Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain – Cancelling a Delivery Remainder Is Not Always Straight Forward

Everyone knows if a Purchase order line is partially received and the Delivery remainder is not going to be received, the remainder should be canceled… right?  The Delivery remainder should be cancelled especially for planned items, so planning doesn’t expect that remaining amount to be coming in.

To cancel the remainder, simply go to the Purchase order and select the line in question.  Select Update line, and Update > Deliver remainder.  Update the Purchase quantity field to the amount still to be actually received, or click Cancel quantity if none of the remaining quantity is expected.

Simple … right?  Not always.

Change Management For Delivery Remainder

Often times, companies use the Purchase order approval workflow and Change management for the purpose of obtaining approval for purchases, and to track changes made to Purchase orders.  If the Purchase order is changed after it has been approved, the system can detect the type of change and determine if the change requires the Purchase order to be re-approved using the workflow.

These options give the company control over Purchase orders to be issued so they can then rely on the system to insure what is received (services or items) and what is paid for match and there is no need for additional approval of the invoice.

This process of Purchase order approval and change management expedites Accounts payable processing.  And Change management provides versioning history with records of changes made by whom and when.

But changing a Purchase order does enforce constraints on what changes can be made to a Purchase order.  Once Change management is enabled, the ability to edit a Purchase order is not readily enabled by clicking edit.  The user must know to open the Purchase order and select Purchase order > Maintain > Request change.  The Edit button is enabled at that pount and the Purchase order is put back into Draft mode.

With the Purchase order in Draft mode, the user can proceed to the Purchase order line and select the Update line > Update > Deliver remainder in order to change or cancel the delivery remainder.

Of course once the Purchase order is in Draft mode the Workflow button is enabled and must be used.  If the workflow and Purchasing policies are configured accordingly, an update to Delivery remainder will not require an approval and will be automatically approved, putting the Purchase order into Approved status in a matter of seconds.

Purchasing Policies

Navigate to Procurement and sourcing > Setup > Policies > Purchasing policies to maintain the policy so all changes do not require approval.  Update the Reapproval rule for Purchase orders accordingly by selecting from the available files, the fields on the Purchase order that, when changed, must trigger reapproval.

Workflow

In the workflow, include a condition to check for reapproval required.  The field is Purchase orders. Requires purchase order re-approval.  This field value will be Yes or No as determined by the Purchasing Policy described above.  If the value is No, configure the workflow to Auto-approve using Automatic actions within the Approval step.

Delivery Remainder Summary

In summary, canceling or changing a delivery remainder requires a couple of other steps to complete when Change management and Approval workflow are involved, but if the Workflow and Purchasing Policies are configured correctly, it is a small price to pay for the Purchase order control and Versioning provided by D365FO.

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