Variant Support in Microsoft Dynamics AX R3 - CU8 1. Introduction This paper describes the additional functionality being added for product variants in Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU8. Product variants are defined by product masters with product dimension variations, for example a single towel in different sizes and colors. Instead of creating multiple products it sometimes makes more sense to create a single product master and use the various combinations of sizes, colors, and configuration as different product variants. However there have been some limitations for using product variants, many of which are now addressed in this release. 2. Basic configuration The following steps will walk through the creation of a product master and associated product variants. This example will be used throughout this paper to highlight the new functionality. The goal will be to create a single Towel product master and nine associated product variants, based on the following product attributes for size and color. Product Master Size Color Towel Small Red Medium Green Large Blue Navigate to Product information management -> Common -> Products -> All products and product masters. Click the New Product button to bring up the following form:
Figure 1. New product form. Product subtype: Note that Product master is selected in the product subtype dropdown. This changes the available fields on this form so it may look slightly different when initially opened. Product dimension group: Select a product dimension group that has the correct mix of active product dimensions, which will become the axis upon which the variants will be created. For this example the product dimension group PK_10 has size and color as active dimensions. Once the product master has been created, select the Product dimensions button to configure the exact variant dimensions available.
Figure 2: Product Master details form. Configuring the Product dimensions is straightforward simply enter the distinct values for the various dimensions defined as active by the product dimension group. In this example the Size and Color values will be entered based on the desired variants. Figure 3: Product dimensions sizes
Figure 4: Product dimensions colors Once these are complete select the Product variants button on the Product details form. This will open the Product variants form, where the specific variants can be configured. Figure 5: Product variants The nine variants have been configured, based on the size and color dimensions. Note that this was assisted by the Variant suggestions button, which made the creation of the variants based on the mix of product dimensions very easy to manage. Back in the Product details page, the storage and tracking dimension groups should be configured as well. It is important to select a storage dimension group that is enabled for advanced warehousing processing.
Figure 6: Product details form, with the assign dimension groups popup highlighted. If the variants will need to support distinct unit of measure conversions (which will be covered in detail in section 8) then the Enable unit of measure conversions checkbox must be selected. There are a series of validations executed when this checkbox is enabled all of which must pass to enable the variant unit of measure conversions. These will be covered in detail in section 8. Figure 7: Product details page for a product master with the Enable unit of measure conversions option enabled.
Once the above configurations are complete, the product can be released to the specific legal entities by selecting the Release products button on the product details form. This opens the Release products form, which allows the user to select the specific variants to release and the specific legal entities to release them into. Figure 8: Release products form selecting the products to release. Note that individual product variants can be released.
Figure 9: Release products form selecting the companies. Once the above configuration is complete, the product variants are almost ready to be used in the target companies. However there will be some company-specific configuration that must be completed. Open the released product within the company context and complete the required configurations by specifying the Item model group, Item group, Reservation hierarchy, and unit sequence group. This is the minimum required fields for a released product to be used obviously additional options and configurations can be enabled based on the specific business needs. 3. Bar code lookup support When using the advanced warehousing processes introduced in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, product variants have been tightly integrated into the bar code lookup functionality and can now be leveraged across many areas of the product such as the mobile device used by warehouse workers. Configuring bar codes for specific variants is done by selecting the Bar codes button under the Manage inventory tab for a released product. This brings up the following bar code form.
Figure 10: bar code form. - Scanning: This checkbox configures if the bar code will be used by bar code readers. When this is checked the system ensures the specified bar code is unique across all bar codes within the legal entity. Once bar codes have been configured for variants, they can be used within advanced warehousing scenarios, such as receiving Purchase Orders and Transfer Orders via the mobile device. This can be seen by creating a Purchase Order containing one or more product variant lines, like the following example: Figure 11: Purchase order with 3 distinct variants. When the warehouse worker uses the mobile device to receive the Purchase Order, it will now be possible to scan or enter the bar code into the Item Id field of the mobile form. Before CU8, this would require the user to manually enter each of the product dimensions; the bar code scanning functionality will automatically disambiguate the product variant and select the correct product dimensions.
