Item Substitutions in Microsoft Dynamics NAV

There are times in a manufacturing company where substitute items that are not on the Bill of Material are OK to use if the preferred item is not available. Often this substitution has to be approved by an engineer and is usually in the form of a ‘Usage Variance’.

If substitutions are a common event, it might be useful and time saving for the engineering department to set up ‘Item Substitutions’ ahead of time so that an individual variance doesn’t have to be approved and signed each time.

To set up a Substitution in Dynamics NAV, go to the Item Card for which a substitute is available.

Figure 1 – Item Substitution entry

Then enter the item number that is OK to be used as a substitute.

Figure 2 – Enter the item number of the item that can be used as a substitute

Now, go to the component list of a production order and select the substitution that was approved by the engineering department.

Figure 3 – From the component list of production order…

Figure 4 - …select the approved substitution

The production order component list now contains the substituted item.

Figure 5 – The production order component list shows the substitution

For more information on this or any other Dynamics NAV costing topic, please contact ArcherPoint.

Read more blogs by Bob Bergman for practical advice on using Microsoft Dynamics NAV.