Dynamics AX

• Dynamics AX: On Hand Inventory: Table describing the information in Items On hand form
• Troubleshooting Upgrade and CU Batch jobs stuck in a waiting status in Dynamics AX 2012
• Test Data Transfer Tool (beta) for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 [AX 2012]: The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Test Data Transfer Tool (beta) (DP.exe) is a command-line tool that exports data from a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 business database in a production or non-production environment. The tool also imports data into a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 business database in a non-production environment. The non-production environment can be either a development or test environment.
• Dynamics AX 2012 Excel Add-in - Issues and Solutions (Method UpdateRecIdVisibility not found): The purpose of this post is to outline some issues you may encounter when using Dynamics AX 2012 Excel Add-in for import of data and provide solutions to resolve them.
• Overview of Microsoft Dynamics AX build numbers
• Deploy the default cubes [AX 2012]: Microsoft Dynamics AX includes a default project for Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services that you can deploy. This project includes analysis cubes that you can use. You can deploy the project, and the cubes that it contains, by using either the Analysis Services Project Wizard or Windows PowerShell. The procedures explain how to use both methods.
• Walkthrough: Analyzing Cube Data in Excel: You can analyze data by using Microsoft Office Excel to connect to a Microsoft Dynamics AX OLAP cube.

Project Accounting

• Accruals

Functionality

What it does is, when you create a project purchase order, it creates automatically for you a marked item requirement on the project purchase order (and not anymore the annoying virtual inventory transaction which makes upon receipt of the project purchase order, items are consumed immediately on the project).

Upon receipt of your project purchase order, the popup still comes where you can choose to consume the items immediately, but you don't need to do it. Making it possible to ship actually after receipt of your project purchase order, your goods on a latter moment in time and keep it in between in your warehouse (and probably break the marking and reservation so you can use the bought goods for another more urgent project).

Changes in AX 2012 R2

The Item requirements form moved from the Manage to the Plan tab in the ribbon.

You can create Sales orders of Order type Item requirements. As consequence, you can create as many Item requirements Sales orders as you want on the same project. Hence you could group your Item requirements based on Delivery date, and also if that group of item requirements changes of Delivery date, you can simply adapt it on the Sales order heading in stead of having to do it Order line by Order line.
Although you can create Sales orders of Order type Item requirements, you still can’t post the Packing Slip from the Project sales orders form: you still can only book it on the Item requirements form.

Dynamics AX

• Automated Tasks in Workflow in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012: how to configure automated tasks in a workflow
• Project Invoice Proposal Approvals in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2: how to enable/disable project invoice proposals workflow
• X++ Scenarios that are not supported in CIL
• Inventory blocking: how to prevent items currently in a warehouse from being used in standard processes, without using quarantine orders.
• Troubleshooting the product release process
• Costing and inventory closing: Tips on creating item number schemes
• AX 2012 – How to control the visibility of FactBox on form thru X++
• Fixing code caching on AX environment copies
• Picking, Registration, Reservation, Marking… What’s the difference?
• How to: Debug X++ Code in Workflow
• Dynamics AX Workflow Wanderings: Hints and Tips for Dynamics AX Workflow

Supply Chain Management

• How to Design Good Item Numbers for Products in Inventory

I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds great:

The intercompany timesheet feature in Microsoft Dynamics AX makes it possible for a worker who is employed by one legal entity to enter timesheet hours for work performed on projects in a different legal entity, without having to be employed by the legal entity that is managing the project.

The legal entity that employs the worker is called the loaning legal entity. The legal entity that manages the project for which the worker contributes hours is called the borrowing legal entity.

In addition to a cost price, which the loaning legal entity incurs by using the worker, and the sales price, which the customer pays the borrowing legal entity, the intercompany timesheet feature includes a transfer price, which is the amount that the borrowing legal entity pays to the loaning legal entity for the use of its worker.

Method 1: Project sales order

• Item transactions are consumed when the customer project invoice is posted.
• Always billable to the customer, no possibility to set it to non chargeable.
• Possibility of partial deliveries.
• Only possible for time and material projects.
• Missellaneous charges functionality available.
• Discount functionality with trade agreements available.
• Planned issue, so net requirements will decrease upon posting the consumption.

Method 2: Inventory journal

• Item transactions are consumed when the journal is posted.
• Possible to set it as non chargeable, hence not invoicing it to the customer.
• Partial deliveries not possible.
• Possible for all project types.
• Missellaneous charges functionality not available.
• Discount functionality with trade agreements not available.
• Unplanned issue, so net requirements will not decrease upon posting the consumption.

