Introduction When setting up trade agreements in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365FO), you may notice the “Find Next” option. What does this Find Next flag do? How does it affect discount calculations in the system? This blog will break it down with a simple example! What Does “Find Next” Do? Find Next = ON → The system accumulates multiple applicable trade agreement lines and applies all eligible discounts. Find Next = OFF → The system only applies the first best-fit discount and ignores other possible discounts. Key Impact: When enabled, multiple discounts can be combined. If disabled, only the most specific discount is applied. Step-by-Step Example: Trade Agreement with “Find Next” Let’s walk through a real-world scenario to see how this setting changes discount application. Step 1: Create a Trade Agreement Step 2: Add Discount Lines We add three discount lines for Item A: Line Condition Discount % 1 Basic discount for Item A 5% 2 Quantity-based discount (10 – 100 units) 10% 3 Quantity-based discount (101 – 500 units) 20% Scenario 1: “Find Next” is OFF (Disabled) Step 3: Create a Purchase Order Step 4: Increase the Order Quantity Scenario 2: “Find Next” is ON (Enabled) Step 5: Enable “Find Next” Step 6: Recreate the Purchase Order Step 7: How the Discount is Applied Key Takeaways Find Next OFF → The system applies only the first matching discount. Find Next ON → The system adds up multiple applicable discounts. Best Practice: Use Find Next when you want multiple discounts to be applied together. Understanding how Find Next works helps businesses configure trade agreements properly and avoid unexpected pricing issues. Need more D365 tips? Stay tuned for our next blog! We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Organizations are constantly struggling with the complexities of demand and supply forecasting. The traditional methods, often dependent on manual intervention and assumption-based procurement, are increasingly becoming inefficient. These outdated processes lead to inventory overloads, high holding costs, and a significant backlog of orders, all which hamper business growth and scalability. It’s clear that businesses need a more robust, scalable, and accurate forecasting solution. This is where AI-driven demand and supply forecasting solutions come into play, offering a revolutionary approach to streamline operations and enhance decision-making. The Business Challenges Traditional demand and supply forecasting methods pose several challenges that can hamper business success: These challenges underscore the critical need for businesses to move away from manual methods and towards more advanced, automated solutions that can adapt to the ever-changing market landscape. The AI-Driven Solution To address these challenges, CloudFronts offers an innovative AI-driven demand and supply forecasting solution designed to transform the way businesses operate. Here’s how this solution can revolutionize your business: High-Level Architecture The architecture of our AI-driven forecasting solution is designed to ensure scalability, flexibility, and real-time processing capabilities. Key components include: Benefits of AI-Driven Forecasting Implementing an AI-driven forecasting solution offers numerous benefits that can significantly impact your business: Conclusion As the business landscape continues to evolve, the need for accurate, efficient, and scalable demand and supply forecasting solutions becomes more critical than ever. CloudFronts’ AI-driven forecasting solution not only addresses the inefficiencies of traditional methods but also empowers businesses to thrive in a competitive market. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Managing financial transactions accurately and efficiently is crucial for any growing business. The process of ledger settlements can be time-consuming and prone to errors when done manually. To address this, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance version 10.0.31 introduces the ability to automate ledger settlements, helping businesses streamline their financial processes. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps needed to enable and optimize automatic ledger settlements in Dynamics 365, so your organization can save time, reduce errors, and improve financial reporting. Automating ledger settlements is a significant improvement over the manual process. The automated process works by comparing debit and credit transactions in your general ledger. It automatically matches transactions with identical accounting currency amounts, simplifying reconciliation efforts. However, it’s important to note that this feature does not support partial matching of transactions. Before enabling the Automate Ledger Settlements feature, it’s crucial to first activate the Awareness feature between Ledger Settlement and Year-end Close. This step ensures the process runs smoothly without impacting your year-end financial closing. Steps to Enable Automatic Ledger Settlements Step 1: Identify Relevant Primary Accounts Step 2: Create a Rule for Process Automation Step 3: Set up Criteria for Automation Step 4: Manage the Created Rule Once the rule has been created, you can view or modify it at any time. This flexibility allows you to adapt the automation process to changing business needs. Step 5: Verify the Automation Batch Job Ensure that the automation batch job is running correctly. Go to System Administration > Inquiries > Batch Jobs to check the execution status. Step 6: View Scheduled Executions and Results You can monitor the status of your scheduled automations and the results of settled transactions for full visibility into your financial processes. Step 7: Access Settled Transactions To view finalized ledger settlements, navigate to General Ledger > Periodic Tasks > Ledger Settlements. Conclusion By automating the ledger settlement process in Dynamics 365 Finance, businesses can reduce manual effort, minimize errors, and optimize financial workflows. It’s essential to follow the steps outlined above to ensure smooth implementation and operation. By automating your ledger settlements, your organization can save time and improve financial reporting accuracy. Take the Next Step If your organization is looking to optimize financial workflows, start by automating your ledger settlements today. For more detailed assistance or to explore additional financial automation features, feel free to contact us.

