Suppose you’re fulfilling a sales order or receiving a purchase order in your warehouse. What if you could add specific items to the appropriate NetSuite transaction simply by scanning the barcode on the physical item? With NetSuite, you can! Let’s take a look at how NetSuite barcode scanning works.
Setting Up NetSuite Barcode Scanning
Enable the Feature
Before you can use barcode scanning in NetSuite, you need to first enable the Bar Coding and Item Labels feature. You can find this feature in the Items section of the Items & Inventory tab in Enable Features.
What does this feature enable in NetSuite? With the Bar Coding and Item Labels feature, NetSuite will automatically generate barcodes for your items and transactions. You will also be able to print item labels that contain the item’s barcode directly from NetSuite.
Supported Barcode Formats
NetSuite supports three barcode formats: UPC, EAN, and Code 128. You can learn more about each of these formats in this Help Center article. On item records, there is a UPC Code field. For UPC and EAN barcode formats, you would enter the barcode number (either manually or by scanning the barcode on the physical item). If you leave this field blank, then NetSuite will default to the Code 128 format. The barcode format selected on item records is how item labels will display the item barcode when you print the labels.
Using NetSuite Barcode Scanning
After setting up the barcode scanning feature, what does using NetSuite barcodes look like in daily activities?
Printing Barcodes
First, you could print barcode labels directly from NetSuite. Open up any item record and simply select the Print Label button at the top of the record. Selecting this button will prompt NetSuite to open the label as a PDF in a new tab, which you can easily print off.
You can also print labels from transaction records. You would simply open the transaction record that you wish to have labels for and select the Print Labels button.
Printing labels from individual item or transaction records could be incredibly time consuming, though. NetSuite also provides a way for you to print off large batches of labels. Navigate to Transactions > Management > Print Checks and Forms. From the list, choose Item Labels. This will pull up the Print Item Labels page.
On the Print Item Labels page, you can choose which item type(s) you want to see in the list. The majority of the fields at the top of this page have to do with the appearance of the labels themselves. For example, you can decide whether or not you will print the name of the item on the label or whether the item price will be displayed. The field Starting Label allows you to choose where on the initial sheet of labels this batch will begin to print. In the list of items at the bottom of the page, you can select the checkbox under the Print column for each item you want a label for. You can also customize the amount of labels that will print for each item under the No. of Labels column.
Scanning Barcodes
What about scanning barcodes into NetSuite? For example, you may want to do this in order to add items to a transaction or to add items to a transaction queue, such as a queue to receive orders or to fulfill orders. If you plan to use barcodes in this way, then first you need to set your dropdown preferences to 0. This ensures that NetSuite uses popup windows rather than lists as you scan barcodes. You can check that you have the correct preference under Home > Set Preferences.
To add items to a transaction by scanning their barcodes, you would open the transaction and place your cursor in either the Item field or the Select Item Number field, depending on which one the transaction has. Then, scan the item. NetSuite will populate the field with the numerical value of the barcode, as if you had typed in the number. Depending on the configuration of your scanner, you may or may not need to hit Enter to add the item to the transaction. You can enter as many items to a transaction as you need to in this way.
You can also scan items into a queue. For example, you could do this from the Fulfill Orders page. Navigate to Transactions > Order Management > Fulfill Orders. Place your cursor in the Select Order Number field, scan a barcode, and (assuming your scanner software isn’t configured to do this automatically) hit Enter. This will add the item to the list of line items on the Fulfill Orders page. Repeat this process for as many items as you are fulfilling, and then click Submit.
Conclusion
NetSuite barcode scanning gives NetSuite users a simple way to manage their inventory items.
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