Weighing-scale barcodes in Skyline Nexus ERP

Setting up weighing-scale barcodes, in brief

A weighing-scale barcode is a label a shop scale prints on self-adhesive paper: it packs a product code and a weight into a run of digits instead of the fixed pattern an ordinary barcode uses. Skyline Nexus ERP is told, once, exactly how your scale builds that label, so every scan at the till turns straight into the right product and the right weight-based quantity, with no typing.

Behind that one setting sits an exact digit-by-digit rule, not a guess: a fixed number of digits for the product code, a fixed number for the whole-kilogram part of the weight, and a fixed number for the decimal part, with an optional prefix in front of all of it. Get any of those numbers wrong and a scan either points at the wrong product or is refused outright, so this guide works through the rule with real labels before it opens the settings screen.

Before you start

Weighing-scale barcodes only work once three things line up: the physical scale is configured to print labels in a fixed digit layout (its own manual will say how to set the prefix and the code and weight digit lengths), the product being weighed already exists in Skyline Nexus ERP with a numeric SKU that matches the scale's product code, and that product's unit allows decimal quantities. Agree the layout with whoever configures the scale before typing it in, because changing it later means reprogramming every scale to match.

• Permission to open Business Settings (business_settings.access), usually an Admin-role task
• The weighed product's SKU set up under Products, matching the code the scale will print
• The product's unit created under Products, Units, with Allow decimal set to Yes
• Your scale's own configuration screen or manual open, so both sides agree on digit lengths

Turning on weighing-scale barcodes and setting the label format

Open Settings, Business Settings, then the POS tab. In the Barcode Scanning card, tick Enable Weighing Scale; this is what makes the Weighing Scale button and the header's Scale toggle appear on the POS screen. A further card on the same tab, Weighing Scale Barcode Settings, is where the exact label format is described.

These four fields are the entire contract between the scale and Skyline Nexus ERP: nothing else on the label is read, and nothing beyond them matters. Save the settings once for the whole business; every branch's tills use the same format.

• Prefix: any fixed characters your scale always prints first (leave blank if it prints none)
• Product sku length: how many digits, after the prefix, hold the product code (1 to 9, default 5)
• Quantity integer part length: how many digits hold the whole-number part of the weight (1 to 5, default 4)
• Quantity fractional part length: how many digits hold the decimal part of the weight (1 to 4, default 3)

How Skyline Nexus ERP reads a scanned label

Reading happens on the server the moment a label is scanned, in one fixed sequence. First, if a Prefix is configured, the scanned text must start with it exactly or the scan is rejected as Prefix did not match; the prefix is then removed from the digits that follow. Second, the next block of digits, as long as Product sku length says, is read as the product code, with any zeros at the start stripped. Third, the following block, as long as Quantity integer part length says, is read as the whole-kilogram figure. Fourth, the last block, as long as Quantity fractional part length says, is read as the decimal digits of the weight, written after a decimal point. The whole and decimal parts are added together to give the quantity, and the product code is matched exactly against a product's SKU.

Nothing about the price sits on the label at all, only which product and how much of it. The line price is simply that product's normal selling price multiplied by the decoded quantity, exactly as it would be for any other unit sale.

Worked example: a 12-digit label with the factory-default settings

With Prefix left blank, Product sku length 5, Quantity integer part length 4 and Quantity fractional part length 3, a label is twelve digits long with no separators: five for the code, four for the whole kilograms, three for the decimal grams. Take the label 000450001250. The first five digits, 00045, are the product code; with the zeros at the start stripped that is SKU 45, matched here to a tub of feta cheese sold by the kilogram. The next four digits, 0001, are the whole-kilogram part: 1. The last three digits, 250, are the decimal part: point two five zero. Added together, the quantity is 1.250 kilograms.

Skyline Nexus ERP adds that single line to the sale at 1.250 kilograms and the product's normal price, exactly as if the quantity had been typed in by hand; nothing about the twelve digits is stored beyond the product and the quantity they decoded to.

• Digits 1-5 (00045): SKU 45, feta cheese
• Digits 6-9 (0001): whole kilograms, 1
• Digits 10-12 (250): decimal part, 0.250
• Quantity 1 + 0.250 = 1.250 kg; at EUR 12.00 per kilogram the line is EUR 15.00

Worked example: a 13-digit label with a prefix

A business can also configure a Prefix, which adds fixed characters in front and one extra digit to the total length. With Prefix set to the single character 2 and the same 5, 4, 3 digit lengths as above, a label is thirteen digits long. Take 2001280002700. Skyline Nexus ERP first checks that the label starts with 2; it does, so that digit is removed and the remaining twelve digits, 001280002700, are read exactly as in the first example.

