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.

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.
  • 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.