Key tasks: Change management for purchase orders
Important
This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.
Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
You can use change management to control the changes that you make to purchase orders in your organization. Change management introduces a managed workflow that makes sure that purchase orders are locked when they have been approved. The purchase orders cannot be changed until you start the change request workflow. When the workflow starts, all changes are stored in a history log, so that you can review the changes and compare purchase order versions.
To understand the change management process, you must understand how the change process fits into the life cycle of the purchase order. There are six approval statuses that the purchase order travels through, from Draft to Finalized. Change requests can be raised in only two of the approval statuses.
Note
A change request cannot be canceled. It must always be submitted and approved through the workflow.
Approval status |
Description |
Change requests allowed |
|---|---|---|
Draft |
The purchase order is a draft and has not been submitted for approval in the purchase order workflow. |
No |
In review |
The purchase order was submitted for approval in the purchase order workflow. Approval is pending. |
No |
Rejected |
The purchase order was rejected during the approval process. |
No |
Approved |
The purchase order was approved. |
Yes |
Confirmed |
The purchase order was confirmed. A purchase order cannot be confirmed until it has been approved. |
Yes |
Finalized |
The purchase order was made final. It is financially closed and can no longer be changed. |
No |
Purchase order statuses cannot be increased for intercompany trading partners when change management is enabled. Also, purchase orders that have been created by firming planned orders from master planning are always set to Approved, regardless of the change management settings.
What do you want to do?
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Set up change management for purchase orders
Set up workflow for change management
Change a purchase order
View purchase order history and compare versions
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Click these links to find more information about the concepts that are discussed in this topic.
About purchase order posting types
Set up change management for purchase orders
Click Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Procurement and sourcing parameters.
In the General area, select the Activate change management check box to enable change management for purchase orders in the current legal entity.
Select the Allow override of settings per vendor check box if you want to be able to override the default settings for each vendor. This means that you can enable or disable the change management process for each vendor, regardless of the settings for the current legal entity.
Note
To override the change management settings for a vendor, select the Override settings check box on the Purchase order defaults FastTab in the Vendors form.
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Set up workflow for change management
A purchase order must have an Approved status before you can request that a change be made to the purchase order. A purchase order can have this status only if it is processed through a workflow. Therefore, when you enable change management, you must also set up a purchase order workflow. You do this on the Procurement and sourcing workflows list page. When you have set up the workflow, you must also enable it. For information about how to set up workflows, see Create a workflow and Set up Procurement and sourcing workflows.
A workflow represents a business process. It defines how a document flows through the system and indicates who must complete a task or approve a document. There are several benefits of using the workflow system in your organization:
Consistent processes — You can define the approval process for specific documents, such as purchase requisitions and expense reports. Using the workflow system helps to ensure that documents are processed and approved in a consistent and efficient manner.
Process visibility — You can track the status, history, and performance metrics of a specific workflow instance. This helps you determine whether changes should be made to the workflow to improve efficiency.
Centralized work list — Users can view a centralized work list to view the workflow tasks and approvals assigned to them. This work list is available from the Role Center pages in the Microsoft Dynamics AX client and Enterprise Portal.
For an overview of workflow in Microsoft Dynamics AX, see Overview of the workflow system and Workflow concepts.
Click Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Procurement and sourcing workflows.
On the Action Pane, click New.
Select the type of workflow to create, and then click Create workflow.
In the workflow editor, design the workflow by dragging workflow elements onto the canvas.
Configure each element of the workflow. For more information, see Configuring the workflow system.
Repeat steps 2 through 5 to create additional workflows for Procurement and sourcing.
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Change a purchase order
Click Procurement and sourcing > Common > Purchase orders > All purchase orders.
–or–
Click Accounts payable > Common > Purchase orders > All purchase orders.
Select the purchase order. On the Action Pane, on the Purchase order tab, in the Maintain group, click Request change.
Note
The selected purchase order can be changed only if it has been approved. If change management has not been enabled, a purchase order can be approved when it is created. If change management has been enabled, the purchase order can be approved through a workflow.
Enter the required changes on the purchase order. The approval status is set to Draft, and the purchase order must be approved again by all approvers before the purchase order can be processed.
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View purchase order history and compare versions
When you change a purchase order, a copy of the changes is saved. All changes that you make at the header level and at the line level are saved. You can then view the difference between the approved purchase order and the changes that were made, and you can compare the purchase order versions.
Click Procurement and sourcing > Common > Purchase orders > All purchase orders.
–or–
Click Accounts payable > Common > Purchase orders > All purchase orders.
Select the purchase order.
On the Action Pane, on the Manage tab, in the History group, click Compare purchase order versions.
In the Compare purchase order versions form, review the changes that were made to the selected purchase order. All changes to individual fields are listed on the Changed fields FastTab. These values apply on the purchase order lines:
Exclamation point – One or more changes were made to the existing data.
Check mark – No changes were made to the existing data.
Plus sign – A new purchase order line was added.
Red X – The line was deleted.
Click Close to return to the All purchase orders list page.
On the Action Pane, on the Manage tab, in the History group, click View purchase order versions.
In the Purchase order versions form, view a list of the available versions of the selected purchase order. You can sort the list by change date or approval status.
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Find form help
Finalize purchase order (form)
Compare purchase order versions (form)