Item/revision creation wizard (Minor/Major Releases)
In this article
Standard Microsoft Dynamics Business Central only allows for one active BOM and Routing version to be used. In fact, when refreshing a production order, the active version with the highest version code will be used.
In some cases, different versions need to be used for different production scenarios. For instance, when the production planner chooses between internal or external production or between different machines to produce on.
Manufacturing Accelerator enhancements make it possible to define different active versions of the same product, or to define a new version of an existing product.
Moreover, the concept of major and minor releases is introduced.
Two important functionalities are introduced in the Version Management tool:
- The Item/Version Creation wizard
- The Production Version
Setup
Setting up coding systems for items
On the Inventory Setup, a no. series can be entered to create new items, using the no. series relations multiple coding systems can be chosen. Manufacturing Accelerator enables separate coding systems per item category code:
| Field | Description | Function Involved |
|---|---|---|
| Item No. Structure | Defines the way a new item is calculated (*) | Item |
| Major Revision Separator | One or two characters to use as a suffix for major revision items | Major |
| Major Revision Coding System | Can be one of: | Major |
| Numeric(1..9) : Digit from 1 to 9 | ||
| Numeric(01..99) : Two digits from 01 to 09 | ||
| Code(A..Z): One character A to Z | ||
| Code (AA..ZZ): Two characters AA to ZZ | ||
| Minor Revision Coding System | Can be one of: | Minor |
| Numeric(1..9) : Digit from 1 to 9 | ||
| Numeric(01..99) : Two digits from 01 to 09 | ||
| Code(A..Z): One character A to Z | ||
| Code(A..Z): One character A to Z | ||
| Code (AA..ZZ): Two characters AA to ZZ | ||
| Create Variant | Create a variant from a minor revision | Minor |
Item No. Structure
The field has the following functions:
| Plain | The text is copied to the new item no. |
| Category | This code is replaced by the item category code |
| Productgroup | This code is replaced by the item product group code |
| Property(…) | This code is replaced by the new property with code … |
| 99.. 9999999999 | This code is replaced by the last item suffix in this category + 1 |
Note
If the text is available as a no. series code, the no. series will be used to calculate the new item no.
Example 1:
Category-9999:
The string "Category" will be replaced by the category code, for example “SUPPLIES”
The – is plain text and copied to the new item no.
The string 9999 will trigger a filter that looks for the last item with a no. between SUPPLIES-0001 and SUPPLIES-9999, and increased that item no. with 1.
Example 2:
W-<<PROPERTY(MODEL)>>-<<PROPERTY(KLEUR)>>-<<PROPERTY(LENGTH)>>
The strings W- and - are plain text and copied to the new item no.
The string <<PROPERTY(MODEL)>> is replaced by the value of the property with code "MODEL" Same with properties "KLEUR" and "LENGTH"
Calculation of the revision code
| Coding System Numeric 1..9 | 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,… |
| Coding System Numeric 01..99 | 01,02,03,04,05,06,07,08,09,10,11,12,13,…,99,100,101,… |
| Coding System Code A..Z | A,B,C,D,…,Z,ZA,ZB,ZC,ZD,…,ZZA,ZZB,ZZC,… |
| Coding System Code AA..ZZ | AA,AB,AC,AD,…,AZ,BA,BB,…,ZZ,ZZA,ZZB,ZZC,… |
Example 1:Coding system A..Z and separator /
| SUPPLIES-0001 | SUPPLIES-0001/01 | SUPPLIES-0001/02 |
Example 2, Coding system 01..99 and separator ##
| SUPPLIES-0001 | SUPPLIES-0001##01 | SSUPPLIES-0001##02 |
Execution
- Choose the
icon, enter Item - Open the Item page that you want.
- Choose from the ribbon in the action tab and below functions the item/revision creation wizard* functionality.
The Manufacturing Accelerator item creation wizard is shown:The assistant will ask the following questions:
| Template | This will be an existing item that will be copied to the new item, by default, this will be the item the user is positioned on in the item list or item page. Maybe special template items can be created for specific groups of items, containing all necessary setup. |
| Creation Type | Three options: New Item, New Major Revision and New Minor Revision |
| No. Series | To be used to create a new item, if no item no. structure is defined in the item category (see setup) |
| Revision Code | New revision code, used to create major and minor revisions |
| New Item No. | Estimates the new item no. to create, given the current parameters and database situation |
| Properties | When the item has filled in properties, then can be changed here, they can also be part of the item no. structure. The properties can only be change when a new item will be created. |
Creation possibilities
- New Item:
- A new item is created using the No. series or coding system
- The item no. will be "New Item No."
- The template item is copied to the new item using the copy function.
- An initial version record is created.
- New Major Revision
- The revision code is calculated: increment last revision 1,2,.. A,B,..
- A new item is created using the Item No. to revise and the calculated revision code,
- The item no. will be "Item No."-"New Revision Code"
- The old versions are deleted, only the last active version remains.
- New Minor Revision
- A version record is created when ”New Minor Revision” is selected.
- The revision code is calculated: increment last revision 1,2,.. A,B,..
- A new BOM and Routing version are created, a copy of the last active version is made
- A version record is created.
- To process the Item Creation, Click Finish on the Home Tab.
When creating a production order, the version code will be an editable field on header and line level. When the source type is ”Item”, the version code can be entered in the header and the refresh function will copy it to the lines.
The revision list page:
From the item page, the revision list can be called, it shows the created Routing and BOM. Changing the status of the revision will also change the status of the linked Routing and BOM.
- Choose the icon, enter Item.
- Open the Item page that you want.
- Choose from the ribbon in the action tab and below Item the Item Minor Revision.
- If you want to activate the revision, change the status* to ** active.
The revision can be chosen from the production order
Note
When no revision is defined, the first active BOM and Routing are used.
When a revision is defined, the BOM and Routing, linked to the revision, are used.
