What’s New: Application Changes for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2

Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a complete enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solution for mid-sized organizations that is fast to implement, easy to configure, and simple to use. Right from the start, simplicity has guided—and continues to guide—innovations in product design, development, implementation, and usability.

This document details new features and functionality that are available in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 Cumulative Update 1, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, and have been added to the product since Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2.

What’s New for Application Users in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 Cumulative Update 1

The following features and functionality for application users have been introduced since Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2.

SEPA Bank Statement Import - CAMT

For automatic payment processing and bank reconciliation based on bank statements in the SEPA CAMT format, you can use a bank file import function to quickly populate the General Journal and Bank Acc. Reconciliation windows. You select from enabled file formats in the Bank Statement Import Format field in the Bank Account Card window. For more information, see How to: Import Bank Statements.

Note

With the Data Exchange Framework, you can enable other bank statement formats, both XML, delimited, and fixed-width. The user functionality for setup and import is the same as for the SEPA CAMT format.

Data Exchange Framework Pages

The formats of files for exchange of bank or payroll data with ERP systems vary depending on the supplier of the file and on the country/region. The generic version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV does not support local bank or payroll file formats out-of-the-box. Microsoft Dynamics NAV therefore includes a data exchange framework that makes it easy to enable users to import or export bank and payroll files.

In the Posting Exchange Definition and the Posting Exchange Mapping windows, you describe the formatting of a bank or payroll file and which columns in the file map to which fields in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. When such a data exchange setup is created and activated in the framework, users can choose the related file format to start import or export of the bank files in question. For more information, see How to: Enable Import/Export of Bank or Payroll Files Using the Data Exchange Framework.

Important

If you used the Data Exchange Framework in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2, you must perform certain steps to update default and any custom data exchange setup records to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 Cumulative Update 1 version. For more information, see the “How to: Update Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 to Cumulative Update 1” document on the download page for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 Cumulative Update 1.

Using Due Date as Posting Date in the Payment Journal

When you use the Suggest Vendor Payments batch job to create payment journal lines, you have options on the request page to automatically insert the due date as the posting date, plus/minus any number of days. For more information, see How to: Insert Due Date as Posting Date on Payment Journal Lines.

What’s New for Application Users in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2

The following features and functionality for application users have been introduced since Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013.

RapidStart Services for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

You can deploy RapidStart Services configuration packages across multiple installations of Microsoft Dynamics NAV in an automated way using a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows Powershell cmdlet. For more information, see How to: Configure New Companies using a Cmdlet.

Manual Payment Processing

The Payment Registration window shows incoming payments as lines that represent sales documents where an amount is due for payment. The window is designed to support you in tasks involved in balancing internal accounts with actual cash figures to ensure effective collection from customers: You can quickly verify and post individual or lump payments, initiate finance charges for overdue payments, process discounted payments in different scenarios, and find specific non-posted documents for which payment is made. For more information, see Process Payments Manually.

Automatic Payment Processing

You must routinely apply incoming and outgoing payments made on your electronic bank site with the related business documents in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and then post the applied payments to customer, vendor, and bank ledger entries to settle your payables and receivables accounts. To quickly process payments based on bank statements, you can use an automatic application function in the General Journal window, and you can specify rules that map payments to debit or credit accounts according to text found in the payment description. For more information, see How to: Apply Payments with Open Documents.

Bank Reconciliation

At regular intervals, you must reconcile your bank accounts in Microsoft Dynamics NAV by matching bank ledger entries resulting from posted payments with the related transactions on your electronic bank site. You can use either an automatic or a manual matching function in the Bank Acc. Reconciliation window to reconcile bank accounts. The window is divided into two vertical panes for easy matching: Bank statement lines in the leftmost pane and bank account ledger entries in the rightmost pane. For more information, see How to: Match Bank Statement Lines with Bank Account Ledger Entries.

SEPA Direct Debit

With your customer’s consent, you can collect payments directly from the customer’s bank account according to the SEPA standard for direct debits. For more information, see Collect Payments with SEPA Direct Debit.

SEPA Credit Transfer

You can pay your vendors according to the SEPA standard for credit transfers. When you have set up the Payment Export Format field on your bank account to create SEPA payment files, then any SEPA-based purchase invoices in the Payment Journal window can be exported to a SEPA payment file for processing by your bank. For more information, see How to: Export Payments to a Bank File.

Note

In local versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, exporting vendor payments according to local payment standards, such as bank-account transfer and giro cards, works in the same way as for SEPA payment export. You select from the implemented payment standards in the Payment Export Format field in the Bank Account Card window.

