Checklist for improving MRP performance – Part 2: How to setup planning parameters

If Master Planning (MRP) runtime is too long, here are a couple of simple things you can try in order to improve it. You must, of course, try these out on a test environment first and, if you see an improvement, apply the same settings to the production environment. It is recommended that you apply one setting at a time, so you can get a good sense of what helped and what didn’t. Some of the settings below will not only have an effect on runtime, but may also improve your plan quality. The list was compiled for Microsoft Dynamics Ax 2012, so parts of the checklist may not apply to earlier versions.

1. Items assigned to the same coverage group should have similar lead times

Coverage parameters, such as the coverage time fence, negative days and positive days, relate to the lead times of the items inside the coverage group. If there is a disconnect between the lead times of the items and these parameters, master planning may create unnecessary planned orders, leading to potential suboptimal planning outcome and potential longer execution times. Items assigned to the same coverage group should have similar lead times.

Be sure at all times that you have the latest hot fixes related to lead times applied to your environment. One example is KB article 2938941: https://mbs2.microsoft.com/Knowledgebase/kbdisplay.aspx?WTNTZSMNWUKNTMMYZWLSWZQTLLRPPXLZNRORZMMMSSMTMNPU

2. Master planning parameters – Use dynamic negative days parameter should be checked

The negative days setting is connected to the lead time of the items. If the negative days are less than or equal to the item’s lead time, unnecessary planned orders may be created. Consider the following example: current date is 1st May, there is a sales order for 1 piece of item A on 5th May, item A has a lead time of 6 days and there is a purchase order for 1 piece of item A on 8th May. The negative day setting is 2, which is less than the item A’s lead time. Master planning will create a new planned purchase order for 1 piece of item A, which, according to the lead time will be delivered 7th May. This is just 1 day before the already existing purchase order. Firming this new planned purchase order may lead to unused inventory piling up. Creating planned orders that are not useful increases master planning runtime for no reason.

Checking Use dynamic negative days parameter makes sure that the connection between the item’s lead time and the negative days is taken into account during planning. Consider the following example: current date is 1st May, there is a sales order for 1 piece of item A on 5th May, item A has a lead time of 6 days and there is a purchase order for 1 piece of item A on 8th May. The negative day setting is 2, which is less than the item A’s lead time. Master planning will not create any planned purchase orders. The sales order will be fulfilled using the existing purchase order.

3. Negative days parameter on the coverage group should not be less than the lead time of the items assigned to the coverage group

If the negative days are less than the item’s lead time, unnecessary planned orders may be created. Consider the following example: current date is 1st May, there is a sales order for 1 piece of item A on 5th May, item A has a lead time of 6 days and there is a purchase order for 1 piece of item A on 8th May. The negative day setting is 2, which is less than the item A’s lead time. Master planning will create a new planned purchase order for 1 piece of item A, which, according to the lead time will be delivered 7th May. This is just 1 day before the already existing purchase order. Firming this new planned purchase order may lead to unused inventory piling up. Creating planned orders that are not useful increases master planning runtime for no reason.

Negative days parameter on the coverage group should not be less than the lead time of the items assigned to the coverage group.

A KB article you should make sure you have installed is 2736992 https://mbs2.microsoft.com/Knowledgebase/kbdisplay.aspx?WTNTZSMNWUKNTMMYMWMSYTMOWZPWLSWNTQWWSZZVXMWPMSOX

4. Positive days parameter on the coverage group should not be 0 or empty

If the positive days parameter on the coverage group should is 0 or empty, then existing incoming orders will not be taken into account for planning and new planned orders will be created. Note that on hand will always be consumed, regardless of the number of positive days set. Creating planned orders that are not useful increases master planning runtime for no reason. Firming these planned orders may lead to unused inventory piling up. Positive days parameter on the coverage group should not be 0 or empty.

5. Items that are regularly procured or produced should be assigned to coverage groups where the Positive days parameters is equal to the item’s lead time

If items have lead times bigger than the Positive days parameter on the coverage group, unnecessary planned orders may be created. Creating planned orders that are not useful increases master planning runtime for no reason. Firming these planned orders may lead to unused inventory piling up. Items that are regularly procured or produced should be assigned to coverage Groups where the Positive days parameters is equal to the item’s lead time.

