Procurement Categories and related setup

1. Procurement categories are setup at Product Management > Setup > Categories > Category Hierarchy.
2. Initially, only category structure is created (as mentioned in step 1) and then the type is assigned to the structure at Product Management > Setup > Categories > Category hierarchy types. This is really weird, as anyone would normally think that the category hierarchy type would be mentioned somewhere in the category hierarchy record, as a drop down. But no, there are fixed system-defined categories, which are mentioned in the path above.
3. The user has to associate the category hierarchy to the category hierarchy type. There are fixed category hierarchy types. They are:
• Procurement category hierarchy
• Sales category hierarchy
• Retail product hierarchy
• Commodity code hierarchy
• Derived financial hierarchy
• Supplemental retail hierarchy
• Retail channel navigation hierarchy
• Management reporter
4. Only one type of category hierarchy is allowed for one category hierarchy type.
5. We are interested in Procurement category hierarchy here in this article. The moment, the category hierarchy is linked to the category hierarchy type, additional fields related to the category hierarchy type, will be displayed on the category hierarchy records. User needs to fill them.
6. Ledger posting setup for procurement categories:
• If the procurement categories are used in project module, for project PO, then the procurement categories needs to be linked with the project categories. Project Category Ledger posting setup will then link this to the appropriate ledger code / account.
• If the procurement categories are used in a stand-alone PO, then the procurement category postings to the appropriate code is to be setup at Stock and warehouse management > Setup > Posting > Posting. In the 'Item code' drop down, apart from the standard 'Table', 'Group', 'All', there is one more option to select 'Category'. This category drop down will then show all the categories created in step 1.
7. Point 6 is all about the postings in the P&L .i.e. Cost postings. The balance sheet posting for a PO will always be Trade / Account payable.
8. This was all about the setup of the procurement category and its posting setup from a standalone PO and Project PO perspective. There is one more point to be discussed and that is invoice matching.
9. Invoice matching setup for procurement categories:
• Invoice matching setup applicable for 'Items' is setup at: Purchase Ledger > Setup > Purchase Ledger parameters > Invoice validation > Price and quantity matching.
• Invoice matching setup applicable for 'Procurement categories' is setup at: Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Policies > Purchasing policies > Policy rule > Category policy rule > Category matching policy.
10. Procurement categories can be accessed from following navigation : Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Categories > Procurement categories.  From this navigation user will not be able to create the new categories in the category hierarchy structure, but will be able to edit certain fields. However there is a button called ' Edit category hierarchy' which when clicked will open open up the category hierarchy structure form (which is same as navigation from step 1).
11. There is one more setup which is different for items and for procurement categories, i.e. over and under delivery.
12. Over / Under deliver settings for:
• Items is at Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Procurement and sourcing parameters > Updates. (Checkbox)
• Procurement categories is at Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Categories > Procurement categories > Under / over delivery (percentage field to be filled in manually)

This was all about main settings related to procurement categories and items and their relationship with the general ledger. Will update this post more, if i find anything worth noting down.

Thanks

Sarang

Set the Cost Price as the Sales Price by default...!

This thing has always troubled me. Whenever i needed to find the related configuration i would always look at the wrong place in the system. The parameter is actually related to supplier invoice and hence i would always search it in Purchase Ledger parameters, Procurement and sourcing parameters, Stock and Warehousing parameters etc. And finally being frustrated would find that under the Project management and accounting parameters.

The parameter i am talking about is, "Set the cost price as sales price by default". This parameter:

• if checked, will make the Sales price field (under the project tab in the pending supplier invoice) non-editable IF THE PROCUREMENT CATEGORY IS SELECTED in the pending supplier invoice line.This parameter does not hold true, if the pending supplier invoice line is for an item and not procurement category.

• if unchecked, will NOT make the Sales price field (under the project tab in the pending supplier invoice) non-editable IF THE PROCUREMENT CATEGORY IS SELECTED in the pending supplier invoice line.This parameter does not hold true, if the pending supplier invoice line is for an item and not procurement category.

Thanks

Sarang

Address Book, Teams and Security

1.      Option opted for – Secure by address book.

2.      When the new entity is created following things are MANUALLY done:

a.      ADDRESS BOOK created for that entity – MANUALLY

b.      TEAM created for that entity – MANUALLY

c.      ASSIGN the created TEAM to ADDRESS BOOK – MANUALLY

3.      When the following records are created, the ADDRESS BOOK is assigned to the records MANUALLY. The address book is the company in which the record is created:

a.      Customers

b.      Suppliers

c.      Trade hierarchy records

d.      Employees

4.      In standard AX, an employee is assigned to the team.

Standard AX

 

However not any user can be assigned to the team. If the user is not associated with the employee, then system throws an error.

