Merging Item Codes

If items with the same serial number are merged, the item quantities are merged and the serial number is assigned to the combined quantity available. Multiple quantities cannot be issued or sold from the same serial number during the same transaction; however, after the transaction is updated, remaining items with the same serial number can be issued or sold individually.

If an item with a valuation method other than standard cost is merged into a standard item, the value of the item is based on the standard cost of the destination item. Any variances between the value of the merged item and the value of the destination item must be posted manually to the general ledger.

If a nonstandard cost item will be merged into a standard item, the Item Valuation Change Maintenance utility can be used to change the merged item to use the standard cost before the merge takes place. Another method is to reduce the quantity on hand of the merged item to zero before the merge takes place, and then receive the quantity back into inventory after the merge is completed. Either process automatically generates any necessary general ledger postings.

When renumbering an item, items are checked to make sure they exist. Also, you cannot renumber an item that is already renumbered.

The following criteria are also checked when two item codes are selected for merging:

Different standard units of measure

Incompatible costing methods

Both items are sales kits

Both items are bills of material

Items with Standard Cost or Average Cost valuation methods cannot be merged into items with FIFO, LIFO, Lot Number, or Serial Number valuation methods if there are existing quantities on hand for the item being merged. This is because Standard Cost and Average Cost valuation methods do not contain the transaction detail necessary for such a merge. If such a merge is attempted, the process is not permitted, and the Delete and Change Listing will contain an error message.

Items with FIFO, LIFO, Lot Number, or Serial Number valuation methods can be merged into standard or average cost items. The merged items lose their transaction detail (date, lot and serial number detail, etc.), and take on a Standard Cost or Average Cost valuation method.

Items with different units of measure cannot be merged because this would result in an inaccurate quantity on hand. If both items are sales kits or bills of material, one of the kits or bills must be deleted before the items can be merged. When one item is merged with another, all occurrences of that item code in all Inventory files, purchase order lines, sales order lines, sales kits, work tickets, and bills of material are affected.

When one item code (the original item code) is selected to be merged into another item code (the destination item code), the resulting record has the characteristics of the destination item code's files. Exceptions to this include the Last Sold and Last Receipt fields in Item Maintenance, which contain the latest dates from either of the two items. The Last Costs Total field amount is taken from the most recent amount of the items receipt.

Cost (unit cost) and average amount fields are recalculated to contain the weighted average from the two item codes, unless one item code has negative amounts. The cost or average amounts are then taken from the destination item code.

All total and quantity fields (such as Total Qty Available and Reorder Point Qty) on the Reorder Maintenance window in Item Maintenance are recalculated to include the combined totals of both item codes. All other numeric fields are taken from the destination Inventory files.

For more information, see Delete and Change Items.