Sales Documents

Configure to Order integrates directly into the standard Business Central sales document workflow. When a configurable item is added to a sales line, the extension can automatically launch the configurator or provide manual actions for configuring, recalculating, printing, and managing configurations. This guide covers every Configure to Order feature available on sales documents.

Fields Added to Sales Lines

Configure to Order adds the following fields to the Sales Line table. These fields track the configuration state of each line:

Field Description
Configure To Order Workflow No. The CTO Workflow number assigned to this sales line. Populated automatically when the item is configured. While this field has a value, the line's Type, No., and negative Quantity fields are locked and cannot be changed.
Can Configure To Order A boolean flag set automatically when an item or variant is entered on the line. Indicates that the item has a CTO workflow assigned (via the "Item Card" or "Stockkeeping Unit" screen) and is eligible for configuration.
Is Configured Item Set to Yes once the user completes the configuration process. Most CTO actions on the line are only enabled when this field is Yes.
One-off Charges Stores one-off (setup) charges from the configuration, such as tooling or setup costs that apply once per order rather than per unit. These charges are automatically added to the line amount calculation.

Note: Posted document lines (Sales Invoice Line, Sales Shipment Line, Sales Credit Memo Line, Return Receipt Line) and Sales Line Archive records also carry the Configure To Order Workflow No. field. The archive additionally carries the One-off Charges field.

Automatic Configuration Launch

When a user enters a configurable item on a sales quote or sales order line, Configure to Order can automatically launch the configurator. The behaviour is controlled by two settings on the "Configure to Order Setup" screen:

Setup Field Applies To Description
Sales Quote Action Sales Quote lines Action to take when a configurable item is added to a sales quote.
Sales Order Action Sales Order lines Action to take when a configurable item is added to a sales order.

Each setting can be one of three values:

Option Behaviour
Prompt Displays a confirmation dialog asking whether you want to start configuring the item. If the user clicks Yes, the Sales Configurator opens. If No, the item is added without configuration.
Start Configuration Immediately opens the Sales Configurator without prompting. The user must complete or close the configurator before continuing.
None No automatic action. The item is added to the line and the user must manually click Configure Item from the line actions to start configuration.

The automatic launch is triggered when either the No. field or the Variant Code field is validated on the sales line. It only triggers if:

  • The item has a CTO workflow assigned (Can Configure To Order = Yes).
  • The line has not already been configured (CTO Workflow No. is blank).
  • If the item requires a mandatory variant, a variant code has been entered.

Sales Quote and Sales Order Actions

On the Sales Quote Subform and Sales Order Subform, a Configure to Order action group is added to the line actions. The following actions are available:

Action Enabled When Description
Configure Item Always (any line) Opens the Sales Configurator to configure (or reconfigure) the selected item. If the configuration is completed successfully, the line is marked as a configured item.
Recalculate Sales Price Is Configured Item = Yes Recalculates the unit price for the configured item based on the current configuration and pricing setup.
Recalculate Unit Cost Is Configured Item = Yes Rolls up the unit cost for the configured item by summing the costs of all components and operations in the configuration.
Clear Configuration Is Configured Item = Yes Removes the item configuration from the sales line. Deletes all related configuration records and resets the Is Configured Item flag to No. Prompts for confirmation before clearing.
Print Customer Specification Is Configured Item = Yes Prints the configuration specification report(s) for this line. The report(s) used are controlled by the "Report Selection - Configure To Order" setup.
Send Email (Document Delivery) Is Configured Item = Yes Sends the configuration specification by email using Clever Document Delivery. Only visible when the Clever Document Delivery extension is installed.
Queue Email (Document Delivery) Is Configured Item = Yes Queues the configuration specification email for sending via Clever Document Delivery. Only visible when the Clever Document Delivery extension is installed.
Show Summary Is Configured Item = Yes Opens the "Sales Configuration Summary" screen, which displays a read-only view of the full configuration details including all steps, options, components, quantities, and pricing.
Create New Item Is Configured Item = Yes Creates a new Item record with a Production BOM and Routing based on the current configuration. Useful for converting a one-off configuration into a standard item for repeat orders.

