Questions on this requirement for asset entry

[thomaskennedy]

I have a requirement taking shape as follows:

A user will be working in a stockroom, getting newly arrived equipment (anything from laptops to routers to power equipment) into inventory. It will always be hardware. So the general idea is, they will always be doing an insert on alm_asset or alm_hardware.

However it is possible the table already has a row matching that serial number. So the first thing the user will do is check if there is already a record matching that serial number. It is likely they will use a scanner to get this, however the scanner might be broken/missing or the scan might fail to pick up the serial number, so they must have the option to type in a value.

I want to let them type a partial value, say five characters. When they have reached the minimum length I want to run a search and return possible matches grouped by (Model Category?). This preview should be as easy to read as possible - cards would be good, or a list preview. Clicking on an entry should open a simplified view of that asset, to make it easy for the user to understand if this asset is already in inventory. I do not want the whole asset form displayed, only a simplified form, showing those same fields the user would be filling out if they wind up creating a new asset around this serial number. Backspacing over the serial number will clear the preview.

Once the user has performed this search, whether they clicked on a matching record or not, they should have the option to do start filling out a new record by clicking on a Model Category from a list. Doing this will open an input form with that value preselected. (So there's no 'New' button.) But I do not want the whole asset form displayed, only a simplified form. When they do this, the preview list is cleared.

When they've filled out the form and it passes input validation, they can save it, and the UI should switch back to "Type a serial number" mode. If the newly created record remains open, it should be in read mode. They have to type a serial number in the input field, up the minimum length, to see the Model Category list again.

The goals are to:

Reduce the probability of creating an asset that matches an existing serial number

Get the data entered as consistently as possible

There's a lot of 'state' in this requirement. I can do it in UI Builder, but does Platform already have something like this? If not, can it be done in Platform?