Inventory Item Lifecycle
Every inventory item in Tagnet has a lifecycle state that tells you at a glance whether an item is incoming, actively in play, or has left live inventory. This state is separate from the transaction type that caused a change: the state tells you where the item sits in its lifecycle; the transaction type tells you why it moved there.
The Three States
| State | Meaning | Counts as On-Hand |
|---|---|---|
| New | Created but never placed into a tracked location. Covers imported assets, ordered-but-not-yet-received items, or items created ahead of deployment. | No |
| Active | Currently in a tracked location and in play. This is your live, on-hand inventory. | Yes |
| Closed | Has left tracking (shipped, consumed, decommissioned, scrapped, etc.). Retained for history but removed from live counts. | No |
State Transitions
New → Active (first placement into a location)
Active → Closed (close-out transaction: Ship, Consume, Decommission, or any custom close-out type)
Closed → Active (return: any transaction that places the item back into a location)
A few rules to know:
- An item starts as New the moment it is created.
- Placing an item into a location for the first time promotes it from New to Active.
- Once an item has been Active, it never goes back to New. A return from Closed always lands in Active.
- Close-out is triggered by the transaction type you choose, not by leaving a location field blank.
Dispositions: Close-out Transaction Types
A disposition is a transaction type configured with the Removes from inventory (close-out) toggle enabled. When you record a transaction using a close-out type, the item's state becomes Closed and it is removed from its location.
Default close-out types shipped with Tagnet include Ship, Consume, and Decommission. You can also create your own (for example, Scrap, Donate, or Write-off) on the Transaction Types tab of the Inventory page.
Configuring a Close-out Type
On the Transaction Types tab of the Inventory page, open a transaction type and enable the Removes from inventory (close-out) toggle. The caption reads: "When on, using this transaction type closes the item out of live inventory."
Note: Returning a closed item is automatic. Any transaction that places a closed item into a location reactivates it, regardless of which transaction type you use for the return. No separate "reactivate" type is needed.
Recording a Transaction: Move
From an inventory item's detail page, choose Move from the Actions menu to record any inventory transaction, including close-outs and returns.
The Transaction type dropdown shows each type's configured icon and color, and marks every close-out type with a Close-out chip, so you can tell at a glance which types remove the item from inventory before you select one.
The form adapts based on the transaction type you select:
| Transaction Type | Destination Field | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Normal type (Move, Add, Receive, Transfer) | Shown (required to move, optional to clear location) | Item moves to the selected location |
| Close-out type (Ship, Consume, Decommission, etc.) | Hidden (not applicable) | Item is removed from its location and marked Closed |
An info banner appears when a close-out type is selected: "This transaction removes the item from inventory; no destination location is needed." If the item is already at the selected destination, or no destination has been chosen yet for an item that isn't currently located, the sentence above the form explains the situation and Save stays disabled until you resolve it.
Returning a Closed Item
A Closed item can be brought back into active inventory at any time. Select Move, choose a normal transaction type, and pick a destination location. The item becomes Active again, and its location history reflects the return.
Viewing an Item's State
Item Detail Page
The Overview tab on an inventory item's page shows a Status chip in its Basics section. Hover the chip for a short description of what the state means:
| State | Chip Color |
|---|---|
| New | Blue |
| Active | Green |
| Closed | Gray |
Inventory List
The inventory list includes a State column showing a color-coded chip for each item. By default, the list shows only Live items (New + Active). Use the Lifecycle filter to change the view:
| Filter Option | Items Shown |
|---|---|
| Live (Active + New) | All items that have not been closed out (default) |
| Active | Only items currently at a location |
| New | Only items not yet placed into a location |
| Closed | Only closed-out items |
| All | Everything regardless of state |
Location History
On an item's Location History tab, close-out transactions show the disposition name (for example, "Shipped") instead of the standard "Outside inventory" chip used for a blank destination. This makes it clear why the item left inventory rather than just showing a generic "no location" state.
If the tab shows History removed, the item's transaction history was removed by the Closed Inventory retention policy (see Retention of Closed Items).
Retention of Closed Items
Closed items are kept indefinitely by default. An administrator can enable the ClosedInventory retention policy on the Policies page to trim old closed items in two steps, counted from the day each item closed:
- Custom fields: the item's custom field values (and those on its transactions) are cleared.
- History: the item's transactions are deleted, which empties its Location History.
The item itself and its tags are always kept. A tag ID is never handed to another item, so if a shipped item comes back and its tag is read, it still finds its own record and can be returned to inventory as usual. Items that were returned before the window passed are not affected.
Close-out via Movement Rules
Movement rules can close items out automatically when a scan event occurs. For example, a rule can be set to close an item when it is scanned at a shipping dock reader.
There are two ways to configure a close-out rule:
-
Select a close-out transaction type on the rule's Transaction tab. Because the type's lifecycle effect is Close, no destination location is needed. A banner confirms: "This transaction type removes the item from inventory, so it has no destination."
-
Select "Remove from Inventory" as the destination type on the Destination tab, and pair it with a close-out transaction type. This is equivalent to option 1 and is provided for clarity when building the rule.
When either approach is used and the rule fires, the item's state becomes Closed. If the item was at a location, it is removed from that location. If the item was in the New state (never placed into a location), it is closed out directly from New to Closed without a prior location to remove.
See the Movement Rules guide for full details on configuring rules.
Lifecycle in Practice
The table below shows how common RFID workflows map to lifecycle states and transaction types.
| Scenario | Starting State | Transaction Type | Resulting State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asset received at dock, placed into storage | New | Add or Receive | Active |
| Asset moved from storage to production line | Active | Move or Transfer | Active |
| Finished goods scanned out at shipping door | Active | Ship (close-out) | Closed |
| Consumable used from a VMI bin | Active | Consume (close-out) | Closed |
| Decommissioned equipment removed from service | Active | Decommission (close-out) | Closed |
| Tag scanned at exit by a close-out movement rule before item was ever placed | New | Ship or Consume (close-out, via rule) | Closed |
| Returned item placed back on shelf | Closed | Receive or Move | Active |
| Item imported from spreadsheet, not yet tagged | Created | (none yet) | New |
Best Practices
- Define your close-out types before going live. Ship, Consume, and Decommission are seeded, but add your own vocabulary (Scrap, Donate, Loan Out) to match your operation's language.
- Use the Live filter as your default view. The inventory list defaults to showing New + Active items, which is what you need for day-to-day operations. Switch to Closed when investigating what left inventory.
- Automate close-out with movement rules. For shipping doors and consumption points covered by fixed readers, use a movement rule so that scans automatically close items out without manual data entry.
- Don't delete Closed items unless necessary. Closed items preserve your historical record of what was shipped, consumed, or decommissioned. Use the Closed filter to review this history.
- Size closed-item retention to your recall window. If you enable the ClosedInventory retention policy, keep its windows at least as long as your recall, warranty, or regulatory lookback.
- Returns are frictionless. You don't need a special process or transaction type to return a Closed item. Record a Move with any normal transaction type and a destination location.