Aura Business holds batch numbers and expiry dates on consumables and reagents, can put the earliest-expiry batch in front of the picker at despatch, warns you while the stock is still saleable, and can tell you which batch went to which customer.
If what you sell has a shelf life, a quantity on hand is not enough information to despatch against. You need to know which batch each unit belongs to, when that batch expires, which batch should go out next, and later, which customer received which batch. Aura Business does this through the Batch and Expiry Tracking module in the Inventory and Warehouse suite.
Two things follow from having batches. Picking can be first-expiry-first-out, so the stock closest to its date leaves first instead of whatever is nearest the door. And traceability works in both directions: from a batch to every customer who received it, and from a customer complaint back to the batch and the supplier it came from.
It is also the one inventory loss that is entirely predictable, and that is what makes it so annoying when it happens.
The cartons at the front of the rack are the ones that arrived last, so the older batch quietly ages out.
A date is noticed while packing an urgent order, and now the order cannot go and nothing was reordered.
Reagents arrive with weeks left on them, the lab refuses them, and the return costs you twice.
The supplier reports a problem with one lot and you cannot say which customers received it.
The expiry loss surfaces once a year in a single unpleasant number.
Customers who need batch details for their own records keep ringing your office for them.
The GRN records batch number, expiry date and quantity for each lot from the supplier.
The batch holds its own quantity in whichever godown or branch it went into.
Stock approaching expiry is flagged while it is still worth selling or returning.
Despatch proposes the batch nearest its date, so old stock moves before new.
Batch number and expiry appear on the delivery challan and tax invoice lines.
Any batch can be listed with the customers it went to, and any customer line traced back to its batch.
Expired stock is removed as a reasoned adjustment rather than an unexplained quantity change.
Workflow: Reagents three months from expiry are flagged, and the sales team is given the list to place with labs that will consume them quickly.
Result: The batch is used while it still has value.
Workflow: The earliest-expiry suggestion is overridden for a customer whose contract needs a minimum shelf life on arrival, and the picked batch is recorded.
Result: No rejected deliveries at the door.
Workflow: The supplier flags a batch; the system lists every despatch that carried it, with customer, date and quantity.
Result: You call the right customers within the hour.
Workflow: Expiry losses are posted month by month as reasoned adjustments rather than discovered at the annual count.
Result: The number is small and explainable.
Lab reagents and kits with short, strict shelf lives.
Disposables, sets and dressings sold in volume.
Machines sold once, consumables sold every month.
Items where batch traceability is expected by the customer.
Chemicals, adhesives and filters with use-by dates.
Problem: A distribution business run entirely on WhatsApp and Excel.
Built: Field app, manager dashboard, GST billing and payment tracking.
Stack: React Native, Supabase, WordPress.
Problem: No online store or way to manage distributors.
Built: Storefront, distributor portal, quote-to-order and 253 SEO pages.
Stack: Supabase, JavaScript, Playwright.
Yes. Each batch holds its own quantity, expiry date and location, so the same product can sit in three batches across two godowns and the system still knows which one should be despatched next.
It is the proposed pick, not a lock. Some customers require a minimum remaining shelf life on arrival, so the picker can choose a different batch and the choice is recorded against the despatch.
Near-expiry thresholds are set to suit what you sell, because a reagent with a short life needs warning much earlier in relative terms than a disposable with a two-year date.
Yes. Batch and expiry carry through from the picked stock onto the delivery challan and the GST tax invoice lines, so customers who need them for their own records get them without ringing you.
Yes. Any batch can be listed with every despatch that carried it, and any invoice line can be traced back to the batch and the goods receipt it came from. See warehouse management.
Serialised machines are tracked by serial number rather than batch, and both models run side by side. Consumables carry batches, capital equipment carries serials. See inventory software.
Tell us how you work today. We will show you what the platform would look like for you, and give you a clear scope and timeline.
Founder-led · Chennai, India · Built and supported by the person who wrote it