EAN product codes
The EAN-13 barcode is a widely used, standardised way of presenting a 12-digit number as a machine-readable barcode. The thirteenth digit is a check digit that confirms the code was read correctly.
Commercial products are often identified by GTIN numbers, which are administered by the GS1 organisation. A GTIN can be shown as digits or as an EAN barcode. In BrewOS you can link the product numbers you have received from GS1 to your products.
Getting started: adding a number range
EAN codes are set up on the EAN codes page, which you reach with the EAN codes button on the product list (products > EAN codes). Every user who manages products can use the page, not only the account owner. The page lists your company's number ranges and, for each range, the number of codes (Numbers), the used ones (Used) and the free ones (Free).
EAN codes are number ranges that GS1 grants to the manufacturing company, so add only your own company's ranges on the page. Other manufacturers' products (e.g. imported or resold products) are not added to the EAN codes; instead, their code is entered on the product page in the Valvira product number field, which is used as the product's Valvira reporting code.
- Press Add EAN number range.
- Enter the first and last EAN code of your number range.
- Press Add.
A number range must contain at least 10 and at most 10,000 numbers. If you have a larger range, contact the service administrators. You cannot add a number range that is already in use, or one that overlaps a range already in use (message "The number range is already in use").
Linking a code to a product
- Open a number range by clicking it in the list. The numbers in the range are shown in pages of 1,000 numbers; change page with the selector below the range name.
- Click a free EAN number. A window opens in which you can either
- write a note for the number and press Save – e.g. if the number has already been used for a product that is not in BrewOS, or
- select a product and press Link. The active, normally filled products can be chosen.
- If needed, select Update the EAN code to the product's tax account events that lack a product number before linking. The code is then added to the product's earlier tax account events that have no product number. Events that already have a product number (e.g. a Valvira product number or a code already reported) are not changed.
A number linked to a product cannot be clicked again. If the code needs to be moved to another product, remove it first and then link it again. If the product already has an EAN code, remove the old code before linking a new one.
A code can also be given to a product elsewhere:
- when creating the product, under Identifier (EAN code from your own number range), see Products, and
- in the EAN and Valvira codes view of the products list, for a product that has no code: type the code or choose Give the next free number. The code is then always also added to the product's tax events that have no product number.
Removing codes and number ranges
- A single code: press ✕ on the code's row in the number range view. The code is released immediately without confirmation, and its link to a product or its note is removed.
- A whole number range: press the range's ✕ in the number range list and confirm. All codes in the range and their links are removed and cannot be restored.
Using EAN codes
A product's EAN code is shown as a barcode on the product's page. BrewOS also uses the code in, among other places,
- invoices and shipment documents,
- the sales catalogue and
- Valvira reporting. If the product has a Valvira product number, Valvira reporting uses it, and uses the EAN code only if the Valvira product number is missing.
A multipack is reported to Valvira and for taxation with the code of the single product. A low fill product uses the code of the normally filled product.