Checklist for improving MRP performance – Part 1: How to run MRP

If Master Planning (MRP) runtime is too long, here are a couple of simple things you can try in order to improve it. The list was compiled for Microsoft Dynamics Ax 2012, so parts of the checklist may not apply to earlier versions. You must, of course, try these out on a test environment first and, if you see an improvement, apply the same settings to the production environment. It is recommended that you apply one setting at a time, so you can get a good sense of what helped and what didn’t. It is also recommended that the test environment is as close as possible to the production environment in terms of data volumes: number of products and number of transactions. If you are running MRP in recurrent batch, note that some of the settings will be cached, so it’s better to make the parameter change and re-create the batch and then run MRP again.

1. Use helpers for master planning

Using helpers (parallel processing threads) during master planning will most likely improve the runtime. Request one or more helper threads when running master planning, by setting the Scheduling helpers – Number of helpers parameter in the Master scheduling dialog to a value greater than zero.

More information about helpers can be found here:

TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg242496.aspx

InformationSource: https://informationsource.dynamics.com//RFPServicesOnline/Rfpservicesonline.aspx?DocName=TC2014+Help!++MRP+is+slow%7cQJ4JEM76642V-8-1608

Also make sure you have applied to the Ax environment the latest hot fixes related to helpers. Below are just a couple of KBs that you should consider installing or porting to your AX version:

KB article 2693422 https://mbs2.microsoft.com/Knowledgebase/kbdisplay.aspx?WTNTZSMNWUKNTMMYTPNRYVZNNPWYSWVQRWURNYWNXVKVRNQY

KB article 2690230 https://mbs2.microsoft.com/Knowledgebase/kbdisplay.aspx?WTNTZSMNWUKNTMMYTPNRYVZNNPWYSWVQUOLKVSMVQULNVYQT

KB article 2862912 https://mbs2.microsoft.com/Knowledgebase/kbdisplay.aspx?WTNTZSMNWUKNTMMYVWQXNRNXTVKNSKYVQNYNRZQRRRTPMQYY

2. Number of helpers used during master planning needs to be less than or equal to the maximum number of threads allowed on the batch server

It makes no sense to have the number of threads requested by planning greater than the sum of available batch threads on all batch servers in the selected batch group that runs master planning. Set the number of master planning helpers to be lower than the sum of available batch threads on all batch servers in the selected batch group to run master planning or increase the number of threads on selected batch servers.

To check the number of available batch threads per server/batch group go to System administration – System – Server configuration

3. Use multiple AOSs for master planning

Using more AOSs during master planning will most likely improve the planning runtime. It is also very important that you make sure no other lengthy routine is running simulataneosuly with master planning. It is also very important that you make sure no other routine requireing locks on tables used by master planning (for example InventTrans, InventSumLogTTS, ReqItemTable, etc) is running at the same time as MRP.

4. Configuration keys that are not actively used should be disabled

For example, when Process Industries functionality is used, a lot of additional planning logic is being triggered, like for instance expiration dates for batches. This will increase the master planning runtime. If Process Industries functionality is not used, make sure the ‘Process manufacturing’ configuration key is switched off.

5. Action message usage

Calculating action messages leads to longer master planning runtime. If action messages are not analyzed and applied on a regular basis (daily, weekly, etc), consider disabling the calculation during the master plan run, by making sure the Action message time fence is 0 on the master plan you are running (Master planning – Setup – Plans – Master plans). Also make sure all the coverage groups have Action message setting disabled.

6. Futures usage

Calculating futures leads to longer master planning runtime. If you are not planning BOMs or if propagating delays from supply to demand during planning is not needed for you, consider disabling futures calculation during MRP, by making sure the Futures time fence is 0 on the master plan you are running. Also make sure all the coverage groups have Futures setting disabled.

7. Number of tasks in a master planning helper task bundle

Changing the number of tasks in the task bundle may have a positive effect on the runtime. The number of tasks in a bundle controls how many items are planned together by a single helper. It is recommended to increase the number of tasks when the number of items is very large (hundreds of thousands) and decrease the number of tasks otherwise. In most cases it is a trial and error approach before an optimal value is determined. Remember to change this value as you add to Dynamics Ax more and more products!

8. Caching during master planning should be set to Maximum

Master planning logic is controlling the amount of caching used. This parameter is obsolete and is a candidate for removal in future versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX. In all the companies master planning is executed, consider setting Master planning parameters – Use of cache to Maximum

Product Configuration: Setting values based on system variables – example, current user ID

In this blog post we will describe how you can set values
based on the current user ID by leveraging system-defined table constraints
together with the build-in query range methods.

