Microsoft Dynamics 365 Employee Portal for Mobile App User Guide

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Introduction

This user guide covers Employee Portal for Microsoft Dynamics 365. The guide provides instructions on how to use the portal, including how to submit purchase requisitions and stock requisitions. This covers employee portals for stock and purchase requisitions, as well as the approval process in Business Central.

Accessing the portal requires a valid URL link assigned to a company. The portal is accessible via a web browser on any device through a responsive design, but this guide will focus on the mobile experience (e.g. smartphone mobile devices).

Purpose

The custom Employee Portal app was developed by D365 Global as an alternative mobile app for handling employee input of Purchase Requisition and Stock Requisition. This is ideal for users who are on the move and need to submit requests without having to log into Business Central. The portal is designed to be simple and easy to use, with a focus on mobile devices.

Feature Overview

An Employee Portal provides:

• An easy portable data entry platform to simplify the requesting of inventory stock (issue) and purchases.

• Integration to Business Central for processing of the inventory issue and purchase order (without re-entering data).

• Employee has better control over their stock and purchase requests without the need to communicate requests to the relevant departments (eliminating manual communication of operating needs).

Process Flow

The following illustration shows the process flow for the Employee Portal app.

• Employees use the portal from their mobile device/computer to submit Purchase Requisition and Stock Requisition requests.
• The submitted requests are sent to Business Central for approval and processing.
• Approved requests are processed in Business Central and the employee is notified of the status of their request, which can be tracked using the app.
• Management will make the final decision on the approval of the request and will notify the employee of the status of their request.

Accessing the Employee Portal

Open the app. At the top left corner of your mobile device, you will see “three horizontal lines” (also called a hamburger menu). Click on this to open the left panel menu list.

You will now see the left panel menu list with the options available.

Here is a description of the options available:

• Dashboard — This is the home page for the portal. It provides a summary of the requests submitted by the employee (i.e. analytics).

• Purchase Requisition — This option allows the employee to submit a purchase request for approval and processing by the procurement team.

• New Purchase Requisition — This option allows an employee to create a new purchase request.

• Stock Requisitions — This option allows an employee to create a stock requisition request.

• New Stock Requisition — This option allows an employee to create a new stock request.

Multi-Company Usage

Multi-company Usage — The portal accesses any company according to the user settings in Business Central. For a multi-company user, upon login to the portal, the company can be selected.

Select the left panel menu option Change Company to open the Select Company dialog.

You will see Select Company dialog box with the list of companies available to the user.

You can now select the company from a dropdown list. Select your company.

The portal will now display the data for the selected company.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is the home page. On login, the user will be presented with some analytical summaries. To illustrate the portability of data entry in this mobile platform, we will use a tablet view in this document (as a user experiences from a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet). To go to the dashboard, click or select it at anytime from the hamburger menu.

Scrolling down, more analytics are displayed:

Click the top-left hamburger menu to open the left panel options.

Click away from the left panel (on any right space) to close the left panel.

Purchase Requisition Process

The Purchase Requisition option allows a user to create and submit a purchase request for approval and processing by the procurement team.

New Purchase Requisition

From the left panel menu list, select New Purchase Requisition to open a new entry form for purchase request.

In the Purchase Request form header, the Requisition Number is auto-generated and the Requisition Date defaults to the work date in My Settings.

Enter the remaining information:

• Location — Select the warehouse location for the receipt of the requested item.

• Department — Enter the department name.

• Description — Enter a short description for the purchase request.

Once you start filling in the information, the Add Item button will be visible.

You will see the items list after you click the Add Item button. Click ”+” button to add the item from the list of all or available items.

To add multiple line items to the purchase request, click on Add Item again to open the item list dialog box where you can search and select the items to be added.

To add an item, click on ”+” button.

When the item is added to the Purchase Request, it displays on the screen and the Submit Request button is visible.

Enter the quantity of the item to be purchased.

You can add an attachment by tapping the Add File button (e.g. supporting documents) to the request, but this is optional and not required.

Scroll down the list to view all added items. If any item is incorrect, click on the bin icon next to each item to remove it from the list.

Purchase Request Submitted for Approval

When Submit Request is selected, the system displays the completed Purchase Request that has been sent for approval in Business Central. A summary of the submitted purchase requests is displayed with the option to re-open the request for amendments.

Purchase Requisition List (Editing)

The list of submitted purchase requisitions can be viewed by selecting Purchase Requisitions (next to shopping cart icon) from the left panel menu list.

This opens the list of purchase requisitions. Click away from the left menu panel to view the list.

