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[Steve Latta]

??HI all.

I am going to need to replace the number sequence we are using for purchase orders, which currently has a Company scope, with one that has a Department scope. I don’t want the numeric part of the sequence to start over from 1, I want to pick up the sequence where the old one leaves off. How do I mark all the previous numbers as used? I understand how to set the next number, and the existing sequence isn’t set to Continuous, so the new one probably shouldn’t be either. We don’t want it going back and grabbing an old number from a deleted PO.

What pitfalls do I need to be aware of, if any? Anyone know of good blog posts on replacing a number sequence?

*Edit*
Ok, after trying to set up a sequence in the test company, I discovered that setting Operating Unit>Department as the scope didn’t make the Department available as a segment. There’s a constant with “DP” as a segment, but nothing that can change depending on which department is selected.

Looking for suggestion on how to set up one number sequence, or even multiple ones, which vary based on different departments.

Thanks in advance!

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Steve Latta
Accountant
Ortec, Inc.
Easley SC
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?

[Andrew Ford]

Steve,

Before you start using multiple number sequences, check to see if that number sequence is the primary key for a cluster index. IE:  Field PurchId is in the cluster index for PurchTable (in AX 2009 and probably in later versions, too). 

This means that the PurchId field determines the order in which the data is stored physically on the disk.   So while a purchase order with number Zxxxx will insert quickly, a purchase order with number 1xxxx will need to restructure the index to force it between 0xxxx and 2xxxx.  As the size of the PurchTable grows over the years, this will lead to a severe performance impact due to frequent fragmentation of the cluster index.

Over the life of AX, you are far better off using a single PO number across all departments, adding a custom field to separate into groups (or maybe Vendor group), and automatically filtering based on what groups each user is supposed to work with.

You can change the cluster index to reduce the impact, but there will be a performance hit (again, years down the road) because the most common filter / sort field is the PO number.

???#SQL #numberSequence #clusterIndex???

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Andrew Ford
Lead AX Developer
Nivel Parts & Manufacturing Co., LLC
Jacksonville FL
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[Zvika Rimalt]

Setting PO ID by department is not an out of the box functionality.
You’ll need to customize to get that done.

If I was your business analyst, I would question what business purpose does the separate number sequence serve
There are many ways to segregate POs by department that do not involve the PO number.

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Zvika Rimalt
Functional Consultant
Vancouver BC Canada
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[Paul Martin]

?I agree with Zvika, I would suggest that rather than do a customization you look at how to filter  or use a tool like atlas to get a report by department. Much more efficient and less prone to error that trying to customize to get to department level on a number sequence.

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Paul Martin
Production Program Manager
Elite Comfort Solutions, LLC
Conover NC
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[Steve Latta]

?Thank you for the feedback, folks. In designing our AX for us, our consultants used the Department financial dimension for our manufacturing sites, of which we had 1 with a planned second one when they were doing the setup. We asked for a Main Account-Site-Department structure and they used Main Account-Department-Cost Center, renaming them in the Financial Dimension setup to those purposes.  

We’re bringing a new plant site online underneath an existing company, hence the desire to get PO #’s to be readily identifiable by using either a site-specific prefix and a shared numeric portion or a ?wholly unique PO number sequence. Either way, the Department financial dimension is the one we are stuck with and it has worked okay until this issue came up.

We’re on 2012 R3, so I don’t know if 365 would have additional options or not, but it does seem like having multiple physical sites under a company should work more easily that what we are seeing. Yet site (physical site, not our renamed Department dimension) doesn’t seem to be an option either in base AX as a segment in number sequence setup.

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Steve Latta
Accountant
Ortec, Inc.
Easley SC
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[Paul Martin]

?I agree, the purpose for site is so that you can have different cost for a product in the same company by site. But you face the same question that many face. Site versus separate company in DAX. There are benefits to both and drawbacks to both as well. Having separate companies means more maintenance and some form of consolidation company, but in many ways that is preferable to multi site companies for some types of tracking.

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Paul Martin
Production Program Manager
Elite Comfort Solutions, LLC
Conover NC
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[Steve Latta]

?Hi Paul,

Yes, we are discovering that there are serious issues with either method in terms of ability to run MRP, set up different formulas and manage inventory across both facilities. It doesn’t seem like either method offers the seamless processes we were told having multiple sites under one company was going to get us. I suspect we’re going to end up going the route of setting up a third company.

Fortunately, all the consolidation we’ve needed in the past we’ve been able to do in Management Reporter and Atlas, rather than needing to do any in AX itself. That said, I know the intent was for this new plant to initially be run as an extension of our current facility, so I don’t know if we’ll need to do something more this time. I know there is a great deal of consternation being caused by the thought of having to do buy/sell transactions to move inventory between the facilities whichever method we choose. A lot of the raw materials will be shared.

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Steve Latta
Accountant
Ortec, Inc.
Easley SC
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[Paul Martin]

?you might look at using intercompany orders. It is still a sales/purchase setup, but has some advantages in that from the PO it will create the SO and they are linked which means if one changes the other changes as well. Also packing slips and invoices are linked and can occur on both when done on one.  Although not clearly said anywhere it will work with sites, you just have to set up a customer and vendor record for each site. the advantage to being in one company is that you can use transfer orders between sites fairly easily. Again the flexibility is there.

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Paul Martin
Production Program Manager
Elite Comfort Solutions, LLC
Conover NC
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[Steve Latta]

?Thanks Paul. Do you know of any documentation for using transfer orders between sites?

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Steve Latta
Accountant
Ortec, Inc.
Easley SC
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[Paul Martin]

?it is the same as for between companies, the difference is you need to set up the sites as a customer account and as a vendor account and then set the intercompany relationship.

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Paul Martin
Production Program Manager
Elite Comfort Solutions, LLC
Conover NC
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