |
| Add new kegs you are buying | Receive them on a purchase order, which numbers them for you. See Track Every Keg with Serial Numbers |
Before You Start
- Your account must be on a paid plan or an active trial, and you need access to the Inventory page.
- The item must already exist. For kegs, open it and check that Enable Customer Deposit and Require Single Item Tracking are both ticked in the Resale settings. With tracking on, the lot column on the item page is labelled Serial Number. See Set Up Deposit Tracking for Kegs and Growlers.
- Know which facility the stock is in. The whole file is added to the facility you choose.
- Have your list of serial numbers ready, one per keg, exactly as they are marked on the keg.
Step 1: Prepare Your File
The file needs a serial or lot number and a quantity on each row. Start from our sample, which holds 24 kegs, and replace the serial numbers with your own.
| Column | Heading Names Recognized | What to Enter |
|---|---|---|
| Serial or lot number | Serial Number, Serial, Lot Number, Lot, Lot Code |
Required on every row. This is the number marked on the keg or on your supplier's paperwork. |
| Quantity | Quantity, Qty, Stock, On Hand |
A number greater than zero. For a tracked keg this is always 1. For a normal ingredient lot it is the amount in that lot, counted in the item's default unit. |
| Cost (optional) | Cost, Unit Cost, Cost per Unit |
What one unit cost you, as a plain number such as 85.00. A leading $ is fine. Leave it out and the lots are added with no cost. |
- When the headings are recognized, the columns can be in any order. If none of them are recognized, BarSight reads the first column as the serial or lot number and the second as the quantity, and treats a first row with a non-numeric quantity as a header.
- Blank rows at the bottom of the file are ignored.
- Separate the columns with commas and save as CSV (Comma delimited). The file name must end in
.csv.
[SCREENSHOT: The keg sample file open in a spreadsheet, with serial numbers in column A and a quantity of 1 in column B]
Step 2: Upload the File
- Navigate to Brewery → Inventory and click the item, for example your 50 L keg.
- In the Counts box, click Import Lot Counts.
- In the Import Lot Counts window, choose the Location the stock is in.
- Under CSV File, choose your file.
- Click Upload.
[SCREENSHOT: Counts box on a keg item with the Import Lot Counts button highlighted, and the Import Lot Counts window showing Location, CSV File and the format notes]
The window also has a link to download the sample file.
Step 3: Review the Preview
Nothing is added yet. BarSight shows every row of your file in a table, with the row number from your spreadsheet and what will happen to it. Above the table, a summary tells you how many rows will be added and how many will be skipped.
- Will be added means the row is fine.
- Rows marked in red are skipped, with the reason beside them. Fix these in your file if you want them included.
- Rows with a note that still say "Will be added" are lots on a normal item that repeat a lot number. They are added as separate lines, which is normal when more of the same lot arrives.
These are the reasons a row is skipped:
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| Missing serial number | The serial or lot cell is empty. |
| Serial number cannot be just 0 | A serial or lot number of 0 is not accepted. Use the number marked on the keg. |
| Quantity must be a number greater than 0 | The quantity is blank, zero, negative, or not a number. |
| Tracked items must have a quantity of 1 | On a serial tracked item, every row must be exactly 1. |
| Cost must be a number | The cost cell contains something other than a plain number. |
| Same serial number as row N in this file | On a tracked item, the serial number appears twice in your file. Only the first is kept. |
| This serial number is already on the item | On a tracked item, that keg is already in your inventory, so it will not be added a second time. |
Because each keg can only be in your inventory once, repeats are caught for you on serial tracked items. Capital letters do not matter, so keg-1001 and KEG-1001 count as the same keg.
[SCREENSHOT: Import preview showing a summary line, several rows that will be added, and two red rows with Skipped reasons]
If anything looks wrong, click Back to Item, correct the file, and upload it again.
Step 4: Import
- Click Import into Database at the top of the preview.
- You are taken to the item page with a message such as "Added 22 lots, skipped 2."
BarSight checks the file one more time as it imports, so clicking the button twice, or uploading the same file again later, cannot add the same keg twice.
Check the Counts Box
Open the Counts box on the item. Each imported row is now a line with its serial number, the facility you chose, a quantity on hand of 1 for kegs, and today as the received date. Lots you have used up stay in the list greyed out at zero, so if you have imported kegs before, count only the lines that show a quantity.
Once your kegs are in, they are ready to use. When you fulfil an order, you will see a checkbox beside each keg so you can pick exactly which ones go out. If some kegs are in the wrong facility, select them in the Counts box and use Bulk Action → Transfer Stock.
Tips and Best Practices
- Copy serial numbers from the keg. Retyping from memory causes mismatches later when a keg comes back. If your kegs are stamped, work from a physical walk-through of the cooler.
- Add a Cost column when you know it. Lots imported without a cost show no cost per unit. A column headed
Costsets it for every row. - Use the facility where the kegs physically are. A keg can only be in one place at a time. Move it with a transfer if it changes.
- Keep serial numbers as text. If your numbers start with zeros, like
00123, format the column as text in your spreadsheet before you type them, or the zeros are dropped. - Number new kegs in a sequence. A prefix and a running number, like
KEG-1001, makes gaps easy to spot. - Read the summary line before you click Import. If the number of rows to add is not what you expected, the red rows will tell you why.
Troubleshooting
Problem: I see "Invalid CSV Upload file (0 rows found), please try again."
Solution: The file is not a real CSV or is empty. Use Save As in your spreadsheet program, choose CSV (Comma delimited), and make sure the file name ends in .csv.
Problem: I see "Please go back and choose a location."
Solution: No location was selected in the upload window. Choose one and upload again.
Problem: I see "Nothing in this file can be added."
Solution: Every row was skipped. Read the Result column, which lists the reason for each. A common cause is a file separated by semicolons instead of commas, which shows every quantity as missing.
Problem: I see "The uploaded file has expired, please upload it again."
Solution: The preview was left open too long, or the import had already finished. Open the item and check the Counts box. If the kegs are not there, upload the file again.
Problem: Every keg is skipped as "already on the item".
Solution: That file was imported before. Check the Counts box on the item, and upload only the kegs that are not there yet.
Problem: I typed a serial number wrong.
Solution: Open the item and edit the serial number directly in the Counts box. It saves when you click away from the field. This works for tracked and untracked items.
Problem: I see "This item is tracked and cannot be manually edited" when I try to fix a keg.
Solution: Quantities on serial tracked items are protected from hand edits so their history stays accurate. Contact support to remove a keg. You can still correct a serial number yourself, as described above.
Problem: I see "You do not have access to change the inventory."
Solution: Your access group does not include the Inventory page. Ask your account owner to update it. See Access Control.