What’s new in CU11 for WMS and TMS

For example, 510 pounds of a raw material are required in order to produce 4,475 pounds of finished goods. The raw material is stored in the warehouse in 50-pound bags. If the requested quantity of 510 pounds is picked for the order (order picking), the warehouse worker must pick ten 50-pound bags, plus an additional 10 pounds. In some scenarios, the warehouse worker will pick the ten bags and weigh the additional 10 pounds in the warehouse (for example, at a special location where bags are opened). In another typical approach, the material is not weighed at the warehouse location but on the shop floor, near the operation that consumes the material. In this scenario, the warehouse worker will over-pick to the nearest 50-pound bag. In other words, for this example, he or she will pick eleven 50-pound bags.

You can now report as finished by using End job on the hand-held device. When you report a production order as finished by using the End job option, the production order status is updated to Reported as finished. This status indicates that no more finished goods will be reported, and no more time and material will be consumed by the order. Therefore, any inventory transactions that have remaining quantities for both materials and finished goods will be cleaned up. For more information, see the Microsoft Dynamics AX Manufacturing blog.

In previous versions, this capability was available when you reported as finished from the Microsoft Dynamics AX client, but not from mobile devices. However, mobile device users can now mark End job from their device. This capability is available for reporting as finished on production orders, and also on batch orders that have co-products and byproducts. When you configure the menu item for reporting as finished, you can specify whether the End job option should be available to mobile device users.

Two new work creation methods for the mobile device have been introduced, so that users can receive multiple times against a single LP. For more information, see the Microsoft Dynamics AX SCM blog.

You can now use a mobile device to identify and register items on a pallet before work is created and the pallet is moved from receiving to the next location. To support this functionality, two new work creation methods have been added: Mixed license plate receiving and Mixed license plate receiving and put-away. When a mobile device menu item is set up, and one of the new work creation methods is used, an additional new field becomes available: Source document line identification method.

The source document line identification methods determine the flow that is presented to the user on the mobile device until a source document line is uniquely identified. Each of the three supported methods corresponds to a flow that is presented to users who work with mobile devices for the work creation methods: Purchase order item receiving, Purchase order line receiving, and Load item receiving.

The difference is that users can continue to register on a single LP until all items on that LP are received.

To support the new functionality, a new form has been added: Mixed license plate receiving. This form contains information about the actual state of an LP, where receiving is done by using one of the work creation methods that are listed.

You can now define whether the search for free locations in the location directives must include all the content on an LP and group the put into one location.

When you receive inventory via an advance shipping notice ASN/packing structure that has a mix of item numbers, you cannot control the put-away policy that always makes sure that a complete
LP is stored, unless all locations allow for unlimited capacity. In the location directives for purchase orders, you can specify whether the search for free locations must include all the content on an LP and therefore group the put-away into one location for the mixed LP receiving and LP receiving processes.

New dimensions and logic for container types have been introduced, so that you can associate container types with LPs and create location stocking limits that are based on container types. For more information, see the Microsoft Dynamics AX SCM blog.

Support for pallet types and groups for inbound flow in WHS is now included.

You can now change the unit of measure during sales order picking, even if quantity confirmation is set up. All units in an item’s unit of measure sequence group can be used. It is difficult for a mobile device user to convert between the work quantity and the quantity at a location if the units of measure differ.

For example, if there is a work order for one pallet, and there are three cases on the pallet in the work location, it might be impossible for the user to know whether three cases are the equivalent of one pallet. You can now display all units of measure in an item’s unit of measure sequence group when quantity confirmation is set up for the pick on a mobile device menu item.

A new parameter for displaying inventory status has been added to the Adjustment in and Adjustment out work creation methods.

When you process an inventory adjustment, quality departments might not want warehouse personnel to be able to adjust the inventory status. In this case, the Display inventory status check box must be added to the Adjustment In and Adjustment Out work creation menu items.

You can now use a new option on the Adjustment In and Adjustment Out warehouse menu items to restrict the user’s ability to change the inventory status.

In previous version, when you process a return through a mobile device, you must unexpectedly enter the RMA for every line of registration.

The changes in the hotfix use the same code logic from purchase line receiving. When work is completed, the RMA number is inserted into the pass map. When the step is 0, the initialization status is also inserted into the pass map. These changes help guarantee that the display form keeps the RMA number, so that you don’t have to scan it again.

In previous versions, the ability to control whether a specific  warehouse allowed negative physical inventory is tied to the Retail  functionality, and the control was located on the Store tab.

Because of changes in the hotfix, the ability to control whether a  specific warehouse allows negative physical inventory is now tied to the LogisticsBasic configuration key. Therefore, this functionality is available for all warehouses, not just stores.

Currently, when you print the master BOL, the summarized information of all attached underlying BOLs is listed arbitrarily.

A new option in the TMS parameters form lets you automatically create a master BOL when there is more than one shipment on a load.

A new button that lets you create a master BOL for a selected load from the BOL form has also been added.

With KB3089402, you can create one item, and use it as both parent and child in the BOM, as long as at least one product dimension differs.

Required setup

• Inventory model: To ensure correct costing items with BOMs that include variants of the same item, you must use standard cost.
• BOM check: The Circularity check strategy option must be set to Optimize for high complexity. The other option, Optimize for low complexity, has not been updated and will detect circularity for item variants that are produced from the same item.

Important implementation note

Make sure that the reqItemLevel table is empty before the first MRP run. Any change, such as creating or modifying an item, will generate entries to the table, and as a result, it will not be empty. The simplest way to do this is to truncate the reqItemLevel table and then run a full MRP (regenerative with no filters). Otherwise, MRP will not generate any planned orders.

• Pre-processing – MRP is a multi-step process. Before the actual planning step, which is called coverage, MRP completes a data update step. During this step, the MRP tables are populated with the data that will be operated on, in terms of both transactions (such as sales orders, purchase orders, forecasts, and safety stock) and planning parameters.
  The update step has several of substeps. One of these substeps preprocesses or preselects the items to update. Typically, not all the items that exist in inventory are sold or purchased at a specific time. Therefore, performance can be improved if the system can determine, at the start, whether there has been activity on each item. In this substep, the parameter filters items that have an on-hand quantity but do not have demand.
• Post-processing – Before the coverage step can start, there is a pre-coverage step, where items for which BOM version requirement is set to true must be reprocessed to help guarantee that the items from the required BOM are planned. This step can lead to situations where items that were considered in preprocessing to have both on-hand quantity and demand now have just on-hand quantity, not demand, so that they can be excluded from planning.