If you are familiar with the Product Builder configurator,
you may by familiar with the User Profile
feature where you can associate a collection of default values with a given
user. Use the following description to achieve a similar behavior using the
Product Configurator.

Creating the System Table

The table we create for this example should look like this and have two columns, that is, one for
the User ID (uses the UserID EDT) and one for our user-specific value (an Integer to keep it simple).

Once the table is created, we can add the user specific data.

As seen above, we have added the value 42 for the Admin
user ID. The intention is that when the table constraint is created and used in
model, the attribute, which will be bound to the UserSpecificIntegerValue
column, will be assigned the value that corresponds to the current user ID.

Creating the Table Constraint

Now that the System Table is created, we can create the actual table constraint. This is done by
opening the Table constraint definition
form, under Product information management -> Common -> Product configuration models.

Create a new table constraint by clicking the new button.

Select System defined, and enter the name of the table created previously.

Add a column for the user-specific integer value and choose an integer attribute type with ranges.

Now comes the part which gives the attribute a user-specific value. This can be accomplished by
opening the Select query (SysQuery) form and entering the range specified
below. The content of the table will be filtered to just return the records
associated with the current user ID.

Click OK to complete the table constraint creation, click Next in the Wizard, and then click OK again.

Using the system-defined table constraint in a Product configuration model

Having just created our system-defined table constraint, we are now ready to use it in a Product
configuration model. Below I have create a very simple model with 3 attributes:

One integer attribute to hold
the user-specific value
Two boolean attributes for
     each of which I will be using the Hidden modifier with a condition
     expressing that the attribute is only to be shown if the user-specific
     value matches that of the current user.
     The “Only Admin” attribute will be hidden if the user
     specific value is different from 42.

Similarly, I have added an attribute named “Only Dmitry”, which only will be
visible if the user log on to Dynamics AX is associated with User ID Dmitry.

Once the attributes have been defined, it’s time to attach the table constraint to the
model. This is done by creating a new constraint in the constraints section and
selecting Table constraint in the opened dialog.

Then select the new table constraint and associate the user-specific value attribute with
the user-specific value column, as shown below.

Launching the model and understanding the results

We are now ready to launch the model we created with the attached table constraint. As can be seen
below, once the model is loaded, the User Specific Value is assigned the value 42 by the configurator. The “Only
Admin” attribute is shown and the”Only Dmitry” attribute is hidden.

This example can be extended to include several other concepts like hiding subcomponents and
grouping user specific value into table constraints. An obvious use case would
be that you hide some parts of the Product configuration model from the order
takers (Susan persona). This could be engineering-specific details and the
product designer (Emil persona) would still be able to see them.

Furthermore, the above pattern can be used together with other of the build-in query range
methods.

currentCompany
currentLanguageId
currentUserLanguage
currentLegalEntity
currentParty

Note:

It you are running
on a build that has a performance fix to run the XML generation in IL, you will
need to generate IL for the SysQueryRangeUtil class.

I hope you find this useful

PrivateProject_MyUserSpecificValuesDemo.xpo

Working with Overlap in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Conducting Dynamics AX Manufacturing training for a class in Malaysia, it became clear that the current documentation on Overlap in Dynamics AX was not telling the full story.
Therefore, I decided to write this blog.

So, what is Transfer batch and Overlap quantity?

In Dynamics AX ‘Transfer batch’ is the field used to control an overlapped schedule. Apics define ‘Overlapped schedule’ as “A manufacturing schedule that overlaps successive operations. Overlapping occurs when the completed portion of an order at one work center is processed at one or more succeeding work centers before the pieces left behind are finished at the preceding work centers.”

Overlapped schedule is also known as lap phasing, operation overlapping, telescoping or send ahead.

‘Overlap quantity’ is a calculated field on the production order – ensuring that we avoid gaps in the schedule, when the successor operation to the operation with a Transfer batch value, has a shorter process time.
The ‘Overlap quantity’ determines the first transfer batch size for the operation; the following transfers to the next operation will use the ‘Transfer batch’ value.