SEPA Schema Viewer

The SEPA Schema Viewer feature allows you to view SEPA XML schemas and select tags to match specific requirements from the banks or to implement new SEPA messages. The SEPA Schema Viewer window provides a visual representation of a SEPA-related XML schema and an interface for creating an XMLport with the tags required to import or export the SEPA bank file in question. For more information, see How to: Use SEPA XML Schemas to Prepare Data Exchange.

Bank Statement Import

For automatic payment processing and bank reconciliation, you can use a bank file import function to quickly populate the General Journal and Bank Acc. Reconciliation windows based on setup of the involved bank file formats. For more information, see How to: Import Bank Statements.

Important

To use this functionality, you must implement the required bank file formats and all related actions and fields must be added to the user interface. Contact your Microsoft Certified Partner for more information.

Payment File Export

You can export payment files from the Payment Journal window to your electronic bank site as the last step in processing vendor payments. You must set up your vendors, bank accounts, and payment methods to export your payment files according to the SEPA standard for credit transfers. For more information, see How to: Export Payments to a Bank File.

Note

In local versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, exporting vendor payments according to local payment standards, such as bank-account transfer and giro cards, works in the same way as for SEPA payment export. You select from the implemented payment standards in the Payment Export Format field in the Bank Account Card window.

Payroll Data Import

You can import payroll transactions sent to you by your payroll provider into the General Journal window to post the transactions to general ledger accounts or bank accounts in connection with paying salaries. For more information, see How to: Import Payroll Transactions.

Important

To use this functionality, you must implement the required payroll file formats and all related actions and fields must be added to the user interface. Contact your Microsoft Certified Partner for more information.

Web-Service KPIs Based on Account Schedules

To analyze your financial performance, you can set up KPIs based on account schedules, which you then publish as web services. The published account-schedule KPIs can be viewed on a web site or imported to Microsoft Excel using OData web services. For more information, see How to: Set Up and Publish KPI Web Services Based on Account Schedules.

Incoming Document Files

Some agreements that you make with your business partners are not registered in Microsoft Dynamics NAV from the beginning. Instead, the related business document is sent to you, either as an attachment to email, electronic transfer, or as a paper copy that you have scanned to file. This is typical of purchases, where such files represent invoices from your vendors or payment receipts for expenses or small purchases. All received files for these documents must be created as lines in the Incoming Documents window, where you can convert them to document records or journal lines in Microsoft Dynamics NAV for processing or posting. For more information, see How to: Process Incoming Document Files.

Batch Sales Invoices

You can use the Create Recurring Sales Inv. batch job to create multiple sales invoices according to a standard sales code that is assigned to the customers and with posting dates within a valid period defined on the standard sales code. You can also specify a direct-debit payment method and a direct-debit mandate on the standard sales code. The sales invoices that are created with the Create Recurring Sales Inv. batch job will then include information required to collect payment for the sales invoices with SEPA direct debit. For more information, see How to: Create Multiple Sales Invoices Based on Standard Sales Codes.

Document Renumbering on Journal Lines

In all journals that are based on the general journal, the Document No. field is editable so that you can specify different document numbers for different journal lines or the same document number for related journal lines. If the No. Series field on the journal batch is filled, then the posting function in general journals requires that the document number on individual or grouped journal lines be in sequential order.To make sure that you do not receive posting errors because of the document number order, you can use the Renumber Document Numbers function before you post the journal. If related journal lines were grouped by document number before you used the function, they will remain grouped but may be assigned a different document number. For more information, see How to: Renumber Document Numbers in Journals.

Simplified Pages and Features

To target users in smaller businesses, a number of pages in Microsoft Dynamics NAV have been simplified, and selected features are redesigned to align with simpler business processes.

You can only navigate to the simplified pages from the Small Business Role Center. The simplified features are not available from standard pages, except for the following general improvements that are also available for standard pages:

• The Item Units of Measure window is simplified. For more information, see How to: Set Up Item Units of Measure.

• You can set up warnings about insufficient inventory on outbound document lines per item. Currently, this can only be defined for all items. For more information, see Stockout Warning.

• You can set up that outbound posting that brings inventory below zero is blocked. This can be set up per item or for all items. For more information, see Prevent Negative Inventory.

Important

The following functionality is only intended for the Danish version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and requires a special small-business license. Contact your Microsoft Certified Partner for more information.

The simplified pages and features are intended for smaller companies and include the following areas:

• The simplified version of the Item Card window has fewer fields and FastTabs and is redesigned to represent services in addition to representing physical items. You can save and reuse an item card as a template, so that you can quickly register new products. For more information, see How to: Register New Products.

• The simplified versions of the Customer Card and Vendor Card windows have fewer fields and FastTabs and are redesigned to show simplified statistics, price, and discount fields with the option to toggle between different views. You can save and reuse customer and vendor cards as templates, so that you can quickly register new business partners. For more information, see How to: Register New Customers and How to: Register New Vendors.

