Before charging out or reserving a physical entity, you can check its current status to see if another user has already charged out the entity. This requires that the physical record or container has a barcode as one of its properties. You can also use this option to see what physical items are in a particular location, provided the location has either a barcode or a description. The barcode can be any text string found in the barcode property of an entity. It does not need to be in any particular barcode format.
It is possible that other users have reserved and are in queue for an entity. If the entity is a container that is currently charged out, you can enter its barcode. When it appears in the results, open the container to see its list of workflows. With appropriate permissions, you can view the work item from this list.
If you know where a physical record is located, you can enter the barcode or description of the location. From the list of entities, click a record's name to display its list of associated work items. Information displayed depends upon your security permissions and security set for the queues.
When you launch a workflow for an entity, it moves through the steps of the workflow as an attachment to that workflow. Therefore, if you want to use the Scan Physical Items feature, ensure that the Attachment tracking feature is enabled using the Process Configuration Console on the Process Engine. Only a records administrator can enable/disable this feature. By default, this feature is enabled. To change the setting, right-click the router in Process Configuration Console and select Properties. Click the Region Configuration tab and then select or deselect the Enable Attachment Tracking check box. For more information, refer to the Process Engine Help.
To scan a physical item
NOTE You can use Crystal Reports to create and print the bar code onto a label, after which you affix the label to the item and then use a keyboard wedge scanner to scan the barcode.