Our Field Validation app and Field Security app for Microsoft Dynamics NAV and 365 Business Central include several useful features that significantly increase user experience and are incredibly useful during app setup. These features are not the first things that come to mind during the requisition and implementation of the apps and are easily overlooked during the process if a 2-Control consultant is not directly involved in the process.

Because of the highly added value in these features, we have put together 8 interesting facts about our apps.

Functionality

A quick reminder what the base functionality of our apps includes. The Field Validation app offers tools to guarantee your data quality. You can easily define your own business rules for all standard and nonstandard tables and fields, which enables you to optimize your processes, reducing the number of errors to a minimum.

The Field Security app provides the solution for optimizing segregation of duties by setting up authorizations on field, filter and action level. Permission sets are linked to these authorizations, which makes the setup flexible and manageable.

Facts

1. You are able to set up custom notifications for your field validations.

   Whenever data, documents or transactions are entered or modified, the Field Validation app will validate the input to the field validations setup for the table in question. When validation fails, the default notification is shown to the user, which can be a technical description. By entering a custom notification message in the field validation setup, the users will receive information which they will understand better.
   
   

2. In field security, you are able to allow initial field entry for a field that would normally be restricted.

   Using the “allow initial field entry” setting, you can ensure that processes are not hindered while working in Microsoft Dynamics NAV or 365 BC because of field security. This setting allows you to modify a field from empty to populated, but when populated it is restricted to modify. This is particularly useful when using templates like customers or vendors templates or automated processes, like automated population of posting groups in a sales order line.
   
   

3. The “check table” feature in field validation allows you to retroactively validate existing data.

   When the Field Validation app is implemented, a lot of data may already be entered. Using the “check table” functionality, you can validate the existing data against the later set up field validations. This feature easily identifies data that is below quality standards.
   
   

4. The “copy linked permission sets to all fields” feature, makes setting up field and filter security much easier.

   When your aim is to secure a great number of fields or define a great number of filters, it can be a lot of work to link permission sets to all the defined lines in field and filter security. By using “copy linked permission sets to all fields”, you only have to link you permission sets to one secured field or filter and an automated process will do the rest.
   
   

5. Field validations and field security can be made conditional.

   Not all security and validation rules in a table may be relevant for all data in that table. Using conditions in field validations and field security, allows you to create specific security and validations rules per sub set. For example, field validation may apply to sales lines that include items, but not for sales lines that include G/L accounts. Conditional validation ensures that only sales lines that include items are validated.
   
   

6. Filters in filter security can be defined using related tables.

   In filter security it is key to identify the fields that are distinctive for sub sets of data. Sometimes these fields are not present in the table that you aim to secure. For instance, when you want to authorize the modification of sales lines for retail items for one permission set and for wholesale items to another. With a table relation to the item table, you are able to use fields on the item card, like “product posting group”, to create filter security in sales lines.
   
   

7. Instead of receiving an error message, a record can be blocked when failing field validation.

   Entering data sometimes requires a lot of effort. In some cases, not all required information is available to a user entering a record. When this information is mandatory or is expected to meet certain standard, a user will get an error message when trying to save his or her record, and the input may be lost. Instead of generating an error message, the record can be blocked for future use by setting up an action after validation. When unblocked, the validation will be triggered again after the required information is put in and saved.
   
   

8. Using init values in field validation, you can ensure that when a record is created, the standards are already met.

   Field validation relies on database triggers. When inserting some types of records, field validation is triggered before you have the opportunity to put in information in the fields that are to be validated. The init value is entered before field validation is triggered, ensuring field validation will not unnecessarily disrupt the users process.

 

For more information about our apps Field Security & Field Validation, contact us today.