If the same thirteen digits were scanned with Prefix left blank, or with a different prefix configured, the first 2 would be read as part of the product code instead, and the scan would either match the wrong SKU or fail outright. That is why the prefix, once agreed with whoever programs the scale, should not be changed without reprogramming the scale to match.

• Prefix digit (2): checked, then discarded
• Digits 1-5 of what remains (00128): SKU 128, beef mince
• Digits 6-9 (0002): whole kilograms, 2
• Digits 10-12 (700): decimal part, 0.700
• Quantity 2 + 0.700 = 2.700 kg; at EUR 9.80 per kilogram the line is EUR 26.46

Selling a weighed item at the POS

Once weighing-scale barcodes are switched on, three routes bring a scanned label into an open sale, and all three decode it the same way. Scanning straight into the ordinary product-search box works automatically only when a Prefix is configured and the scan starts with it; with no prefix, use one of the two dedicated routes instead. The Scale toggle in the POS header opens a separate barcode field built for a scanner, or for manual typing, with its own Submit button. The Weighing Scale button next to the search box opens a small window with the same Weighing scale barcode field and a Submit button, useful when a cashier keys in a label by hand from a torn sticker.

A failed scan tells the cashier why: either the label's prefix did not match what is configured, or no product carries the decoded SKU. Both are configuration mismatches to fix at Settings, not something to work around at the till.

• Scan into the product search box (auto-detected only when a Prefix is set)
• Scale toggle in the POS header, for a dedicated barcode-scanner input
• Weighing Scale button next to the search box, for a manual-entry window

Setting up the weighed product and its unit

A product only behaves correctly at the scale till if two things are set up in advance. Under Products, Units, create or check the unit the weighed product sells in, for example kilogram, and set Allow decimal to Yes; without it, the fractional weight a label carries cannot be recorded on the sale line and is rounded away. Under Products, give the item a numeric SKU no longer than the Product sku length configured, because a longer code will never fit the digits the scale allocates to it.

Weight and price stay entirely separate here: the scale label only ever carries a quantity, and Skyline Nexus ERP prices that quantity at the product's own selling price, so a price change later needs no change to the scale or its labels.

What a weighed sale posts to the ledger

A scanned weighing-scale item is a normal sale line by the time it reaches the general ledger: Skyline Nexus ERP does not treat a weighed quantity any differently from a typed one once the line carries its product and quantity. With Auto-post Sales Transactions on, a finished sale posts revenue and output VAT for that line at the decoded quantity times the selling price, and cost of goods sold at the consumed stock lot's tax-exclusive cost for the same quantity; our guide on how to record a sale walks through that posting line by line.

Take the feta cheese example: at a VAT-inclusive selling price of EUR 12.00 per kilogram and 20% VAT, 1.250 kilograms comes to EUR 15.00, of which EUR 12.50 is revenue and EUR 2.50 is output VAT. If the feta consumed for that sale cost EUR 7.50 at the stock lot's tax-exclusive cost, a finished cash sale posts both halves of the entry below through the same background job every other sale uses; the weighing-scale barcode only decided the 1.250 kilograms that went into it.

• Dr Cash-sales clearing 15.00 / Cr Sales - Deli 12.50 / Cr VAT output 2.50
• Dr COGS - Deli 7.50 / Cr Inventory 7.50
• Check: 12.50 + 2.50 = 15.00; margin on the line is 12.50 - 7.50 = 5.00

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Most weighing-scale problems trace back to one of the four settings not matching what the physical scale actually prints, so check the label's own digits against the settings screen before assuming the product record is wrong.

• Every scan says Prefix did not match: the scale prints a prefix that does not match Weighing Scale Barcode Settings, or the scale prints no prefix and the field should be left blank
• A scan says No Product found with sku: the product's SKU is longer than Product sku length, has extra characters, or does not exist yet under Products
• The weight comes in as a whole number with no decimals: Quantity fractional part length does not match what the scale prints, or the product's unit does not have Allow decimal set to Yes
• Changing Product sku length, Quantity integer part length or Quantity fractional part length after the scale is already programmed: every physical scale must be reprogrammed to match, or scans will misread from that point on
• The wrong item is added for what was weighed: two products share the same digits once the zeros at the start are stripped, for example SKU 45 and SKU 045 read as the same product code

Related reports

A weighed sale shows up in the same reports as any other sale, with no separate weighing-scale report of its own. The Stock Report and Stock Valuation Report in the Inventory Control Centre show the quantity sold in kilograms or whichever unit is configured, the Fiscal Authority's Income Statement and the operational Profit and Loss show the revenue and cost of goods sold it contributed, and VAT Analysis and the VAT Return form show the output VAT. Our guides on stock transfers and adjustments and on how to run a trial balance and balance sheet cover those screens in depth.