1. In a warehouse management system, a method comprising: receiving a specification of an item from a user of the warehouse management system; receiving control data from the user, the control data indicating whether the specified item is lot controlled, serial controlled, or both lot and serial controlled; receiving a specification of one or more attributes of the item from the user; receiving a specification of a context defined by the one or more attributes specified for the item, the context representing a subset of attributes defined in the warehouse management system, the subset of attributes being specific to the item; storing a database record linking the context to the specified item.