Expired-lot Policy
The Expired-lot Policy decides what happens when someone tries to issue stock — sell it on an invoice, send it on a delivery challan, or consume it — from a batch whose expiry date has already passed.
It is a business-unit setting, so each business unit can choose how strict it wants to be with expired stock.
The two modes
| Mode | What happens when an expired lot is issued |
|---|---|
| Warn (default) | The issue is allowed, but the operator sees a warning that expired stock is being issued. Nothing is blocked — the warning simply makes sure it is a conscious choice. |
| Block | The issue is refused. The operator must pick a non-expired batch before the document can be saved. |
Start with Warn if you want visibility without interrupting day-to-day work, and switch to Block for items where issuing expired stock must never happen.
What counts as "expired"
A batch is treated as expired when its expiry date is before today. A batch that expires today or later is not expired.
Where to set it
Open Inventory settings for the business unit and choose the Expired-lot Policy — Warn or Block. The choice applies to every stock issue in that business unit.
What is not affected
Some movements are never blocked on expiry, because stopping them would only strand expired stock on the shelf:
- Stock transfers between locations — moving a batch from one location to another is always allowed, whatever its expiry date.
- Returns to a supplier — sending expired stock back to the supplier is a legitimate way to clear it, so it is never blocked.
How it works with batch selection
When the system picks a batch for you, it uses First-Expired-First-Out (FEFO) — the batch closest to its expiry date is used first, so near-expiry stock is used up rather than left to go to waste.
- Under Warn, this is unchanged: the soonest-to-expire batch is still chosen first, and you are simply warned if that batch has already expired.
- Under Block, expired batches are skipped when the system auto-selects, so only non-expired stock is picked. If only expired stock remains, the issue is held back for you to resolve.