Error

 

In standard AX, if the employees are to be added to TEAM, they should be assigned to the USER or else they cannot be selected in the ‘Add team members drop down:

When the ‘SJK SJK’ (employee) is assigned to the USER:

When the ‘SJK SJK’ (employee) is NOT assigned to the USER:

So in effect:

a.      Address Books contains Teams

b.      Teams contains Employees (Associated with Users)

c.      All the AX records (Customers, Vendors, Employees etc) are stamped with the Address Books.

d.      Teams will direct the logic about which AX records should be shown to the employees of that team.

6.      So while debugging, first step is to check the EMPLOYEE’s TEAM, ADDRESS BOOK to which the TEAM belongs and then the AX record’s ADDRESS BOOK.

EMPLOYEE’s TEAM -> ADDRESS BOOK -> ADDRESS BOOK on the AX record

If the ADDRESS BOOK on the EMPLOYEE’s TEAM = ADDRESS BOOK on the AX record, then the AX record should be seen by the EMPLOYEE.

7.      This is also controlled by whether the security roles that are assigned to the USER have access to ALL organizations or specific organizations:

Thanks

Sarang

Copy forecast feature

The standard copy forecast will always copy the forecast from one forecast model into other forecast model in the SAME project, provided the ‘From forecast model’ is used in the project. The standard copy forecast feature will NEVER copy forecast from one project to other project.

However apart from this there are four more filters given namely:

1.      Forecast

a.      Project ID - The standard copy forecast will always copy the forecast from one forecast model into other forecast model in the SAME project, provided the ‘From forecast model’ is used in the project.

b.      Category - The standard copy forecast will always copy the forecast for that category from one forecast model into other forecast model in the ALL the projects, provided that category is used in the ‘From forecast model’ in the projects.

2.      Projects

a.      Project ID - The standard copy forecast will always copy the forecast from one forecast model into other forecast model in the SAME project, provided the ‘From forecast model’ is used in the project.

b.      Project contract ID - The standard copy forecast will always copy the forecast from one forecast model into other forecast model in ALL the projects of the selected project contract, provided the ‘From forecast model’ is used in the projects.

Thanks

Sarang

No Ledger and Never Ledger

No Ledger

The hours journal when posted with a Line Property = Chargeable, will NOT post in GL. The transaction cost will hit the GL only when the transaction will be invoiced / billed (project invoice posting). The project invoice and the cost will be posted to GL on the same voucher.

'Post Cost' routine can also be used to post the cost to GL and then the transaction can be invoiced later. However the cost (which will be posted to GL using the 'Post Cost' routine) will post on a separate voucher than the voucher posted for project invoice.

Never Ledger

Cost will NEVER be posted to GL. Not after the posting of transaction and not after the project invoice. 'Post Cost' routine will also not post the transaction for the project where the cost are set for 'Never Ledger'. However system will simulate the posting behavior in the background for 'Never Ledger' and will complain if the period is closed.

Thanks
Sarang

Pay when Paid : Observations

1. Standard PwP only woks for Project PO's. PO can be invoiced out of project ONLY after it is invoiced. By this i mean, if the PO cost value is 100 and sale value is 150, then unless and until PO is invoiced, user will not be able to raise the project invoice for the sale amount of PO .i.e. 150.

2. After the customer payment and vendor payment in posted in full, the lines (data in PwP screen) still stays in the PwP screen with settled amount displayed in the vendor and customer section.

3. If you reverse the customer payment (i.e. remove the link between the customer invoice and customer payment from 'Closed transactions editing') then on the PwP screen, the 'Payment due' field in the 'Customer invoice' section again starts displaying the amount. But this DOES NOT affect the supplier side, as supplier side payment is already paid. By this i mean, the 'Supplier invoice' and 'Supplier invoice lines' section still displays that the 'Settled amount' is full amount and the 'Ready for payment' in the 'Supplier invoice lines' section displays 'Yes'.

4. If you now reverse the vendor payment also  (i.e. remove the link between the vendor invoice and vendor payment from 'Closed transactions editing') then on the PwP screen, the 'Settled amount' field in the 'Supplier invoice' again starts displaying the 0 (ZERO) amount. But this DOES NOT affect the 'Supplier invoice lines' section. By this i mean, that the 'Ready for payment' is still set to 'Yes' and if the supplier payment journal is created for that supplier, the 'Amount to settle' field in 'Functions > Settlement' for that invoice, displays the entire amount. This actually is a bug.

