Bundles and formatting
Bundles can be created in most sales documents. With the formatting can be controlled which content and how this content should be printed on print documents.
Product bundle
A bundle is a combination of individual components to an independent product. It can be created in Quotation, Order (from here on sales document) and Customer Contract. A bundle can be used to combine, for example, a transfer fee and the ancillary costs (maintenance) into one product bundle. The price of the bundle is based on the prices of the components. Bundles can be used based on masterdata or created individually (on-the-fly).
Masterdata for bundles
For the use of fixed bundles, these can be entered as masterdata. This enables easy use, e.g. in a Sales Quote. For this purpose, a new item is created for use for a product bundle. The description of the bundle is entered in the item description. The field Bundle is set to YES.
The item representing the bundle must be set as Type=Inventory. This is a requirement of Business Central to be able to create an assembly bill of materials. However, this is not further relevant to the use of it, as only a text line is created for the item when it is used in a sales document.
Subsequently, the components for the bundle are stored via the Assembly BOM (call via Related / Bill of Materials / Assembly). In addition to the standard fields, the Print line, Line Format Style, Print Discount % and Print Quantity Only fields provide formatting options for the sales line. More details on formatting can be found here.
If a bundle item is used in a sales line and a quantity is entered, the related bill of materials is automatically rolled out. In doing so, the line with the bundle item is converted to a text line (field Bundle=Bundle), the entries in the BOM become components. At the same time, the formatting from the bill of materials is applied to the component lines. If entries are not complete, the system will attempt to complete them by reverting to the Sales & Receivables Setup.
For more details on how Assembly BOMs work, please see this part of the Microsoft documentation.
Defaults for individual bundles
To facilitate the creation of a bundle on-the-fly, defaults can be stored using the Unit Individual Bundle, Formatting Bundle Line and Print Components fields in the Sales & Receivables Setup page in the Bundle fast tab. These entries are optional. If these fields are not filled, they must be assigned when creating an individual Bundle.
Creating individual bundles
The procedure to create a bundle follows the same method in the sales documents and Customer Contracts. In the first step, a line of the type Comment (text line) must be created. In the text line, the description is entered and the indicator in the Bundle field is changed to Bundle. The bundle is created initially with the quantity 1.
In the following lines the components (items) are entered. The lines are marked as Component in the Bundle field. In the component lines, the quantities are entered that result in exactly one bundle.
The bundle can be edited in the Bundle page. The page can be accessed using the Edit Bundle function in the line menu (Manage in the sales document and Contract lines in the Customer Contract). In the page, the unit as well as the quantity, discount and price of the bundle can be edited. In the sales documents, increasing the quantity in the Bundle will correspondingly increase all quantities in the components. In the Customer Contract, the quantity of the components cannot be changed.
If you want to quickly switch to the page for Bundle, you can display the Bundle Description field via personalization. Clicking on the field will open the Bundle page.
As additional bundles are created, a selection window for assigning the component to the correct bundle will be displayed when components are entered. The bundle that is next above the component is always selected. By confirming the selection, the component is assigned to the bundle.
Prices and discounts in the bundle
The sum of the component amounts is equal to the Bundle amount. The same applies to the discount. The price of the bundle is calculated from the amount and the quantity of the bundle.
When prices or discounts are edited in a component, the values in the bundle are recalculated. In sales documents, a discount can be entered in the bundle and the discount in the components will be recalculated. The discount amount is distributed evenly among the components. In Customer Contracts, the price, discount or amount in the bundle cannot be edited.
In Customer Contract, contract lines with different Next Billing Date and Billing Rhythm can be combined into one bundle. Therefore, the price calculation in the bundle does not include these factors. Thus, the bundle is not suitable for combining contract lines with different Next Billing Date and Billing Rhythm.
Bundle and Service Commitments
Items with Service Commitments and Service Commitment Items can be assigned as components to a bundle. The price calculation in the bundle does not change. All components are included in the bundle price calculation regardless of the Service Commitment Option. The prices of Service Commitments are not included in the bundles price calculation.
If the bundle consists of mixed Service Commitment Items and other items, the Service Commitment Items are not automatically counted as billed upon shipment. When the bundle is invoiced, the Service Commitment Items are included in the invoice with price 0.
Dimensions in bundles
In sales documents, dimensions can be stored directly on the bundle. In Customer Contracts, no dimensions can be stored on the bundle. The behavior of dimensions for bundles can be controlled for sales documents in the Sales & Receivables Setup page in the Dimensions fast tab using the Dimension Priority Bundle field.
