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What is the Shelf Life field on the Part record used for?

  • 2 March 2023
  • 4 replies
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G
Userlevel 3

We are trying to find information on the Shelf Life field on the Part Record.  This field is only 3-digits in length, so you are restricted to a maximum of 999 days.  What is this information used for and where is it used?

We have some metal parts that have a shelf life of 10-years, according to our supplier, but we are restricted to a maximum of 999 days within this field.  If it is not used within Epicor, why is it on the Part record?

If the item is Lot Tracked / Controlled, then having a Lot Expiry date on the Lot record, makes sense, and adds to the confusion of the Shelf Life field on the Part record.

Any insight you might have would be appreciated.

Thanks 

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Best answer by glenn.owers 2 March 2023, 21:36

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Glenn Owers Sr. Business Analyst Safran Electronics & Defense Canada Peterborough, ON Canada Version: 2021.2..23

4 replies

D

We had the same issue.  We put a UD field on Part to store a four digit shelf life.  Then added a data directive on Part Lot to calculate and set the Expiration date based on our custom shelf life. 

G
Userlevel 3

@djonason 

This is the response I got from Epicor Technical Support:

Shelf Life is found in Part Maintenance. Help on this does not give any indication of what this field is used for.

This field only works when you utilize lot tracking for a part. It is used to set the default Expiration Date when a new lot is created for a part. When you set a value into this field, and create a new lot, the logic that is followed for the Expiration Date is:

Date of Lot Creation + Shelf Life (days) = Expiration Date

So, for example, if a part has a shelf life of 7 days, and I create a new lot on 1/1/2009, the expiration date for the new lot will be 1/8/2009.

The Expiration Date field in Lot Number Entry is for reference only. It is not utilized by other areas of the software except for display purposes.

The customer can create a custom report that shows lots that expire on a given date, but there is no "canned" report for this.
 

Glenn Owers Sr. Business Analyst Safran Electronics & Defense Canada Peterborough, ON Canada Version: 2021.2..23
T
Userlevel 3

A bit of additional information for those that may need it in the future as there are other similar posts on the forums.

This field (as with others in the DB) is limited only by the format specified in Extended properties (in this example 3 digits “>>9”).

If you look in the DB you’ll find that this is an integer field so it’s capable of holding a longer number.

You can override the default 3 digits by adding a new format to the Format field in Extended properties (e.g. >>>>9), this will allow you to enter a longer number in the screens where it’s used.

Some of the fields in Kinetic/E10/E9 are unusually short for historic reasons and have not been updated.

The ‘Default Format’ field cannot be edited. Enter a new format in the Format field in the middle section on the right hand side.

Note. There may be some fields or processes that assume that the length of this field is 3 digits. Depending on what format you are updating and as with any changes to your system you will need to test the implications of making a change like this.

D

Tim’s answer is better than mine.  

Tim’s answer is better than EpiCare’s answer.  

I wish I had asked Tim instead of Epicare when we ran into this. 

 

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