5. So the whole scenario is that the customer payment and vendor payment against the respective invoices are removed (reversed) and the invoices are again open. However the PwP amount released automatically as a result of customer payment initially, still remains as released and the supplier payment journal can be posted against it, even if the customer invoice is not settled (as a result of reversing the payment).

6. Pay when paid screen will behave exactly same for the 'Negative' invoice (Credit Note), the way it behaves for the 'Positive' invoice. PwP respects the credit note in exactly similar fashion as invoice. This will mean the unless and until the customer credit note is settled, the system will NOT release the supplier credit note for settlement. This is bit strange, but this is how it behaves.

7. Customer invoice can be settled either by customer payment or credit note. PwP will release the supplier invoice line for payment, if the customer invoice line is settled by payment or by credit note. However if the credit note is created by 'Functions - Select for credit note' then the settlement of that credit note against the invoice will NOT release the supplier invoice line for payment. This is a bug which might have been resolved in the recent versions.

8. Supplier invoice and the Customer invoice will be displayed in the transnational currency in the standard pay-when-paid form. For .e.g. if the base currency / company currency is USD, then there are 4 scenarios possible.

• If the Supplier invoice is in USD and Customer invoice is in USD, then the PwP form will display the values in USD for both the supplier invoice and customer invoice.
• If the Supplier invoice is in USD and Customer invoice is in GBP, then the PwP form will display the values in USD for the supplier invoice and will display the values in GBP for customer invoice.
• If the Supplier invoice is in GBP and Customer invoice is in GBP, then the PwP form will display the values in GBP for both the supplier invoice and customer invoice.
• If the Supplier invoice is in GBP and Customer invoice is in USD, then the PwP form will display the values in GBP for the supplier invoice and will display the values in USD for customer invoice.

More points to be added as and when spotted.

Thanks

Sarang

DIXF in a nutshell

The steps to follow for importing the data into AX from an external file (like excel, csv) is as follows:

1. Configure the 'Shared working directory' in the DIXF parameters form and validate it.
2. Create the 'Source data formats'. There are three data formats that can be used: File, AX, ODBC. File is used when you wish to import the data from external file into AX. AX is used when you wish to export the data from AX into external file.
3.Create a 'Processing group' and click on 'Entities'
4. Clicking on 'Entities' icon, the 'Select entities for processing group' screen opens up.
5. Select the entity from the entity drop down.
6.Select the 'Source data format' from the drop down. Select the value created in point number 2.
7. The moment the value in the 'Source data format' is selected, the 'Generate source file' icon on the window gets active.
8. Click the 'Generate source file' icon and a wizard opens up.
9. On the 'Display data' page of the wizard, select the data fields you wish the input data file should have. For the data fields that are mandatory for the selected entity, 'Mandatory' check-box will be checked by default and user will not be able to un-check it.
10. After all the desired data fields are selected, click on the 'Generate sample file' to generate the sample file. The system will generate the sample file based on the 'Source data format' selected for that entity. This can be excel, CSV etc.
11. Save the sample file in the location on the pc.
12. Click 'Finish' on the wizard and the wizard window disappears.
13. Click on the 'Generate source mapping'. The AX will automatically generate the mapping and a message will appear that the mapping is done.
14. If you wish to check and modify the mapping done by the system, click on 'Modify source mapping'.
15. After the user clicks on 'Modify source mapping', a new window appears in which you can see the mapping and modify it. Once the desired edits in the mapping are done, click ok.
16. Load the data on the sample file saved in point 11.
17. On the 'Select entities for processing group' form click on the 'Preview source file'. Once the user clicks on the 'Preview source file' is clicked the data in the file is displayed in the lower pane of the form.
18.Once everything is verified, close the 'Select entities for processing group' form.
19. On processing group form, click on 'Get staging data' icon. System will load the data in the staging table and once successful, a message will be displayed.
20. Click on the 'Execution history' to check for errors.
21. Finally click on 'Copy data to target' and the data will be written into the AX tables. Once done a success message will be displayed on the screen.
22. Similarly the data can be exported out of AX, however for that the 'Source data format' should be AX and not File.
23. 'Export to AX' will create a DAT file on the selected location.
24. 'Export to file' will load the file with the data from AX.
25. There are two more important features in DIXF module and they are: Comparison of data between legal entities in AX and Copying data from one entity to another entity. Those if run are wizards and self explanatory.

For more details on DIXF, please refer to following links:

https://ax.help.dynamics.com/en/wiki/migrating-data-using-the-data-importexport-framework-dixf-dmf/
https://ax.help.dynamics.com/en/wiki/copying-and-comparing-entity-data-between-companies-dixf-dmf/

Thanks
Sarang