Responsibility Centers

The Responsibility Center table in Business Central represents organizational units such as plants, branches, or departments responsible for handling orders and production processes.

In the JOP extension, this table has been extended with additional fields that enable enhanced management of process orders, number series, shortcut properties, production defaults, and quality control.

For a comprehensive understanding of the standard functionality of Responsibility Centers in Business Central, including setup and their role in inventory and order management, please refer to the official Microsoft documentation:

Work with responsibility centers

This resource explains the core functionality and standard use cases on which the JOP extension builds to support service-oriented production requirements.

Extended Fields

General

In the General section of the Responsibility Center card, you can define base characteristics of the center. This includes the standard time zone setting for time-sensitive operations such as scheduling, logging, and process order tracking.

  • Time Zone — Specifies the default time zone for this responsibility center. This setting ensures that date/time values (e.g., order creation time, routing steps, or work confirmations) are recorded and interpreted correctly across different geographic locations or branches.

Shortcut Properties

In the Shortcut Properties section, you can define up to eight property codes that will appear as editable fields directly in the order lines for this responsibility center. These fields are context-sensitive and allow users to quickly enter or adjust property values that influence pricing, routing, processing, or reporting.

These shortcut fields help tailor the Job Order Production (JOP) interface to center-specific needs, making order entry more efficient and aligned with operational requirements.

Shortcut Property Setup

Use the Shortcut Property 1 Code through Shortcut Property 8 Code fields to specify which JOP properties are available as shortcut properties for the Responsibility Center.

When document lines are created or updated, the system copies the values of the configured properties to the corresponding shortcut property fields.

Synchronize Shortcut Properties

If the shortcut property setup of a Responsibility Center is changed, existing document lines may still contain shortcut values based on the previous setup.

Use the Synchronize Shortcut Properties action on the Responsibility Center Card to update existing lines according to the current shortcut property setup.

The synchronization updates shortcut property values on:

  • Sales lines
  • Posted sales shipment lines
  • Posted sales invoice lines
  • Posted sales credit memo lines
  • Posted return receipt lines
  • Archived sales lines

Only lines belonging to the selected Responsibility Center that require synchronization are processed. The original JOP property values are not changed. The function only updates the shortcut property fields based on the current Responsibility Center setup.

Running the Synchronization

When you select Synchronize Shortcut Properties, the system determines how many lines require synchronization and asks you to confirm the operation.

Depending on the number of existing documents, the synchronization may take some time. Processing is performed in batches so that large numbers of document lines can be updated without keeping one long-running database transaction open.

During processing, progress indicators show the progress for the current table and the overall progress of the synchronization.

Automatic Synchronization

The synchronization can also be executed by the Job Queue. This is recommended when a large number of existing document lines must be updated or when the synchronization should run without user interaction.

Create a Job Queue Entry for the JOP Sync. Line Properties codeunit and enter the synchronization parameters in the Parameter String field.

Parameter String

The parameter string consists of the Responsibility Center code and the commit interval, separated by a semicolon: 

<Responsibility Center Code>;<Commit Interval>

For example:

DE01;500

The parameters have the following meaning:

  • Responsibility Center Code — Specifies the Responsibility Center whose shortcut properties are synchronized. Only document lines assigned to this Responsibility Center are processed.
  • Commit Interval — Specifies the number of processed lines after which the changes are committed to the database. For example, a value of 500 commits the changes after every 500 processed lines. This limits the size and duration of individual database transactions when a large number of lines must be synchronized.

If the Commit Interval is zero or less, the standard commit interval defined by the application is used.

The Job Queue synchronization runs without confirmation dialogs or progress windows. Errors are handled by the standard Business Central Job Queue processing and can be reviewed from the Job Queue Entry.

Production

The Production section contains default settings and automation behaviors that apply to production processes within this responsibility center.

  • Default Process Order Status — Sets the initial status (e.g., Planned, Released) for new process orders created in this center.
  • Default Batch Status — Defines the default status for newly created batches in this center (e.g., Planned, Released).
  • Autom. Split Proposal — Controls whether the system should automatically propose splitting process orders. This is especially relevant for large quantities or when specific lot sizes must be respected. The available options are:
    • Never — No automatic split proposal will be made.
    • Always — The system will always create a split proposal automatically for eligible lines.
    • If Lot Size specified — A split proposal is only generated if the selected JOP Item has a defined lot size.
  • Use Standard Batch Test Plan — Controls test plan behavior in batches. When enabled, the routing Test Plan Template No. is not populated automatically. If no Test Plan Template No. is entered on the routing line, the system uses the test plan defined for the batch operation and method.
  • Activate Test Plan Template Owner — When enabled, editing of test plan templates is restricted to the original creator and users explicitly assigned the role JOP Quality Manager in the User Setup. This enforces ownership and access control for quality templates across responsibility centers.

    • Process Folder

    The Process Folder section controls how process folders are created and grouped for the current responsibility center. These settings define automation rules and grouping strategies that support your operational requirements.

    • Process Folder Autom. Type — Defines when process folders are automatically created. Options include:
      • <blank> — No automatic creation; process folders must be created manually.
      • Always Create — Process folders are automatically created whenever applicable.
      • Create after query — Process folders are created automatically only after a user query or confirmation.
    • PF per Prod. Dept. — If enabled, process folders are grouped per Production Department.
    • PF per Customer — If enabled, process folders are grouped per Customer.
    • PF per Customer Group — If enabled, grouping is based on customer groups.
    • PF per Order — Enables grouping of process folders on a per-order basis.
    • PF per Service — Folders will be grouped by service.
    • PF per Service Group — Folders will be grouped based on service group classification.
    • PF per Product — If active, folders are created separately for each product.
    • PF per Product Group — Uses product groupings for folder creation.
    • PF per Material — Enables grouping by material type.
    • PF per Material Group — Uses the material group to determine folder grouping.

    By combining multiple grouping options, you can fine-tune how granular or consolidated your process folders are, allowing greater control over production batch planning and tracking.

    Number Series

    These fields allow you to override the global number series defined in the JOP Setup for the local responsibility center:

    • Quote Nos. — Number series used for quotes.
    • Order Nos. — Number series for sales orders.
    • Invoice Nos. — Number series for invoices.
    • Posted Invoice Nos. — Number series for posted invoices.
    • Credit Memo Nos. — Number series for credit memos.
    • Posted Credit Memo Nos. — Number series for posted credit memos.
    • Posted Shipment Nos. — Number series for posted shipments.
    • Blanket Order Nos. — Number series for blanket orders.
    • Price List Nos. — Number series for price lists.
    • Routing Nos. — Number series for routings.
    • Process Order Nos. — Number series for process orders.
    • Batch Nos. — Number series for batches.
    • Process Folder Nos. — Number series for process folders.
    • Test Plan Template Nos. — Number series for test plan templates.
    • Test Plan Nos. — Number series for test plans.
    • Quality Test Nos. — Number series for quality tests.
    • Inspection Certificate Nos. — Number series for inspection certificates.
    • Service Nos. — Number series for services.