Posted by The item list is a new functionality, available since Ax 2012 R3. It allows creating a specific favorite item list, with a dedicated quantity. It’s also possible to affect it to a customer or not.
In fact, it’s used when customers ordered with a certain frequency same items with same quantity. So, with a one-click process, the whole item list will be validated and populated instantly in the sale order lines.
This post detailed the required setup for item list and its use.
Item list setup
Item list is setting up in the Sales and marketing module : Sales and marketing > Setup > Item lists
The following form opens :
Here is the process to create item list:
- Click on New
- Fill the identification fields
- Add items, manually (specify units and quantities)
- Prices will be populated from the Ax standard way (trade agreement, item price, active cost version, etc).
- We notice the customer field is greyed and unavailable (for now).
Ponctual use
When it’s done, the item list can be used for sales orders
- Create a sales orders for a dedicated customer
- Click on Sales order lines > From item list
Then, the following form opens :
- Select the appropriate item list
- Click on Paste and close: the selected item list is automatically applied and populated in lines and the current form close
Notice that it’s also possible to click ok Copy. In that case, the selected item list is applied and items are added to the sales orders, but the Item list form remains opens. It’s then possible to apply others item lists.
Optimal use
The item list form can be automatically pop-up from the sales orders creation. For doing that, the item list checkbox has to be ticked from the Account receivable menu.
Then, for each concerned customer, the active item list checkbox has also to be ticked.
At last, a sales orders has to be created, for an item list active customer.
- By clicking on OK, the item list form pops-up
- A click on Copy and Paste add items automatically to the sales orders
Link an item list to a dedicated customer
The association between an item list and a customer is done from the historic of sales orders, by generating the item list.
From the item list setup form, click on the Generate item list button.
The criterias of search have to be filled by using Generation type, value and minimal quantity fields (example : Generation type setup to “Number of days” and Value setup to 10 means the process will search 10 days from now). Setup also the customer and post by clicking OK.
- A new item list is created
- The customer fields is filled (and still greyed and unvailable for manual update)
- The item list can be updated (add/delted items, update units or quantities)
The generated item list for a customer is available only for him when the item list form pops-up for a sales orders….and it’s quite new (R3 CU9). Indeed, until CU8, the customer filter did not work. Microsoft should has fixed that issue and that’s a good news.
Indeed, if we couldn’t affect directly an item list to a customer, nothing stops us to generated an item list for a customer based on a one day historic for instance… and to delete items one by one on the generated item list in order to replace them by the correct one. It will spare one specific customization.
Limits
Some limits still stand :
- No date management to item lists (start from/end at) or item list components
- When a sales orders is created directly from the customer record instead of from scratch, the pop-up form is not displayed
- The add is done item per item and customer per customer. There is not a massive way to do it (by using groups, item categories/customer categories).
- There is not DIXF standard entities to help you with.
- It’s not working with purchase orders
- When the main “Active item list” is ticked from the Account receivable parameters, it’s automatically applied to every customer… so the “Active item list” checkbox on the customer record is useless (it’s a bug that is not yet fixed, too bad).
Yohann ROLLAND