Consolidate multiple purchase requisitions into single purchase order by accounting date in Microsoft Dynamics 365 SCM

Business scenario: Typically when you have multiple approved purchase requisition lines (from different purchase requisitions) that are procured from the same vendor, it is highly unlikely that the requisition lines from the different requisitions have the same accounting date (which can be defaulted from the requested date via Purchasing policies: Use requested date as accounting date parameter in the Purchase requisition control rule policy is set to "Yes"). In this scenario, when you purchase order is created for such requisitions, multiple purchase orders are created based on the accounting date. This lead to the procurement department to do the following:

1. Either manage several purchase orders for the same vendor instead of having all the consolidation opportunity lines appear on one purchase order; or
2. Manually delete the "extra" purchase orders and add the lines to one of the POs that was generated.  This will result in the reference being lost between the requisition and the purchase order.

However, there is a configurations that was introduced to solve this issue and consolidate multiple requisitions into single purchase orders in case if accounting dates are different. 

To control the consolidation behavior you need to activate the new feature:

• Feature: "Consolidate multiple purchase requisitions into a single purchase order by accounting date"

• Feature description: This feature allows for the consolidation of multiple purchase requisitions into a single purchase order if the different purchase requisitions have different accounting dates. Purchase order creation and demand consolidation purchasing policy rule can be setup to drive the decision for grouping requisition lines by accounting date on purchase order level automatically. Warning!: Consolidation purchase order by accounting date is not supported if budget control is enabled because the accounting date is used, for budget reservations and encumbrance. Therefore, it should be kept during the transition from purchase requisition to purchase order.

Once the feature is activated, new parameter "Consolidate by accounting date" will be available in the Purchasing policies > Purchase order creation and demand consolidation rule.

Note: If your organization has budgeting control activated, this parameter will not have any affect. The system will be creating multiple purchase orders in this case. 

Let's walk trough the scenario, when approved purchase requisitions are released manually through "Release approved purchase requisitions" page. For this scenario, manual purchase order creation is enabled (Purchasing policy > Purchase order creation and demand consolidation rule > Manual purchase order creation tab > Manually create purchase orders).

Create and approve requisition lines with different requested dates.

When "Consolidate by accounting date" is OFF, releasing multiple PR with different accounting date, will create multiple POs. 

Create and approve requisition lines with different requested dates.

When "Consolidate by accounting date" is ON and Budget control is OFF, releasing multiple PR with different accounting date, we create single PO. 

If your organization tends to use the consolidation opportunity to group purchase requisition lines for similar products to streamline the procurement process with a vendor, "Consolidate by accounting date" will be also taken into account in that process.

To walk through this scenario, we will do the following:

• Set the Use requested date as accounting date parameter in the Purchase requisition control rule policy to "Yes".
• Set the Always allow demand consolidation parameter to "Yes" (Purchasing policy > Purchase order creation and demand consolidation rule > Demand consolidation tab > Always allow demand consolidation).
• Create and approve requisition lines with different requested dates (accounting dates will match the requested dates based on the parameter in step 1).

• Create a consolidation opportunity and add the lines created in step 2 to the opportunity.

• Set Consolidation quotation number for all lines.
• Close the consolidation opportunity.
• Multi-select the consolidation opportunity lines and click the Create purchase order button.

When "Consolidate by accounting date" is OFF, multiple POs will be created.

When "Consolidate by accounting date" is ON and Budget control is OFF, single PO will be created.

"Consolidate by accounting date" parameter is also taken into account when purchase order creation is done automatically once purchase requisition is approved (Purchasing policy > Purchase order creation and demand consolidation rule > Manual purchase order creation tab > Automatically create purchase orders. 

That's it!

Two-legged intercompany chain VS Three-legged intercompany chain (Direct Delivery) in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

In this blog post I would like to provide an overview of intercompany flows and what is the expected process to be performed in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

The following diagram illustrates the idea behind the two-legged intercompany chain and steps that typically performed in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to achieve the needed result.

The following diagram illustrates the idea behind the three-legged intercompany chain and steps that typically performed in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to achieve the needed result.

That's it!