Effective task management is essential in the field of enterprise resource planning. Administrators could designate particular batch servers to a batch group with more flexibility prior to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (D365FO) introducing “Priority Based Scheduling”. This capability was not merely about enhancing capacity but also about controlling and limiting it. The Problem of Overutilization Recently, our team encountered a significant challenge. We had 98 tasks, all marked with a “normal” scheduling priority, that were able to execute simultaneously. Given that more than 98 tasks were available, all of them entered the executing state at the same time. This situation led to a 100% Database Transaction Unit utilization over a prolonged period, which is far from ideal. Such a high utilization rate can strain the system, leading to performance issues and potentially impacting other operations. In the past, this kind of issue could have been mitigated. The older batch group mechanism allowed us to limit the number of batch servers assigned to a batch group, thereby controlling the number of parallel tasks. Unfortunately, with the shift to “Priority Based Scheduling,” this direct control seemed to have been lost, leading to the problems we recently faced. Discovery of Batch Concurrency Control With the release of version 10.0.38 PU63, a new feature called “Batch Concurrency Control” caught my attention. This feature reintroduces the ability to limit or throttle the number of parallel tasks in a specific batch group. Had we been aware of this feature earlier, and had the users selected the correct batch group in their request forms, we could have limited the number of parallel tasks to a manageable number, such as 10. This would have prevented the processing from adversely affecting other users and maintained overall system performance. Activating and Utilizing the Feature After activating the “Batch Concurrency Control” feature, you will notice a new field in the batch group settings. This field is crucial for managing task concurrency effectively. Understanding the Help Text The maximum number of tasks that can run in parallel at a time for Batch Jobs in this Batch Group. This setting should be set to zero if concurrency control is not required. To completely stop all batch jobs in this Batch Group, set the value to -1. It’s important to remember that using this feature on batch jobs with more than 5000 concurrent tasks that are prepared to run could have a negative effect on batch scheduling performance. This explanation is vital. Setting the value to zero means no concurrency control, while setting it to -1 halts all batch jobs in the group. However, caution is advised against using this feature for batch jobs with more than 5000 concurrent tasks, as it could degrade the performance of batch scheduling. Implementing the Feature in Our Workflow In our operations, we now actively use this feature to manage the number of available tasks per batch group. This approach mirrors our previous strategy, where we selected only a few batch servers for a specific batch group. By doing so, we can effectively throttle the tasks and ensure a balanced load across the system. Conclusion The introduction of “Batch Concurrency Control” in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations has provided us with a much-needed tool to manage and control task execution within batch groups. By setting appropriate limits, we can prevent system overloads, maintain performance, and ensure a smoother operation. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com 

Introduction: Ensuring user security is a crucial aspect in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. To access or utilize the features of Dynamics 365 F&O, a user must have a role assigned to them. Without a role, the user will be unable to perform any actions within the system. Access levels and business processes for a particular role are determined by the duties and privileges associated with that role. In this blog post, we will explore two recently introduced features that simplify the process of comprehending and setting up customized security roles within Dynamics 365: security diagnostic and security configuration tools. Defining terms used in Security: Security Roles: – Security roles in Dynamics 365 define how users can access different modules. – The system comes with pre-defined security roles that can be assigned to users. A user has the ability to possess multiple security roles. – Data security policies can only be applied by the administrator to limit user access to data. – To gain access to Finance and Operations, it is mandatory for users to be assigned to at least one security role.  – Security roles correspond to company responsibilities and contain a set of duties required to carry out functions. Duties: – Duties correspond to tasks of a role and are part of a business process. – They are composed of privileges necessary for performing an action. – Duties can be assigned to multiple security roles and help reduce fraud and detect errors. – Segregating duties is important for regulatory compliance such as SOX and IFRS. – Default duties are provided, and administrators can modify or create new duties. Privileges: – Privileges are unit action sets that correspond to system functions. – They specify the level of access required to perform a job or complete an assignment. – Privileges refer to specific permissions granted to application objects such as UI elements and tables. – Default privileges are provided, and administrators can modify or create new privileges. Permissions: – Permissions are required for accessing functions in Dynamics 365. – Access levels are grouped for permissions to tables, fields, forms, or server-side methods. – Permissions include any tables, fields, forms, or server-side methods accessed through the entry point. Security Configuration Tool: The Security Configuration Tool is a useful tool for administrators as it enables them to create and manage security roles, duties, and privileges.  