One-time parts
Parts you typed in by hand and bought for one customer stay out of your parts list. Find them when you need them, keep one as a catalog part, and know when Meridian archives them.
When you buy a part for a customer that isn't in your catalog, Meridian still needs a part record behind it. The record carries what it cost, the special order and the vendor's return window. That record is a one-time part. You never set it up, it is never stocked, and it stays out of your parts list so the catalog holds only the parts you chose to carry.
Where one-time parts come from
- Receiving a typed-in PO line that was ordered for a ticket. If the line names a ticket, or the PO does, receiving it makes a one-time part. A typed-in line on a stock order still becomes an ordinary catalog part, as before.
- Ordering a typed-in ticket line. Choose Order for this ticket on a part you typed onto a ticket. Meridian makes a one-time part from the number and description, or uses the catalog part or one-time part that number already names. See Special orders.
- PartsTech, ordered for a ticket. A part that wasn't in your catalog becomes a one-time part. Bought from a part's own page to restock the shelf, it becomes an ordinary part.
If the part number is already in your catalog, Meridian uses that part. It never makes a second one.
Finding them
One-time parts don't show in Parts & Inventory, in part search on a ticket or PO, or in the search bar. To see them, tick Show one-time parts above the parts list. Each one is labelled One-time. Archived ones are on the Inactive tab, with Show one-time parts ticked, labelled One-time · archived. When a search in the parts list matches only hidden one-time parts, the list says so and links to them.
When you transfer stock, issue parts to a truck or return parts to a vendor, the part picker does find one-time parts, because those screens move parts that are already on a shelf.
Typing a one-time part's exact part number on a ticket line still uses it.
When Meridian archives one
Every night Meridian archives a one-time part once nothing still needs it:
- every ticket it's on is invoiced, closed or voided, and
- no open PO, special order, transfer, vendor return or core still points at it, and
- none is on hand, promised or on order at any location.
It also waits until the part has gone a day without changes. Archiving hides the part. It deletes nothing: its tickets, POs, invoices and history still show it, and reports still count it.
If something needs an archived part again, for example you type its part number on a new ticket, Meridian brings it back.
Keep a one-time part as a catalog part
If you decide to carry a part, open it and choose Keep as catalog part. It becomes an ordinary part: it shows in the parts list and search, and Meridian no longer archives it. To put it on the shelf, open Edit, tick Stocked and set a bin and a min. Marking a one-time part stocked on the edit sheet also keeps it.
To bring back an archived one-time part without keeping it, choose Restore as one-time. Meridian archives it again once nothing needs it.
You need permission to edit parts to do either.
For people connecting through the API: GET /api/v1/parts and the MCP list_parts tool leave archived one-time parts out unless you pass includeArchived=true. Each part carries flags.oneTime and archivedAt.
Parts received, not sold
See every part that came in for a customer and hasn't been billed, how long it has waited, what it's worth and how many days are left to send it back, and get it sold or returned before the vendor's window ends.
Vendor follow-ups
Let Meridian ask your vendors when late and backordered parts will arrive. It drafts one email per purchase order each morning for you to read and send, keeps each line's expected date and what the vendor said, and stops asking after three tries so you know who to phone.