When you work with configurators or order hierarchies in Dynamics 365 Business Central, the main reason is the ability to carry customer-specific information all the way through the order structure. If you sell a configurable product like a bike, you often need to capture requirements at the top level and pass them down to the purchase orders and production orders that supply it.
This article explains why you build order hierarchies for produce-to-order scenarios, and how customer-specific information flows from the sales order to the supply documents and on to production and vendors.
Why use order hierarchies for produce-to-order scenarios
The typical reason for working with configurators or order hierarchies is to manipulate and carry customer-specific information throughout the entire order hierarchy. When a product sits at the top of a sales order and the system drills down through the hierarchy, you can attach information that is relevant to the lower levels, such as the purchase orders or the production order.
Take a bike as an example. The bike sits on the sales order at the top level, and the hierarchy breaks it down into the components and processes needed to produce it. Along the way, you may need to specify customer-specific requirements, for instance particular materials or a specific paint finish, that your vendor or production needs to follow when building the item.
How customer-specific information flows through the hierarchy
The goal is to create specific order lines for the parts that are customer specific, and then transfer that information from the sales order down to the supply documents. From there, the information continues on to production or to the vendors who supply the components.
This keeps the customer’s requirements intact at every step. Whatever you capture on the sales order, such as a specific material or a specific paint, ends up where the work actually happens, so the right product gets built for the right customer.
Q&A
Why would you work with order hierarchies in Business Central?
You use order hierarchies to carry customer-specific information through every level of a produce-to-order structure. This lets you capture requirements on the sales order and pass them down to the purchase orders and production orders that supply the product.
How does customer-specific information move from the sales order to production?
You create specific order lines for the customer-specific parts on the sales order, then transfer that information to the supply documents. From there it flows on to production and to the vendors, so the requirements reach the point where the item is actually built.
What kind of customer-specific requirements can you pass down the hierarchy?
You can pass down requirements such as specific materials or a specific paint finish. These details follow the order from the top level down to the vendor or production so the product is built to the customer’s specification.