Introduction
Once manufacturers add Products/SKUs, and publish them, this information becomes part of the Global Equipment Database. Equipment owners can search this database, find the product/part number they own, view specifications, and ‘add-to-inventory’.
If they are adding their existing equipment, or newly bought, ‘non-smart’ equipment, they can enter the serial number, batch/lot number, date of manufacture, expiry date, etc.
The user experience for Smart PPE™ is much more rapid and 100% accurate. A user scanning a 2D code or NFC tag, also searches the same global database, but directly lands on the right product data, with the serial number, DOM, batch, lifespan & expiry all automatically available, ready to add to inventory at a click of a button.
This guide explains how products and serials appear in the database and how they are used across the platform.
How Products and SKUs Appear in the Global Database
Every SKU added by a manufacturer becomes searchable in the Scannable platform.
Equipment owners can:
Search for a product/SKU by part number, product name or description
View product specifications and descriptions
Add the product to their inventory adding serial number and other data
This allows end users to identify the correct product before adding it to their equipment lists.
Adding a Product (Without a Serial)
When an equipment owner selects a SKU from the database, they see:
Product information
Specifications
Any components or parts that make up the product
Manufacturer details
At this stage, the product is only a template—it does not represent a physical item.
Because of this, users typically enter a serial number, but are not required to do so.
Users may also enter:
Batch number
Date of Manufacture
Date of First Use
Expiry date
Any other required identifiers
The item is then visible within the user’s inventory, with the unique information saved at the ‘item level’ and the SKU information linked and visible, but not saved at the item level.
This means any product data updates made by Manufacturers will be inherited by all Equipment Owners and reflected in their inventory.
How Serialised Items Appear
When a manufacturer creates serials, you are linking the product template to the serial, creating ‘items’. Each item gains a unique record in the global database.
These unique records contain:
Serial number
Batch number
Manufacture date
Link to Product/SKU data
A Safety status
A unique scannable URL
If an equipment owner searches for a serial number (for example, printed on a rope label):
Scannable returns every item across all manufacturers with that serial number
Serialised items look similar to product templates but include their unique serial number
Adding a Serialised Item to Inventory
If a manufacturer has already created the serial, the equipment owner does not need to type in any serial information.
They can:
Scan the NFC tag on the label or
Enter or search the serial number
Scannable then displays the exact item record, which can be added to inventory in one step.
NFC Tag Integration
If the manufacturer uses Scannable NFC labels:
Each label contains an embedded NFC tag
The tag is pre-programmed with a unique URL
Scannable’s NFC Label Printers, scan and link the NFC tag’s URL to the item record in our database, adding the NFC’s new URL as an additional ‘alias’.
Users scanning the tag instantly retrieve the corresponding serialised item
This ensures accuracy when adding items to inventory and prevents duplicated or incorrect serial entries.
Summary
SKUs become searchable product templates in the global database
Serialised items appear as unique, trackable records
Equipment owners can search by part number or serial number
NFC tags allow instant lookup of manufacturer-created serials
If you need help ensuring your products and serials appear correctly in the global database, our team can help configure and verify your data.