Figure 12: Mobile device emulator, showing the PO Receive screen with the Item Id highlighted. This field can now be used to scan or enter a bar code. The value entered is the bar code for the large blue towel. Figure 13: Mobile device emulator, showing the screen after a bar code has been scanned or entered. Note that the system has retrieved the correct line from the PO based on the variant product dimensions. If the wrong bar code is scanned the system will display an error, such as the following screen. Figure 14: Mobile device emulator, showing the screen if an invalid bar code is scanned or entered. This bar code lookup support for variants has been added to the following inbound operations: - Purchase Order receiving - Transfer Order receiving
- Load receiving - Return Order receiving 4. Product Confirmation In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 it is possible to enable location confirmation and quantity confirmation. When used with the new advanced warehousing functionality, this ensures that when a warehouse worker is directed to perform an operation from/to a location it is the correct location and quantity. With CU8 an additional option is being added that of product and product variant confirmation. This could be useful in the case of a mixed product location, or a location that stores multiple variants in these instances it might be critical to ensure the worker is selecting the correct product. This new functionality is configured in the same form as the location and quantity confirmation options (Warehouse management -> Setup -> Mobile device -> Mobile device menu items -> Work confirmation setup). Figure 15: Work confirmation setup form. - Work type: The specific work type to add the confirmation step into the mobile device workflow. Note that Product confirmation is only applicable to the Pick and Put work types. - Location/Quantity/Product confirmation: These checkboxes configure if the specific confirmation is enabled. In the case of multiple confirmations enabled, the fixed order will be: location, product, and then quantity. - Auto confirm: This feature is not supported with the location/quantity/product confirmation options. Once the product confirmation has been enabled, it will be necessary to enter a product identifier when performing a pick or put action through the mobile device. The product identifier can be one of several different values: product id, product search id, external identifier, GTIN, or bar code. For most workflows it is expected that the bar code would be scanned by the warehouse worker; the other search options are to provide support for unreadable bar codes. The product confirmation step for a sales order pick would look like the following screen.
Figure 16: Mobile device emulator, showing the pick operation for a Sales order with product confirmation. The item field has the correct bar code entered for verification. Figure 17: Mobile device emulator, showing the error message displayed if an incorrect product identifier is entered for the confirmation step. 5. Fixed Locations Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 supports the concept of fixed locations these are locations associated with a specific product and the system will use this information when creating and releasing waves for pick and put operations. However, until CU8 there was no support for variant-specific fixed locations. With CU8 it is now possible to define specific locations for specific variants. To configure this functionality, navigate to Warehouse management -> Setup -> Warehouse setup -> Fixed locations. The following form will be displayed. Note there is a new tab allowing the entry of product variants.
Figure 18: Fixed location form. Note that specific variant product dimensions can be specified. To ensure the fixed locations are utilized at work creation time, the location directive actions must be configured correctly. Navigate to Warehouse management -> Setup -> Location directives and select the correct work order type to configure for fixed locations. In the below example Purchase order putaway is being configured to use the variant-based fixed locations.
Figure 19: Location directive form, highlighting the Fixed location usage options for Location Directive Actions. - Fixed and non-fixed locations: This option configures the system to not utilize fixed locations for products or product variants. - Only fixed locations for the product: This option will cause the system to only examine the first tab in the Fixed locations form (i.e. it will only operate on products and not product variants). - Only fixed locations for the product variant: This option will cause the system to only examine the second tab in the Fixed locations form (i.e. it will only operate on product variants and not product). 6. Stocking Limits Much like the fixed location support discussed in section 5, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 supports stocking limits at the product level only. Product variant support is now added to the product in CU8, which allows the user to define maximum values for product variants in different locations in the warehouse. This can be configured much like the fixed location setup. Navigate to Warehouse management -> Setup -> Warehouse setup -> Location stocking limits. This will display the Location stocking limits form. Note that a new tab has been added to support product variant setup.
Figure 20: Location stocking limits form, showing the Product variants tab. - Location / Location profile ID: It is possible to either enter a specific location or a location profile to define the stocking limit. - Item number / Product dimensions: This tab must be used with a product variant and so a valid combination of product dimensions must be entered that resolve to a product variant. - Allow unlimited quantity: If this is checked then there will be no limit to the quantity of this variant that can be stored at this location/location profile. - Unit: It is possible to define stocking limits at different unit of measure. For example, there might be a limit for pallets and a limit for individual items. When the stocking limit logic is applied, the product variants limits are applied first, followed by the existing logic (which uses the standard product stocking limits logic). 7. Replenishment The replenishment functionality in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 provides support for min/max, load demand, and wave demand based replenishment at the product level only. The CU8 release adds the necessary support for product variant replenishment across all of these workflows. Support for replenishment is defined primarily in the Replenishment templates form (Warehouse management -> Setup -> Replenishment -> Replenishment templates). This form allows the user to configure the parameters for the different types of replenishment work.
