Can Subcontracting Orders be Created for Assembly Orders in Business Central?

Can Subcontracting Orders be Created for Assembly Orders in Business Central?

Subcontracting in Business Central, specifically for assembly orders, is a topic that has sparked considerable debate. Let’s delve into the insights shared by experts in the field.

Understanding the Nature of Assembly Orders

Assembly orders in Business Central are fundamentally a kitting process. This involves combining several items into a kit that is then offered as a new item. The nature of assembly orders, as pointed out by industry experts, is not meant for subcontracting. The focus here is on gathering different components and packaging them together, not outsourcing production.

Production Orders for Subcontracting

Subcontracting is a feature tied to the Premium license in the manufacturing module of Business Central. For scenarios where outsourcing production tasks to external entities is necessary, Production Orders are designed to handle such processes. They allow detailed control over the manufacturing process, including outsourcing specific tasks to subcontractors.

Workarounds

While Business Central doesn’t directly support subcontracting for assembly orders, some have found creative workarounds. One such approach is to set up subcontractors as resources and use specific accounts to track the associated costs. This workaround, while not natively supported, can provide a measure of tracking for outsourced work associated with assembly.

Conclusion

In conclusion, subcontracting for assembly orders isn't supported in Business Central out of the box. Instead, for those requiring subcontracting functionality, it's advisable to explore Production Orders with the appropriate Premium license. Furthermore, it’s always beneficial to voice any feature gaps through the platform's feedback channels, ensuring future versions might better cater to evolving needs.