Serializing a piece of equipment means assigning a unique serial number to identify and track the

equipment throughout its lifecycle. The prerequisites for serializing a piece of equipment are:

Assign a serial number profile to the equipment category. This defines the rules for creating and

managing serial numbers for the equipment, such as the number range, the check digit, and the

serial number usage. The serial number profile is assigned in the Customizing activity Define

Equipment Categories under Plant Maintenance and Customer Service -> Master Data in Plant

Maintenance and Customer Service -> Technical Objects -> Equipment -> Equipment Categories.

Assign a serial number profile to the related material master. This ensures that the material and the

equipment have the same serial number profile and that the serial number is automatically copied

from the material to the equipment. The serial number profile is assigned in the material master

data in the Plant Data/Stor. 1 view under Serial Number Profile.

Maintain a serial number for an existing equipment master. This can be done either manually or

automatically. Manually, you can enter the serial number in the equipment master data in the Serial

Data view under Serial Number. Automatically, you can link the equipment with a serialized material

and the serial number will be copied from the material to the equipment. This linking can be done

either with a goods movement or manually.

The options that are not prerequisites for serializing a piece of equipment are:

Add a serialized material to the equipment serial data view. This is not a prerequisite, but rather a

possible way to link the equipment with a serialized material and copy the serial number from the

material to the equipment. However, this can only be done if the serial number profile is already

assigned to both the equipment category and the material master.

Assign a serial number profile to an additional business view for equipment category. This is not a

valid option, as the serial number profile is assigned to the equipment category itself, not to any

additional business view.

Reference:

Serial Number Management

Explaining Refurbishment of Spare Parts