Overlap quantity example

Say you have a production order for 10 pcs and it has two operations 10 and 20, each operation taking 2 minutes per pcs:

Without overlap:

Normally operation 20 will start when the entire quantity (10 pcs) has been processed on operation 10

With overlap:

When you have specified something in ‘Transfer batch’ field, let us say 2 pcs, it means the next operation (in our case 20) can already start when only 2 pcs has been processed on the operation 10. The value from ‘Transfer batch’ is by default copied to the ‘Overlap quantity’, on the production order.

Why does the Overlap quantity sometimes change when I estimate a production order?

The ‘Overlap quantity’ parameter on the production order route is calculated by the system. This is done during the estimation (or scheduling) of the production order, to prevent gaps in situations where a later operation have a shorter process time than the current operation. The fact that the successor would be waiting for the delivery from the predecessor would be causing a gap.
So, the calculation of an optimal ‘Overlap quantity’ is done based on the ‘Transfer batch’ and the operation process durations on the route.

Overlap example with gaps (two operations):

Say you have a production order for 10 pcs and it has two operations 10 and 20, this time the first operation takes more time than the second does:
Opr 10: 20 min per pcs
Opr 20: 10 min per pcs
Again, we have a Production order for 10 pcs and Transfer batch quantity set to 2 pcs

Without any change during Estimation the jobs on the route would have a gapped schedule and look like this:

However, as the first operation in total will take 200 min to complete and the second will take 100 min you will get the following information when estimating:

With the change from 2 to 6 we ensure that there are no gaps between the jobs in the second operation.

Overlap example with gaps (three operations):

Now let us spice it up a bit and add another operation – Opr. 30 with a run time of 5 min per pcs. We will also set a ‘Transfer batch’ = 4 on operation 20

In this case, you get the following information during estimation:

Now the schedule will look like this:

Therefore, by updating the ‘Overlap quantity’ on the production order during the Estimation Dynamics AX ensures that production on the following operation can happen without any gaps – avoiding a gapped schedule.

Christian Rytt, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen

Product Configuration – Physical data model for user selected values

A constraint-based configurator was shipped with Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012. In this post, we will provide an overview of the data model
that is used to persist the values that you can select when you configure a
product using the constraint-based configurator.

At first glance, you will notice that there are several
tables involved. If you are not familiar with previous versions of Dynamics AX
and the Product Builder configurator, this might not surprise you. However, if
you are familiar with the Product Builder, you will know that the old
configurator persisted all user selections in one table, namely the
PBATableInstance Table. This implies that retrieving the user selected values
is not as simple as writing a select statement against a single table. In the
following, I will use a report as an example and show you how you can retrieve user
selections in tables.Building a report

The report** that we use as an example displays all the user
selected values that are related to the configurations for a given product configuration
model.

**Disclaimer:
The report is not performance optimized. The purpose of the report is solely to
illustrate traversal of the data structure.

In the report, each element is indented to show the
parent-child relationship between, for example, the HomeTheaterSystem root
component and the “Color” attribute. The “Color” attribute can be assigned
other values, such as “Red”, but in the data on which the report was executed
no such configuration existed.

Note: I have used the Contoso dataset.

Data requirements

The data required to build the report can be broken down
into three parts:

Get the instances of the root component from a
given product configuration model. Here we only want the instances that are
created for product variants and not the ones that are created for configuration
templates.
Get the attributes and their user selected
values for a component instance.
Traverse the subcomponent instances recursively
and repeat part 2.

Let’s take a look at how to retrieve the data requirements to
build the report. The following statements will meet the data requirements and you
can also see the table involved:

Get the instances of the root component from a product configuration model

protected void
provideDataForModel(PCProductConfigurationModel _productConfigurationModel)

{

PCVariantConfiguration variantConfiguration;

PCComponentInstance componentInstance;

PCComponentInstanceRootComponent rootComponentInstance;

PCClass rootComponent;

…

// get all
configurations made for the given product configuration model

while select componentInstance

// only get instances which belong to a variant configuration, not a configuration template

join TableId from variantConfiguration

where variantConfiguration.RecId == componentInstance.ProductConfiguration

// find the
root component instances of the selected model

join TableId from rootComponentInstance

where rootComponentInstance.ComponentInstance == componentInstance.RecId

join rootComponent

where rootComponent.RecId == rootComponentInstance.RootComponentClass

&& rootComponent.RecId == _productConfigurationModel.RootComponentClass

{

// handle data for component

…

}

Get the attributes and their user selected values for a component instance

PCComponentInstanceValue componentInstanceValue;

EcoResAttribute attribute;

EcoResAttributeValue attributeValue;

EcoResValue value;

// get all attribute value assignments
related to the component instance

while select value

join TableId from attributeValue

where value.RecId == attributeValue.Value

join TableId from componentInstanceValue

where componentInstanceValue.RecId == attributeValue.InstanceValue

&& componentInstanceValue.ComponentInstance == _componentInstance.RecId

join attribute

where attribute.RecId == attributeValue.Attribute

{

// handle data for attribute and attribute value

…

}

The values as such are sub-typed to model their respective data type.