- Dimensions from BOM option will transfer all dimensions of the from the bundle to the components. If there are conflicts between the dimension values from the bundle and the component, the dimension values from the component will be overwritten. Additional dimensions stored on the component will not be changed.
- With the option Dimensions from components the dimensions from the bundle have no influence on the components.
- With the option Show selection a selection window with the two options above is shown.
In the Customer Contract, dimensions can only be stored on the components and not the bundle itself.
Shipment of a bundle
Based on the Service Commitment Option of the component, a bundle greatly affects how a sales order can be shipped.
- Sales without Service Commitments
Item shipmnt behaves identically with and without a bundle. - Sales with Service Commitments
As components in a bundle, shipment is possible only in the correct quantity ratio. The quantity ratio refers to all components with Service Commitment Option Sales with Service Commitment and Service Commitment Item. These components must be shipped in a way that they make up whole bundles.
For example, if a third-party license and a proprietary license are combined as a bundle, the two licenses must be delivered in a ratio that results in a whole bundle. If exactly one third party license is sold for each own license, one third party license must be shipped at the same time for each own license. In the order, Qty. to ship is predefined accordingly. - Service Commitment Item
A component with the Service Commitment Option Service Commitment Item behaves like the Service Commitment Option Sales with Service Commitments. It is important to note that Qty. Invoiced is not automatically set on delivery unless the bundle consists solely of Service Commitment Items.
The bundle is saved when the shipment is posted so that it can be transferred to the Customer Contract. When transferring a Service Commitment from the bundle to a Customer Contract, the bundle is automatically created and all components are transferred.
The quantity of components can not be changed, once a component has been shipped. The quantity of the bundle can be changed after shipments.
The Bundle Qty. Shipped and Bundle Qty. Invoiced are displayed in the bundle.
Invoicing bundles in sales documents
In the sales order, the bundle is treated as an independent product during billing. It can only be billed when it has been shipped before. Components in a bundle cannot be billed independently. I.e. only as many bundles can be invoiced as whole bundles were shipped. If a bundle consists of two components and only one is delivered, it is not a complete bundle and therefore cannot be invoiced. If both components are delivered, the bundle can be invoiced. Accordingly, Qty. to invoice is set in the components so that bundles are always invoiced as a whole.
If a bundle consists of Service Commitment Items only, it does not need to be invoiced. On shipment, the components are automatically entered as invoiced.
If a component is to be explicitly invoiced individually, the bundle can be dissolved at any time. To dissolve the bundle, either the bundle line must be deleted or the indicator Bundle must be removed.
The bundle cannot be reassembled after release. New sales lines must be created for the quantities not yet delivered and a new bundle must be created.
If a bundle was released that had a Service Commitment Item as a component, that Service Commitment Item is not billed. If the order is billed, Qty. invoiced is set in the Service Commitment Item, but no invoice is created because the invoice amount would be 0.
Invoice Bundle in Customer Contracts
In Customer Contracts, the bundle is treated as a subtotal. Price, discount and amount from the bundle are calculated in the contract and transferred to the invoice during billing. In the invoice, the bundle is calculated again.
The bundle is created as a text line in the invoice. Below the components are created. The entry from the Service Object Description in the contract is copied to the description of the document line. Below the bundle line, the Billing Period of the bundle is output as a text line. The billing period of the bundle corresponds to the earliest to latest billing period of the components. The billing period of the individual components is not created as a text line.
If two contract lines are to be assigned to a bundle, the Next Billing Date and the Billing Rhythm must be the same.
The bundle amount refers to the complete Billing Rhythm. If a different period is selected during billing, the amount from the bundle will be recalculated in the invoice.
Formatting
Formatting can be used to control which contents and how these contents are printed on print documents. This control allows, among other things, the printing of headings and hiding of components. A heading can be printed bold always on a new page and in a bundle the components can be printed without their own price or completely hidden.
The formatting can be used in most sales documents:
- Sales Quote
- Sales Order
- Blanket Order
- Sales Invoice
- Sales Cr. Memo
- Customer Contract
The formatting cannot be changed in posted documents. It is copied during posting and when creating a subsequent document. For example, the formatting is copied from the sales quote to the sales order. Formatting can be customized in the sales order.
Further information on formatting is described here.