Lot genealogy and traceability

Lot genealogy is the record of which material lots went into a finished batch — and which finished batches a material lot ended up in. It is what makes a fast, accurate recall possible.

How genealogy is built

Every time you issue a material to an issued batch record, Fiddle captures the specific lot consumed and ties it to the batch (lot) number of the finished product. Completing and signing the record locks that link permanently.

Trace in two directions

Direction	Question it answers
Backward (where-used input)	Which raw-material lots are in this finished batch?
Forward (where-used output)	Which finished batches contain a given raw-material lot?

Forward tracing is the recall case: if a supplier flags a bad ingredient lot, you can find every finished batch — and every customer shipment — that used it.

Traceability is only as good as your lot discipline. Issue the actual lot consumed at each step, not a generic placeholder, or the genealogy will be wrong.

Multi-level traceability

When a batch consumes a sub-assembly, genealogy follows the chain through every level. A finished good links to its intermediate batches, and those link down to their own raw-material lots — see assemblies and sub-assemblies for how staged builds work.

Run a periodic mock recall: pick a raw-material lot and trace it forward to every shipment. It is the best way to confirm your records hold up under an audit.

Next steps

Strong genealogy starts with good procedures that tie each step to the materials it consumes.