Understanding Geographical Restrictions in Beacon
The Geographical Restriction feature allows your organization to designate specific inventory for either Domestic or International use. This ensures that region-locked products are only available for selection in the appropriate geographic contexts, preventing accidental transfers or use in unapproved regions.
What it Means for You
This feature simplifies regional compliance by automatically filtering your inventory search results. You will only see and be able to select items that match the geography of your target destination.
Unrestricted Items: Items with no specific regional tag are considered universal and will always appear in your search results regardless of the location.
Restricted Items: Items tagged as "Domestic" or "International" will only appear when the recipient (User or Facility) shares that same designation.
How to Identify Restricted Inventory
You can quickly identify restricted items through visual indicators in the Console:
Status Badges: Inventory items with restrictions will display a Domestic or International badge or chip in the list view.
Detail View: These chips also appear at the top of the Inventory Detail page for clear visibility.
Filtering: You can use the "Geographical Restriction" dropdown in the inventory list filters to view only Domestic, International, or Unrestricted stock.
Using Restrictions in Your Workflow
1. Creating Transfers
When you select a recipient for a transfer, Beacon checks that user's geographic designation.
Guidance Messages: If you select a recipient designated as "Domestic," a message will appear: "This recipient is designated as Domestic. Only unrestricted and Domestic inventory will be available for selection".
Filtered Selection: In the item picker, any inventory tagged "International" will be automatically hidden to prevent errors.
2. Managing Events
When adding inventory to a Case or Trial event, Beacon matches the inventory's restriction against the Facility's geographical type.
Whether you are adding, marking items as used, or scanning, the system will only display inventory compatible with that facility's region.
3. Containers and Packs
To maintain consistency, contained devices automatically inherit the geographical restriction of their parent container.
If a container is marked "Domestic," all items inside it are treated as Domestic.
If you remove an item from a restricted container, that item will retain the container's restriction as its own setting to ensure it isn't accidentally used in the wrong region.
How to Set Geographic Restrictions for a Product
If you have administrative permissions, follow these steps to apply or update the geographic availability of an inventory item:
Navigate to Inventory: Locate the specific item you wish to restrict by searching the Inventory list.
Open the Item Detail: Click on the item to open its Inventory Detail page.
Locate the Restriction Setting: Find the dropdown menu labeled Geographical Restriction.
Select the Geographic Type: Choose the appropriate setting for the product:
No Restriction: The default setting; this item will be available for all users and facilities.
Domestic: The item will only be visible when transferring to a Domestic recipient or adding it to a Domestic facility event.
International: The item will only be visible for International recipients or facilities.
Save Your Changes: Ensure you save the update to apply the new visibility rules immediately across the system.
Note on Contained Items: You do not need to set these steps for individual items stored within a tray or kit. Devices inside a container automatically inherit the geographic setting of the parent container. If you need to change the restriction for items in a kit, simply update the parent container's setting.
Managing the Settings (Admin Only)
If you have Admin permissions, you can manage these designations on the following pages:
Inventory Detail: Update an item's restriction status via the "Geographical Restriction" dropdown.
User Detail: Use the "International" toggle to designate a team member as an international representative.
Imports: Restrictions can be set in bulk by including the appropriate column in your inventory CSV import template.