How to enable Maintenance mode through Command prompt

In order, to enable the Maintenance mode - run Command prompt as administrator then execute the following command:

c:\AosService\PackagesLocalDirectory\Bin\Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.Deployment.Setup.exe --metadatadir c:\AosService\PackagesLocalDirectory --bindir c:\AosService\PackagesLocalDirectory\Bin --sqlserver . --sqldatabase axdb --sqluser axdbadmin --sqlpwd AOSWebSite@123 --setupmode maintenancemode --isinmaintenancemode true  + Enter

Next – execute the command:   IISreset + Enter

Maintenance mode enabled!

c:\AosService\PackagesLocalDirectory\Bin\Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.Deployment.Setup.exe --metadatadir c:\AosService\PackagesLocalDirectory --bindir c:\AosService\PackagesLocalDirectory\Bin --sqlserver . --sqldatabase axdb --sqluser axdbadmin --sqlpwd AOSWebSite@123 --setupmode maintenancemode --isinmaintenancemode false  +  Enter

 Next – execute the command:   IISreset  +  Enter

Maintenance mode disabled!

Tiered charges on purchase orders in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (D365)

There is a possibility to configure tiered charges for the purchase orders. For more details, visit this page - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamicsax-2012/appuser-itpro/about-tiered-charges-on-sales-orders

In order to activate this feature, navigate to the Feature management workspace, find Charges from and to amounts on Purchase orders feature on the list and click Enable now button. Once you activate it, you can configure tiered charges.

Once you enable this feature, Automatic charges page will be extended with a few fields:

Mode of delivery code will determine when to apply charges: 

1. Table: charges apply to a specific Mode of delivery defined in the Mode of delivery relation field.
2. Group: charges apply to modes of delivery assigned to a specific delivery charge group defined in the Mode of delivery relation field. Prerequisites: 
• Create charges groups (Accounts receivable > Charges setup > Delivery charges group) 
• Assign modes of delivery to a charges group (Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Distribution > Modes of delivery > [select mode of delivery] > Charges group field)
3. All:  charges apply to all modes of delivery.

From amount and To amount in the Auto charges page allow determine tiers. Based on the tiers the charge will/will not be applied to the purchase order header.

Go to Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Changes > Automatic charges and create tiered charges as presented below:

Go to Procurement and sourcing > Purchase orders > All purchase orders and create a purchase order for the vendor defined in the auto-charges setup.

Set the Qty and Price. Validate the order total. 

Calculate tiered charges via Purchase tab on the Action pane > Calculate (button group) > Tiered charges (button). 

Make sure that message is displayed: 

Tiered charges calculated.

Review calculated tiered charges via Purchase tab on the Action pane > Charges (button group) > Maintain charges (button). 

• If Purchase order total amount < 50 USD, Charges of 10 USD will be applied automatically.
• If Purchase order total amount >= 50 USD and Purchase order total amount < 100 , Charges of 7.5 USD will be applied automatically.
• If Purchase order total amount >= 100 USD, Charges of 5 USD will be applied automatically.

Cannot download task recorder file on the local VM Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (D365) . The error message "Sorry, something went wrong and the file wasn't downloaded" is thrown.

On the local VM, you might face an issue while trying to download the task recorder: Sorry, something went wrong and the file wasn't downloaded

In the error details you might see the issue with the Azure Storage. Azure Storage Emulator could be outdated and require manual update.

Follow the steps below to overcome the issue:

1. Download and install latest version of Azure Storage Emulator: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=717179&clcid=0x409
2. Open Command prompt as administrator.  Change the directory (folder) in Command Prompt to Azure Storage Emulator installation directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\Storage Emulator)
3. Run the following commands:

• AzureStorageEmulator.exe stop
• AzureStorageEmulator.exe clear
• AzureStorageEmulator.exe init –server localhost 
• AzureStorageEmulator.exe start

This should solve your issue and you will be able to download the task recorder. 

Recommendations in case of task recorder failures for "Automatic release of sales orders" in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (D365)

There is a known issue that task recorder changes steps on second playback on adding filters in query for "Automatic release of sales orders".

This issue is happening only for the forms that that are created using RunBaseBatch (for example, Create direct delivery orders, Automatic release of sales orders). 

For the forms that are using SysOperation, the issue is not present. (Automatic release of transfer orders, Change reservation hierarchy for item).

This is because for Dialog form enumeration begins from "filter" fields, and for SysOperationTemplateForm it starts from the beginning.