• The simplified versions of the Sales Invoice and Purchase Invoice windows are redesigned so that you can sell to or buy from a new business partner that you register while you create the invoice. On the invoice lines, there is no difference between trading a physical item and a service. Totaling fields at the bottom of the page dynamically show the total invoice amount, with or without VAT, and the accumulating invoice discount. For more information, see How to: Invoice a Sale and How to: Record Purchases (Simplified).

• From an open sales invoice, you can use the Create Purchase Invoice function to create a purchase invoice for a selected vendor for all lines or selected lines on the sales invoice. For more information, see How to: Purchase Products for a Sale (Simplified).

• Posted sales and purchase invoices that are not yet paid can easily be corrected or canceled without creating a credit memo. For more information, see How to: Correct or Cancel an Unpaid Sales Invoice and How to: Correct or Cancel Unpaid Purchase Invoices (Simplified).

• For cancellation scenarios where the posted sales or purchase invoice has been paid, the Sales Credit Memo and Purchase Credit Memo windows have been simplified in the same way as the Sales Invoice and Purchase Invoice windows. For more information, see How to: Process a Return or Cancellation of Paid Products and How to: Process Purchase Returns or Cancellations (Simplified).

• The Sales Quote window has been simplified in the same way as the Sales Invoice window. For more information, see How to: Make Offers (Simplified).

• When you have made a physical count of an item in your inventory area, you can use the Adjust Inventory function to record the actual inventory quantity. You can also use the function as a simple way to place purchased items on inventory if you do not use the Purchase Invoice window to record your purchases. For more information, see How to: Adjust Inventory (Simplified).

• To support the simplified features for small businesses, an additional demonstration company called CRONUS (without “International Ltd.”) is shipped with Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2. You can use RapidStart Services to reuse the simplified setup data within this company in your own small-business solution. For more information, see How to: Prepare Small-Business Setup Data.

• The Small Business Role Center is designed as a single common role center for all users in a small business. The Role Center also offers a selection of charts with key performance indicators, such as the Cash Flow and Income & Expense charts. The Aged Accounts Receivable and Aged Accounts Payable charts are also available on the customer card and vendor card respectively. For more information, see Small Business Role Center. .

User assistance for the simplified features is designed for users in small businesses. In addition to the traditional Help system, the simplified pages also provide the following user assistance:

• Every simplified page has tooltips that appear when you use the mouse to point to fields on the pages and actions on the ribbons.

• When you choose the Help button on a simplified page, a topic appears with a Related Tasks table that introduces and links to the how-to topics that are relevant for the simplified page.

VAT Clauses

VAT Clauses are used to provide additional descriptive information about the VAT that is being reported on a sales document. The VAT Clause information is displayed on a printed document alongside the VAT identifier or VAT rate.

In some cases, a country or region may require that you include descriptive information about the VAT that you are reporting. You may also want to provide the description in translation, to match the language of your customer.

For more information, see How to: Create and Set Up a VAT Clause.

Integration with Office 365

If you have signed up for Office 365 and SharePoint Online, you can set up Microsoft Dynamics NAV to connect to these services. Then, when you export Microsoft Dynamics NAV data to Microsoft Excel or other Microsoft Office products, temporary files are stored in your SharePoint Online document library. The documents open using Office Web Apps.

You specify the SharePoint Online site that the company uses in the Online Doc. Storage Config. window, such as https://Cronus.SharePoint.com. You also specify the folder where temporary files are stored, such as Temp or BusinessDocuments. When users send data to Excel, for example, they are asked to sign in to SharePoint Online. The files are stored in their own Office 365 document libraries, such as Cronus-my.SharePoint.com/Documents/BusinessDocuments. If a folder does not exist, Microsoft Dynamics NAV creates a new folder.

Alternatively, you can specify a shared location and a shared account name.

If you have not configured Microsoft Dynamics NAV to use Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics NAV uses installed versions of Office.

For more information, see Integrating with Office 365 and SharePoint Online.

What’s New for Application Users in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013

The following features and functionality for application users have been introduced since Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2.

RapidStart Services for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 delivers a new way for partners and customers to speed implementations.

Support for Setting Up a Company

RapidStart Services for Microsoft Dynamics NAV gives partners control and overview of all the stages of the company setup process. Customers can configure their companies faster using the out-of-the-box configurations, provided by Microsoft and Microsoft partners. By using RapidStart Services, partners and customers can process a set of configuration tables in a few simple steps, respecting and validating internal relations between tables. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 also allows streamlined importing of opening balances into journals and active documents with dimensions. These enhancements help partners implement their solutions faster, with fewer resources by preserving customer legacy data. Customers can be up and running fast with little disruption to their business.

