Dynamics 365 F&O/AX Dynamics 365 CE / CRM Dynamics GP Business Central / NAV UG Dynamics SL Power Platform Fabric UG MS Copilot UG

[Chris Warren]

Hey Everyone,

We build a device that has software loaded onto it. We want to be able to track this through NAV, as we often service our sold product to update this software. What’s the best way to do this? 

——————————
Chris Warren
Senior Business System Engineer
ivWatch LLC
Newport News
——————————

[Jason Nicolaou]

My answer depends on your NAV license.  Are you in the Essentials (BC) / Standard(NAV) or Premium / Extended?  If you have access to service you can create the software as a component to the service item.  As you replace the component you will be able to see the history of what was replaced so that you can see which version they are on to capture those times when you need to move up several versions of the software.  If Service isn’t an option then you may need to be a little more creative.  Some options to consider are attributes, variants, and even sku’s.  Essentially you need a second identifier for the product.  Serial and Lot tracking come to mind, but it is difficult to change those after you have already posted against the product itself.  Please share what you implement.  

Hope this helps!

——————————
Jason Nicolaou
Engagement Manager
Sikich, LLP
——————————
——————————————-

[Chris Warren]

Thanks for the response. We are on NAV Extended 2017. We are moving away from variants and really don’t want to go back to using them.

 

Ideally, we would want to include the software in the Assembly BOM. Once sold, it goes into service and we’d want to keep track of it in there as well. I looked at Attributes, but it didn’t appear that those copy into Service.

——Original Message——

My answer depends on your NAV license.  Are you in the Essentials (BC) / Standard(NAV) or Premium / Extended?  If you have access to service you can create the software as a component to the service item.  As you replace the component you will be able to see the history of what was replaced so that you can see which version they are on to capture those times when you need to move up several versions of the software.  If Service isn’t an option then you may need to be a little more creative.  Some options to consider are attributes, variants, and even sku’s.  Essentially you need a second identifier for the product.  Serial and Lot tracking come to mind, but it is difficult to change those after you have already posted against the product itself.  Please share what you implement.  

Hope this helps!

——————————
Jason Nicolaou
Engagement Manager
Sikich, LLP
——————————

[Ben Baxter]

The Assembly BOM is a perfect holding spot too.  Once the Service Item is created (use Service Item Groups), you can use the Copy from BOM in the Service Item Component section to populate the components.

——————————
Ben Baxter
Consultant
Accent Software, Inc.
carmel IN
——————————
——————————————-

[Chris Warren]

But how would we create the software as a component? If we created it as an item, how would it be replenished? Since it is software, it really doesn’t have quantity.

 

Sorry for all of the questions – I appreciate the help!

 

Chris

 

——Original Message——

The Assembly BOM is a perfect holding spot too.  Once the Service Item is created (use Service Item Groups), you can use the Copy from BOM in the Service Item Component section to populate the components.

——————————
Ben Baxter
Consultant
Accent Software, Inc.
carmel IN
——————————

[Jason Nicolaou]

I am not an expert on which versions of NAV did what AND I am not a developer.  My answer here depends on if you use Service.  You have a couple of options here.  You may have to build a small routine that adjusts inventory in on the software before BC tries to consume it against the service order.  This will satisfy all the logic around consumption inside of BC.  The other route is to sell software as a type = resource.  Using a resource becomes a little tricky because of your need for tracing what was sold and the components.  The logic around these areas will need to be modified to include type = resource because today my understanding is that it only accepts type = item.  Finally, you could always let the software go negative as it is consumed and make an inventory adjustment as part of period end closing, if BC let’s you in regards to consumption.  This requires some testing.  Now if you DO NOT use Service simple inventory adjustments would do the trick.  The advantage of service is that the components are replaced and there are suggestions that pop up on the Service Line Worksheet.  It is designed to capture the details.

Before deciding I suggest some testing based on what is actually needed.  No reason to over complicate this if a simple inventory adjustment at the end of the month will meet the need. 

Best of luck!

——————————
Jason Nicolaou
Engagement Manager
Sikich, LLP
——————————
——————————————-

[Robert Jolliffe]

Hi Chris,

There is a checkbox on an Item Card that allows you to set the item as a “Non Inventory” type.  That means that the quantity of inventory of that item is not tracked in NAV/BC.

I agree with the group on using a Service Item to track your sold items.  You would need a serial number or some other code to track the service items, the best way being to setup your FG as a Lot/Serial part – although technically you could serialize it outside the system and record that S/N in the Service Item card.

A service item is NOT an Item btw – which is confusing. It’s some piece of equipment or even property that you can provide service for. It could be a competitors product, or something you sold before you started using NAV.

-Rob

——————————
Robert Jolliffe B.A.Sc, MCSE, MCS – NAV Manufacturing Expert
President
Sabre Limited
Cambridge
robert@sabrelimited.com
http://www.sabrelimited.com
——————————
——————————————-

[Ben Baxter]

Jason hit the nail on the head!  Using a Service Item for the main product, and tracking the software as a component is the optimal path.  As you update the software via a Service Order it can update the components of the Service Item so you can have a date tracked update.

As Jason said if Service is not available due to your licensing you are going to have to be creative in how you track this information.

——————————
Ben Baxter
Consultant
Accent Software, Inc.
carmel IN
——————————
——————————————-