In today’s video, we are going to talk about Dynachange Rules and adding fields to connect different tabs in Prophet 21.
What is Prophet 21 Dynachange?
The Dynachange Extensibility Suite for Prophet 21 is a flexible tool that empowers you to enhance your daily tasks in P21 and customize them for your team. By enabling custom window layouts, optimized workflows, and efficient data entry, this P21 feature promotes a superior user experience.
It is important to note that Dynachange tools require proper authorization for operation, but familiarizing yourself with them can assist you in requesting changes to streamline your tasks.
How to Add a Basic Dynachange Field:
In today’s tutorial, we will go through the steps for creating a simple Dynachange tab connection between two different window screens in P21.
As a Prophet 21 user entering orders, I always hated having to open a separate tab to enter delivery instructions or set up a carrier. It saves a great deal of time when those options are accessible directly from the main order tab.
1. Start by opening a new Order Entry screen.
2. Right-click in a blank spot in the order tab, select Dynachange from the options, and open the Dynachange Screen Designer.
3. This will open the Available Design popup.
Essentially, any existing DynaChange rules will be displayed here. You can either create a new rule or edit an existing one. You can also see the roles and users that this is assigned to. It is important to note that if you create a Dynachange and assign it to a user that overrides if it is assigned to their role.
You generally want to try to go Role first if you can, but you can only have one screen assigned to a user/role. Essentially, an individual user cannot have two different screen order tabs assigned to them.
4. When you select Create New from the Available Designs popup, it will bring up the New Dynachange window.
Adding fields like this is one of the most simple and commonly used ways to create new fields.
6. Select the Field Chooser tab to the left of the open window.
This tab shows you a list of the “out-of-the-box” basic Dynachange fields available for you to implement.
7. In our example, we want to add the Carrier and Delivery Instructions fields to the Order Entry screen.
We will do that simply by dragging the option from the left and dropping it in an open space in the window.
You can make these fields larger, by dragging and dropping one of the box points. You may want to create a larger field of entry for something like Delivery Instructions.
We will cover aligning new fields in an upcoming tutorial.
8. Sometimes you may bring a field over that is protected.
You will be unable to edit those fields.
In the example we are illustrating, we brought over a Profit Percentage field.
While both of the previous fields (Carrier and Delivery Instructions) had an open white entry field, Profit Percentage is grayed out.
When a field is white, it is open to be edited and you are able to interact with those fields. However, you cannot interact with a gray field at all. When you click on it, you will notice it is protected.
Some of these settings are hard codes that you cannot get over. You may find you simply cannot work with some fields in the list of options. But most of the more common selections are freely editable.
9. Save the DynaChangeTM by selecting Save As.
First, name the DynaChangeTM.
How I name my DynaChanges: I name new rules by module, tab, and version number. Since this is the Order Entry screen, I would underscore and input Order tab, underscore, and Version Two. Final name: OE_Ordertab_v2.
Enter a Description (required).
Next, you can assign to a Role or User or a combination of both. I recommend assigning Roles first rather than trying to manipulate a bunch of different menus for Users.
Then, Select All (the name of our role in this test system) and hit Save.
10. Finally, close and reopen the Order Entry screen to view your new fields.
You may have to either log out all the way or use Close and Rebuild.
When Sales Order Entry reopens, you will see your changes. Carrier and Delivery Instructions are both now accessible from the same screen.
So if I wanted to start an order I am now able to manipulate those.
Whatever information is entered in this window is automatically updated in the Ship Info tab. But now you can access those fields and edit them from the front tab instead of having to bounce back and forth.
Order Tab
Ship Info Tab
Concluding Thoughts on DynaChange:
Adding a few basic fields with DynaChange can help you connect your processes and save time and frustration switching between screens unnecessarily. You can also customize many of the available fields for your specific requirements. They are simple, but valuable, tools to support your team’s efficiency.
We will be sharing more Dynachange tutorials and videos soon to help you get the most out of this add-on for your Prophet 21 system. If you have any questions about this training or any other topics you want to see, put a comment down below.