After you create a new company in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Development Environment, you can perform all other tasks needed for company creation and setup in the RoleTailored client. In addition, support has been added to help you quickly set up accounts in the chart of accounts. For more information, see Set Up a Company With RapidStart Services for Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Financial Management

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, several enhancements have been added to financial management features.

G/L Entry Table Locking Redesign

The G/L Entry table is not locked at the start of sales, purchase, and service posting. The table remains unlocked until a lock is needed. This can improve performance in multiuser environments.

For more information, see Use Legacy G/L Entry Locking.

Dimension Entry Storing and Posting Redesign

A new Dimension Set Entry table has been added. Instead of explicitly storing each dimension value in the database, a dimension set ID is assigned to the journal line, document header, or document line to specify the dimension set. Dimension sets are stored in the table as dimension set entries with the same dimension set ID. By storing dimension sets once in the database, database space is preserved, and overall performance is improved.

For more information, see Dimension Set Entries Overview.

Cash Flow

Understanding cash inflows and outflows is the key to running a successful business. Measurement of cash flow is not always easy. However, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 provides tools to make this easier. You create a periodic calculation of the forecasted operational revenues and expenses to calculate the cash surplus or the cash deficit. According to these results, the company can take adjustment measures, such as credit reduction for a surplus, or borrowing if there is a deficit.

In your forecast, you can incorporate values from the General Ledger, Sales and Marketing, Purchasing, and Service.

• You set up your own chart of cash flow accounts.

• From the General Ledger, you get information about the liquid funds and the budgeted values of your company.

• From Purchasing, you get information about the current payables and any forecasted debts from open purchase orders.

• From Sales, you get information about the current receivables and any forecasted receipts from open customer orders.

• From Service, you get information about open service invoices.

• From Fixed Assets, if the planned capital expenditures are budgeted and future asset purchases are recorded, then you incorporate these values into the cash flow forecast.

• In addition, you can manage manual revenues and expenses and integrate them in the cash flow forecast.

• You can use various windows and reports to analyze and see the cash flow statistics that relate to availability and timeline overviews.

For more information, see Cash Flow Overview.

Cost Accounting

In cost accounting, you allocate budgeted and actual costs of operations, departments, products, and projects to analyze the profitability of your company.

Cost accounting has the following main components:

• You define cost types, cost centers, and cost objects to analyze what the costs are, where the costs come from, and who should bear the costs. You define chart of cost types with a structure and functionality that resemble the general ledger chart of accounts. You can transfer the general ledger income statement accounts or create your own chart of cost types. Cost centers are departments and profit centers that are responsible for costs and income. Cost objects are products, product groups, or services that carry the costs in the end. You often link cost centers to departments and cost objects to projects in your company. However, you can link cost centers and cost objects to any dimensions in the general ledger and supplement them with subtotals and titles.

• You can transfer the general ledger entries to cost entries with each posting or use a batch job to transfer the general ledger entries based on daily or monthly summary posting. In the cost journal, you can post entries that do not come from the general ledger or are not generated by allocations. For example, you can post cost entries, internal charges, and corrective entries between cost types, cost centers, and cost objects.

• Cost budgets work similarly as general ledger budgets. You can transfer the general ledger budgets, import and export budgets to and from Excel, or create your own cost budgets.

• Allocations move costs and revenues between cost types, cost centers, and cost objects. Each allocation consists of an allocation source and one or more allocation targets. You can allocate actual values or budgeted values by using the static allocation method based on a definite value, such as square footage, or an established allocation ratio of 5:2:4. You can also allocate actual values or budgeted values by using the dynamic allocation method with nine predefined allocation bases and 12 dynamic date ranges.

• Most reports and statistics are based on the posted cost entries. You can set the sorting of the results and define with filters which data must be displayed. You can create reports for cost distribution analysis. In addition, you can use the standard account schedule to define how your reports for the chart of cost types are displayed.

For more information, see About Cost Accounting.

VAT Rate Change Tool

You use the VAT Rate Change Tool to perform VAT and general posting group conversions. You can easily change VAT rates to maintain accurate VAT reporting.

You perform the VAT rate conversion process with the following steps.

• Set up the tool and corresponding new posting groups.

• Run a batch job without converting VAT to view a validation summary.

• Convert VAT and, depending on your setup, the following occurs:

  • VAT and general posting groups are converted.

  • Changes are implemented in general ledger accounts, customers, vendors, open documents, journal lines, and so on.

