General Business Functionality#

The following features expand standard Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central¹ functions to provide additional options to those using General Business Functionality.

Contact management#

As an addition to standard marketing functionality, the contact management feature provides salespeople and purchasers alike with the option of creating cockpit views that include every relevant piece of information stored about a contact.

Each view can be customized to meet a specific user’s requirements. You can also directly add certain actions to a view.

Setup#

To specify what information and functions should be part of the cockpit:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter User Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. Select a user and choose Edit on the ribbon.
3. On the Cockpit View FastTab, specify what you want to display, such as marketing functions and sales documents if you’re a salesperson.
4. On the Cockpit Actions FastTab, select what actions are required in the view, depending on whether the cockpit is used in sales or purchasing.

Contact card#

Each contact card now shows the information and actions that you specified.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Contacts, and then choose the related link.
2. This opens a list on which organization contacts are shown in bold. The people associated with the relevant organization are shown underneath, in standard font. Double-click an organization.
3. Go to the FastTab called Contacts (which was added to the card) to see the people linked to the company contact.

Contacts#

Ribbon actions#

On the ribbon, you’ll find the functions that you specified in User Setup on the Cockpit Actions FastTab.

Contact Statistics#

Found on the right-hand side of the card, this FactBox displays the marketing activities and sales documents linked to the contact. You can click a value to open the data records associated with each of the fields.

Forecast#

Also on the right-hand side, you can see the current sales opportunities linked to the contact and the sales quotes related to those opportunities.

Translate resources and work types#

As companies are increasingly branching out into markets around the world, texts for resources and work types must be translated as well. They can be found both on the Translations page and on purchase and sales documents.

Setup#

You can store translations of resources and work types as base data. To set up a translation:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Resources or Work Types, and then choose the related link.
2. Open a resource or work type card.
3. Choose Translations on the ribbon and enter a language code in the Description field.
4. Fill in the remaining fields as necessary.

Use a translation#

When you enter a resource on sales documents, the system checks whether a translation has been specified for the resource in the language entered on the sales header.

If a translation is found, it is entered in the Description and Description 2 fields on the sales lines. If none is available for a language code, the standard text is used. The same is true for work types when you enter a type on a purchase or sales document.

Edit text#

In the standard system, long paragraphs are broken up into smaller segments and distributed onto multiple lines. Because of this, you can’t simply copy and paste larger bodies of text, which might make adding notes to documents a tedious and cumbersome task.

The solution to this has been to develop an easy-to-use text editor for copying and pasting extended and document texts without line breaks. As an example, to create an extended text (see also Extended Text), you can do the following:

1. Write a note, for example, in Microsoft Word.
2. Open the Extended Text page.
3. Choose Manage > Formatting Editor on the ribbon.
4. Use the copy-and-paste function to copy the note from Word.

You can also enter a beginning or ending text on a document line.

1. Open a document.
2. Go to the Lines FastTab.
3. Select the line for which you want to enter text.
4. Choose Related Information > Document Texts > Beginning or Ending Text on the ribbon.
5. On the Document Text card, choose Formatting Editor.
6. Enter a text manually or copy and paste one that you wrote earlier.

To have the text printed on certain documents, select the relevant Print fields on the line that you entered the text on.

Extended text#

Besides using standard functionality to add item descriptions to a document, you can now also specify text that you want shown on headers and footers or before and after a line on a document.

Document texts that you want to enter at the line level, that is, as beginning or ending texts, can be specified as early as setting up items, resources, or G/L accounts. At the header level, you can store these texts as early as setting up a customer or vendor.

Create an extended text#

To create an extended text:

1. Open the card of an item, resource, G/L account, vendor, or customer.
2. Choose Extended Text on the ribbon.
3. Enter a text on a line.
4. Fill in the Starting Date and Ending Date fields if you want to make the text available only during a certain period. You can also select the All Languages checkbox if you want it shown regardless of the language code stored for a customer’s or vendor’s documents.
5. You can then select other checkboxes on the line to specify on which kind of purchase or sales document you want the text to be shown.

Afterward, you can choose between three options in the Use as Document Text field as described in the following table.

In the Position field, you can choose whether the extended text should appear as a beginning text at the top of documents or above a description of an item, a resource, or a G/L account—or as an ending text at the bottom or below any of these descriptions. To put an extended text on a document:

1. Open a document.
2. Go to the Lines FastTab.
3. Choose Functions, and then choose Insert Ext. Texts.

Document starting and ending dates#

Although you can use standard functionality to specify how long an extended text assigned to base data should be displayed on documents, the availability of a certain text is only checked when you create a document but not when its content is copied to another type of document or when it is still open after the last date on which to include the text has passed.

As a result, printouts might contain lines that should no longer be available. To remedy this situation, the starting and ending dates assigned to a text are now automatically copied to the Beginning Text or Ending Text page or to the lines of a document when extended text is being added.

The system then checks these dates when you run the Copy Document action or choose Create Sales Order on a sales quote, for example, to determine if a certain text line should be retrieved at all.

