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How to Create Setup Questionnaire in Dynamics NAV?

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Tomas

If you would restore a CRONUS database (with intention to check out the Setup Questionnaire which I have mentioned yesterday), you might be a little bit disappointed when you go into Administration > Application Setup > Company Setup > Setup Questionnaire – you can’t find any data!

That is because you need to create (or initiliaze) Setup Questionnaire in the first place.

How to Create Setup Questionnaire in Dynamics NAV?
1. Select a company setup (industry-specific) XML file.
1.1. In Dynamics NAV, click Tools > Object Designer. Click Form and find form ID 8622 Company Setup. Click Run.

1.2. Look up in the Company Type field and select the Industry Type. Click OK to confirm. Then click OK in Company Setup window.

1.3. Click OK when the import is complete.

Note: During the import process, by default 67 tables are populated with industry-specific data.

2. Review Setup Questionnaire Questions.
2.1. Go to Administration > Application Setup > Company Setup > Setup Questionnaire and click Questionnaire > Show Questions.

2.2. You can click F5 to go to the list of Setup Tables.

2.3. Select the relevant area (setup table) and click OK to review questions.

Note: You can add new questions, or change default questions to match customizations on your database.

3. Export Setup Questionnaire to a file (usually, Excel).
3.1. Go to Go to Administration > Application Setup > Company Setup > Setup Questionnaire and click Questionnaire > Export to Excel.

3.2. Enter the File Name and click Save.

3.3. Click OK when export process is completed.

3.4. Open Excel file you just created and review various tabs on the spreadsheet.

Note: You shouldn’t change questions on the file directly. If you notice, that a question needs to be changed, do that in Dynamics NAV and export Setup Questionnaire again.

Technorati Tags: Application Setup, default functionality, interview questions, Setup Questionnaire

What is Setup Questionnaire in Dynamics NAV?

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Tomas

If you are working for end-user company, most likely you have never seen Administration > Application Setup > Company Setup > Setup Questionnaire in Dynamics NAV (and most likely, you will never need to see it). However, if you are Dynamics NAV consultant constantly working with new implementations (or at least, if you are preparing for Dynamics NAV Financials exam), you might have encountered this tool.

To say it in one sentence (as per Microsoft training materials):

The setup questionnaire help reduce the implementation workload by streamlining the task of setting up the new system.

But what does this mean for normal Dynamics NAV users? Well, instead of talking in Dynamics NAV jargon (and instead of having deep knowledge of Dynamics NAV), end-users can answer a set of simple questions, and in doing so, newly implemented Dynamics NAV system will be set up.

There is one questionnaire for each (default Dynamics NAV) industry segment.

And each questionnaire covers the same 10 setup tables, but questions may be different for various industry types.

The setup questionnaire is generated in Dynamics NAV by a consultant (in Excel or XML format), and then it is up to a user to answer the question (to setup their system). Once user has finished, the questionnaire file is imported to Dynamics NAV, and (after a few hours) job’s done – the system is set up without the user even connecting to Dynamics NAV database!

And the best thing about Setup Questionnaire in Dynamics NAV – it is not limited to the predefined number of tables (or questions). Therefore, if you are working with addons (or bigger customizations), you can create your own Setup Questionnaire.

Technorati Tags: default functionality, RIM Toolkit, Setup Questionnaire

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Stockout Warning Field in Sales & Receivables Setup Table in Dynamics NAV

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Tomas

In Stockout Warning field you can specify whether you want the program to warn you when a sale will result in a negative inventory for an inventory item. Dynamics NAV will base its warning on a calculation that includes all posted item entries plus sales order lines that have not yet been posted.

Stockout Warning
The Stockout Warning check box, when selected, specifies that
the program warns the user when there are not enough items on
inventory to fulfill a sales order. The warning is based on a
calculation that sums quantity amounts on all posted item ledger
entries and unposted sales order lines, including reserved
quantities.

To have the program warn you that the inventory will become negative, place a check mark in the check box. However, please note that:

Stockout Warning does not work for “Drop Shipment” lines.
Stockout Warning does not check “incomming” stock from purchase orders.

Technorati Tags: default functionality, Inventory, Inventory Management, Sales & Receivables Setup, Setup

Posted in Dynamics NAV / Navision, functionality | Tagged default functionality, Inventory, Inventory Management, Sales & Receivables Setup, Setup | Leave a comment

Cost is Adjusted Field in Item Table

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Tomas

Cost is Adjusted field contains a check mark if the item’s unit cost has been adusted, either automatically or manually.

By saying “automatically“, I actually refer to Warehouse > Setup > Inventory Setup, fields “Automatic Cost Posting” and “Automatic Cost Adjustment”. Depending on this setup, your item costs might get updated with every transaction posted.

And by “manually“, I refer to running the batch job Financial Manageent > Inventory > Costing > Adjust Cst – Item Entries. It is possible to run this on the Job Queue, hence automatically, however in the context of “Cost is Adjusted” field usage, even if report is executed as a Job Queue task, it is still considered as running the batch job “manually”.

Basically, if “Cost is Adjusted” has a check mark, it means that “Adjust Cost – Item Entries” has been executed recently. If “Cost is Adjusted” field does not have a check mark, it doesn’t mean, that cost for item has never been adjusted. Instead, it means, that there are some new entries, that will need to be adjusted.

Once you execute “Adjust Cost – Item Entries” batch job (and hopefully, you have done it without any filters), all your items should have a checkmark on “Cost is Adjusted” field.

