Block items or variants from service transactions

Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Users, automatically	Mar 1, 2024	Apr 1, 2024

Business value

Prevent the use of certain items, item variants, or service items in service management transactions, such as service contracts, service orders, and service invoices. This restriction is useful if you want to restrict the availability of some items or service items for service purposes. For example, restrict these items due to discontinued support, limited stock, or contractual agreements.

Feature details

To block an item or an item variant from being used in service management transactions, turn on the Service Blocked toggle on the Item Card, Item Variants, and Item Variant Card pages. You can also set this field on the Item Template page. When you set the field on the Item Template page, the value is copied to the items that you create from the template.

When you block an item or an item variant for service, you can't select it on the following pages:

• Service Line (except for service credit memos, where a notification states that the item or variant is blocked, but the item or variant is allowed on this type of document)
• Service Item
• Service Contract Line
• Standard Service Line

If you enter an item number or variant code that's blocked, you see an error message: "The field contains a value that cannot be found in the related table."

Also, if service contracts, service contract quotes, or service orders include blocked service items or item variants, you can't use the following actions:

• Lock or Make Contract on the Service Contract Quote page.
• Lock Contract, Sign Contract, Create Contract Service Orders, or Create Contract Invoices on the Service Contract page.
• Make Order on the Service Quote page.
• Release to Ship or Post on the Service Order page.
• Post in the Service Invoice page.

Block a service item

To block a service item for use in service management transactions, go to the Service Item Card page. In the Blocked field, select one of the following options:

• Service Contract: Block the service item for use in service contracts and service contract quotes, but not in service orders or other service documents.
• All: Block the service item for use in any service management transaction, including service contracts, service orders, and other service documents.

When you block a service item, you can't select it on the following pages:

• Service Contract Line (if blocked for service contract, or all)
• Service Item Line (except for service credit memos, if blocked for all)

If you manually enter a blocked service item number, you see the following error message: "The field contains a value that cannot be found in the related table."

Also, if service contracts, service contract quotes, or service orders include blocked service items, you can't use the following actions:

• Lock and Make Contract on the Service Contract Quote page. You can't use these actions if the service item is blocked for service contract or blocked for all.
• Lock Contract, Sign Contract, or Change Customer on the Service Contract page. You can't use these actions if the service item is blocked for service contract or blocked for all.
• Make Order on the Service Quote page. You can't use this action if the service item is blocked for all.
• Release to Ship, Post on the Service Order page when the system blocks service items for all service items. To release and post nonblocked service items when service order documents contain multiple service items and some service items are blocked and others aren't, decide if you want to turn on the One Service Item Line/Order toggle on the Service Management Setup page.
• Post on the Service Invoice page when the system blocks service items for all service items.

To view blocked service items, apply a filter to the following reports:

• Service Items (report 5935)
• Service Items Out of Warranty (report 5937)
• Service Profit (Service Items) (report 5938)

Data upgrade

This feature doesn't require additional setup. However, if you upgrade your Business Central application, be aware of the following data upgrade behavior:

• The upgrade process turns on the Service Blocked field for items, item variants, or item templates where the Sales Blocked toggle is on. This change ensures that the existing sales blocked logic also applies to service management transactions.
• The upgrade process only upgrades data if your company has at least one service item. This condition indicates that you're using the service management functionality and need the data upgrade. If your company doesn't have service items, the upgrade process skips the data upgrade and sets the Service Blocked toggle to off for all items, item variants, and item templates.

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Additional resources

Create service items (docs)