The Security Configuration Tool is a feature in Dynamics 365 that offers various benefits to users. Here are some of the benefits: Display Entry Point Permissions: The tool enables administrators to display entry point permissions for a given role, duty, or privilege. Test Security Role is a useful feature that allows users to check if a security role, duty, or privilege has been newly created or modified, without having to create a separate test user account.  Non-Permanent Changes: Changes made in the Security Configuration Tool are not permanent and must be published to take effect. Data Export/Import: Changes can be saved as a data export file that can be imported into desired environments. Full Hierarchy View: Users can access the tool by going to System Administration > Security > Security Configuration and have a full hierarchy view of roles, duties, privileges, and entry point security assignments. Duplicate Existing Roles: Users can duplicate existing roles, duties, and privileges. Various Options: The tool offers several options for performing against the currently selected role/duty/privilege, including undo/redo customizations, creating new roles, showing all levels, deleting roles, duplicating roles, copying roles, viewing permissions, and displaying the audit trail. To add a new role in Dynamics 365 with the Security Configuration Tool, you can follow these easy steps: Step 1: Select the ‘Roles’ tab and click ‘Create new’ to create a new role in Dynamics 365. Step 2: Enter the name of the new role using a different naming convention so that it is easily identifiable. Step 3: To add a new duty to a role, highlight it, go to the Duties column, and select Add references. All duties (and customs if created) will be available in the list. Step 4: You can select certain tasks, and their corresponding privileges, to be available in a role. If needed, users can remove certain tasks from the role. Step 5: To modify object permissions, go to the Privileges section. Dynamics 365 has different access levels, such as Read, Update, Create, and Delete, that determine a user’s level of access to a particular record or record type. Security roles have three types of access levels: Unset, Grant, and Deny. Step 6: Any modifications made in the user interface must be published before they are implemented. This list shows all the changes that are not yet published. Security Diagnostic Tool: The Security Diagnostic Tool is a unique feature of Dynamics 365 that empowers individuals with a security administrator or system administrator role to conduct an assessment on any form to identify the roles, duties, and privileges required to accomplish a task.  The tool provides numerous advantages to its users, including: To use the Security Diagnostic Tool, simply follow these steps: go to the Option tab, then select Page Options, and finally, click on Security Diagnostics.  This will automatically run the tool for you. Remember that the Security Diagnostic Tool is available on any form.  After the tool runs, it will generate a comprehensive list of all the roles, duties, and privileges related to that particular form.  This enables administrators to quickly identify any gaps in security and make necessary adjustments to ensure the protection of the system and its data. Conclusion: In conclusion, Dynamics 365 for Finance offers a reliable and secure role-based security system that guarantees that users have access to only the data that is necessary for them to carry out their tasks. The security roles, duties, privileges, and permissions collaborate to create a comprehensive security system that is effective.  Moreover, the security diagnostic and configuration tools make it simpler to comprehend and customize security roles in Dynamics 365. We hope you found this … Continue reading Security Roles in D365 Finance and Operation →

In inventory management, there often arises a need for flexibility, especially when dealing with orders that exceed current stock levels. Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations offers a solution to this challenge through enabling physical negative inventory.   This functionality allows organizations to create sales orders even when inventory levels are insufficient, catering to scenarios where a stock may be incoming or when manufacturing units are involved.  Purpose of Physical Negative Inventory:  Some organizations encounter situations where they must fulfil customer orders despite lacking sufficient inventory on hand. This could be due to various reasons such as pending stock arrivals or the need to initiate manufacturing processes upon order placement.   Enabling physical negative inventory facilitates the creation of sales orders under such circumstances, ensuring business continuity and customer satisfaction.  Process to Enable Negative Inventory:  Enabling physical negative inventory involves configuring settings within Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. This can be achieved through the following steps:  Navigate to Inventory Management > Setup > Inventory > Item Model Group.  Within the Item Model Group, allow for physical negative inventory.  For further insights into this process, refer to our previous blog post on https://www.cloudfronts.com/blog/d365-enterprise/d365-finance-operations/physical-negative-inventory-dynamics-365-operations/ can provide additional guidance.  Necessary Steps to Manage Physical Negative Inventory:  Once physical negative inventory is enabled, it’s essential to adopt proper procedures for its management to maintain accuracy and efficiency.   • Ensure Availability of Physical Inventory during Shipment: Before shipping any items, verify the presence of physical inventory in stock. Only proceed with the shipment if the required items are physically available.  • Transfer Stock if Necessary: If the required stock is not available at the shipping warehouse but exists in the main warehouse, initiate a transfer process to move the items accordingly and receive that in a shipping warehouse.  • Periodic Inventory Closing: Implement regular inventory closing procedures to ensure accurate inventory valuations.  Issues Faced by Organizations if Proper Procedures Are Not Followed:  Failure to comply with the proper procedures can lead to various issues, including:  Invalid Cost Value of Items: This can result in an inaccurate inventory valuation, subsequently affecting main accounts and profit estimation.  In conclusion, by following these steps, organizations can effectively manage physical negative inventory within Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, ensuring smooth operations and accurate inventory valuations.  We hope you found this article useful and if you would like to discuss anything you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com 

