© Sanjaya Yapa and Indika Abayarathne 2021
S. Yapa, I. AbayarathneDynamics 365 Field Servicehttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-6408-9_5

5. Setting Up Inventory

Sanjaya Yapa1   and Indika Abayarathne2
(1)
Mount Waverley, VIC, Australia
(2)
Victory, WA, Australia
 

Setting up inventory and pricing products are important tasks in Field Service. Chapter 2 introduced most of the Field Service entities and features. In this chapter, we are going to set up the product catalog, warehouses, and their inventories for TyreWorx. The product catalog is a sales feature that Field Service uses for billing purpose. The product catalog explains unit groups, products and services, and product bundles, including prices, discounts, and taxes. In addition, warehouses and inventories are set up for the products in the product catalog.

TyreWorx uses only a few unit groups, products, and product bundles. The two main price lists are for the company’s retail and wholesale businesses. Multiple tax codes have been defined due to multiple Canadian tax codes. Multiple warehouses and delivery and service vehicles are used according to the structure described in Chapter 2. The Field Service app is used onsite, including in the warehouses.

Setting Up Products and Services

This section focuses on setting up the product catalog and the service catalog that the field technicians will use during their daily field operations. Some jobs (work orders) will involve either selling tires or offering services, and some jobs will involve both. Chapter 7 discusses the utilization of these products and services in detail.

Product Catalogs

A product catalog is a collection of products and their prices, including any discount information. Field Service extends the product catalog and the price list usage by adding them to the work orders.
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Figure 5-1

Product catalog settings and Product catalog menu

Unit Groups

Unit groups are useful when products are sold and billed in different quantities. Units can be any measurement to quantify products or services based on their attributes. Consider time as a unit, for example. An “hour” could represent the minimum unit of time; a “day” could represent a unit comprising eight hours; and a “week” could represent five units of days. Figure 5-2 shows an example of a unit group with two units.
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Figure 5-2

Time unit group

TyreWorx use two main unit groups for sales and labor. Tires are the main inventory product and are sold as single products and as sets. One set contains four tires. In order to achieve this business requirement, TyreWorx created a separate unit group (called Tyre Group) that contains two units. As shown in Figure 5-3, the base unit is named Each which means a single tyre, and another unit is named Set and which means 4 tyres. As you can see from Figure 5-3, the base unit for Set of tyres is Each. This means the set contains 4 tyres each. Figure 5-5 shows the field service tab on the product main form.
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Figure 5-3

Tyre unit group

Products

Products are tangible items that are used in work orders to perform the job. Two types of products are available in Field Service: inventory and non-inventory. Products can be priced individually and as bundles. For example, one tire can be sold to a customer at a retail price and four tires (or a one tire set) can be sold at a bundle price under the same retail price list. Sample products and services appear under the Products and Services subsections (Figure 5-4).
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Figure 5-4

Products list

  • Inventory: Products are usually selected as Inventory when the product has a high value or can be sold to the customer as a primary item during the job. In our scenario, tires are inventory items and can be sold as a primary item in a work order.

  • Non-inventory: This product type represents products with low value and which are used as supportive or non-primary products. Examples include stickers to identify tires and resealable ties. TyreWorx field technicians can give away tire pressure checkers to customers who buy a set of four tires.
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    Figure 5-5

    Field Service tab on product main form

Services

Services are the labor involved in performing the job described in the work order. They are usually measured in time units. Examples include repairing a punctured tire and changing a set of tires. Figure 5-6 shows a service item in the TyreWorx product catalog.
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Figure 5-6

A service item in the TyreWorx product catalog

As shown in Figure 5-6, the only major difference between the services and the inventory and non-inventory products is the Field Service Product Type field, which is set to Service. TyreWorx services include repairing punctured tires, rotating tires, jump-starting vehicles, and so forth. Services are mainly measured using units in the time groups.

Product Bundles

Multiple products can be billed and sold as bundles. One bundle can have different types of products in different quantities. An example of a bundle is a gift pack. A gift pack can include multiple products and is cheaper than the total cost of products sold individually. This is one of the key features required by the TyreWorx business because the nature of the primary product they sell. That is, 99% of the time, TyreWorx sells tires either as a bundle of two tires or as a bundle of four tires. Figure 5-7 shows multiple products in one bundle.
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Figure 5-7

Multiple products under a bundle product

A product bundle is also an inventory product. Bundles have the same attributes as individual products. Figure 5-8 shows the Field Service tab on a bundle product’s main form.
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Figure 5-8

Field Service tab on bundle product’s main form

The primary difference between using one product and a bundle product is that when the bundle is sold, the quantity defined in the bundle will be used in warehouse stock calculations and in invoices.

