Split, merge and process lots

Processing turns lots into new lots. The ledger keeps the link between them, so every new lot traces back to its origin, and a recall of an input reaches everything made from it.

Choose what to do

Open Processing and select Split, merge or process. On a lot's page, use Split or process. Then choose:

• Split a lot: divide one lot into smaller lots of the same product.
• Merge lots: combine lots of the same product into one.
• Process: dry, hull, roast, mill or pack into a new product. Choose the Process: Drying, Hulling, Roasting, Milling, Cleaning, Sorting and grading, Fermenting, Slaughter, Packing or Other process, and the Process date.
• Record in base unit: for a lot recorded in whole tonnes or bags, from before lots were recorded in kilograms. It takes the lot, or part of it, and creates a lot of the same product in its base unit with exactly the same quantity: 1,150 t becomes 1,150,000 kg. Origin, harvest and expiry dates stay the same. The new lot can then deliver any number of kilograms. The lot's page opens this mode with Record in kilograms.

Fill in the form

1. Under Lots that go in, choose each lot (Lot 1, Lot 2…) and the Quantity you take, or All. Use Add a lot for more inputs. When the lots are held in more than one of your places, choose the place under Held at.
2. Under New lots, enter the quantity of each lot that comes out. A split or merge keeps the product of the input; with Process, choose the product of each new lot. Use Add a lot for more outputs (a merge has one).
3. With Process, Who holds the new lots appears: leave it empty to keep them where the inputs are, or choose a Holder and a Place.
4. If a lot rule of your company asks for details on new lots, fill in its section.
5. Add Notes for the approver, check What will happen, and select Send for approval.

Lots can be combined or processed together only when they are held in the same place and recorded on the same ledger. Splitting and merging keep the product; to make another product, choose Process.

Split / merge or processing

The summary of the form says which of the two it is, and the approver reads the same words:

• Split / merge: the new lots keep the same product and origin: every lot that goes in and comes out is of one product in one unit, and the quantities add up. Nothing is made or lost.
• Processing: a new product is made from these lots: another product comes out, so losses are normal.
• Processing: the same product, with a loss or gain: the product stays, but the quantities do not add up, for example after cleaning or sorting. A split or merge must add up: with Split a lot or Merge lots, correct the quantities, or choose Process to record the loss.
• Record in base unit also counts as processing, because the unit changes, even though nothing is lost. It is approved like any processing and may wait for permission to process (below).

Below it, the form shows what goes in and what comes out, for example “1,000 kg in, 950 kg out”.

Mass balance

The form compares what goes in with what comes out, under Mass balance:

• Balanced: the new lots add up to what you take.
• Part of what you take is not assigned to any new lot.
• The new lots exceed what you take: check the quantities before you send it.

For processing, losses are normal: drying or hulling weighs less than the input, and the form shows output divided by input as a percentage (Yield). The approver sees the same figures. The Mass balance and Processing output ÷ input reports in Reports check inputs and outputs over a period.

What is recorded

• The new lots, each linked to the lots it came from, and the process and its date.
• What you take is used up and cannot be used again. Anything you did not take stays in its lot.
• Each new lot keeps the origin of its inputs, so it stays traceable to the farm. When an input came from a supplier's lot, the form says The new lots keep where the inputs come from.
• In Processing, the request shows under Requests and, once recorded, under Done, with the lots in and out.

Waiting for permission to process

Sometimes the lots sit in an account your company keeps for a partner, such as a dryer or a mill. Then the partner's own account records the processing. Nobody holds a standing permission over a partner's lots, so:

• splitting and merging are recorded right away;
• drying, roasting, milling and other processes need a one-time permission first: "Allow ‹partner› to record processing of its own lots".

A-REX prepares that permission when the first processing asks for it, and the owner gives the approval in Approvals with the owner passkey. Meanwhile the processing shows Waiting for the owner, and its steps say Waits until the company may record processing. Once the owner has approved, it continues by itself. See Waiting states.