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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Archived) / Your Reference vs. Ext...
Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Archived)

Your Reference vs. External Document No.

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Posted on by GreatScott001 115

In Business Central, on Sales Quote you get Your Reference, why is this not External Document No.?  External Document No. is used on Sales Order, Sales Invoice and Posted Sales Invoice.  The Your Reference field is carried through all the "stages" but only on Sales Quote are you given (without modification) Your Reference.   

Any rationale for this?

What is the distinction between Your Reference and External Document No.?  Why have both?

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  • Stefano Demiliani Profile Picture
    Stefano Demiliani 37,166 Most Valuable Professional on at
    RE: Your Reference vs. External Document No.

    External Document No. specifies the number that the customer uses in their own system to refer to this sales document. You can fill this field to use it later to search for sales lines using the customer's order number.

    Your Reference is quite often the same, it’s a reference for the customer.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: Your Reference vs. External Document No.

    We're using External Doc to track purchase orders from schools. Is there a way to link an external doc number to a PO dollar amount and track the transactions against it?

    Schools will frequently receive a PO for supplies for a school year and draw it down with purchases over several months.  Right now we use offline process to keep track of balances.  Teachers will very frequently ask how much they have left to spend.  

    Ideally I would be able to set up a campaign(?) or opportunity and track various purchases over they year.  Any suggestions how we can do this in NAV would be greatly appreciated.

  • Stefano Demiliani Profile Picture
    Stefano Demiliani 37,166 Most Valuable Professional on at
    RE: Your Reference vs. External Document No.

    I think you can use blanket purchase order and “detach” N purchase orders when needed.

    More info here:

    [View:https://community.dynamics.com/nav/b/dynamicsnavcloudfronts/archive/2017/04/17/blanket-purchase-order-dynamics-nav]

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: Your Reference vs. External Document No.

    No that won't work.  On our manufacturing side it would - but I'm in the wholesale/retail division, selling 14-15,000 skus.  A school PO is a maximum allowable spending limit: they will draw it down over time until depleted.  They will buy many different items at different points throughout the school year.  Of course I want them to use the full amount but I don't have a great way of tracking it - except with pencil and paper.  With 100 PO's it is too easy to lose track.

    Using Campaign differently: it would be great to set up a campaign = a PO, where the "campaign" is the maximum allowance expenditure.  Using the communication tools available within a campaign could be used to remind teachers what's left to spend; when items are discontinued or when special offers are available.

    Thanks for your response - I know what I'm trying to do is in NAV, somewhere . . .

  • Stefano Demiliani Profile Picture
    Stefano Demiliani 37,166 Most Valuable Professional on at
    RE: Your Reference vs. External Document No.

    With little customizations I’m sure that it could fit ;-)

  • Hrvoje Kusulja Profile Picture
    Hrvoje Kusulja 370 on at
    RE: Your Reference vs. External Document No.

    Hello,

    I think that before (some NAV versions etc.) only External document field existed.

    Later, and in BC (v16 i think and later) new field was added "Your reference".

    However, there is no any documentation or guidance or clarification what is purpose or difference of those fields.

    My own view is that in Sales documents (Sales Quote, Sales Order, Sales Invoice):

    - External document (our internal organization, other/external system, like internal SharePoint document number, or other/CRM system id if needed etc.)

    - your reference (reference of the customer that is visible, like their purchase order number, or their agreement number etc.)

    But I might be wrong. So, I hope that Microsoft will write clarification on those two fields and their purpose, use and clarification.

    Documentation update request reference on github - github.com/.../551

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