In the purchase management journal in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can group purchase orders and quotes using the Document Grouping field. You assign the same grouping value to multiple orders, then filter on that value to handle them together.
You use document grouping to keep related orders together, for example all the orders that belong to the same project. When you filter on the grouping value, you can run a batch confirmation across all the grouped orders at once.
The Document Grouping field is not visible by default. You need to add it to the page before you can start grouping.
Grouping Purchase Orders with the Document Grouping Field
In the purchase management journal you can group orders or quotes together. To do this, you first need to make the Document Grouping field visible on the page, since it is not shown by default.
Once the field is visible, you assign the same grouping value to the orders you want to connect. For example, you might take two purchase orders, 26 and 27, and group them under the same value. You can use a project as the grouping value, so both orders belong to “Project 1”. When you set the value on a purchase order, the rest of the lines on that order pick up the same grouping, so the whole order is tied to “Project 1”.
Filtering and Batch Handling of Grouped Orders
After you have grouped two or more orders, the grouping value becomes useful for filtering. You filter on the grouping value to pull up all the orders that belong together, which keeps it easy to track what you are working on.
With the orders filtered, you can run a batch confirmation across them and handle all the lines in one go, rather than processing each order separately.
Practical Use Cases for Document Grouping
Document grouping works for different orders or requests, and it is useful when you have several quotes that belong together. For example, if you send out 10 quotes to 10 different vendors, you can group them so you can see that these are the same quotes for the same need. That makes it straightforward to compare them and handle them as a set.
Q&A
How do I group purchase orders in Business Central?
In the purchase management journal, make the Document Grouping field visible, then assign the same grouping value to the orders you want to connect. The grouping applies to the lines on each order automatically.
Why is the Document Grouping field not showing?
The Document Grouping field is hidden by default. You need to add it to the page through personalisation before you can use it for grouping.
What can I do with grouped orders?
Once orders share a grouping value, you can filter on that value to bring them up together and run a batch confirmation to handle all the lines at once.
When should I use document grouping?
Use it when orders or quotes belong together, for example when they relate to the same project, or when you send the same quote to several vendors and want to keep track of them as one set.