Advertising groups#

Besides adding extended texts to vendor, customer, and other documents, you can assign them to advertising groups.

Advertising groups are used to store extended texts for multiple or all vendors or customers, for example, to inform about company holidays, physical stock-taking periods, and trade shows. To set up a group:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Advertising Groups, and then choose the related link.
2. Choose New on the ribbon to create a new advertising group or choose Edit to change an existing group. You can also choose Delete if you want to remove a group from the list.
3. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

To assign an extended text to an advertising group:

1. Select a group.
2. On the ribbon, choose Extended Text.
3. Choose New and enter a text.

For more information on how to create a text module, see Extended Text.

Position numbers#

You can also assign position numbers to lines to structure a document.

You can enter numbers manually in the Position No. fields on document lines. Alternatively, you can run the Assign Position Nos. function from the ribbon to have numbers assigned automatically.

How position numbers are assigned can be specified in Purchases & Payables Setup or Sales & Receivables Setup as described in the following table.

Print Line#

To cut down on paper usage, lines without price information can be removed from printouts. To hide a line, open a document, go to the Lines FastTab, and select the relevant line. Afterward, clear its Print Line checkbox.

Print Line Break#

For layout purposes, a page break can be added to printouts by selecting Print Line Break on a document line.

Structure documents#

You can now structure purchase, sales, and service documents more easily by adding a heading to a document line or by having certain lines form a subtotal or bundle (with per-line prices not being shown). You can also assign a position number to each line.

To structure a document, you need to fill in the Type field on the relevant lines. The options of the field are described in the following table.

Manufacturing date / subcontracted lot#

Besides using standard item tracking functionality, you can now store the manufacturing date and the external lot number for an item.

Setup#

You can store the date when an item was manufactured or the lot number that a supplier used for it together with the standard item tracking code.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Item Tracking Codes, and then choose the related link.
2. Choose New on the ribbon or select a code and choose Edit.
3. Fill in the fields as necessary. On the Misc. FastTab, turn on the Manual Prod. Date Required or the Manual External Lot Required toggle, or both, to specify that the field(s) must be filled in for tracking codes.

Assign a tracking code#

To assign a tracking code to an item:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Items, and then choose the related link.
2. Choose New on the ribbon or select an item and choose Edit.
3. Go to the Item Tracking FastTab and fill in the Item Tracking Code field.

You can assign a code to any outgoing or incoming document. For a posted entry, a posted tracking code is stored retroactively. See the standard online help for more information: Trace Item-Tracked Items.

Block an item or a variant#

Sometimes, business decisions might lead you to block items from use within sales and purchasing (but not in service, for example). To block an item in a specific area:

• Open an item card.
• On the Item FastTab, turn on the Blocked toggle that corresponds to the area where you don’t want the item to be used.

(For more information, see Block Base Data.) You can also block a variant of an item partly or entirely.

• On the item card, choose Related > Item > Variants.
• Select a line with a variant and select the Blocked fields that correspond to the areas where you don’t want the variant to be used.

Variants can be blocked in the following areas:

• Sales
• Purchasing
• Service
• Manufacturing
• Item journals
• Transfer orders
• Projects
• Assemblies

In purchasing, the system checks for blocked variants in the following order of priority:

1. Blocked toggle on the item card
2. Purchasing Blocked toggle on the same card
3. Purchase Variant Blocked toggle on the variant card

Item attributes#

Item attributes are used to group and find items according to certain criteria. You can assign attributes to every item that is stored in the system, either by assigning them to an individual item or to a category of items.

Setup#

Before you can use this feature, you need to set up the required attributes and their attribute values.

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Item Attributes, and then choose the related link.
2. Choose New on the ribbon.
3. Fill in the fields as described in the following table.

Printing#

On this FastTab, you can specify whether to print an item attribute on sales or purchase documents.

1. Select an attribute.
2. Use the Assist Button next to the Sales or Purchasing field to open the print selection.
3. Select the checkboxes for the type of sales or purchase documents on which you want to print the attribute, and then choose Close.

To select the field on more than one line:

1. Mark the relevant lines.
2. Choose Print on Document > Sales or Purchase on the ribbon. Initially, all fields will be blank (that is, deactivated).
3. Select the relevant checkboxes and confirm by choosing Close.

Print settings that you’ve already specified will be overwritten (provided you choose Yes on the message that appears).

Unit of measure translations#

For attributes that come with a unit of measure, you can choose Translations on the ribbon to store—and later print on documents—a translation of the unit in another language.

Assign an attribute#

Items#

To assign an attribute to an item:

1. Open an item card.
2. Choose Item > Attributes on the ribbon.
3. Fill in the fields as necessary.

You can then see the assigned attributes in the Item Attributes FactBox on the card.

Printing#

On this FastTab on the Item Attribute Values page, you can specify whether to print an item attribute on sales or purchase documents.

