Lots and Spawn

A lot is one record with a count, instead of one record per bag or block. Grain spawn and blocks can be tracked this way. A lot has a code, a stage, and a number of units on hand, split across the places they sit.

This guide covers the daily work on a lot: receiving supplies, moving and counting units, changing stages, reporting contamination, and holding and releasing.

Who can do what

A stage marked Released by a Manager changes this: see Hold and release.

Turn on lot tracking

A Manager or Owner does this once.

1. Open Settings in the sidebar.
2. Find the Lot tracking card.
3. Under New batches are tracked, choose By lot. This turns lot tracking on.
4. Fill in the Lot code format and numbering.
5. Click Save lot tracking.

Once lot tracking is on, the New Batch form has a Tracking choice that starts at By lot. Choose Per unit there for any batch you want tracked one record per block or bag.

Until lot tracking is saved with By lot, the New Batch form has no Tracking choice. Choosing Per unit on the Lot tracking card doesn’t turn tracking on; on a farm that already tracks lots, it asks you to confirm turning lot tracking off.

Receive supplies

Register a supplier lot

Use this for material you buy in, such as millet or bags, so you can trace which batches used it.

1. Open Traceability in the sidebar and click Supplier lots.
2. In Register a lot, fill in:
   • Name (for example, Millet) and Arrival date. These are required.
   • Supplier, Supplier lot no. and Expiry, if you have them.
3. Click Register. You see Registered.

You attach supplier lots to a batch when you create it (Supplier lots (optional)) or later on the lot page. To see where a supplier lot went, see Traceability and Recall.

Create a lot of spawn or blocks

A Manager or Owner creates the lot as a batch.

1. Open Batches and click New Batch.
2. Choose the Block Type: Grain Spawn or Substrate Block.
3. Under Tracking, choose By lot.
4. Fill in Item type, Units in this lot, and Starting location (or leave it Not placed yet). Leave Lot code and Lot number blank to have them made from your farm’s lot code format.
5. For grain spawn, fill in Spawn generation when the form shows it (1 = G1, 2 = G2). It shows when no item type is picked, or when the item type you picked was saved with no generation of its own. If you picked the spawn this lot was made from and that spawn has a generation, you can leave it blank: the lot is one generation on from that spawn.
6. Click Create Batch.

If you leave Spawn generation blank and nothing else gives one, the form says Say which generation this spawn is (1 = G1, 2 = G2). Type the generation and click Create Batch again. You don’t need it if you type your own Lot code, or if the lot code format for that item type doesn’t print the generation.

Generation on every lot

Your farm can require a spawn generation on every lot of chosen item types, block types included. A Manager or Owner turns this on:

1. Open Settings and find the Lot tracking card.
2. Under Lots of these types must record a spawn generation, tick each spawn or block type that needs one.
3. Click Save lot tracking.

Nothing is ticked at first. With nothing ticked, only a spawn lot whose lot code prints the generation needs one, as above.

For a ticked type, every new lot needs its generation, even when you type your own Lot code and whatever the type’s code format prints:

• Spawn types: fill in Spawn generation (1 = G1, 2 = G2), or pick the spawn the lot was made from if that spawn has a generation recorded.
• Block types: the form shows a Generation box. Pick the spawn the lot was made from under Made from spawn. If that spawn has a generation recorded, the box fills in on its own: blocks from G2 spawn are generation 3. If not, type it.

If nothing gives a generation, the form says This farm records a generation on every [type] lot and the lot is not made. Planning a NOC day is held to the same rule: a block row of a ticked type needs a spawn picked that has a generation recorded.

You can find a lot again under Batches, or under Inventory in the Lots card.

To make a whole NOC day of numbered lots in one step, see Recipes and Planning a NOC Day.

Locations

The lot page has a Where the units are card. It lists each Location with its Units, plus a Not placed row for units that have no place yet.

The first place is the Starting location. After that, units change place with Move, or during a stage change.

Under it, the Room readings card shows each place’s sensor readings for the time the lot has been there. See Room Readings.

Move units

Use Move to send some or all of the units at one place to another place. The stage does not change.

1. Open the lot.
2. Click Move, or the small Move button on a row of Where the units are.
3. Pick From and To.
4. Enter the Quantity. It shows Up to the number of units at that place.
5. Add a Note if you want, then click Confirm move.

Move is turned off when the lot has no units on hand.

Units an order named under Ship from stay at that place: a move can take only the units above what the order named there. The same goes for Change stage when you also pick a new place: it moves every unit at the old place, so it is refused while an order has units named there. If you try to take more, the move is refused and the message names the order. Ship or release the order first, or move units from another place.

Correct the count

When the number on hand is wrong, a Manager or Owner adjusts it.

1. Open the lot and click Adjust.
2. In Change (negative to lower), enter how many units to add, or a negative number to remove.
3. Pick where the units are taken from or put.
4. Fill in Why (required).
5. Click Confirm adjustment.

An adjustment counts toward this month’s usage.

Use, sell and return units

• Use records units used for something on the farm, for example spawn going into a batch. Workers can record a use up to 7 days back; older dates need a Manager.
• Sell records units sold. Return puts sold units back.

A return takes the units off Shipped in the lot’s Quantities, so a lot that shipped 10 and had 5 returned reads Shipped 5 (5 returned), while its order still lists the 10 that went out. Until you click Show older to the start of the history, the page can only count the returns it has loaded and says at least 5 returned.

Available on the lot is what you can use, sell or discard: units on hand minus units reserved for orders, minus units In transit on a transfer between sites. The Use and Sell boxes stop at that number and say what is held back. Units an order named under Ship from can’t be used or sold from that place either; the message names the order.

To send units out on a customer’s order, add them on the order’s Fulfill tab instead, so the recall names the customer. A lot can go out on several orders, part now and the rest later: see Lots on Orders.