VAT Reports

In addition to the periodic VAT statements that you submit in order to settle VAT, the tax authorities can require that you submit periodic reports of transactions that include VAT. In Microsoft Dynamics NAV, in the VAT Report window, you can define these reports just like you create documents such as orders, invoices, and credit memos. You can fill in the lines based on VAT entries, and then export the VAT report to the appropriate authorities. Depending on your country/region and the type of VAT report that you have set up, the report can be exported in different formats.

For more information, see VAT and VIES Report Setup.

Assembly Management

To support companies that supply products to their customers by combining components in simple processes without the need of manufacturing functionality, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 now includes a complete feature set to manage assemblies in integration with Sales, Planning, and Warehousing.

You can use Assembly Management in variations of the following business types:

• Light manufacturing: To move or postpone light operations from shop floors to warehouses or distribution centers.

• Kitting: To pick and pack sellable items together as a kit, such as a gift basket.

Assembly Items

An assembly item is defined as a sellable item that contains an assembly BOM. For more information, see How to: Create Assembly BOMs. You can set up assembly items to be assembled to order or assembled to stock, which typically depends on the amount of customization that is required to fulfill a customer’s order for the item. For more information, see Assemble to Order versus Assemble to Stock.

Assembly Orders

Like production orders, assembly orders are internal orders that are used to manage the assembly process and to connect the sales requirements with the involved warehouse activities. Assembly orders differ from other order types because they involve both output and consumption when you post. The assembly order header behaves similarly to a sales order line, and the assembly order lines behave similarly to consumption journal lines. For more information, see Assembly Order.

Assemble to Order

To support a just-in-time inventory strategy and the ability to customize products to customer requests, assembly orders may be automatically created and linked as soon as the sales order line is created. The link between the sales demand and the assembly supply enables sales order processors to customize the assembly item on the fly, promise delivery dates according to component availability, and to post output and shipment of the assembled item directly from their sales order interface. For more information, see How to: Sell Items Assembled to Order.

If an assembly order was posted incorrectly, then you can open the posted assembly order and undo the posting. This restores the assembly order so that you can reprocess it. For more information, see How to: Undo Assembly Posting.

Warehouse Handling

On one sales order line, you can sell a quantity that is available and must be picked from stock together with a quantity that must be assembled to the order. Certain rules exist to govern the distribution of such quantities to ensure that assemble-to-order quantities take priority over inventory quantities in partial shipping. For more information, see the “Combination Scenarios” section in Assemble to Order or Assemble to Stock. When an assemble-to-order quantity is ready to be shipped in basic warehouse installations, the warehouse worker in charge posts an inventory pick for the sales order line or lines in question. This creates an inventory movement for the components and posts the assembly output and the sales order shipment. For more information, see the “Handling Assemble-to-Order Items in Inventory Picks” section in Inventory Pick.

For more information about the same process in advanced warehouse installations, see the “Handling Assemble-to-Order Items in Warehouse Shipments” section in Warehouse Shipment.

Posting Structure

Assembly order posting is based on the same principles as when you post the similar activities of sales orders and production consumption/output. However, the principles are combined in that assembly orders have their own posting UI, such as that for sales orders, while the actual entry posting occurs in the background as direct item and resource journal postings, such as that for production consumption, output, and capacity. For more information about posting structures, see Design Details: Assembly Order Posting.

Warehouse Management

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, several enhancements have been added to warehouse management features.

Inventory Movements

Inventory movement is a new warehouse activity document that is used to move items to and from internal departments, such as production and service departments, where posting of the items occurs as consumption, shipment, or other.

Inventory movements resemble existing inventory picks and inventory put-aways, but they differ in the following ways:

• Each inventory movement includes both a pick and a put-away, which are represented by a take line and a place line.

• Inventory movements cannot be posted. They can only be registered as warehouse entries. However, the related source document is updated when an inventory movement is registered.

• Inventory movements can be made without a source document through an internal movement.

When you assemble an item to a sales order right before shipping it in basic warehouse installations, then an inventory movement is automatically created to move the components to the assembly area. This occurs when the inventory pick for the assemble-to-order item is posted as sold, assembled, and shipped. For more information, see the “Handling Assemble-to-Order Items in Inventory Picks” section in Inventory Pick. For information about the same process in advanced warehouse installations, see the “Handling Assemble-to-Order Items in Warehouse Shipments” section in Warehouse Shipment.

For more information, see Inventory Movement and Internal Movement.

Dedicated Bins

To manage the flow of items in and out of an internal operation area, you can set up locations or machine and work centers with a default bin structure that communicates to warehouse workers where to place components for a particular operation.

Although the items are placed in bins in internal operation areas, they are still part of availability until consumed. To secure bin content for the particular machine center where they have been placed, such as avoiding that they are consumed by another internal resource, you can set the bin to Dedicated, which makes it unavailable to other resources.

Making a bin dedicated provides similar functionality to using bin types, which is only available in advanced warehousing.

