How to set up a vendor as a subcontractor using work centers in Business Central?
Setting up subcontractors in Business Central comes down to one simple principle: you create a vendor and attach it to a work center. Once you understand that connection, the rest of the setup falls into place quickly.
This article explains how to configure a subcontractor work center in Business Central, why you attach a vendor to it, and which settings matter most. You set up the subcontractor as a work center because the routing in Business Central calculates time and capacity on operations, and those operations point to a work center or a machine center. You should set the work center time unit to days, since you typically want to know how many days it takes before you get the item back from the vendor. You attach the vendor in the posting tab of the work center, which connects it to the subcontracting worksheet you use to manage the actual subcontracting work.
Why subcontractors are set up as work centers in Business Central
The logic behind the setup is straightforward. A routing in Business Central is designed for work to be done, and it calculates the time and capacity used on each operation. This produces capacity ledger entries against the operations in the routing.
Because the routing operates on time and capacity, the type of each operation is either a work center or a machine center. So when you want to send work out to a subcontractor, you define that subcontractor as a work center. You then attach a vendor to it. This keeps the subcontracted operation inside the same structure as all your other production operations.
How to set up a subcontractor work center
The setup itself is simple. You go into your work centers and either create a new one or find the work center you want to use as your subcontractor.
In the scheduling tab, set the work center time unit. In our experience, most customers prefer to work in days here, because the relevant number is how many days it takes before the item comes back from the vendor, not minutes or hours of machine time.
In the posting tab, you set up the subcontractor number by picking the vendor from the vendor list. That single setting is what links the work center to the vendor.
Connecting the work center to the subcontracting worksheet
Once you have attached the vendor in the posting tab, the work center applies to the subcontracting worksheet. The subcontracting worksheet is where you manage the actual flow of work going out to and coming back from the vendor.
That is the only setup required. With the vendor attached to the work center and the time unit set to days, you are ready to use the subcontractor in your production routings.
Q&A
How do you set up a subcontractor in Business Central?
You create or find a work center, set its time unit to days in the scheduling tab, and attach a vendor in the posting tab by picking the vendor from the vendor list. That is the complete setup.
Why is a subcontractor set up as a work center rather than a vendor only?
Routings in Business Central calculate time and capacity on operations, and those operations are tied to a work center or machine center. By setting the subcontractor up as a work center, the subcontracted operation fits into the same routing structure as all other production operations, while the attached vendor handles the purchasing side.
What time unit should you use for a subcontractor work center?
Days is usually the best choice. With subcontracting you typically care about how many days it takes before the item comes back from the vendor, so calculating in days is more practical than using minutes or hours.
How does the subcontractor work center connect to the subcontracting worksheet?
When you set the subcontractor number in the posting tab of the work center, that work center applies to the subcontracting worksheet, which you then use to manage the work sent to and returned from the vendor.
This is what happens in the video
To explain this, I will look into the routing, to show you an example.
Work Center 300 is painting.
The routing is designed for work to be done, to do Capacity Ledger Entries or capacity performing an operation, and therefore the type of the routing is a Work Center or Machine Center.
You define a new Work Center that you’d like to use as your subcontractor and just attach a vendor to that.
It’s simple to do the setup.
Go into the Work Center, and create a new Work Center, or find the Work Center you want to work with.
Many prefers the Work Center Time Unit to be in Days.
I will normally prefer to calculate the number of days, before I get the item back from the vendor.
We just set up the subcontractor number in the Posting tab.
Pick it from the vendor list.
Then it applies to the subcontracting work sheet that we will display in another video.
This is the only setup required.