Automatic re-waving process has been introduced in 10.0.37 SCM

In this blogpost I am going to walk through new feature that has been introduced in 10.0.37. This feature allows users  to configure automatic re-waving process that will process shipment lines that did not complete during processing of waves. It eventually will be removing any manual human involvement.

Why it is important? 

It is very common situation when wave lines fail due to multiple reasons. It can be because of lack of on-hand inventory in picking locations, some item attributes issues and many other. There are might be other reasons of why shipments lines do not complete waving. They are:

• Production is delayed and did not report inventory as finished, waves cannot allocate inventory.
• Goods are in quarantine and not available
• Goods are still on inbound bay and not available on picking locations

When this happens, users typically need to manually handle such situations. They have to manually add lines to the new wave and process it. 

With this feature, this process is now automated. There is a new batch job has been introduced that will make your life easier meaning that if the lines didn't complete wave process then the failed line will be automatically assigned to the same wave template and re-waved without human involvement. 

Now let's deep dive into the feature.

We will start with simulating failure of waving process:

I am going to create sales order for the product for which I have on-hand inventory in RECV location, but not in the Picking location. Let's assume customer ordered 2 ea, and I have 10 ea available on-hand in RECV location.

Reservation will be done successfully, but wave allocation will fail. 

As soon as I release this order, the following will be done:

• Load will be created
• Shipment will be created
• Wave will be created
• Shipment will be added to wave
• Wave allocation will fail
• Shipment will be removed from wave

The result of the release:

And here a new logic kicks in. 

When wave fails, a record will be created in the new table WHSWaveProcessingRemovedShipment with the RewaveCount

You can review the data using table browser:

/?mi=SysTableBrowser&tablename=WHSWaveProcessingRemovedShipment&cmp=USMF

Now, you can run new batch job introduced to pick up failed shipments and create new waves and try to process wave with included failed shipments again. 

Go to Warehouse management > Outbound waves > Auto add shipments to wave

Here you see how many times process the failed shipment will be repeated. In our case it is set to 5 times. Batch job will pick up all shipments where Rewave counter is less or equal to the Rewave counter set in the batch job parameters, 

Since for our scenario, we have not changed anything, wave processing will fail again. Rewave counter in this scenario will be increased. It means that we tried to process that shipment via batch job 1 time.

Let's add on-hand to the bulk location and run Auto add shipments to wave again. 

Now the new wave will be created, shipments are added and wave is successfully process. Data related to that shipment will be removed from the WHSWaveProcessingRemovedShipment table. 

Some additional details:

If The failed Shipment is removed, it will be removed from this WHSWaveProcessingRemovedShipment log table. 

That's it!

Synchronize updates of the Requested ship and receipt dates on intercompany sales and purchase order lines.

In this blog post, I would like to talk through the intercompany feature that has been introduced in 10.0.37 release. 

Feature name: Synchronize updates of the Requested ship and receipt dates on intercompany sales and purchase order lines
Feature summary: This feature lets you control whether the requested ship and receipt dates are synchronized across intercompany sales and purchase order lines.
It adds new settings to both the "Purchase order policies" and "Sales order policies" tabs of the "Intercompany" setup page for customers and vendors.

I am going to use a few abbreviations throw-out the article. It means the following:  

IC PO - Intercompany Purchase order

IC SO - Intercompany Sales order

When this feature is disabled, then requested dates are synchronized in the intercompany flow.

For instance, you create IC PO and IC SO will be created automatically. When you update Requested receipt date on the IC PO, Requested ship date will be updated on the IC SO. The same happens in opposite scenario: you create IC SO and IC PO will be created automatically. When you update Requested ship date on the IC SO, Requested receipt date will be updated on the IC PO. 

When this feature is enabled, a new parameters will be displayed:

• Go to Accounts payable > Vendors > All vendors
• Select General tab on the Action pane
• Select Intercompany in the Set p section

On the Purchase order policies and Sales order policies, you will notice new parameter.