For more information, see Dedicated, To-Production Bin Code, and Bin Code.

Integration to Service Orders

Service lines, just like other outbound document lines, can function as source document lines for picking to shipment. After a service line is released to shipment, the warehouse handling involved in picking and then shipment posting the service order follows the same flow as for other source documents. For more information, see How to: Prepare Service Line Items for Warehouse Handling.

Inventory

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, several enhancements have been added to inventory features.

Item Availability Views

To supplement the existing views of item availability, three new availability windows have been added:

• Item Availability by Event

• Item Availability by Timeline

• Item Availability by BOM Level

The Item Availability by Event window shows projected inventory figures by demand or supply event. The window only has information about the dates when figures change because of an event. You can filter the Item Availability by Event window to also include forecasted figures and planning suggestions. For more information, see Item Availability by Event.

The Item Availability by Timeline window provides a graphical view of an item’s projected inventory based on future supply and demand events, including planning suggestions. The result is a graphical representation of the inventory profile. For more information, see Item Availability by Timeline.

You can change the quantity and due date of suggested supply orders by using drag-and-drop editing in the graphical view and then save the changes to the planning worksheet. For more information, see How to: Modify Planning Suggestions in a Graphical View.

The Item Availability by BOM Level window provides availability figures for bills of material that tell you how many units of a parent you can make based on the availability of child items at lower levels. Any item that has a BOM structure, assembly BOM, or production BOM, is shown in the window as a collapsible line, which you can expand to see the underlying components and any lower-level subassemblies with their own collapsed BOM structure. For more information, see Item Availability by BOM Level.

With the three new overview windows, you now have a total of six different ways to analyze an item’s availability. You can access all six from item cards and from document lines and worksheet lines for the item by choosing Item Availability By, and then selecting the option.

Supply Planning

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, several enhancements have been added to supply planning features.

Planning Parameters

To obtain a rational supply plan, a planner adjusts planning parameters to limit rescheduling suggestions, to accumulate demand (dynamic reorder quantity), and to avoid insignificant planning actions.

Five new reorder period fields have been added to the item card planning parameters to help optimize when and how much to reorder.

For more information, see the following field topics:

• Time Bucket

• Rescheduling Period

• Lot Accumulation Period

• Dampener Period

• Overflow Level

One new reorder quantity field has been added to the item card planning parameters to help optimize how much to reorder. For more information, see Dampener Quantity.

Two new global setup fields have been added to the Manufacturing Setup window to determine how to reorder when item cards do not have a specific planning parameter.

For more information, see the following field topics:

• Default Dampener Quantity

• ($ T_99000765_43 Blank Overflow Level $ )

Calculate and Carry Out

Items on planning lines with warnings typically do not respect the planning parameters. Now, you can define on the Calculate Plan request pages on the planning worksheet and the requisition worksheet that you want certain planning parameters to apply even though the planning line has an exception warning. For more information, see the new option descriptions in Calculate Plan - Plan. Wksh. and Calculate Plan - Req. Wksh., respectively.

When you perform multiple transfer orders from the Planning Worksheet window that have the same transfer-from and transfer-to codes, then you can select the Combine Transfer Orders option to create only one transfer order. The result is the same as the default behavior when you create transfer orders planned in the Req. Worksheet window.

Demand Overview

Information from the planning engine is now available in the following areas:

• Jobs

• Service Management

• Sales

• Production

The calculations are performed only on a specific item and not all items, so that calculation performance is responsive. In the Demand Overview window, you can see whether an item that you want to fulfill an order is in stock and available for your use. If it is not in stock, then you can use the window to see all supply and demand that is associated with the item. For example, you can determine when the item will be available for you to meet the needs of your customers. Finally, if you want to make sure that an item is linked to your order, then you can reserve it.

For more information, see Demand Overview, How to: Check Item Availability for Service Orders, and How to: Check Item Availability for a Job.

Jobs

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, several enhancements have been added to jobs and project management features.

Work in Process

Tracking work in process (WIP) is a critical aspect of jobs and project management. To make monitoring this process easier and to improve the interaction with financial reporting, Microsoft Dynamics NAV has the following enhancements:

• You can create and define a job WIP method, to supplement the five system-defined choices. For more information, see How to: Define WIP for a Job.

• Jobs setup has been expanded to include options to control the treatment of WIP in all jobs. For example, you can specify that a WIP method that you have defined be the default for your organization. For more information, see Jobs Setup.

• Users can now track and perform WIP calculations in a new location. From here, you can calculate and post WIP to the general ledger and show any warnings if there are problems with a WIP calculation. For more information, see Job WIP Cockpit.