In financial management, the accurate recording and reconciliation of transactions within the general ledger stand as paramount tasks. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, offers a feature known as General Ledger Adjustments. This feature, often overlooked or misunderstood, plays a pivotal role in addressing critical challenges associated with ledger adjustment entries due to environmental issues or data corruption. The recent discovery of the General Ledger Adjustments feature within the feature management workspace prompted a deeper exploration. However, upon enabling this feature, it became apparent that Microsoft aims to streamline and systematize a fundamental problem-solving process. Reflecting on past experiences, various challenges related to ledger adjustments surfaced: Traditionally, when encountering such issues, the path forward often involved engaging Microsoft support to delve deeper into the problem. While Microsoft proficiently identifies the root cause and initiates steps to address it in future product updates, the immediate concern revolves around rectifying the existing corrupted or missing data. The suggested workaround typically involves manual journal entries. However, this process traditionally unfolds through email communications, leading to potential discrepancies or misunderstandings regarding the specifics—such as the nature of the journal entries, relevant dates, or designated journals. The introduction of the General Ledger Adjustments feature within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations appears as a structured attempt to address these challenges within the system itself, streamlining and formalizing the process that was previously conducted through ad hoc communications. Enabling General Ledger Adjustments: In this section, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations provides an interface where recommended journal entries for data correction are populated based on identified discrepancies or issues within the system. Users are presented with suggested adjustments, and based on their discretion and analysis, they can decide to create a journal entry directly from this interface. Note: Creating a journal entry from this interface generates a “Daily” type of journal within the General Ledger, facilitating a more organized and systematic approach to handling the necessary corrections or adjustments. In conclusion, this feature signifies a proactive step towards enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of managing ledger adjustments within the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations ecosystem.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, efficient workflow management is essential for organizations to stay competitive.  Workflow email alerts help organizations stay on top of important business processes by automatically notifying designated individuals when certain tasks are completed or when specific conditions are met.  In this article, we will provide a step-by-step guide for setting up workflow email alerts in D365 FO. Before getting started, it’s important to ensure that email parameters are configured correctly and that you are able to receive test emails from D365 in your inbox.  To check this, navigate to System Administration> Setup > Email > Email Parameters.  1. In the configuration, Enable the email provider as per your requirement.  2. If your using the SMTP setting then enter the outgoing server information, and SMTP port and enable SSL/TLS required button. Set up an email address for the user who will receive alerts and enable workflow email alerts for that user. To accomplish this, go to the System Administration section, select Users, and then click on Users. Highlight and click on the user you wish to enable email alerts for.  If no email address is attached, enter the user’s email address. To enable email notifications, go to ‘User options’ on the ribbon, then click on ‘Workflow’ on the left side and set the option to ‘Send notifications in email’ to Yes. Create an email template or email message. Templates are generic and can be configured while configuring workflows.  Navigate to System Administration> Setup > Email> System email templates. Here you can create a template, such as “Workflow emails.” Assign your email template to the specific workflow. To configure the workflow email alerts, you can navigate to the workflow for which you want to send email notifications, Open that workflow access the basic settings, and choose the relevant workflow template from the dropdown menu. Configure the necessary notifications for the particular task, control, or approval while setting up the workflow steps. Here, you will specify the notification content which will be sent to the user in the email. Configure the batch job to distribute the email notifications. Navigate to System administration > Periodic tasks > Email processing > Email distributor batch.  Since we are now adding a batch job, it can be scheduled to run automatically at specified intervals. To schedule autorun, adjust the ‘Recurrence’ settings as per the requirements. Monitor email sending status. To access the E-mail Sending Status page, go to System administration > Periodic tasks > Email processing > Batch email sending status.  Here, you can monitor successfully sent, pending, or failed email messages. In conclusion, configuring workflow email notification alerts can be a simple yet effective way to stay on top of important business processes.  By following the above steps, you can set up workflow email alerts in D365 FO and start reaping the benefits of streamlined workflow management. Thank you for reading my blog!