Setting Up Price Lists

Price Lists

In TyreWorx , the prices of products and services are categorized into two price lists, retail and wholesale. These price lists contain prices for different units of the products and services in a specific currency and in a specific date range. Price List records primarily include Name, Currency, Start Date, and End Date.

TyreWorx revises their retail and wholesale price lists every financial year. Figure 5-9 shows a retail price list for the financial year 2020/2021, and Figure 5-10 shows a wholesale price list. Price lists are important when creating work orders, as the invoice details are generated based on the selected price list under the work order. Agreements are generated using predefined price lists under the customer contacts. Chapter 4 discussed agreements in greater detail.
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Figure 5-9

Retail price list main form

  • Name: This helps to identify the price list.

  • Currency: Prices can have in different currencies, such as Canadian Dollar (CAD), US Dollar (USD), Australian Dollar (AUD), etc. All the price list items are listed in the selected currency on the price list.

  • Start Date: Prices will be effective from the start date on the price list.

  • End Date: Prices will be effective until the end date on the price list.

The start and end dates can be defined according to a purpose, such as financial year or promotional time period.
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Figure 5-10

Wholesale price list main form

Multiple active price lists can be available within a same time period. For example, for the same set of products and services in the same financial year, TyreWorx offers multiple price lists for citizens and non-citizens and for members and non-members. TyreWorx also varies the prices for the same products and services among the different Canadian provinces.

Custom fields can be added to the price list to differentiate the price lists according to specific requirements. TyreWorx uses the Billing Method custom field to identify retail and wholesale prices for the same products and services.

Price List Items

One price list contains multiple price list items for different units of different products and services. Price list item records generally include the price list, the product, the product’s unit, the currency, and the discount list. Figure 5-11 shows some examples of prices of the same product or service under different price list years.

TyreWorx uses two different price lists in a financial year. The same product has two different prices in each price list. For example, one ALENZA 001 – TYRE product is sold to retail customers for $280.00 in one price list item, whereas the same product is sold to wholesale customers for $270.00 in another price list item. One set of four ALENZA 001 – TYRE products is priced at $720 in another price list item under the same retail price list. Figure 5-12 shows a list of price list items and and Figure 5-16 shows one of the sample price list items.
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Figure 5-11

Product prices

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Figure 5-12

Retail price list items

Figure 5-13 shows the main form of the TyreWorx retail price list item. Price list item main form with the relevant price list.
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Figure 5-13

Price list item main form

  • Price List: This is the relevant price list reference for the price list item.

  • Product: This is the product or service in the product catalog. It also can be a product bundle, such as a gift pack containing different products in one pack.

  • Unit: Products can be priced for different units, such as individual items, sets of items, pallets, boxes of items, etc.

  • Currency: This should be same as the parent price list’s currency.

  • Discount List: Multiple discounts lists can be applied to the price list item. With this feature, only selected price list items for selected products can have discounts.

The Relationship Between Work Orders and the Product Catalog

It is important to understand the relationship between work orders and the product catalog. Work orders can contain multiple products and one price list. TyreWorx work orders contain tire products and tire services under work order products.

A work order contains invoice product items. Invoice product items pull unit prices from price list items according to the unit groups and according to the price list.

Figure 5-14 shows the high-level relationship between work orders and the product catalog-related entities.
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Figure 5-14

Relationship between work orders and the product catalog

Discounts

Businesses offer discounts in different ways, including direct discounts and indirect discounts. This section describes the discount-related features offered by Power Platform.

Discounts Through Bundles

Selling products as bundles for special rates will offer indirect discounts to the products in the bundle. The “Buy 3, Get 1 Free” offer is common among tire sellers (Figure 5-15). In this scenario, four tires are sold in one bundle for the price of three tires.
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Figure 5-15

Discount option via product bundles

The price for a bundle product is usually lower than that for buying the same quantity of individual products. Promotions through bundles are another method of giving discounts to the customer. Price list items can be created from the price list. Figure 5-16 shows a price when buying 4 tyres together.
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Figure 5-16

Pricing information of a product bundle on a price list item

Discount Lists

A discount list is an out-of-the-box feature in Power Platform. Two types of discounts can be configured: percentage-based and amount-based.

TyreWorx offers percentage-based discounts to retail customers and amount-based discounts to wholesale customers.

Discount lists can be created by selecting Settings ➤ Product Catalog ➤ Discount Lists ➤ New. Figure 5-17 shows a new form of a retail dicount list.

  • Percentage: Discounts are calculated on a percentage basis for different quantities of purchase.