1. From this screen, a new purchase requisition form can be opened by selecting Create New.

2. All Status, All Locations, All Departments — These are filters for the list of purchase requisitions:

   a) Status — All, Open (submitted and unapproved), Approved (submitted and approved)

   b) Locations — Select the warehouse location

   c) Department — Select the department for the purchase requisition

3. Details Column — Shows the details of the purchase requisition.

   In the desktop version there is a 3-dot menu to view the options for each column.

   
   
   

4. For each Open (status) purchase request, click on the eye icon or View to open the form to edit the saved data. You can also view the status to see if the requisition is Open or Approved.

   
   
   

Editing an OPEN Purchase Requisition

In the Purchase Requisition list, sort/filter by the Status column. Only requisitions with the Status of OPEN can be edited.

1. Edit to update the quantity requested. Click on the View icon for the purchase requisition line to open the data entry form.

   
   
   

a) To add a new request line, click on +Add Line — this allows you to edit an existing unapproved request for additional items. The line selection dialog box opens to search and select any item.

b) To edit the quantity requested for an existing line, click on the pen icon to open a dialog box for editing the quantity. Click Save to save the changes.

c) If there are more than one purchase requisition line, the bin icon is enabled so that you can delete any unwanted line.

2. Edit to update/change the item requested

   The item of any existing purchase requisition line cannot be changed/updated. If you wish to change/update a requested item, the process would be:

   a) +Add Line to add a line with the new item

   b) Click on the bin icon to remove the unwanted request line.

Stock Requisition Process

The Purchase Requisition allows a user to create and submit a stock request (i.e. Stock Requisition) which the warehouse team can review/approve and issue the stock to the requesting location.

New Stock Request

From the left panel menu list, select New Stock Requisition to open a new entry form for stock requisition. Click away from the left menu panel to display the full entry form.

1. Date — Select the request date.

2. Description — Enter a short description for this stock requisition.

3. Location — Select from the list of warehouse locations.

4. Requested Delivery Date — Selected the expected date of delivery.

5. Remarks — Enter any further remarks for this request.

Adding Items for a Stock Requisition

6. Click on Add Existing Item to add an inventory item for the stock request (several items can be added to one request). This opens the Select an Item dialog box for selection of the item.

7. Search Items — Use the search field to enter any alphanumeric search string to filter by the item description. Scroll down to view more items listed.

8. + — For the item to add to the Stock Requisition, click on the + button.

9. When stock requisition lines are added, the Submit Requisition button is visible. Click on Submit Requisition to send the stock requisition for approval and warehouse issue.

   
   
   

Stock Requisition Completed & Submitted (for Approval)

When the stock requisition is complete, click on Submit Requisition button to submit the requisition for approval and processing.

Example of completed stock requisition (scroll down to view the list of items request):

Click Back to open a new purchase request form.

Stock Requisition List (Editing)

To view the list of stock requisitions, click on the hamburger menu to open the left menu panel. Then select the Stock Requisitions menu option.

To view the list, click away from the left menu panel.

1. From this screen, a new stock requisition form can be opened by selecting Create New.

2. All Status and All Locations — These are filters for the list of stock requisitions:

   a) Status — All, Open (submitted and unapproved), Approved (submitted and approved)

   b) Locations — Select the warehouse location

3. Details Column — View the requisition details.

   In the desktop version there is a 3-dot menu to view the options for each column.

   
   
   

4. For each stock requisition, click on the View (eye icon) to open the form to view the submitted data. You can view from the upper right corner of the details box the Status of the requisition (e.g. Open, Approved).

   
   
   

Editing an OPEN Stock Requisition

In the Stock Requisition list, sort/filter by the Status column. Only requisitions with the Status of OPEN can be edited.

For example, to update the quantity requested follow these steps:

1. Click on the View (eye icon) for the stock requisition line and the data entry form is opened.

   
   
   

   a) To add a new request line, click on +Add Line — this allows you to edit an existing unapproved stock request for additional items. The line selection dialog box opens to search and select any item.

   
   
   
   NB: The list of items and available inventory on stock at the pre-selected warehouse location are displayed.

   The quantity requested cannot exceed the inventory quantity — a warning will flag this.

   
   
   

   b) To edit the quantity requested for an existing line, click on the pen icon to open a dialog box for editing the quantity.

   
   
   
   NB: The quantity requested cannot be higher than quantity in-stock a warning message will appear.

   c) If there are more than one stock requisition line, the bin icon is enabled so that you can delete any unwanted line.

2. Edit to update/change the item requested. The item of any existing stock requisition line cannot be changed/updated. If you wish to change/update a requested item, the process would be:

   a) +Add Line to add a line with the new item.

   b) Click on the bin icon to remove the unwanted request line.