Dimensions on locations and transfers

Many people want to see the inventory split by department or project, and then the location is the obvious place to set a dimension. The reality in BC is nuanced: dimensions can be inherited from the location, but a transfer has two locations, and that raises the question of which dimension applies. The article explains the rules in standard. It is an area where small choices make big differences.

Default dimensions on the location

According to Microsoft Learn, you can set up default dimensions on the location card through the Dimensions action. You can also require dimensions to be filled in before you post. When you select the location on a line in a transfer order, the location's default dimensions are copied to the document.

The same applies to warehouse documents and journals. So it is not true that a location has no dimensions at all.

The order of entry on transfer orders

A transfer order involves several locations: the transfer-from location, the transfer-to location and the in-transit location. Learn writes that the order in which you enter data is important. Default dimensions are copied from the last location field you fill in, and the in-transit location is ignored.

This is a practical detail with big consequences. If you fill in the transfer-to location first and the transfer-from location afterwards, the document gets the transfer-from location's dimension. If you fill them in the opposite order, it gets the transfer-to location's. This can be hard to spot, and it only becomes visible if you check the dimensions afterwards.

What the documentation does not tell us

We have not been able to confirm that a transfer order can carry two sets of dimensions, one from the sender and one from the receiver, which post separately. The transfer header has shortcut dimensions, which are the two global dimensions, but that is one set for the document.

The ideas at Microsoft are older than the feature with default dimensions on locations. It is therefore possible that part of the wish has been fulfilled. Which part is still missing, we have not been able to determine from the documentation.

How to use it in practice

Set a default dimension on each location if the location corresponds to a department or a project.
Agree a fixed order when creating transfers, for example always the transfer-from location first.
Require dimensions on posting, so that an empty dimension is stopped.
Check a trial transfer: look at the dimensions on the item ledger entries for both the departure and the arrival.
Use the Reclassification Journal if the dimension on the item ledger entries needs to be corrected. Learn mentions dimensions as typical things you reclassify.

When two dimensions are necessary

If the accounts must show costs per department also for moves between departments, one solution can be to move via an intermediate location. It is a detour and must be reconciled with the auditor and with your chart of accounts. Ask your partner before you change the setup.

Why it matters in the accounts

Dimensions on locations are used to see inventory value, consumption and variances per department or project. If the dimension is wrong or empty on a transfer, the cost ends up in the wrong place, and the reports for a department do not add up. The error is hard to see because each individual entry looks right. It is only discovered when you compare the department's figures with expectations. A single check after the month, filtering on transactions of the transfer type, can reveal the pattern.

How to test the setup

Create a trial transfer between two locations with different default dimensions. Do it twice with the opposite order of the location fields. Look at the dimensions in the document header and lines, and post in a test environment. Then look in the item ledger entries and see which dimension the departure entry and the arrival entry got. The result tells you whether your setup behaves as you expect.

The idea on our list

The idea Location Dimensions gathers wishes for a dimension on the location and a from/to dimension on transfers. One of the ideas at Microsoft has 127 votes. At Addverk we collect ideas for small apps that could close gaps like this. They are ideas we are considering, not something you can download or buy today. The list of 30 ideas is on the Coming up page, and you can see which of them look like what you are missing yourselves.