Change the stage

The whole lot changes stage together. To end a lot, use, discard or sell its units instead.

1. Open the lot and click Change stage.
2. Pick the Stage.
3. Optionally choose Move the units to (optional), or leave Leave them where they are. If the lot is in more than one place, choose Which units move.
4. Answer the QC check if the stage you are leaving has one. See QC Checkpoints and Release.
5. Fill in any readings the stage asks for, and a Note. If the lot is leaving a stage early, the note asks Why leave … early? and is required.
6. Click Confirm stage change.

The stages offered are the ones your farm set up for that item type.

Report contamination

Discard contaminated units

1. Open the lot and click Discard (or Compost, if that is your farm’s word).
2. Enter the Quantity and pick a Reason. If you pick Other, add a note.
3. Pick Take from if the lot is in more than one place.
4. Click Confirm discard.

The units leave the lot and the loss is recorded.

You can discard up to Available: units reserved for orders and units in transit are held back. A unit lost or damaged on a transfer is the exception: pick In transit under Take from and you can discard up to what is on the truck. Adjust works the same way. A discard that would take units an order named under Ship from, or more than the order leaves free, is refused and the message names the order. Release the order’s units first if they really are lost.

Report contamination on a lot a Manager releases

In a stage marked Released by a Manager, a Worker doesn’t see Discard. They see Report contamination instead.

1. Click Report contamination.
2. Enter the Quantity, and pick What did you see? if it is offered.
3. Optionally pick Where (optional) and add a Note.
4. Click Report.

The units stay where they are and the lot is flagged. You see Saved and flagged, and a Manager has to discard the units.

While a lot is flagged it can’t be sold, used, put on an order, or picked as the source of a new lot. It shows Flagged on Inventory.

Clear a flag

If the lot was checked and is fine, a Manager or Owner clears the flag.

1. Open the lot and click Clear flag.
2. Fill in Why (required).
3. Click Clear flag.

Hold and release

A Manager or Owner sets these per stage, under Configuration > Item types, by editing the item type and ticking the box on the stage.

• Hold: not usable yet. Units in this stage can’t be used or sold, by anyone. On the lot page, Sell and Use are greyed out, with a line saying the stage is a hold stage. The units can still be moved, change stage, or be discarded. These lots appear in the On hold card on Inventory.
• Released by a Manager. Below Manager, the lot page hides Change stage, Sell, Use and Discard, and says the stage is released by a Manager. Workers can still Move units, Return them, Report contamination and Print labels.

There is no separate release button. A Manager or Owner releases a lot by using Change stage to move it on. To print a sign-off sheet, see QC Checkpoints and Release.

Putting a lot on hold

A hold stage is a stage marked Hold: not usable yet on the item type. A Manager or Owner can move a lot into any hold stage of its type at any time, even when your farm’s stage rules only let lots move forward. This is how you hold a lot that was already released, for example during a recall.

1. Open the lot and click Change stage.
2. Pick the hold stage, add a Note saying why, and click Confirm stage change.

A hold is not a release, so when a Manager or Owner moves a lot back to an earlier hold stage, they aren’t asked the QC check of the stage the lot is leaving, even when that stage requires one. Moving forward into a hold stage still asks it. The same goes for Change stage on a lot in the phone app. The lot’s history shows the stage change with Hold at the start of the note. Workers can’t make this move; they get the usual message that the move is not allowed.

A held lot can’t be sold, used, put on an order, or picked as the source of a new lot. A spawn lot flagged for contamination can’t be picked as a source either, until a Manager clears the flag. To release the lot, a Manager moves it on with Change stage.

When something goes wrong

• “Couldn’t finish: … Press Confirm again to retry” — the connection or server failed. Press Confirm again. It won’t be recorded twice.
• “This lot changed while you were typing” — someone else changed the lot. Check the refreshed numbers and confirm again.
• “Lot … changed since it was scanned: now 20 units (8 at Rack 1, 12 at Rack 2), Incubating; you confirmed 10 at Rack 1. Scan it again.” — a move, stage change, discard or use sent from a scan station or phone found the lot different from what the screen showed when it was confirmed. Nothing was changed. Scan the lot again and redo the action with the numbers it shows now.
• “This lot is at more than one place. Pick where these units come from.” — choose the place under Take from or Which units move.
• “Only N units of lot … are at location …” — the place has fewer units than you entered. Lower the quantity or pick another place.
• ”… promised to order(s) SO-…” or ”… allocated to order(s) SO-…” — those units are held for that order. Take from another place, or ship or release the order first.
• Sell and Use are greyed out, or ”… can’t be used.” or ”… can’t be sold.” after you confirm — the lot is in a stage marked Hold: not usable yet. Change it to the next stage first, or ask a Manager.
• ”… is released by a Manager.” — ask a Manager or Owner to change the stage, use, sell or discard.
• “Flagged for contamination” — a Manager has to check the lot and clear the flag before it can be sold or used.
• “That spawn lot was flagged for contamination; pick another source.” — the spawn lot you picked under Made from spawn is flagged. Pick another lot, or ask a Manager to check it and clear the flag.
• “Transition from … to … is not allowed” when you pick a hold stage — only a Manager or Owner can move a lot back into a hold stage.
• “Workers can record a Use up to 7 days back.” — ask a Manager to record the older date.
• A button is missing — your role can’t do that action, or the lot is used up, discarded or voided. A used-up lot only allows Return and Adjust.

With an AI assistant

A connected assistant can open a lot or a batch the way its page does, through the batch_get tool: units on hand by place and stage, its newest history, yields, and whether it is on hold. It can also tell you what is in a room or on a rack with location_contents. Ask it something like “How many units of the grain spawn lot from Monday are left, and where are they?”