How to control the use of non-inventoried items in Dynamics GP Sales and Purchasing

How to control the use of non-inventoried items in Dynamics GP Sales and Purchasing

In my consulting experience there have been multiple times when I have helped clients who have had inventory concerns as a result of items not being set up properly.  In one scenario a new item gets entered on a purchase order and is subsequently received as a Non-inventoried item instead of a Sales Inventory item.  This scenario could be better controlled by having the Add Item option activated.

On the Purchase Order Entry window the Options menu includes the Add Item option which can either be activated (checked) or not, as in Figure 1.  The default setting in Dynamics GP is to have this option unchecked.  When this option is unchecked and an item number is entered that does not exist within the Inventory item list the new item is accepted as a Non-inventoried item, as long as use of Non-inventoried Items is allowed.  When the Add Item option is checked and an item number is entered that does not exist within the inventory item list the user is prompted with the question “Do you want to add this item?”

Figure 1

By having the prompt appear, the user is forced to consciously decide how this particular  item is to be set up. 

Users could be trained to check this option when they open the Purchase Order Entry window but another possibility is to activate the  Default AddItem POP/SOP tool in the Professional Services Tool Library (PSTL) shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Activating this option results in the Add Item option being automatically checked in the following four windows:

Purchase Order Entry
Receivings Transaction Entry
Purchasing Invoice Entry
Sales Transaction Entry

The Add Item option can still be unchecked but the default behavior can be altered with the use of the PSTL tool, as shown in Figure 3 .

Figure 3

So consider whether the PSTL could help you provide better control of the use of non-inventoried items within your organization.

Sheldon Gitzel, ERP Consultant for Etelligent Solutions Inc.
www.esicanada.com