Name: Disable requested ship and receipt dates synchronization
Help text (Sales policy): Select the option to disable line-level synchronization of updates on Intercompany Sales order requested ship and receipt dates with Intercompany Purchase order requested ship and receipt dates.
Help text (Purchase policy): Select the option to disable line-level synchronization of updates on Intercompany Purchase order requested ship and receipt dates with Intercompany Sales order requested ship and receipt dates.

When parameters are disabled, nothing is changed. Requested dates synchronization will happen upon date changes on the line. 

When Disable requested ship and receipt dates synchronization is enabled only for purchase order policies, then when you update Requested receipt date on the IC PO, requested ship dates will not be updated on the IC SO. But IC PO dates will still be updated if you change requested ship dates on the IC SO, since Sales order policy parameter was not enabled. 

When you enable this parameter for both policies (Sales, Purchase) then no matter where you update the dates, it will not be synchronized. 

That's it!

List of available variables in the Label layout SCM

If you ever tried to set up Container label layout, for example, you might wonder what is the list of available variables. When you follow the guide, Container label layouts and printing - Supply Chain Management | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn, there are some variables available, like RowPerLabel etc. 

In his blogpost, I going to provide the list of them and what those mean. 

• position.rowNumber. This variable represents a row on a current label
• position.globalRowNumber. This variable represents a row over multiple labels
• position.labelNumber. This variable represents a current label number
• position.labelCount. This variable represents a total number of labels created
• position.YPos. This variable represents =StartY + rowNumber * IncY

Unfortunately, there are no such variables as position.rowCount (and/or position.globalRowCount) which can be used for the number of rows that get printed on a label. For instance, if RowsPerLabel=10 but there are only 4 rows in a record, and you want to print 4 on the label. 

The reason why it is not available it is because it would affect the performance, as you will not know the number of rows until you finish with the label and you have to go back and process the same label twice.

That's it!

Create Transfer orders from a Warehouse management app in SCM

In this blog post we are going through the Create transfer orders from a mobile device feature and see how it works.

MOBILE DEVICE MENU ITEMS SETUP

Follow these steps to create the mobile device menu item for the transfer order creation.

• Navigate to: Warehouse management > Setup > Mobile device > Mobile device menu items.
• Create a new mobile device menu item by selecting “New” on the action pane.
• Enter a menu name: “Create TO”.
• Mode: Indirect.
• Activity Code: Create transfer order from license plates.
• Transfer order line creation policy: License plate guided with line reservation.
• Outbound shipment policy: Release and ship confirm. This will release a transfer order to the warehouse and confirm the shipment. 

MOBILE DEVICE MENU SETUP

Follow these steps to add the created mobile device menu item to the Inventory menu.

• Navigate to: Warehouse management > Setup > Mobile device > Mobile device menu
• Select the Inventory menu and move the menu item from the available list to the menu structure. 

 

WORK TEMPLATES SETUP

When wave is released, we need to create a work. For this, work templates are used.  the work that is created when the wave is released. 

Follow these steps to setup work templates. 

• Navigate to: Warehouse management > Setup > Work > Work templates.
• Select Transfer issue work order type.
• Select “New” to create a new work template:
• Sequence Number: 0.
• Work Template: “51 AutoProcess LP”.
• Work Template description: “51 AutoProcess LP”.
• Automatically process: Yes.
• Create work template lines in the Work template details section. 
• Work type: Pick
• Work class ID: TransfOut
• Add a second line and select:
• Work Type: Put.
• Directive code: Baydoor.
• Work class ID: TransfOut.

• Select “Edit query” on the action pane.
• Open the Range tab. Select "Add" and for the created line in the "Field" select Warehouse, in the "Criteria" select 51.
• Open the Sorting tab. Select "Add" and for the created line in the "Field" select Located license plate ID, in the "Search direction" select Ascending.
• Select OK. 
• Select "Work header breaks" in the work template page and then select the “Group by this field” check box.