  • Amount: Discounts are calculated on an amount basis for different quantities of purchase.
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    Figure 5-17

    New retail discount list form

Figure 5-18 shows a discount list with two percentage-based discounts. When the product quantity is from 4 to 6, a 5% discount is offered. When the product quantity is from 7 to 8 products, a 7% discount is offered.
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Figure 5-18

Discount layers under the retail price list

One price list item can have only one discount. Figure 5-19 shows a price list item form with a discount list. The main fields on the price list item form are Price List, Product, Unit, Currency, and Discount List.
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Figure 5-19

Retail price list in a price list item

The wholesale discount list shown in Figure 5-20 contains two amount-based discounts: $15 when the product quantity is from 101 to 200, and $25 when the product quantity is from 201 to 300.
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Figure 5-20

Wholesale discount layers

Taxes

Taxes are a vital part of invoicing in any sales process. Every country uses a different tax model, and the model can vary within the same country, from state to state or province to province. The tax can be applied from one simple tax code to different tax layers, such as tax on tax. Figure 5-21 shows a CRM form for a one tax code.

TyreWorx must adhere to the tax layers defined in each province of Canada. Some provinces have only one single tax layer for selling products and services, whereas other provinces have two tax layers. The tax type and tax percentage different, too. Figure 5-22 explains tax codes using few examples on different provinces use tax layers.

Tax Codes

Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement enables you to set up tax codes. The number of tax codes varies based on the requirements. You can add tax codes by clicking New under Settings ➤ Tax Codes.
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Figure 5-21

Creating a new tax code

The Tax Code record includes the following fields:

  • Name: Helps to clearly identify the tax code.

  • Tax Rate %: The tax value as a decimal value.

  • Act as a Tax Group: When multiple taxes are applied, the tax code can be defined as a tax group. A value of No means the tax code acts as a simple tax with one rate.

  • Products Taxable: A value of Yes means the products in the work order are taxable.

  • Services Taxable: A value of Yes means the services in the work order are taxable.

  • Agreement Taxable: A value of Yes means the agreements generated are taxable.

Tax Groups

Many countries, states, and provinces apply multiple taxes. In Canada, one province can have one or more tax types with different rates. Figure 5-22 shows examples of tax types and tax rates in few different Canadian provinces. GST: Goods and Services Tax. HST: Harmonized Sales Tax. PST: Provincial Sales Tax.
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Figure 5-22

Tax types and rates

In order to achieve the preceding scenario, the system needs some business rules. Having different tax codes in each state results in having different prices for the same product after taxes. The following high-level set of business rules can be used to determine the tax for each invoice generated under the work orders:
  1. 1.

    Province-based sales territories are defined in the system (e.g., ALBERTA).

     
  2. 2.

    Tax codes and tax groups are allocated to each sales territory (e.g., GST to ALBERTA).

     
  3. 3.

    Work orders are created under different sales territories, which are based on the province (e.g., ALBERTA Territory).

     
  4. 4.

    Work order types are defined as taxable so that the Taxable field value will be automatically set to Yes when the work order type is selected.

     
  5. 5.

    The invoice for the work order calculates the tax according to the tax code under the sales territory (e.g., Invoice INV-XXXX pick GST as the tax code).

     

In order to facilitate the sample requirement in the book, Dynamics 365 Field Service has a feature called tax groups. In one tax group, multiple tax code detail records can be available.

You can create a tax group by clicking New under Settings ➤ Tax Codes. In the Tax Code record, set the Act as Tax Group field to Yes to define the tax code as a tax group (Figure 5-23).
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Figure 5-23

Tax group main form

The Tax Code Details tab of the Tax Code record contains multiple tax code detail records (Figure 5-24). Tax code detail records are listed according to the Line Order field under each tax group. Figure 5-25 shows the main form of a tax code detail record.
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Figure 5-24

Tax codes under a tax group

The Tax Code Details tab contains following fields:

  • Tax Code: Reference to a tax code record.

  • Parent Tax Code: The parent tax group.

  • Line Order: This is the sequence of the tax rates. The line order cannot be duplicated within the same tax group.

  • Tax On Tax:

  • When the field value is Yes, the tax applies on top of previous tax value on the line order sequence. For example, the tax rate in line order 1 applies first and then the tax rate in line order 2 applies on top of the total value.

  • When the field value is No, all the tax applies on the work order amount. According to Figure 5-24, the total tax rate on the work order amount is 12%.
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    Figure 5-25

    Tax Code Detail main form

In Dynamics 365 Field Service, tax is applied on the work order. Tax can be applied only when a work order type’s Taxable field value is Yes. Sometimes, however, a business is exempted from taxes. The following high-level set of business rules can be used to exempt a work order from taxes: Also, Figure 5-26 shows an example for a tax code used in a work order.