1. Select an item attribute.
2. Use the Assist Button next to the Sales or Purchasing field to open the print selection.
3. Select the checkboxes for the type of sales or purchase documents on which you want to print the attribute, and then choose Close.

To select the field on more than one line:

1. Go to the Item Attribute Values FastTab.
2. Mark the relevant lines.
3. Choose Print on Document > Sales or Purchase on the ribbon. Initially, all fields will be blank (that is, deactivated).
4. Select the relevant checkboxes and confirm by choosing Close.

Print settings that you’ve already specified will be overwritten (provided you choose Yes on the message that appears).

Item categories#

To assign an attribute to an entire category of items:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Item Categories, and then choose the related link.
2. Select a category to open it.
3. Fill in the fields on the Attributes FastTab.

You can then see the attributes you assigned to categories in the Attributes FactBox on the right-hand side of the Item Categories page. When you later assign an item to a category, attributes stored for the category will be copied to the item automatically. Should you change attributes of a category, the items assigned to it will be updated as well.

Printing#

On the Item Categories page, you can again specify whether to print an item attribute on sales or purchase documents.

1. Select an item attribute.
2. Use the Assist Button next to the Sales or Purchasing field to open the print selection.
3. Select the checkboxes for the type of sales or purchase documents on which you want to print the attribute, and then choose Close.

To select the field on more than one line:

1. Go to the Attributes FastTab.
2. Mark the relevant lines.
3. Choose Print on Document > Sales or Purchase. Initially, all fields will be blank (that is, deactivated).
4. Select the relevant checkboxes and confirm by choosing Close.

Print settings that you’ve already specified will be overwritten (provided you choose Yes on the message that appears).

Specify attribute values#

On the Item Attribute card, you can use a lookup in the Values field to select a predefined value for an attribute. If no value has been entered, you can create a new one according to the format given in the Type field on the card.

Search by attributes#

You can use the attribute search feature to look for item attributes in sales or purchasing.

The standard way of searching for items is to filter the item list for a specific attribute. Keeping this in mind, the search feature has been extended so that you can set filters on document entries as well.

To run the extended search:

1. Open a sales or purchase document.
2. On the Lines FastTab, select a line and choose Manage > Search by Attributes.
3. Enter an item category to see the first related attribute. You can extend this list to include other attributes, up to a maximum of 20.
4. Specify an attribute value in the second field. The line needs to be of the Item type.
5. After you’ve specified the search criteria, choose Filter by Attributes on the ribbon.
6. Choose OK to copy the relevant line to the document.

Application tracing#

For easier traceability or checks of application sequences for incoming and outgoing items, use the Application Tracing feature.

To run the feature, choose Related > Application Tracing on the Items page.

The page that opens shows the complete application sequence. If an item is incoming (Receipt, Purchase, Output), the page shows each movement of the entry, along with its quantity and value, up until the last outbound transaction (Shipment, Sale, Consumption), including all transfers.

If an item is outgoing, the page shows each movement, as well as its quantity and value, up to the first incoming transaction, again including all transfers.

Special notes#

Comments that you add for a customer, a vendor, or an item can be marked as special notes so that they’re included in the information pane on the right-hand side of a sales, purchase, or service document, or a purchase request.

Setup#

Comment Line Codes#

First, you need to set up a code for each special note:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Comment Line Codes, and then choose the related link.
2. Fill in the Code and Description fields per line.

Purchases & Payables Setup#

To assign a code to purchase documents:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Purchases & Payables Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the General FastTab, in the Special Notes Code field, specify a code that will be used to distinguish special remarks from other comments.

You can then fill in the special notes code in the Code field on comment lines entered for a vendor, an item, or a resource.

Purchase Requests#

To assign a code to purchase requests:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Purchase Request Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the General FastTab, in the Special Notes Code field, specify a code that will be used to distinguish special remarks from other comments.

You can then fill in the special notes code in the Code field on comment lines entered for a vendor, an item, or a resource.

Sales & Receivables Setup#

To assign a code to sales documents:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Sales & Receivables Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the General FastTab, in the Special Notes Code field, specify a code that will be used to distinguish special remarks from other comments.

You can then fill in the special notes code in the Code field on comment lines entered for a customer, an item, or a resource.

Service Management Setup#

To assign a code to service documents:

1. Choose the Search icon, enter Service Management Setup, and then choose the related link.
2. On the General FastTab, in the Special Notes Code field, specify a code that will be used to distinguish special remarks from other comments.

You can then fill in the special notes code in the Code field on comment lines entered for a customer, an item, or a resource.

Workflow#

Special notes can be displayed on the following documents:

• Purchase quotes
• Purchase orders
• Purchase invoices
• Sales quotes
• Sales orders
• Sales invoices
• Service quotes
• Service orders
• Purchase requests

They’re shown in the information pane on the right-hand side when you select a customer or a vendor whom special notes are stored for or when you switch between documents on which this type of customer or vendor is entered.

Special notes about items are shown in the pane to the right of the document lines when you select an item these notes are stored for or when you change from one line assigned to this kind of item to another.