Plataan

Dynamics-NAV built-in Calculator

Recently I discovered something in Dynamics-NAV that I did not know before.

Sometimes you need to perform a minor calculation before you can enter a value in a field. Microsoft Dynamics NAV allows you to enter an expression and calculate the value directly in many of the fields in the program.

To Calculate Values in Fields:

1. Enter an expression in the field.

   You can use the following symbols:

   + (plus)

   - (minus)

   * (times)

   / (divided by)

   The symbols can be combined, but you cannot use parentheses, so you must be careful about how you set up the computation. Multiplication and division will be done before addition and subtraction. You can also perform several calculations in the same field.

2. Press Enter, and the program will calculate the value and enter the result in the field.

So for example if you are creating a Sales Order and for some reason your customer would like to order a quantity of 3+2*4/5 of your Item then you can simply enter this formula in the quantity field and press Enter. Dynamics-NAV will calculate the result and use that as the quantity.

How cool is that ;-)

The Initialization checkmark is grayed out in Reporting Services 2005 Configuration Manager ?

A few weeks ago when I was delivering a Reporting Services training, I noticed that on some of students laptops, sometimes the Initialisation checkmark was grayed out in the Reporting Services Configuration Manager.

You can find it here:

This puzzled me, untill I found the reason.

If you are using the Standard edition of Reporting Services, the initialization pane is grayed out in Reporting Services Configuration Manager. You should still see the checkmark.

This is grayed out because scale out to a web farm is not available in this edition. If the Report Server Windows service is running, it is already initialized.

For more information, please review the information in this link for the full software requirements: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506.aspx

If you would like to install and Configure Reporting Services to Use a Non-Default Web Site, some usefull information can be found here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms155921.aspx

Are resource ledger entries created when posting a resource service line in Microsoft Dynamics NAV?

During a previous training on Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 - Service Management, a student asked me if "resource ledger entries" are created when shipping (posting the shipment) a "service line" containing resource hours.

[I made a small video about this including a quizz :-). I needed to optimize this video for the blog. Because of this you will see that the buttons on the  "quizz screen" have dissapeared a bit. There are 3 buttons below, once you have selected your answer select the second one. After that you receive your result from the quizz and you need to press the last button to the right (or the small part you see of it :-) ). I know, a little bit inconvenient but all begin is difficult. Next time I make a video, I will resolve this.]

Back to the service management reality ...

When you post the shipment of a "service line" with sparepart usage (items), item ledger entries are created because of the posting of the shipment.

For resource usage this is completely different. Resource ledger entries are also created but not when posting the shipment, only when posting the invoice.

What to think about this?

This is in line with the standard. When you post the shipment of a sales order including resources, no resource ledger entries are created untill you post the invoice.

The logic behind this, or the philisopy of NAV, is that you can only ship physical things. Resource time is a service, so not a physical thing.

So this seems to be ok.

For service companies however , this means that when a service engineer reports his hours (resource usage) on the item worksheet (or on paper, then entered by an administrative user) for service hours, that his/her hours will only result in resource hour after invoicing these hours. This does not result in any problems within NAV (even not with the availabilty for the resource) but can be inconvenient when for istance a payroll module or other HR extended functionalities are connected to the resource ledger entries.

However, making sure that resource ledger entries are generated when posting the shipment of a service line can be created easily by referring the booking routine at the right moment to the resource posting part.

New Sure Step Methodology version 1.1 released

An updated version of Sure Step Methodology was released on January 21^st.
What's new?

• A set of new templates targeted at Microsoft Dynamics GP
• Translations of the customer facing templates in the following languages:
  • German
  • Spanish
  • French
• New editor functionality
  • Support for localized versions of Microsoft® Office Visio® 2003 or Microsoft® Office Visio® 2007
  • Template update feature

    this will allow updates to any existing content site with new and/or translated template versions

List of translated Templates in V1.1

The following table shows the templates that have been translated into German, Spanish and French.

Title:	Original Filename:
Project Charter	IMMD_PjMProjectCharter_en_V03.doc
Statement of Work (SOW)	IMMD_PjMStatementOfWork_en_V01.doc
Project Plan Sample	IMMD_ProjectPlanSampleFull_en_V09.mpp
Proposal	IMMD_PjMProposal_en_V01.doc
Gap/Fit Analysis	IMMD_BusinessProcessWorksheet_en_V06.xls
Communication Plan	IMMD_PjMCommunicationPlan_en_V03.doc
Kick-off Presentation	IMMD_PjMProjectKickoff_en_V03.ppt
Issue List	IMMD_PjMIssueList_en_V01.xls
Scope Change Request Log	IMMD_PjMScopeChangeLog_en_V02.xls
Scope Change Request Form	IMMD_PjMScopeChangeRequest_en_V03.doc
Functional Requirements Document	IMMD_FunctionalRequirementsDocument_en_V03.doc

Difference between “Projected Available Inventory” and “Expected Inventory” in Microsoft Dynamics NAV

For everyone working with items in Microsoft Dynamics NAV, retrieving the right available inventory on whatever moment is crucial for the efficiency and trustworthiness of your application. In general the information is shown in the various availability forms offered in Dynamics NAV. One of these forms is the "Item Availability by Location".

In this form you see the "Projected Available Inventory" and the "Expected Inventory". In the screenshot above you can see that there is a difference between these two for Location GREEN. You also see that the difference is 180, which is the "Planned Receipt" for location GREEN. So when you know that the "Planned Receipt" is the quantity of items in the "Requisition Worksheet" or the "Planning Worksheet", you also know what the difference between the "Projected Available Inventory" and the "Expected Inventory" is. So the Expected Inventory doesn't contain the quantities in the "Requisition Worksheet" or the "Planning Worksheet".

I guess you could say that quantities in the "Requisition Worksheet" or the "Planning Worksheet" are still unsure because one could still decide not to make Purchase of Production Orders of them. So from that point of view you could say that we are (relatively) sure of the quantities in the "Expected Inventory" because they only take into account quantities in purchase orders / Production Orders which will be received / produced within the given period.

I think this is an acceptable way of seeing things, but it may be important to pay attention to the fact that the "Available Inventory" in the "Information Pane" of a sales order is the "Projected Available Inventory", so with the unsure quantities in the "Requisition Worksheet" and "Planning Worksheet".