Figure 21: Replenishment templates form, showing the Product query mode listbox options. - Replenishment type: This provides the following options: min/max, wave demand, or load demand. These specify the type of replenishment being configured by this template. - Product query mode: This listbox configures if the replenishment template will operate on products or product variants. Depending on the selected value, either the Select products or Select product variants button will be active. - Evaluate empty fixed locations: Configures the replenishment logic to examine fixed locations containing zero quantity. If this is a product variant replenishment template line then it will use the variant fixed location support introduced in section 5. - Replenish only fixed locations: Configures the replenishment logic to only evaluate fixed locations (either product or product variant fixed locations). - Select products / Select product variants: These buttons open a query form, allowing the user to specify the exact product or product variant that should be replenishment by this template line. An example of this form with a product variant is displayed in figure 22. - Locations: This button opens a query form, allowing the user to specify the location(s) in the warehouse that should be replenished by this template.
Figure 22: Product variant query form, opened from the Replenishment template line form. The blue large towel variant has been selected for replenishment. The core replenishment engine remains unchanged, and can be executed through the Warehouse management -> Periodic -> Replenishments form for min/max replenishment scenarios. The wave demand replenishment is executed when an outbound wave is released to the warehouse. Load demand replenishment is executed through the Warehouse management -> Periodic -> Load demand replenishment menu item. 8. Unit of Measure Conversions The existing functionality in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 allows for a robust set of conversion rules between different units of measure. When defined at the product level, this is often used to set how many products can fit on a pallet or in a container. One of the improvements CU8 brings is the ability to define different unit of measure conversion rules at the product variant level. This was not possible before CU8. This is a critical component for supporting variants, as often the different sizes or configuration of a product result in different packing quantities. In the current towel example, it is quite possible that a pallet of large towels contains a much different number than a pallet of small towels. To configure this functionality, the Enable unit of measure conversions checkbox must be enabled at the product master level.
Figure XXX: Product details form highlighting the Enable unit of measure conversions checkbox. When this checkbox is enabled, a series of validations are executed to ensure the product master is in a valid state to enable variant unit of measure conversions. These validations are as follows: - All released products based on this product master must be advanced warehousing enabled o Since these variant unit of measure conversion rules only apply to the workflows contained within the advanced warehousing scenarios each of the released products must be advanced warehousing enabled. - None of the released products can have any open inventory transactions o This ensures there are no transactions currently executing which might be utilizing the product unit of measure conversion rules. Such behavior would be undetermined once the variant unit of measure conversions rules were enabled. - No product unit of measure conversions exist o It is not currently possible to mix product level unit of measure conversions with product variant unit of measure conversions. This check ensures there are no product level conversions in place. - All of the released products have consistent unit ids defined o Note: consistent means the sales unit, purchase unit, inventory unit, and production unit are all identical (typically each or piece) o This is a known limitation to the system, put in place to ensure the conversions on all source documents are not impacted by the variant unit of measure logic. Clicking the Unit conversions button will bring up the Unit conversions form. Once the Enable unit of measure conversions checkbox is selected, this form will only allow variants to be selected for the current product. When opened from a product master without the checkbox enabled the list of products displayed is all non-variant products.
Figure XX: Unit conversions form, showing the Product listbox options when the form is opened from a product master with the Enable unit of measure conversions checkbox enabled. Once a product variant is selected, the process of creating the conversion rule is identical to previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX. A complete set of conversion rules for the Towel example is shown below.
Figure XX: Unit conversions form, containing different unit of measure conversion rules for the different product variants. The product variant unit of measure conversion support is enabled for the following advanced warehousing processes: - Purchase order Item receiving - Purchase order Load receiving - Transfer order Line number receiving - Transfer order Item receiving - Purchase order line number receiving - Sales order picking - Transfer order picking - Cycle counting - Movement by template - Manual movement For the CU8 release, no other workflows are compatible with the variant unit of measure conversions and attempting to use them will result in the error message The product variant conversions are not supported for a current process. Please check the product master [Product ID] setup. If the process is required, then it will be necessary to remove the variant-specific unit of measure conversions and simply use the legacy functionality of product-based unit of measure conversions. 9. Conclusion The additional capabilities added in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU8 will make it easier to manage and utilize product variants in a wide variety of advanced warehousing scenarios. Hopefully this functionality can help your business grow and ensure your customers are delighted in the solutions made possible by Microsoft Dynamics AX.