Method 3: Project item requirement

• Item transactions are consumed when the packing slip is updated.
• Possible to set it as non chargeable, hence not invoicing it to the customer.
• Possibility of partial deliveries.
• Possible for fixed-price and time and material projects.
• Missellaneous charges functionality not available.
• Discount functionality with trade agreements not available.
• Planned issue, so net requirements will decrease upon posting the consumption.

Method 4: Purchase order

• Item transactions are consumed on a packing slip update or when the customer or vendor is invoiced. It depends how the purchase order was created: see my post Purchase orders in project management.
• Possible to set it as non chargeable, hence not invoicing it to the customer.
• Possibility of partial deliveries.
• Possible for all project types.
• Missellaneous charges functionality available.
• Discount functionality with trade agreements available.

Project purchase order

• A project purchase order is created directly on the project (Item task > Purchase Order).
• The purchase order has the Project-Id in the header and on each line.
• Something one should be aware of, is that goods NEVER enter inventory for a project purchase order. As consequence they cannot be added into a shipment for example.
• Items are consumed (and hence become visible as project transaction and cost on the project) upon posting the invoice on the purchase order.

Purchase order derived from a project sales order

• Creating such a purchase order is done from a project sales order.
• The purchase order has the Project-Id in the header and on each line.
• Items enter inventory upon posting the Product Receipt. Items are reserved though against the project sales order.
• Items are consumed (and hence become visible as project transaction and cost on the project) upon invoicing the items to the customer (and not upon posting the purchase order invoice).

Purchase order derived from a project item requirement

• Creating such a purchase order is done from a project item requirement.
• The purchase order has the Project-Id in the header and on each line.
• Items enter inventory upon posting the Product Receipt. Items are reserved though against the project item requirement.
• Items are consumed (and hence become visible as project transaction and cost on the project) upon posting the packing slip for the project item requirement (and not upon posting the purchase order invoice).

Purchase orders created through MRP run

A fourth, not mentioned case in the TechNet article, is when purchase orders are created based on planned purchase orders.

Such purchase orders are NEVER project purchase orders.

They could be derived from a project sales order or project item requirement though to cover the requirements. There are though some slight differences with the purchase orders created in a manual way, being:

• There will be no Project-Id in the header or on the purchase order lines if the purchase order is created based upon a planned purchase order.
• Items are not reserved automatically: it depends upon how you executed the firming of the planned purchase order: if you choose to mark, then reservation will be the same as in the cases described above, else it won’t be reserved.

Scenario

1. Hire a new worker by going to Human resources > Workers > Hire new worker. You’ll have to specify a Legal entity in which you are hiring the worker:
   
2. Once you’ve created the worker, change to another legal entity and create a project hour journal. Add a line and try to choose the created worker: it won’t appear.
3. To be able to enter hours for the created worker, go to the worker list page and choose Employment > Employment Details > New and employ the worker in another legal entity:
   
4. Now you’ll be able to enter hours for the worker in the second legal entity.

Solution:

Add a new ProjTable variable to the classDeclaration of the Report ProjInvoice: it will be used to store the value of our currently printed Project.

Create a method on table ProjInvoiceJour to get the ProjId for the currently printed Project Invoice. In this scenario we suppose no Project Invoices are made over multiple Projects, so there is a one to one link between a Project Invoice and a Project (which is not an obligation in Dynamics AX).

display ProjId projId()
{
  ProjInvoiceItem projInvoiceItem;
  ProjInvoiceEmpl projInvoiceEmpl;
  ProjInvoiceCost projInvoiceCost;
  ProjInvoiceRevenue projInvoiceRevenue;
  ProjInvoiceOnAcc projInvoiceOnAcc;
  ProjId projId = '';
  ;

  while select projInvoiceEmpl
    where projInvoiceEmpl.ProjInvoiceId == 
                        this.ProjInvoiceId
    && projInvoiceEmpl.InvoiceDate == this.InvoiceDate
  {
    if (projId && projId != projInvoiceEmpl.ProjId)
      return "";
    projId = projInvoiceEmpl.ProjId;
  }

  while select projInvoiceItem
    where projInvoiceItem.ProjInvoiceId == 
                        this.ProjInvoiceId
    && projInvoiceItem.InvoiceDate == this.InvoiceDate
  {
    if (projId && projId != projInvoiceItem.ProjId)
      return "";
    projId = projInvoiceItem.ProjId;
  }

  while select projInvoiceCost
    where projInvoiceCost.ProjInvoiceId == 
                        this.ProjInvoiceId
    && projInvoiceCost.InvoiceDate == this.InvoiceDate
  {
    if (projId && projId != projInvoiceCost.ProjId)
      return "";
    projId = projInvoiceCost.ProjId;
  }

