This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.
The twenty-first of the new functionality in the Application section is Block item variants.
Over time, you might have some item variants that you no longer need. Business Central won’t allow you to delete the unneeded variants, but you can block them from being chosen on sales or purchase lines, and you can block them from being posted in transactions.
Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Sep 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023
Feature Details
The following table describes the new toggles Microsoft have added to the Item Variant page.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Sales Blocked | You can’t choose the item variant on a sales document or in a sales item journal. |
| Purchasing Blocked | You can’t choose the item variant on a purchase document, in a purchase item journal, or in purchase planning processes. |
| Blocked | You can’t include the item variant in transactions. |
Note
Blocked items can be returned. The settings above don’t apply to return orders or credit memos.
When you use the Copy from Document action to create new documents based on existing documents, you’re notified if items or item variants on the source document lines are blocked. The blocked document lines are excluded from the new document, and a notification shows an overview of all document lines that are blocked in the source document.
Microsoft have also added an Item Variant Card page. The total number of fields in the standard product isn’t overwhelming and you can continue to edit variants in the list, but some partner solutions extend this table dramatically. Those solutions will benefit from having a place where they can add new elements in a structured way.
My Opinion
One thing that has surprised me is that there are very few master records which can be disabled and prevented from being used. It’s good to see this ability to block item variants being used introduced, and hopefully we will see this on more master types, such as locations, in the future.
New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2
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