Process types and process addresses
In addition to the sale of gemstones, extra4<gemID> also manages processes upstream of the sale, such as trade fair supplies, sales force trips and customer buy-or-returns resp. selections for interested parties. Common to all these processes is the change of storage location for a gem item, i.e. the permanent or temporary removal of a gemstone from the main warehouse.
 
The new storage location is represented in the software by its address, e.g. that of the customer for a sales transaction or the trade fair location for a planned trade fair. Therefore, an address management is integrated into the process management in extra4<gemID>.
 

Handling of processes
The user can define which processes extra4<gemID> should manage. Currently, 4 different process types can be defined in the software. A real business process must be set up under its process type. Its rule-compliant handling is then divided into three sections:

a) Maintenance of processes
Loading the process with gem items, gem sets or already completely filled containers (trays) takes these objects from the main warehouse and assigns them to the process. The allocation of objects is to be understood as a stock transfer and to be regarded like a booking. The booked gems are no longer available for other processes, so they are blocked until they are sold or reversed.

b) Process control - stock control
The item stock of a process can be controlled at any time. Five booking states show in the item directory where an object from the main warehouse is currently located:
• available in the process
• sold
• available in daughter process
• reversed to main warehouse
• lost
 
Depending on the type of process, various frequencies for stock control are conceivable: once for sales processes, twice for buy-or-returns, for trade fair and sales force processes more frequently, e.g. at the end of each day, for particular containers possibly even several times a day. The scanning of the eXtra4 gem code on each item only makes monitoring possible that way. It becomes even more efficient with the additional use of RFID.
 

c) Process closure
Only a rule-compliant closing of an process unblocks its warehouse objects (gem items, sets, containers) and makes them accessible for bookings again. Processes that cause a decrease of the stock, e.g. sales, can be closed per lump sum basis.
The whereabouts of each item is decided individually in case of selective closing. It is mandatory for process that do not cause an immediate alteration in the stock by adding an item, e.g. buy-or-return and trade fair supplies.