Set the pieces aside.
Keep their records whole.

A preparation decision is different from a melt calculation.

A piece may be unsuitable for intact resale without yet being a refiner shipment. The preparation desk gives that decision an operational record: which whole items were selected, what their saved inspection described and why a manager set them aside.

The supported lot contains one to twenty explicitly reviewed local items recorded as available. Each needs a readable saved inspection containing at least one metal component. Items already under an offer, hold, transfer or another incompatible state do not become eligible just because someone adds them to a draft.

Preparation reserves the whole item record. It does not extract a stone, split a chain, create a new metal quantity or rewrite the original identity. The manager explicitly records that they reviewed ownership for this planning decision; that statement does not independently verify legal title or permission to refine.

The bent chain and the ring still have separate identities.

Consider a hypothetical bent chain that the shop has recorded as available and a stone-set ring being considered for the same preparation lot. Find each by its exact SKU or trusted item link. Review the saved item facts, metal components, stone groups, evidence and photo-reference text before adding it to the plan.

The chain’s recorded weight and purity are observations, not a final assay. The ring’s whole-piece gross includes its stones and any other material. Keeping both in the lot does not justify adding their gross weights and calling the result fine gold or a payable yield.

Record a clear lot label and the reason for preparation. Neither item is chosen by default. A checked source is not automatically added, and checking another item does not replace the earlier reviewed member. If a source changes before preparation, review the changed item rather than silently using a later inspection.

The ring stays a whole ring in this slice. Its stones remain part of that frozen description; no removed-stone inventory record or recovery claim is generated. A whole-piece lot is not evidence that a bench has separated the components.

Reserve every reviewed member, or reserve none.

Preparing the lot changes all eligible members from available to refining reserved in one recorded operation. If a member no longer belongs at this shop, has changed source facts or is no longer eligible, the operation fails as a whole. The operator keeps the selected sources and note for review.

The new state should be visible where another employee looks for the piece. Inventory search and the state filter identify a refining reservation; item records lead back to the preparation desk. Existing identity labels remain price-free. A counter action cannot make a reserved piece available merely by clearing an unrelated stale offer.

New available-at-start counts exclude pieces already reserved when the count begins. An older frozen count can still expect a piece that was available at its own start; a later state change remains an exception to review. It is not silently removed from that earlier roster, and it does not prove a physical shortage.

Release the whole lot only while the pieces remain intact.

A manager can release a preparing lot after reviewing its current head, recording a note and explicitly checking that the whole items remain intact. Every member must still be in the recording shop and in the exact reserved state expected by the lot. An inconsistent member blocks the whole release instead of returning only the easy pieces to available.

For the example chain and ring, a decision to reconsider intact resale can be recorded as a full-lot release while both pieces remain intact. The original preparation still exists. A released lot is terminal in this slice; it is not reopened or edited to conceal an earlier decision.

If a stone has been removed, a piece is missing or a parcel has already been sent away, do not use the intact-release check to make the software agree with a convenient stock state. Those exceptions require operational review. This slice has no partial release, add/remove membership, destructive processing or shipped/received refiner state.

The original action is separate from the latest lot view.

An interrupted response does not tell the manager whether the lot was reserved or released. The open page retains the original command and checks its receipt before offering an identical retry. Typing a later note, selecting another lot or refreshing a source cannot replace that unresolved request.

A confirmed original records the accepted action, immutable member manifest and source references. It does not refresh the selected lot automatically. Read the lot explicitly before reviewing another action; a changed head cannot silently overwrite the earlier review.

The recent list contains twenty lot summaries with truncation explicit. A lot shows up to twenty member summaries, with one full frozen entry opened deliberately at a time. Each entry retains bounded non-monetary item facts, its saved inspection and photo manifest text. Original image bytes are not loaded by that text view or proven available by its hashes.

Recording-store history remains separate from current destination access after a released item is transferred. Old originals retain their saved identity; they do not fetch a destination shop’s current inspection. The small original action receipts and explicit entry views avoid loading every large source snapshot in one response.

Preparation is the first step, not a refiner settlement system.

This workflow does not send a parcel, mark items scrapped, perform a melt, remove stones, receive an assay, calculate payable fine metal, record refiner fees or create a payout. It changes no asking price, cost currency, customer record, estimate, till or accounting balance.

Source limits are explicit: each full item source must fit 256 KiB, and the selected lot’s complete source evidence must fit 2 MiB. An unsupported source or aggregate is rejected whole, without shortening an identity or dropping an awkward member. Read views remain bounded and private.

Bring a representative whole-item lot to a walkthrough. Try a changed inspection, another employee’s transfer attempt, a lost preparation response and an inconsistent release. Confirm the item states and original records before treating a bigger refining process as ready.

Read metal quote and melt assumptions, inspection evidence and inventory and transfers as separate workflows. Current availability and remaining refiner work stay explicit; full Bravo parity is not claimed.