LOCATION DIRECTIVES SETUP

Follow these steps to create location directive.

• Navigate to: Warehouse management > Setup > Location directives.
• Select "Transfer issue" work order type” .
• Create new location directive.
• Sequence: 1.
• Name: 51 TO LP Guided.
• Wort type: Pick.
• Warehouse selection: Warehouse and Warehouse 51.
• In the “Lines” fasttab create a new line.
• To quantity: 999999.
• Allow split: Yes (Note: Allow split must be enabled for the License plate guided strategy).
• In the “Location directive actions” create a new line.
• Name: LP Guided.
• Strategy: License plate guided .

SET UP BATCH JOB TO PROCESS WAREHOUSE APP EVENTS 

Follow these steps to set up a batch job to process warehouse app events.

• Navigate to: Warehouse management > Periodic tasks > Process warehouse app events.
• Expand “Run in Background” FastTab.
• Set “Batch Processing” to “Yes”.
• Select “Recurrence”  and select the desired recurrence.
• Select “OK” to return to the “Process warehouse app events” page.
• Select “OK” to add the batch job to the batch queue.

SET UP BATCH JOB TO RELEASE TRANSFER ORDERS AUTOMATICALLY

Follow these steps to set up a batch job to release transfer orders automatically once transfer orders are created by process warehouse app events.

• Navigate to: Warehouse management > Release to warehouse > Automatic release of transfer orders.
• Expand "Records to include" section and select "Filter". 
• Select Filter under the Records to include section.
• On the Range tab, select Add to add a new line to the query.
• Table field: Transfer line release to warehouse.
• Field field:  Outbound shipment policy.
• Criteria field: Release and ship confirm.
• For the From warehouse, in the Criteria field, select 51.

 

• Select OK to return to the main dialog box.
• Expand Run in the background section and enable Batch processing.
• Select Recurrence and set up the batch job to process based on interval needed for your business.
• Select "OK" to return to the main dialog.
• Select "OK "in the main dialog to have the batch job added to the batch queue.

SET UP BATCH JOB TO PROCESS OUTBOUND SHIPMENT

Follow these steps to set up a scheduled batch job to run the outbound shipment confirmation for loads ready to ship related to transfer order lines that are "ready to ship".

• Navigate to: Warehouse management > Periodic tasks > Process outbound shipments.
• Expand "Records to include" section and select "Filter". 
• Select "Joins" tab.
• Expand Loads and Load details from the table hierarchy.
• Select "Load details" table and select "Add table join" button.
• Search for n:1 Transfer order lines (Reference) and press the Select button.
• Select "Transfer order lines" table and select the "Add table join" button.
• Search on the Relation column for 1:n Invent Transfer Additional Fields (Record-ID) and press the Select button.

 

• Select the Range tab and select the Add button.
• Add a range for the table Loads. Set Field to Load status and set Criteria to Loaded.
• Add a range for the table Invent Transfer Additional Fields. Set Field to Outbound shipment policy and set Criteria to Release and ship confirm.
• Add a range for the table Load details. Set Field to Reference and set Criteria to Transfer order shipment.

• Select "OK" to return to the main dialog box.
• Expand "Run in the background" section and enable Batch processing.
• Select "Recurrence" and set up the batch job to process based on interval needed for your business.
• Select "OK" to return to the main dialog.
• Select "OK" in the main dialog to have the batch job added to the batch queue.

ADD ON-HAND ON A LICENSE PLATE

CREATE AND PROCESS TRANFER ORDERS FROM TEH WAREHOUSE APP 

• Open the app and sign in as user 51. 
• Select the menu item Create TO in the Inventory menu.

• Enter the destination warehouse (To warehouse) in the Warehouse field, enter 61. The new transfer order will be going from current warehouse 51 (From warehouse) to the destination warehouse 61.

• Notice that Transfer order number is allocated already from the number sequence.

• Scan a license plate ID in the License plate field. Enter the license plate of the inventory added in an earlier step, LP10.