Service Usage Tracking

There is improved alignment in how jobs and services track usage and consumption related to jobs and services. This makes it makes it easier for a project manager to have accurate insight into what work remains to be done to complete a service task or a job. A key update is adding a field that indicates whether you want to create and maintain a relationship in usage between job planning lines and the job ledger. For more information, see Apply Usage Link.

Resources

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, enhancements have been added to resource management features.

Time Sheets

Time sheets in Microsoft Dynamics NAV manage time collection in weekly increments of seven days. You use them to track the time that is used on a job, service order, or assembly order. In addition, you can use them to record simple resource time registration. In earlier versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, you could collect and post this information in journals, which you can still do, but the addition of time sheets makes it easier and simpler to collect this basic information. Resource managers and project managers can review and approve time allocation using time sheets and then follow up with posting with journals. In addition, you can expose your time sheets to users who work with Microsoft Dynamics NAV through SharePoint.

For more information, see How to: Set Up Time Sheets, How to: Set Up Time Sheets on a SharePoint Site, and How to: Create a Time Sheet.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Integration

If you have a customer relationship solution that is based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, then you can integrate it with Microsoft Dynamics NAV with the Connector for Microsoft Dynamics. The Connector for Microsoft Dynamics enables simple integration and data synchronization between Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It supports:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

For each version, the On Premises and Online versions are supported.

You use the Connector for Microsoft Dynamics to synchronize the types of data that are common to both customer relationship and ERP software, such as customer, contact, and sales order information. As you work with this data, you can keep the information in both systems up to date.

For more information, see Integrating Microsoft Dynamics NAV with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP

If you want to enable your customers to pay their sales orders with credit cards, then you can enable online credit card payments for Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Receiving and processing online credit card payments for online and retail business provides flexibility and faster payments. The online credit card payment feature automates authorizing credit card amounts at the time of the order and processing the actual charge when the order is shipped and invoiced. For more information, see Online Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

Automated Data Capture System

The implementation of Automated Data Capture System is now based on web services and is available in the RoleTailored client. The user experience remains the same. For more information about the simplified installation, setup, and configuration of ADCS, see ADCS Overview.

Business Intelligence and KPIs

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, enhancements have been added to augment your business intelligence toolset.

Charts

The following types of charts are offered in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Chart type	Description
Generic chart	Can be based on any table or query, can be created by any user, and can be added to multiple UI types.
Specific chart	Is based on advanced data from a specific application area, can be edited by skilled users, and can be added to Role Centers.

To view business data graphically, you can easily create or edit generic charts and then add them to Role Centers and FactBoxes with the Customize feature, or you can view data in list places as charts by choosing Show as Chart. For more information, see How to: Add Charts to Role Centers and List Places..

You can visualize data combinations in numerous ways by defining data and chart measures in the Generic Chart Setup window. For more information, see How to: Create Generic Charts..

In addition to generic charts, Microsoft Dynamics NAV offers a series of specific charts that you cannot create in the user interface, but that you can edit in multiple ways.

For some charts, such as the Finance Performance chart, you can edit existing charts or set up new variations by combining account schedule columns and rows in multiple ways and display them in different chart types to provide different financial performance indicators. For more information, see How to: Edit Specific Charts..

Excel Integration

You can now integrate with Microsoft Excel to produce Excel-based reports that use Microsoft Dynamics NAV pages as data sources. The data in Excel is provided in a data region format so that you can create PivotTables and reports. You can refresh the data in Excel to reflect updates that are made in Microsoft Dynamics NAV. If you have configured the use of Office 365, the pages open in the Excel Web App. If you have Excel installed, you can then open the data in Excel from the Excel Web App. For more information, see Sending Data to Microsoft Excel.

Note

If you change data in Excel, then it will not be reflected in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Find

You can search in data by using Find in RoleTailored client. Find searches on all types of pages that have data, except in charts. Find is also available from action strips. For more information, see How to: Use Find/Go to..

User Collaboration Tools

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, enhancements have been added to improve opportunities for user collaboration.

One Note Integration

Microsoft Dynamics NAV includes integration with Microsoft OneNote. You can enable OneNote integration on a per-role basis in profiles. You can set up notes for records and pages. For more information, see How to: Set up OneNote Integration.

Link Sharing

You can share a link to any page with another user who has Microsoft Dynamics NAV installed. That user can open the link in Microsoft Word, Outlook, or OneNote. For example, on the Actions menu of a card or list, choose Copy Link to Page. Open an email message in Microsoft Outlook, and then paste the link in the body of the message. Send the email message that contains the link to another user. When the user chooses the link, the page opens in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

User Productivity

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, enhancements have been added to improve user productivity.

