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How to: Manage Company Configuration in a Worksheet

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The configuration worksheet is the central location in which you can plan, track, and perform your configuration work. You can create a worksheet for each company that you are working with or create a standard configuration worksheet that can be used for configuring multiple identical companies.

Before you start, make sure that you are on the RapidStart Services Role Center page. It provides the correct context for your configuration work. To change your Role Center home page, see How to: Change Role Centers. Choose the RapidStart Profile ID.

The first step in preparing a configuration package is to select a company that you have already set up and modified to suit most of your solution needs. This company serves as the baseline for your configuration work on new companies. In the worksheet, you designate the tables that you want your configuration to control and handle. Since most tables in Microsoft Dynamics NAV have relationships and dependencies on other tables, you should also include those related tables as necessary. Together, these tables will then serve as the structure around which you will build a new company. Subsequent steps help you package and then deploy your configuration.

To aide you in tracking and reviewing your work, use the Config. Package Table Factbox FactBox to see information about records. Use the Config. Related Tables Factbox FactBox to monitor table relationships.

The following procedures demonstrate how to add and customize table information for your configuration.

To open the configuration worksheet

  1. In the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client, open the company that is the baseline for configuration, and then open its Role Center Home page for RapidStart Services.

  2. In the Search box, enter Configuration Worksheet, and then choose the related link.

The worksheet window opens.

To add one table to the worksheet

  1. On the Home tab, in the Manage group, choose Edit List.

  2. In the configuration worksheet, select the first line.

  3. In the Line Type field, choose Table.

  4. In the Table ID field, select the table that you want to add to your configuration.

  5. In the Page ID field, enter the page ID associated with the table. For standard Microsoft Dynamics NAV tables, this value is automatically filled in. For custom tables, you have to provide the ID.

  6. In the Reference field, enter a url of a page that provides best practice information or instructions for how to set up the table.

  7. To add related tables, on the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Get Related Tables.

    Note

    Related tables will not be added with the Get Related Tables action if either of the following is true:

    • The relation is conditional.

      Example: If you get related tables for table 18 (Customer), then table 14 (Location) will not be added, since it is only conditionally related to table 18, namely if the Location Code field in table 18 is filled.

    • The related table is filtered.

      Example: A field in the related table has a WHERE clause.

    The reason for this is that the involved relations information is stored in the Field system table, which is not fully accessible to the application. You must add such types of tables manually by following step 4 in this procedure.

  8. To modify the resulting list of tables, select a table that you want to remove, and on the Home tab, choose Delete.

  9. Repeat the step for each table that you want to add to the configuration.

  10. To remove duplicate table information, which can result from the Get Related Tables action, on the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Delete Duplicate Lines. This will remove duplicate tables that have the same package code.

To add multiple tables to the configuration worksheet

  1. On the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Get Tables. The Get Config. Tables batch job window opens.

    On the Options FastTab, specify the types of tables that you want to add to the configuration. The following table describes the options.

    Option Description

    Include with Data Only

    Select the check box to include only those tables that contain data. For example, you may want to include a table that already defines the typical payment terms that your solution supports.

    Include Related Tables

    Select the check box to include all related tables. To add a subset of related tables, see step 3 in this procedure.

    Include Dimension Tables

    Select the check box to include dimension tables.

    Include Licensed Tables Only

    Select the check box to include only those tables for which the license under which you are creating the worksheet allows you access.

  2. On the Object FastTab, set filters as appropriate to specify the types of tables you want to include or exclude.

  3. Choose the OK button. Microsoft Dynamics NAV tables are added to the worksheet. Each entry in the list has a line type of Table.

  4. To remove duplicate table information, which can result from the Get Tables action, on the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Delete Duplicate Lines. This will remove duplicate tables that have the same package code.

  5. You can add tables to the worksheet that are related to a table you have selected. Review the information in the Related Tables FactBox to see whether there are missing tables. To add related tables for a specific table, select the table in the list, and on the Actions tab, in the Functions group, choose Get Related Tables.

    Note

    Related tables will not be added with the Get Related Tables function if either of the following is true:

    • The relation is conditional.

      Example: If you get related tables for table 18 (Customer), then table 14 (Location) will not be added, since it is only conditionally related to table 18, namely if the Location Code field in table 18 is filled.

    • The related table is filtered.

      Example: A field in the related table has a WHERE clause.

    The reason for this is that the involved relations information is stored in the Field virtual table and is not available in windows such as the configuration worksheet for performance reasons. You must add related tables with such complex relationships manually by following step 4 in the "To add one table to the worksheet" section.

  6. You can also remove tables. To modify the resulting list of tables, select a table to remove, and on the Home tab, choose Delete.

Use the next procedure to specify which table fields to include. After you make this specification, you can export the table into Excel, and use the table structure as a template for gathering customer data. For more information, see How to: Create a Configuration Template.

To specify a set of fields and records for a configuration table

  1. Select a table in the list of configuration tables, and on the Home tab, in the Manage group, chose Edit List.

  2. Select a table for which you want to specify field information, and on the Actions tab, in the Show group, choose Fields.

    To select just the fields you want to include, on the Home tab, in the Process group, choose Clear Included. To add all fields, choose Set Included.

    To specify that the field data should not be validated, clear the Validate Field check box for the field.

    Choose the OK button.

  3. To filter to a certain set of records to include in the configuration worksheet, on the Actions tab, in the Show group, choose Filters. Specify the appropriate filter values.

    For more information about a specific field, select the field, and then press F1.

You can create areas of functionality and groups of tables in the worksheet in order to put similar functionality together. For example, in setting up the chart of accounts for your configuration, you may decide to create a group of posting tables. Typically, areas are used to group a set of tables that correspond to a functional area. Each area can contain groups. A group can be used to arrange tables that have a common meaning together.

The following procedure describes how to add area and group designations, after you have created the initial list of tables. After you have added these categories, you can continue to add and modify your list of tables.

To categorize and group functionality in the worksheet

  1. At the beginning of an area, insert a new line into the worksheet.

  2. In the Line Type field, choose Area. In the Name field, enter a name for the area.

  3. At the beginning of a grouping of tables, insert a new line into the worksheet.

  4. In the Line Type field, choose Group. In the Name field, enter a name for the area. The group name is automatically indented.

  5. To move tables to the appropriate category, on the Actions tab, in the Functions group, select a table to move. Choose Move Up or Move Down. Alternatively, you can delete a worksheet line and insert the table again in the required location.

For more information about how to use categories effectively, see Line Type.

Some Microsoft Dynamics NAV tables are standard and the data in them is not likely to change from implementation to implementation. Consequently, to help your customer focus, you can remove these tables from the worksheet after you have included them in the configuration package. Once added, the tables remain part of the configuration package.

To remove a standard table in the worksheet

  1. After you have added all necessary tables to a configuration package, determine which tables will not require customer attention.

  2. Select the tables, and then delete them.

    Note

    The tables remain in the package.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Create a Configuration Package

Other Resources

Config. Worksheet
Get Config. Tables