  • Province-based sales territories are defined in the system (e.g., ALBERTA).

  • Tax codes and tax groups are allocated to each sales territory (e.g., GST to ALBERTA).

  • Work orders are created under different province-based sales territories (e.g., ALBERTA Territory).

  • Work order types are defined as taxable so that the Taxable field value on the work order, will be automatically set to Yes when the work order type is selected.

  • Optional: Non-taxable work order types can be set up.

  • The Taxable field value can be set to No. (If it automatically sets to Yes)

  • Although the sales territory associates with a tax code, the invoice for the work order doesn’t calculate the tax as the work order is not taxable (e.g., Invoice INV-XXXX doesn’t pick any tax code).
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    Figure 5-26

    Tax code used in a work order’s main form

Setting Up Warehouses

A warehouse is a physical location or a vehicle with an inventory. Figure 5-27 shows primary information of a warehouse record. An inventory transfer is the process to move products from one warehouse to another. Inventory can be transferred from a warehouse located in a building to a transfer truck and from a delivery truck to another warehouse location.
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Figure 5-27

General tab of a warehouse record

You can create warehouses by selecting Inventory ➤ Warehouses ➤ New.

Few warehouse records have been created as master records according to the warehouse structure defined in Figure 2-30. A typical warehouse structure under Chapter 2.

Product Inventories

Each warehouse maintains an inventory and the inventory products . Their quantity counts are shown under the Product Inventory Associated View (Figure 5-28). One product inventory record is maintained for one product in each unit. This enables users to easily gain an understanding of the product quantities. For example, one product can exist as an individual product for sale under one product inventory record, such as sold as each unit. Also, if a bundle of products is sold together, there will be another product inventory record for them, such as a four-tire bundle in one product inventory record.
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Figure 5-28

Product inventory under a warehouse

Accessing Warehouses and Product Inventories from the Mobile App

The Field Service mobile app can be configured to show inventory-related features. Warehouses, Inventory Transfers, Inventory adjustments and Products have been shown under Inventory menu for the TyreWorx requirements.

Users of the Field Service mobile app must be granted permission to access warehouses and product inventories. Figure 5-29 shows the Warehouses menu on a tablet.
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Figure 5-29

Warehouses menu on a tablet

Figure 5-30 shows a list of active warehouses under the Warehouses menu in the Field Service mobile app. The default columns in the Active Warehouses view are Name, Description, and Created On.
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Figure 5-30

Active Warehouses view on a tablet

Filtering Warehouses in the Tablet App

Different views of warehouses can be created and made available in Field Service mobile app. Field Service mobile app facilitates changing views as configured in the mobile app. Figure 5-31 shows all the regional warehouses operated by TyreWorx.

Data filtering is important due to the following reasons:

  • Users can be allocated only to relevant filters. For example, Ontario users will see only Ontario warehouses.

  • It optimizes the screen usage by showing only relevant data.

  • It increases user satisfaction by reducing clicks.

  • It provides easy navigation for users.

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Figure 5-31

Regional Warehouses view on a tablet

The Kingston warehouses and service vehicles can be filtered as shown in Figure 5-32. Both locations and service vehicles act as warehouses because both locations and service vehicles maintain inventories.
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Figure 5-32

Kingston regional warehouses list in Field Service tablet app in tablet

Displaying Products in the Tablet App

Tire products are listed under the Tyre Products view (Figure 5-33). Multiple views are available under the products.
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Figure 5-33

Tyre Products view on a tablet

Transferring Inventories in the Tablet App

Figure 5-34 shows an inventory transfer product under an inventory transfer record on an Android tablet. Inventory transfer records are used when moving stock from one warehouse to another. TyreWorx has selected to transfer 120 ALENZA tires from one warehouse to another warehouse.

Chapter 6 discusses inventory transfers in detail.
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Figure 5-34

Transferring inventory products on a tablet

Figure 5-35 shows an inventory transfer on an Android tablet. TyreWorx relies heavily on inventory transfers as part of their onsite process.
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Figure 5-35

Inventory transfer main form on a tablet

Figure 5-36 shows an example of multiple products created for an inventory adjustment. Inventory adjustment record is a reprentation of a change happen to any product quantity in an inventory.
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Figure 5-36

Inventory adjustment products on a tablet

Summary

This chapter discussed warehouses and their related features. Warehouse and product catalog entities and areas, identified as core entities in Chapter 2, were discussed in more detail. Practical usage scenarios of product catalogs include unit groups, products, product bundles, price lists, and discounts. The chapter also discussed setting up warehouses and inventory in the web client and in the Field Service mobile app. The next chapter discusses all the main processes of inventory movements .

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