ADR 010: Pooled Inventory - No Lot Tracking
Status: Accepted Date: July 23, 2026
Context
Lot tracking (Chargenverwaltung) records which purchase batch each unit came from, enabling expiry management, recalls and per-lot costing. It was evaluated as a natural next step for an inventory system.
Decision
Stock is pooled. A product’s quantity is one number; sales do not trace to purchase lots. The gross-profit model (ADR 006) already answers the costing question this system asks through per-item price snapshots, without knowing which physical batch left the shelf.
This is a restraint decision, recorded to distinguish “not built” from “not considered”. Lot tracking multiplies the movement matrix, adds a lot dimension to every stock query, and forces an allocation strategy on every sale - cost with no current requirement behind it.
Alternatives considered
Full lot tracking. Rejected now. Adoption triggers are named: expiry-date management, recall traceability, or a genuine per-lot costing requirement. Any of these reopens this decision; none exists in the current scope.
Lot tracking for purchases only. Rejected: half the machinery with none of the traceability payoff - the value materializes only when sales consume identified lots.
Consequences
- The movement matrix stays small and fully testable.
- If a trigger materializes, lots arrive as new tables and new movement semantics - append-only history remains valid, since existing movements simply predate lot identification.