Resources
Briefs you can forward today
Written for ops, finance, and QA. No form, no download, about five minutes each.
Executive brief
FDA holds without the broker portal
When FDA flags an entry, three people usually learn it three different ways: the broker emails ops, ops asks the warehouse what’s sealed, and finance finds out when a customer order can’t ship. None of those systems share a lot number.
The job is not “better collaboration.” The job is a single status (held, cleared, in transit) on the same lot that QuickBooks already knows as a PO and receipt.
- Treat the hold as a first-class status, not a footnote in a PDF.
- Keep shipping documents as filed. Merging them into one packet is how you lose the page an inspector asks for.
- Show remaining cases on hand immediately. A hold that has already been billed is a different problem than a hold still sitting in the warehouse.
Lucian reads the broker and QuickBooks so ops does not log into a second portal to answer a question the warehouse already asked twice. See it on a sample lot →
White paper
FIFO vs average cost when inventory is collateral
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is a strong system of record for invoices and receipts. It is a weak system of record for per-warehouse landed cost. Average cost blends warehouses as if freight, duty, and drayage were the same. They are not.
When inventory is pledged to a lender, the number that matters is the layer still sitting in each warehouse, not the blended unit cost on an Inventory Valuation Detail report. Food importers routinely see six- and seven-figure gaps once layers are rebuilt by receipt and site.
- Enter landed unit cost once per receipt, per warehouse.
- Draw sales FIFO from that warehouse’s layers only.
- Leave QuickBooks untouched. Lucian does not write adjustments back.
That is why Lucian is a layer rather than a replacement. Finance still closes in QuickBooks; the borrowing-base conversation can use the layers. See the worked example →
Executive brief
Recall in one search
A recall is not “all paprika.” It is LOT-2291-JC: who was billed, what was disposed, what is still on hand, and which documents were filed at each step. Starting from a SKU export forces QA to reconstruct that chain after the clock has already started.
Importers who already have lot numbers on the PO and the warehouse receipt should not have to join them by hand. Lucian stores the chain in the same place the status lives, so the first search is the usable one.
How lot tracing works →
Guide
Connecting QuickBooks and your broker
Lucian links records by PO, container, and lot number. It never creates, edits, or adjusts a transaction in QuickBooks or at the broker.
Domestic or non-import purchases get a manual-entry path so you are not forced to route everything through the broker. Historical shipments are pulled far enough to cover what’s already on hand; gaps are flagged as reconciliation exceptions, not hidden as errors.
Integrations today: QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise, customs & FDA broker API, EDI via Lingo.
More in the FAQ →