Traverse the subcomponent instances

PCComponentInstance componentInstance;

PCComponentInstanceSubComponent subComponentInstance;

PCSubComponent subcomponent;

PCClass childComponent;

// get all the subcomponents that have been associated with values

while select component

join TableId from subcomponent

where subcomponent.ParentComponentClass == _parentComponent.RecId

&& subcomponent.ChildComponentClass == childComponent.RecId

join TableId from subComponentInstance

where subComponentInstance.SubComponent == subcomponent.RecId

&& subcomponentInstance.ParentComponentInstance == _componentInstance.RecId

join componentInstance

where componentInstance.RecId == subComponentInstance.ChildComponentInstance

{

// handle data for component

…

}

Implementation of the report

The data in the report is hierarchical in nature because of
the relationship between components and subcomponents.

The report that we build includes the parent-child
relationship between a component and a subcomponent and it also includes the parent-child
relationships between, for example, an
attribute and an attribute value. This data cannot be retrieved from Dynamics
AX using a single query[1]
so we will use a data provider to populate a temporary table. The table has the
following structure:

[1]
This is not completely true because in Dynamics AX 2012, each component is
brought about as a reference to the configured variant. Thus, you could
retrieve all the data and then resolve the parent/child relations once the data
is retrieved.

A quick explanation of why the fields are required:

ID : this is used because the report framework
will not expose the RecId field of the temporary table
Name : this is the name, such as Color, that we choose to display for the
element
Parent : this is a reference to the parent
record ID that helps grouping the SSRS report hierarchically
UniquePath : this is used to distinguish the
attributes that belong to subcomponents of the same type. The path will be
unique since it describes the path from the root component to each element in
the model.

For more information about how to build a simple
hierarchical report in SSRS, go to:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd255243(v=sql.105).aspx

For details on the implementation, take a look at the
attached X++ project.

Enjoy

PrivateProject_PCSessionValues.xpo

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 – Developer perspective on the Selection list

Extending the Selection list to other list pages

In a previous blog titled Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 – Selection List, I described how this simple feature can help you keep and manipulate a persistent selection on list pages for planned orders and production orders. In that blog I also mentioned that you can extend other list pages so that they can also use the Selection list feature. In this blog, I’ll provide developers with the specifics of just how to do that. I’ll also describe the foundation beneath the implementation of the Selection list.
During implementation, the conceptual name of this feature was Production Record Basket. This name became the ProdRecBasket prefix, which is assigned to the elements of the feature and will help us to locate the artifacts in the system that we’ll need for the extension.

Figure 1: The artifacts related to the Selection List

The Selection list is implemented in a context-agnostic manner. The feature recognizes only that records from the root data are displayed in the grid, and is neither domain specific nor dependent on the type of records it displays. One important note is that the Selection list works only with the source of the root data for the list page. The root data source for a form is easy to identify. It’s the one data source that has the Joins property clear and usually appears first on the list of data sources.

For this exercise, the most relevant artifacts to keep in mind are the following:

The ProdRecBasket configuration key

You must enable this configuration key to use the feature because it controls access to the table definitions and menu items.

The Selection list button group

These are buttons that need to add to the Action Pane of the list page that are the front-end UI for this feature.
Their functions are detailed in the previous post. I recommend using the form ReqTransPOListPage as a data point to retrieve these.

Figure 2: The Selection list buttons, as implemented in the ReqTransPOListPage form.

The ProdRecBasketPart (the Selection List Factbox part)

This is the form part to attach to the list page. It functions as the engine that
supports the feature.

The ProdRecBasketUse (the security privilege)

This security privilege enables the user roles to read and write to the tables.

Using these four elements I’ll go through the process of extending another list page so that it consumes the Selection list.
For this example, I’ll use the EcoResProductListPage form.