  while select projInvoiceRevenue
    where projInvoiceRevenue.ProjInvoiceId == 
                           this.ProjInvoiceId
    && projInvoiceRevenue.InvoiceDate == this.InvoiceDate
  {
    if (projId && projId != projInvoiceRevenue.ProjId)
      return "";
    projId = projInvoiceRevenue.ProjId;
  }

  while select projInvoiceOnAcc
    where projInvoiceOnAcc.ProjInvoiceId == 
                         this.ProjInvoiceId
    && projInvoiceOnAcc.InvoiceDate == this.InvoiceDate
  {
    if (projId && projId != projInvoiceOnAcc.ProjId)
      return "";
    projId = projInvoiceOnAcc.ProjId;
  }

  return projId;
}

Call this method in the fetch of the Report ProjInvoice.

...
projInvoiceTable = ProjInvoiceTable::find(
        projInvoiceJour.ProjInvoiceProjId);
// BGN Get ProjId for the ProjInvoiceJour
projTable = ProjTable::find(projInvoiceJour.projId());

projFormLetterReport.loadPrintSettings(
// END
...

Create a method printLinkedDocuments in the Report ProjInvoice.

void printLinkedDocuments()
{
  #WinAPI
  DocuRef docuRef;
  ;
  while select docuRef
  where docuRef.RefCompanyId == projTable.dataAreaId
    && docuRef.RefTableId == tableNum(ProjTable)
    && docuRef.RefRecId == projTable.RecId
  {
    if(docuRef.RecId)
    {
      if (element.printJobSettings().getTarget() ==
          PrintMedium::Printer)
      {
        WinAPI::shellExecute(docuRef.completeFileName(),
          element.printJobSettings().printerPrinterName(),
          ‘’,
          #ShellExePrint);
      }
    }    
  }
} 

Call this method in the fetch method of the ProjInvoice Report.

...
this.printDocumentHeader();
this.send(formLetterRemarks);
// BGN Print documents linked with document handling
this.printLinkedDocuments();
// END

if (element.page() != 1)
{
...

When printing the ProjInvoice Report to a Printer, the linked documents will be printed too: the linked documents will be printed on the default Windows printer of the user.

Project Purchase Orders

A Project Purchase Order can be created directly from the Project form: click Project>Projects>Item task button>Purchase Order.

On Project Purchase Orders, the project number is populated. This seems a minor difference, however a lot of other consequences are triggered by this fact.

The issue inventory transaction generated for a Project Purchase Order is a virtual inventory transaction (Reference is Transaction).

It means the item never arrives in stock. This has import consequences:

• The item cannot be used in Shipment functionality. As it never arrives in stock upon posting the purchase packing slip, it cannot be added to a Shipment.
• The item ordered with a Project Purchase Order will never cover a requirement. So if you have a project item requirement and you create a project purchase order for it, the MRP run will still propose a planned purchase order for the item.

These are major disadvantages of using Project Purchase Orders. Nevertheless there are some advantages of using them:

• The project number allows for easy filtering. Also it is clear for the purchase department for which project the purchase order is intended.
• Upon posting the purchase packing slip, the item consumption is automatic: no need to post a separate transaction to have the item consumption on the project.

Purchase orders

Another way of buying items for a specific project, is using ‘normal’ Purchase Orders.

You can create a ‘normal’ Purchase order from your project item requirement by clicking the Functions button > Create Purchase Order.

A second way is to run the MRP, which will generate a Planned Purchase Order for your project item requirement. You can Firm this Planned Purchase Order into a ‘normal’ Purchase Order. Just make sure you have marking activated during firming.

Both generate a ‘normal’ Purchase Order which is marked to your project item requirement.

This has some advantages compared to a Project Purchase Order:

• No virtual transactions are generated for such a Purchase Order. The item arrives in stock upon posting the purchase packing slip. As such the item can be used in Shipment functionality.
• The Purchase Order will be seen by MRP as a coverage for your project item requirement, avoiding generation of a new Planned Purchase Order. Important to notice here is the condition: it is the Marking which should be activated upon firming.
• Still, the item consumption on the project can be done rather automatic: upon posting the purchase packing slip, a question will be popped up asking if the consumption should be booked right away on the project.
  
   
  Important –again- to notice here is that Marking should be activated upon firming.

Minor disadvantage here:

• Project number is not populated on such ‘normal’ Purchase Orders, so it is less clear for the purchase department to which project the Purchase Order belongs to. Some minor modifications (a new custom field which stores the ProjId) can solve this issue easily.