We are upgrading and need to make a decision on Shared Tables. Currently we share Vendors and Items. With the number of companies we have and the various countries they are in, I believe keeping the Shared Tables is a bad choice. For example, vendors who are paid in Thailand and in US, will have taxing issues if they share the same vendor, so we have to re-create the vendor again for Thailand. Does anyone have a pro/con view on using shared tables? Thanks.
Hi Patti,
Assuming that you mean using the “DataPerCompany=No” option in the tables?
You would find many fields which also will have to be different. I have worked a lot with these issues when implementing NAV in multiple locations / countries. You very often have a requirement to both have the HQ create new items (and other data like vendors, chart of accounts, accounts schedules etc), which is to be used by subsidiaries.
But there are many things to consider. It also depends how fast the updates needs to be visible in the other companies. Next you can ask why a local vendor (supplying coffee to the office or something like that) in Thailand, needs to be created by HQ and visible in other countries? Same with items. I have never worked in an international company that not even once have local items numbers, maybe only as local campaigns items.
No I would much rather suggest you too look at a synchronization setup. If you don’t need it to be instant, but only daily (or hourly), then you could automate a simple export and import. You’re on NAV 2015, so you could do it using PowerShell commands. Maybe even using the standard RapidStart - that allows you to customize settings as well. If it needs to be more advanced, then you could be using web services, which just updates the items/vendors to which the country “subscribes” (and only the required fields - the rest would be taken from a data template).
And I have never found that shared tables where really useful, except for very simple data sharing (and single country setups). Because what happens when you suddenly need to have a subsidiary run in a local database due to legal requirements? Or technical issues like no reliable internet? Likewise it doesn’t work in a multitenant setup. In many ways then I’m actually surprised that Microsoft still supports this. Not many standard tables with DataPerCompany=No left. So going forward I would not recommend it.
The only good thing about DataPerCompany=No is that is extremely easy.
Have a great weekend! [:)]
Thanks so much!