My first concern is security. I must ensure that the user role can read and write to the selection list tables. I’ll start by locating the duties that are related to the Products form, which are EcoResProductDefinitionMasterInquire and EcoResProductDefinitionMasterMaintain. To these duties I’ll then add a reference to the privilege called ProdRecBasketUse.

Figure 3: Extending the duties for the Products list page to be able to use the Selection List.

Now that I’ve taken care of security, my next step is to add the buttons to the EcoResProductsListPage form. I’ll use the ReqTransPOListPage as the source of the metadata information. I’ll copy the button group from the planned orders list page, and paste it on the Action Pane of the Products list page. When you do this, please remember to change the metadata property called
DataSource to match the root data source of the form. In this case, the root data source of the Products form is called EcoResProduct.

Figure 4: Adding the selection list buttons to the Products list page.

The last step is to add the controlling fact box to the Products list page. I’ve just created it, but I also could have copied it from the Planned orders list page. Now that it’s added, I’ll align the metadata properties as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Adding the Selection list part to the Products list page.

When the process is done, my Products list page should be ready for the Selection list.

Figure 6: The Products list page extended to support the selection list

Please make sure to add a comment or send me a message with any questions or concerns regarding this topic.

Andre Lamego,
reviewed by Brent Holtorf and Roxana Christina Diaconu

Microsoft Dynamics AX R&D

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 – Selection List

A feature that enables persistent selections on list pages

In earlier versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, the paging, selection methods, and actions that were available on list pages varied across the different areas of the product. For example, some list pages let you select only one line at a time in the grid while others allowed multiple selections. Some list pages had a Mark column with check boxes, which were handled by background code on the forms, while others would not let you mark rows in the list.

Figure 1: On the left: custom row marking. On the right: kernel-managed (standard) row marking

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 brought consistency to the selection behaviors. The kernel now manages row selections, and the overall selection experience is aligned with other Microsoft products such as Excel, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Row selection in Microsoft Excel 2013

The new kernel behavior has replaced prior methods. Some of the requirements that were addressed in earlier versions were not compatible with the new mechanics and have been removed. One of these requirements is the ability mark a record independently of the row selection. For example, a collection of records could be marked while others would be selected. This scenario is no longer possible.
Some customers expressed concerns that the new behavior would prevent them from selecting some records while investigating the details of others. For example, for a production planner it’s important to be able to mark the production orders that he or she expects to firm (at the same time) while looking at the details of other orders to determine whether to firm them as well. According to the new behavior, the planner’s selections are cleared when a second record is selected or the details form is opened.
We’ve worked closely with these customers, and in the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 release we’ve delivered a solution that adheres to the standard selection experience and enables this scenario.
The feature is called the Selection list, and it’s available on the Action Pane.

Figure 3: Selection list-enabled Production Order list page in Dynamics AX 2012 R2

The Selection list feature is not enabled by default. To use the feature, you must enable the Selection list usage configuration key for the Production series I license key. The Selection list is then available on the list pages for planned orders and production orders.

Figure 4: The Selection list configuration key

The Selection list is similar to the Task list in Microsoft Outlook. You can select a group of records on the list page and add them to the Selection list. You can query the records, and you can also filter the records on the list page to match the list, or show only those records that are not in the list. This gives you better control of the amount of information that is displayed.

Figure 5: The Selection list Action Pane Group

The following functions are available:

Add to selection

Adds the selected record(s) from the list page to the Selection list.

Remove from selection

Removes the selected record(s) from the Selection list.

Clear selection

Clears all records from the Selection list.

View selection

Applies a view to the contents of the list page that shows only records that are included in the Selection list. The view is applied until you click the button again.

Left: View is on. Right: View is off.

View unselected

Applies a view to the contents of the list page that shows only records that are not included in the Selection list. The view is applied until you click the button again.

Left: View is on. Right: View is off.

The Selection list feature also includes the Selection list FactBox, which is available to the right of the list. The Selection list FactBox displays all of the records that have been added to the Selection list. Additionally, you can also use the FactBox to apply the View selection view.

Figure 6: The Selection List fact box

The Selection list remains available when you close and reopen the client. The selections in the list are saved for a user in the context of one legal entity.
A separate blog post will show how partners can consume and extend the Selection list for use on other list pages. Many other list pages can be customized to take advantage of this feature.

Andre Lamego,
reviewed by Brent Holtorf and Roxana Christina Diaconu

Microsoft Dynamics AX R&D