• Once LP is scanned, License plate count will be updated accordingly. 

 

• Scan a license plate ID in the License plate field. Enter the license plate of the inventory added in an earlier step, LP20.

• As soon as LP scan is done,  Warehouse app event is being created. Since we scanned 2 LPs, you will notice 2 warehouse app events being created. 
• Navigate to: Warehouse management > Inquiries and reports > Mobile device logs > Warehouse app events. 

• Go back to the mobile device and select Complete order to finalize the warehouse app transfer order creation.
•  As soon as Complete order is done,  Warehouse app event for the transfer complete is being created. All warehouse app events will be changed from "Waiting" to "Queued" event state. 

• Now, the Process warehouse app events batch job will pick up the queued events for the transfer order creation. 
• As soon as those events are completed, transfer order will be created.

 

• Notice that Outbound shipment policy is set to None. This will be updated as soon as the Complete transfer order warehouse app event will be updated to Completed. 
• Once the Process warehouse app events batch job is executed and marked all events as Completed, they will disappear from the Warehouse app events page and transfer order lines will be updated based on the policy set on the mobile device menu item. 

• Now this transfer order lines can be picked up by the Automatic release of transfer orders batch job. This will create the shipment, the load and the work. 
• Since the work template is set to Automatically process, the work will be , and the work has been completed.

• Finally, the “Process outbound shipment” batch job will confirm the shipment and change the load status to “Shipped”.

Defer the creation direct delivery chains in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

In this blog post we will be walking through the "Defer creation of direct delivery chains" parameter and what it does. 

When it is applied: In general, if you have item marked as direct delivery, the direct delivery purchase order will be automatically created during sales order entry.  To prevent direct PO's from being automatically created during sales order entry, "Defer creation of direct delivery chains" parameter can be used. And then the Direct Delivery workbench page can be used to process such sales orders. This workbench has a tab to display sales order lines set to Direct that do not yet have purchase order created.

Walkthrough: 

Activate the Accounts receivable parameter - "Defer creation of direct delivery chains" parameter. 

Set the default vendor on the Release products:

Let's activate this product for the direct delivery:

If the direct delivery toggle on the released product is set to Yes, then Direct Delivery flag on the SO line will default to Yes. But Delivery type will be "Stock".

If the direct delivery toggle on the released product is set to No, then Direct Delivery flag on the SO line will default to No, Delivery type will be "Stock" but you can change Direct delivery flag manually on the SO line.  If you do so, then such items will appear in the Direct delivery processing workbench. 

Let's create a sales order and lines.

When creating the SO line, it will default Direct Delivery to “Yes”, keep the Delivery type as “Stock”, and set the delivery status as deferred To be direct delivered.  As of now, no purchase order is created.

Go to Procurement and sourcing > Purchase orders > Direct delivery processing to .

Select Create direct delivery link. Sales order will disappear from Direct Delivery tab and created direct delivery PO will appear on the Confirmation tab. Sales order lines will be updated to Delivery type = Direct delivery and Direct delivery status = Purchase order released. 

Go to Confirmation tab and confirm the direct delivery PO. Select Confirm purchase order link. 

Direct delivery PO will disappear from Confirmation tab and will appear on the Delivery tab.

Receive the delivery. 

If you select Full product receipt, product receipt will be automatically posted. Direct delivery number number sequence from the Procurement and sourcing parameters will be used for the Product receipt number. 

If you select Partial product receipt, Posting product receipt dialog will be opened. Product receipt number must be entered manually. 

That's it!

Testing WMS labels in Dynamics 365 SCM: Virtual ZPL printer, Local file and SCM External service

As you might know the existing  Chrome ZPL Printer extension is not supported any more. Within this blog post I would like to provide other ways of printing labels in Supply Chain management.

Virtual ZPL Printer

An Ethernet based virtual Zebra Label Printer that can be used to test applications that produce bar code labels. This application uses the Labelary service found at http://labelary.com.

The idea is pretty much the same as it was before with Chrome extension. 

