In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (Administration), how do I… Maintain Number Series

This article is part of the In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (Administration), how do I… series and of the wider In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, how do I… series which I am posting as I familiarise myself with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Number series are maintained in the No. Series Lines (457) table; it’s important to remember that the number series page and table are not aware if a number series is a posted one or not, as this is managed in the setup or batch pages.

There is no limit to the number of number series which can be created, and some people create number series for specific batch types such as year-end, adjustment or payroll journals.

To create a new number series, search for the No. Series page; to create a new number series, move to the bottom of the list (in theory you can click the new button and insert where the cursor is, but, long term, this can cause problems).

In this example, I am adding a number series to use for payroll journals (and have applied a filter to the list to hide the other number series). I have entered the Code, Description[/b] and have marked the Default Nos. checkbox so numbers will default onto the transaction (in almost all cases you will want this checkbox marked; the only scenario I’ve found so far where we wouldn’t want this is when users will manually supply the item number when creating new items; a number series needs to be assigned in Inventory Setup (461) to avoid errors).

Decide if gaps are allowed in the numbers and mark the Allow Gaps in Nos checkbox accordingly; typically I set number series to allow gaps unless they are being used as posted number series.

The next step is to assign the numeric values to the number series; do this by clicking the Navigate » Lines action on the action bar.

There are a few fields which can be filled in on the No. Series Lines (457) page:

• Starting Date – only needs to be set if you want to use different number series for each year; such as applying a prefix to the number series.
• Starting No. – The first number to be used by the system.
• Ending No. – The final number which can be assigned; once Business Central reaches this number an error will be produced.
• Last No. Used – Records the last number used assigned in Business Central; can be used to override the next number to be assigned.
• Warning No. – Number at which point a warning should be raised to the user that the ending number is being approached.
• Increment-bu-No – How the number series should increment; usually 1, and will default to this, but can be set to any number required. I’ve dealt with a client who set their customer and vendor number series to increment by 10.
• Allow Gaps in No. – I typically mark this for everything except those that will be used for posted number series.

Once the number series is configured to your satisfaction, close the
No. Series Lines page.

The above can be repeated for each number series which needs to be created; maintenance in future is as simple as opening the No. Series page and making whatever changes are necessary.