Recommendations to overcome this challenge:

• For 1 user scenario. Re-record the broken scenario so that your task recording has the latest control names.  So you would probably need to go through the steps twice. First run - just go through the steps and apply all needed filters for the dialog and then when you run it for the second time start the recording itself. In this scenario, filters will be applied already and the system will not add any new controls. 
• For multiple users scenarios. Dynamically added controls are stored per user, so the option that only the user who created recording will be able to run the task recording or the RSAT test case will not work in this case. Recommendation is that the usage data (including stored query) of recording and playback should be the same in order to not have these failures.

Vendor collaboration: Maintain vendor bank account in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (D365)

As a company/customer working with vendors, providing the ability for vendors to maintain their own information allows for efficiencies and reduces data entry errors. Once account changes are submitted, this information needs to be validated and primary account payment methods may also need to be modified. More information can be found here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/finance/accounts-payable/maintain-vendor-bank-info

Vendors can use the Vendor collaboration functionality to maintain their bank account information. This topic explains how to add and maintain bank information for vendors that you do business with.

Turn on the vendor bank account information feature

Before you can use this feature, it must be turned on in your system. Administrators can use the Feature management page to check the feature status and enable it if needed. In the Feature management workspace, the feature is listed in the following way:

• Module - Accounts payable
• Feature name - Maintain vendor bank information using vendor collaboration workspace

After feature activation, you can now create vendor bank account. 

There are two places from where you can manage vendor bank accounts. It depends who will be managing the bank accounts. 

• If Vendor is managing his own bank accounts by himself, she/he will use the following page: Vendor collaboration module > Vendor information link in the Workspaces section > More details > Bank information
• If you company/customer (the D365 company issuing the PO or RFQ is a customer, then it states “Customer”) is managing bank accounts on behalf of the vendor, you will be using Accounts payable > Vendors > All vendors > Vendor tab > Set up section > Bank accounts

Adding a new bank account by vendor

This page is used by vendor to manage their bank accounts

Go to Vendor collaboration module > Vendor information link in the Workspaces section > More details > Bank information

To add a new bank account, select the Add button that is located above the Bank accounts grid in the Vendor information workspace. 

In the New dialog box that appears, you can enter the following information:

• Bank account
• Bank name
• Bank account number
• Bank routing number
• Effective date
• Expiration date
• Comments (optional)

If the legal entity is outside the United States, the dialog box also includes fields for the SWIFT code and the International Bank Account Number (IBAN).

If there are any documents that are related to the specific bank account, you can attach them by selecting Document.

Bank information that vendors enter on the page will show Vendor as the source. You can also enter bank account information on a vendor's behalf. That information will appear here, and Customer will be shown as the source. For more information, see Create a vendor bank account: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/supply-chain/procurement/tasks/create-vendor-bank-account

After an account has been added, vendors can edit their bank's effective and expiration dates as required.

Vendor bank information inquiry

After bank account information has been added by a vendor, the information will be visible on the Vendor bank information inquiry page. 

Go to Accounts payable > Inquiries and reports > Vendor reports > Vendor Bank Account Inquiry

By default, all new or modified bank account records are visible on this page. 

An Accounts payable clerk can view the changes and validate the information through their confirmation process to validate. When the information has been confirmed, the bank account record listed on the page can be selected and marked as reviewed. Marking the record as reviewed will remove it from the default list.

All bank account changes are visible on the Vendor bank information inquiry page. If a change isn't displayed on the page, you can view it by adjusting the filters for the vendor account, effective date range, or choosing whether to include information for bank account changes that have been reviewed.

Once bank account is reviewed and marked as reviewed, Reviewed field will be updated accordingly. To update the Reviewed field back, Mark as reviewed button needs to be selected again. 

Adding a new bank account on behalf of vendor

This page is used by the company to manage vendor's bank accounts. The page is not accessible by the Collaboration Vendors. 

Go to Accounts payable > Vendors > All vendors > Vendor tab > Set up section > Bank accounts

Add new bank account as described here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/finance/accounts-payable/maintain-vendor-bank-info

There are several differences between this page and vendor collaboration bank information page:

• If the bank account is entered from the vendor card, Source field will be set to Customer 
• If the bank account is entered from the vendor card, Reviewed will be set to YES automatically and no need to review it again.