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

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 and have been added to the product since Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2.

What’s New for Application Users

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
• 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 inCalculate 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 theDemand 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, seeHow 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 typeDescription

Generic chartCan be based on any table or query, can be created by any user, and can be added to multiple UI types.

Specific chartIs 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 Setupwindow. 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. 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.

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 chooseAdd 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 to 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 SystemsThe 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 CostingThe 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 PlanningThe 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 TrackingLinks 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 EntriesLinks 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.