Ribbon

The Action Pane has been redesigned and is now referred to as the ribbon. The redesign optimizes the use of the actions and commands by providing easier access to them. The ribbon is organized into tabs and groups and contains commands that are important to the user in a given context. Press Ctrl+F1 to toggle between collapsing and expanding the ribbon.

On pages in parts, such as FastTabs and FactBoxes, actions are now available from a toolbar that is located at the top of the part.

Customizing the Ribbon

With Microsoft Dynamics NAV, you can customize the ribbon to suit your needs. For example, you can add, remove, and rename actions, menus, and tabs. For more information, see How to: Customize the Ribbon.

Additional Views on Ledger Entries

All ledger entries are added to History on department pages to let you create custom views on role centers.

Call-to Options

Microsoft Dynamics NAV now uses the telephone client that is the default provider on the computer that is running the RoleTailored client. The call-to functionality is available from pages with phone number fields, such as the Contacts page or the Customer page.

Sorting Enhancements

You can now sort on any column header in a list and select to sort in ascending or descending order. A sorted list can be saved using the Save View functionality. For more information, see Sorting.

Filtering Enhancements

You can use filters on lines of any page. For example, in a Sales Order document, on a sales line, press Shift+F3, or choose Add Filter, select the field that you want to filter, and then type a value to filter in the Type to filter box.

Select All

You can select all lines in a grid and use the options in the shortcut menu on all lines.

Copy/Paste Rows

You can copy and paste rows from Microsoft Dynamics NAV by using the shortcut menu. For example, you can copy lines from Microsoft Dynamics NAV and then paste the lines into Microsoft Excel. For more information, see How to: Copy and Paste Rows.

Quick Entry

Quick Entry allows for a faster and more efficient entry of data. Using the Enter key, the cursor jumps to the next field set to be a Quick Entry field. For more information, see How to: Customize FastTabs.

Message Bar on Top

You will always find error messages and warnings at the top of a page that you are working on regardless of where on the page the error occurred. Select the message to go directly to the error.

Setup Best Practices in Help

Whether you use RapidStart Services for Microsoft Dynamics NAV to implement the setup values or you manually enter them in the new company, setup best practices topics in Microsoft Dynamics NAV Help can support your setup decisions with general recommendations for selected setup fields that are known to potentially cause the solution to be inefficient if defined incorrectly.

The following setup areas are covered:

• Supply Planning

• Costing Method

For more information, see Setup Best Practices.

Integration of Technical White Papers in Help

The following technical white papers, published on PartnerSource, are now integrated into the product Help to provide detailed design information within Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

• Warehouse Management Systems

  The content has been expanded with basic warehousing details and updates for Assembly Management.

  Links from existing warehouse topics to related sections of the white paper content can be identified by the "Design Details" prefix.

  For more information, see Design Details: Warehouse Management.

• Inventory Costing

  The content has been restructured and updated with Assembly Management and various bug fixes.

  Links from existing costing topics, such as cost fields on item cards, to related sections of the white paper content can be identified by the "Design Details" prefix.

  For more information, see Design Details: Inventory Costing.

• Supply Planning

  The content has been updated with Assembly Management and various bug fixes. In addition, the former “Reservation, Tracking, and Action Messaging” white paper is embedded as section 2.

  Links from existing planning topics, such as new planning parameter topics, to related sections of the white paper content can be identified by the "Design Details" prefix.

  For more information, see Design Details: Supply Planning.

• Item Tracking

  Links from existing item tracking topics to related sections of the white paper content can be identified by the "Design Details" prefix.

  For more information, see Design Details: Item Tracking.

• Dimension Set Entries

  Links from existing dimensions topics to related sections of the white paper content can be identified by the "Design Detail:" prefix.

  For more information, see Design Details: Dimension Set Entries.

New Keyboard Shortcuts

With the introduction of the ribbon, some new keyboard shortcuts have been added.

Keyboard shortcut	Functionality
Ctrl+F1	Toggle between collapsing and expanding the ribbon.
Alt	Display access keys in the ribbon.
Alt+F2	Toggle between hiding and displaying FactBoxes.
F12	Move to the main window.
Shift+F12	Move to the Role Center from a task page.
Alt+F12	Optimize space for the current page.

Deprecated Application Features in Microsoft Dynamics NAV

The following table lists features that have been removed from Microsoft Dynamics NAV. In certain instances, a replacement technology is provided.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV product area	Feature	Replacement
Application
	Business Analytics
	Business Notifications
	Demand Planner
	Production Schedule (Gantt Chart)
	Microsoft Dynamics Mobile
	Microsoft Dynamics NAV Employee Portal
	Rapid Implementation Methodology Toolkit	RapidStart Services for Microsoft Dynamics NAV

See Also

Other Resources

What's New: Developer and IT Pro Changes for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013