You need to perform the following to make it work:

• Set up local printer with some dedicated port 
• Install document routing agent and register the printer
• Activate the printer in Supply Chain management  (for 1-3 steps see MSDyn365FO: Setup Zpl Printer to print license plate labels – AX tutorials: tips and tricks (wordpress.com)
• Download Virtual ZPL printer: porrey/Virtual-ZPL-Printer: An ethernet based virtual Zebra Label Printer that can be used to test applications that produce bar code labels. (github.com)
• Change the Virtual ZPL printer setting to point out to the port created earlier and select Start. 

Local file

You need to perform the following to make it work:

• Create or update any existing printers. To update the printer properties, select Print Properties.
• Select the Ports tab and select Add Port.
• Select Local port and select New Port
• For the port name, enter a file name: C:\Labels\Zebra.TXT
• Run the installation program for the Zebra Printer Drivers (ZD220/ZD230 Desktop Printer Support | Zebra) and select a printer you would like to use, for instance ZDesigner ZD220-203dpi ZPL printer). Select the port you have just created and Finish the installation.

Now when Zebra.TXT is updated with printed label, you can open txt file, copy the values and paste it into Labelary Online ZPL Viewer

SCM External services

If you want to get around the pain of setting up DRA for label printing, with new feature available since 10.0.33 you can use External services to test your label printing.

You need to perform the following to make it work:

• Set up external printers and point it to a service on RequestBin.com — A modern request bin to collect, inspect and debug HTTP requests and webhooks
• Set up External Service Definition and Operation:

• Set up External service instance - make sure you put something into the authentication secret, doesn't matter what:

• Set up Label printers:

• Set up Label layouts. For the simplicity of the demonstration, I am going to use custom label layouts feature to print location labels. 

 Let's print the label from the locations: 

And the results (custom label of location 10000 to Printer2) :

 

It is super convenient to set up and use it. 

That's it!

Date, time and number format in layouts

Walkthrough for Date, time and number format on the Label layouts work in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 SCM

In this blogpost I am going to explain the Date, time, and number format configuration available in the Label layout page and how to make it work.

Go to Warehouse management > Setup > Document routing > Label layout.
You will notice Date, time, and number format field there. This field control how numbers and dates were formatted on the printed label. For example, you can have a requirement that numbers need to be formatted - the decimal dot/comma and the thousands dot/comma/tick and so on. Previously it was not possible, for example, to use US number format with European WMA user (or vice-versa). Now you can have it configurable.

Let's imagine that I have the following label layout for license plate labels. I have both number field -Qty and date field - PrintedDate.

^XA

^FX Top section 

^CFA,30

^FO50,100^FDOrder Number: $OrderNum$^FS

^FO50,200^FDLicense plate: $LicensePlateId$^FS

^FO50,300^FDProduct: $ItemId$^FS

^FO50,400^FDPrinted Date: $PrintedDate$^FS

^FO50,500^FDQuantity: $Qty$^FS

^FO50,690^GB700,3,3^FS

^FO50,700^FDFrom Location: $WMSLocationIdFrom$^FS

^FO50,750^FDTo Location: $WMSLocationIdTo$^FS

^FO50,800^GB700,3,3^FS

^XZ

In my scenario, I will be using Chrome emulator to present the results. 

So, if you try to print license plate label using the layout above no matter what you select in the Date, time, and number format, it will not change formatting of the date and number. 

But as soon as you add :d to the Date field, it will make a difference.

^FO50,400^FDPrinted Date: $PrintedDate:d$^FS

I have printed 3 labels and for each label I changed the Date, time, and number format field. Pay attention to the Printed Date on the label and how it changes. 

The same story with the Qty.

As soon as you add :N to the number field, it will make a difference.

^FO50,500^FDQuantity: $Qty:N$^FS

I have printed 2 labels and for each label I changed the Date, time, and number format field. Pay attention to the Quantity on the label and how it changes. 

That's it! I hope it helps.