Posted Sales Shipment Actions

On the Posted Sales Shipment Subform, a reduced set of CTO actions is available since the document is already posted and the configuration cannot be modified:

Action Enabled When Description
Print Customer Specification CTO Workflow No. is set Prints the configuration specification report for this posted shipment line.
Send Specification as Email CTO Workflow No. is set Sends the specification by email via Clever Document Delivery. Only visible when Document Delivery is installed.
Queue Specification as Email CTO Workflow No. is set Queues the specification email via Clever Document Delivery. Only visible when Document Delivery is installed.
Show Summary CTO Workflow No. is set Opens the "Posted Sales Configuration Summary" screen showing a read-only view of the configuration.
Create New Item CTO Workflow No. is set Creates a new Item with Production BOM and Routing based on the posted shipment line's configuration.

Posted Sales Invoice Actions

On the Posted Sales Invoice Subform, the same set of actions as the Posted Sales Shipment is available.

Configuration Summary Pages

Two summary pages display the configuration details in a structured, read-only worksheet format:

Page Used From
Sales Configuration Summary Sales Quote and Sales Order subforms
Posted Sales Configuration Summary Posted Sales Shipment and Posted Sales Invoice subforms

Both pages display the same columns from the print buffer:

Column Description
Text The description of the configuration step, selected option, component, or routing operation.
No. The number of the item, resource, or work/machine centre used in the configuration.
Variant Code The variant of the item selected for this component.
Unit of Measure The unit of measure for the component quantity or operation time.
Quantity The quantity per unit for components, or the run time for routing operations.
Quantity (Setup) The setup time for routing operations. Only visible for production order configurations.
Price The unit price contribution of this component or operation to the configured item.
Price (Setup) The one-off setup price for routing operations. Only visible for production order configurations.

Lines are formatted with different visual styles based on their type (headings appear bold, totals appear emphasised, etc.).

Line Amount Calculation

When a sales line has a CTO configuration, the standard line amount calculation is extended to include one-off charges:

Line Amount = (Quantity x Unit Price) + One-off Charges - Line Discount Amount

One-off charges represent setup costs (e.g. tooling, programming, die creation) that apply once per order line regardless of quantity. They are calculated by the configurator based on routing operation setup times and costs.

Note: Credit limit checks are temporarily suppressed while the configurator is updating the sales line price to avoid errors during the configuration transaction.

Field Protection

Once a CTO Workflow has been assigned to a sales line (i.e. the configuration process has started), the following restrictions apply:

  • Type - cannot be changed. The line type must be cleared by removing the configuration first.
  • No. - cannot be changed. You must clear the configuration before changing the item.
  • Quantity - cannot be set to a negative value on a configured line.

To change the item on a configured line, first use Clear Configuration to remove the configuration, then change the item number.

Configuration Data Flow

Configuration data follows the standard Business Central document flow and is automatically copied at each stage:

Process What Happens
Quote to Order When a sales quote is converted to a sales order, all configuration records are copied from the quote line to the new order line. The CTO Workflow No. and configured item flag are carried forward.
Posting (Shipment) When a sales order is posted and a shipment is created, the configuration records are copied to the posted sales shipment line.
Posting (Invoice) When a sales order is posted and an invoice is created, the configuration records are copied to the posted sales invoice line.
Archiving When a sales document is archived, the CTO Workflow No. and One-off Charges are stored on the archived sales line. Configuration detail records are also archived.
Deletion When a sales line, posted line, or archived line is deleted, all related configuration records are automatically deleted to maintain data integrity.

Clever Document Delivery Integration

If the Clever Document Delivery extension is installed, additional actions appear on all sales document subforms for sending configuration specifications by email. These actions are automatically hidden when Document Delivery is not installed.

Two email actions are available:

  • Send Email - immediately sends the specification as an email.
  • Queue Email - adds the specification to the Document Delivery email queue for batch sending.

Action Availability Summary

The following table summarises which CTO actions are available on each sales document page:

Action Sales Quote Sales Order Posted Shipment Posted Invoice
Configure Item Yes Yes - -
Recalculate Sales Price Yes Yes - -
Recalculate Unit Cost Yes Yes - -
Clear Configuration Yes Yes - -
Print Customer Specification Yes Yes Yes Yes
Send Email (Doc. Delivery)* Yes Yes Yes Yes
Queue Email (Doc. Delivery)* Yes Yes Yes Yes
Show Summary Yes Yes Yes Yes
Create New Item Yes Yes Yes Yes

* Only visible when Clever Document Delivery is installed.