Personalization stands as a robust feature within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, significantly enhancing consultants’ and users’ experiences while interacting with the platform. Among these personalization options, the workspace stands out as a feature I routinely recommend to end-users. Its advantages span from streamlining daily business activities, time-saving capabilities, and improved visibility into work items that require attention, to the crucial benefit of reducing clicks and navigation across multiple screens. In this blog, I aim to demonstrate the process of creating a new workspace and sharing it with the necessary users. Creating a Workspace To initiate the personalization of your Dynamics 365 experience, follow these steps to craft a new workspace tailored to your specific requirements: Right-click on the right side blank screen and select “Personalize TitlepageContainer.” Your newly created workspace will now appear on the dashboard. After completing the initial steps, it’s time to fine-tune the configuration to suit your operational needs: Navigate to the required form or list page that you wish to include in the workspace. Select the presentation type: Tile, List, or Link. Additionally, you can create a saved view on the required form by applying filters and then add that saved view to the workspace. For instance, from the “All Sales Order” page, applying a filter for invoiced orders and saving that view to be added to the workspace. For this blog’s demonstration, I’ll illustrate adding the “Sales Order Invoice” to the new workspace. Navigate to the “Open Invoice” page. Click on the “Options” tab within the action tab. Select “Add to Workspace.” Choose the workspace created in the first part of the blog. This showcases the output when you click on the Custom workspace in Dashboard Configure Workspace Post workspace creation and configuration, the subsequent crucial step is sharing it with the relevant user groups: Identify User Groups: Determine the teams or individuals who would benefit from accessing this customized workspace. In conclusion, creating and sharing personalized workspaces in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations empowers users with tailored interfaces, offering enhanced efficiency, streamlined workflows, and a more intuitive user experience. I hope these steps will guide you in optimizing your Dynamics 365 experience, boosting productivity, and attaining better outcomes for your business operations.

Introduction When creating a trade agreement in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (D365 F&O), you may come across the “Find Next” option. This article will explain what the Find Next flag does and how it impacts the system when calculating discounts. The “Find Next” Option in Dynamics 365 F&O The Find Next option in D365FO accumulates trade agreement lines if there are multiple eligible lines. When this feature is turned on, the system will implement all discounts, without considering the current trade agreement journal lines’ status. If the Find Next feature is not available, the system will look for the trade agreement journal line with the highest level of detail. To better understand the Find Next option, let’s consider an example: Step 1: Create a trade agreement for a discount. Step 2: Add three lines to the trade agreement: Line 1: Add item “A” with a basic discount of 5%.Line 2: Include a product in the inventory that offers a quantity-based discount of 10% for orders ranging from 10 to 101 items.Line 3: Include a product in the inventory that offers a quantity-based discount of 20% for orders ranging from 101 to 501 items. Step 3: Disable the Find Next toggle. Step 4: Create a new purchase order and add an item. A basic discount of 5% will be applied to this item. Step 5: Change the item quantity to 11 to apply the next line discount in the trade agreement. The Find Next flag being disabled means that the discount percentage will remain unchanged. When the Find Next parameter is turned off, the system will only look for the first best-fit price, which in this case is 5%. Step 6: Enable the Find Next flag.Step 7: Once more, access the purchase order, delete the current item, and then include it once more. Step 8: Enter the quantity of the product as 12. Now, the discount of the item will change from 5% to 15% because it falls under the range discount of 1-100 for 10%, and for all categories, there is a 5% discount, which adds up to a total of 15%. Conclusion In summary, the Find Next option in a trade agreement cumulates all eligible trade agreement lines to apply all discounts.  It is crucial to understand this option to set up trade agreements correctly and avoid confusion in discount calculations.