To summarize, the field “Cost is Adjusted” can be used either by user trying to identify if costs for items have been adjusted, or by the system:

when running report 1004 Close Inventory Period – Test, system will check if cost has been adjusted for item and warn a user if it hasn’t been done.
“Cost is Adjusted” field is set to No, whenever system creates a new records that affect Value Entries
“Cost is Adjusted” field is set to Yes, when running “Adjust Cost – Item Entries” batch job.

Technorati Tags: Adjust Cost - Item Entries, Cost is Adjusted, default functionality, Financial Management, Inventory Management

Posted in Dynamics NAV / Navision, functionality | Tagged Adjust Cost - Item Entries, Cost is Adjusted, default functionality, Financial Management, Inventory Management | Leave a comment

Shipment on Invoice Field in Sales & Receivables Setup

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Tomas

Shipment on Invoice Field in Sales & Receivables Setup Table

If you place a check mark in this field, the program will automatically create a posted shipment, in addition to a posted invoice, when you post an invoice.
If you leave the field blank, the program will create only a posted invoice when you post.

What does it mean in simple user-friendly terms? Well, have you ever seen a posted sales shipment for manually posted invoices like:

This sales shipment has been generated automatically, when user went to Sales & Marketing > Order Processing > Invoices, created new invoice for travel expenses, and invoiced it directly from Sales Invoice screen.

If Shipment on Invoice field is unchecked, sales invoice would still be posted, however posted sales invoice would not be generated.

Technorati Tags: default functionality, Sales & Receivables Setup, Setup

Posted in Dynamics NAV / Navision, functionality | Tagged default functionality, Sales & Receivables Setup, Setup | Leave a comment

Writing about Dynamics NAV

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Tomas

It’s very easy to write about Dynamics NAV. Especially, when you breathe it (live with it, work with it, and love it) everyday. You encounter issues you have seen already. You create solutions (or optimize ones) that someone else has already created. You get asked questions that have been asked previously. You work in your own way, and you see other people working in their own way. And all of us arrive at the same destination (hint: go live), even though we might have followed different routes. There is no a good way (well, there might be) or a bad way (well, there obviously is!), but every way is a learning experience which can be shared.

On the other hand, it’s very easy to stop writing about Dynamics NAV. Even too easy (just take a holiday for a week or so). And once you stop, you find so many excuses not to start writing again. Or… to leave it for tomorrow. Or day after tomorrow. Even when your colleague (thanks, by the way!) says “it has been thirteen days now… not good… not good“, you nod in agreement and think “tomorrow!“. But there is no tomorrow. There is only next 15 minutes and what you make out of it.

My original inspiration after coming home from NAV TechDays conference in Antwerp was to write about Dynamics NAV for 365 days. Yes, that’s writing daily about Dynamics NAV. That is the only way of living up to my own proclaimed title – Dynamics NAV Enthusiast.

So, let’s see how far we can get!

Technorati Tags: blog, Dynamics NAV Enthusiast, NAV TechDays

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Credit Warnings Field in The Sales & Receivables Setup Table in Dynamics NAV

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Tomas

In Credit Warnings Field in the Sales & Receivables Setup you can specify whether you want the program to give a warning about the customer’s status when you create a sales order or invoice, or not. I have seen to many times, end-users being blind to warnings (even with written instructions), just clicking OK, to get rid of the form, without actually making a decision (which needs to be made, according the the option selected in the setup).

In the Credit Warnings field, you have following options:

Credit Warnings – Both Warnings

When you use this option, the program checks both the Credit Limit and the Balance Due fields on the customer’s card and gives a warning if the customer has exceeded its credit limit or if the customer has an overdue balance (check below options for more specific details).

Note: It would start with the Overdue Balance check, and then would move to Credit Limit check.

Credit Warnings – Credit Limit

When you use this option, the program compares the value in the Credit Limit (LCY) field on the customer’s card with the customer’s balance and gives a warning if the customer’s balance exceeds this amount.

For example, if we would check Credit Limit (LCY) and Balance (LCY) fields for customer:

We could see, that Credit Limit is almost reached. So, the next time, we create a new sales order, we might get Credit Limit warning:

Note: Credit Limit (LCY) set to 0, means that customer does not have a limit at all, therefore, a warning message would not be displayed.

Credit Warnings – Overdue Balance

When you use this option, the program checks the Balance Due field on the customer’s card and gives a warning if the customer has an overdue balance.

For example, if we would look at customer 50000. We can see, that Customer Limit is not set at all:

But, if we would click on Customer > Statistics (or F9), we would see that Overdue Balance (LCY) is more than 0:

Which means, that when creating a new sales document for this customer, we would get Overdue Balance warning:

Credit Warnings – No Warning

When you use this option, the program gives no warning about the customer’s status. Which means, you can create new sales documents without checking the customer credit limit, not customer overdue balance.

From business perspective, these warnings could be invaluable – each time you create a new sales document, you get an actual view of your customer’s credit standing, and based on warnings you can make instant decisions on how to proceed. However, I have seen so many times, people just ignoring these warning messages (automatically clicking Yes, without understanding the value (or the meaning) of the warning message). In this scenario, if you really do not care about the warning message, it’s better to change setup of Credit Warnings to No Warning. At least then you will be more efficient in entering new sales documents.

Technorati Tags: Credit Limit, Credit Warnings, Overdue Balance, Sales & Receivables Setup, Setup

Posted in Dynamics NAV / Navision, functionality | Tagged Credit Limit, Credit Warnings, Overdue Balance, Sales & Receivables Setup, Setup | Leave a comment

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