Blog Post: Jobs@NAV2013 (Change Job Planning Line Dates)

After we have copied new job plan from source, we can change these date intervals to another by running the ‘Change Job Planning Line Dates’ batch job. This is useful if we have copied planning lines from another job and now want to rearrange the dates, by moving them all to another date.

We can start this batch job from Jobs->Periodic Activities->Change Job Planning Line Dates. I started story about this functionality in my last post. We can also use this batch job to update currency exchange rates on selected jobs. This is useful if the currency exchange rate has moved and we want the jobs updated to reflect the new exchange rate.

Batch job

In the Currency Date section, we specify how currency dates should be changed. We only need to fill in the fields in this section if we want to change currency dates on the jobs.

In the Planning Date section, we specify how planning dates should be changed. We only need to fill in the fields in this section if we want to change planning dates on the jobs.

These are description of fields on this batch job:

• Change Currency Date: Select to specify that currencies should be updated on the jobs that are included in the batch job.
• Change Date Expression (Currency Date): Specify how the dates on the entries that are copied will be changed by using a date formula. For more information about date formulas, see part about Date Formula on the end of post.
• Fixed Date (Currency Date): Enter a date to move the currency date on all planning lines to one specific date.
• Include Line type(Currency Date): Select the planning line type we want to change the currency date for.
  • <Blank> - Currency Date is not changed on any planning line.
  • Schedule - Currency Date is changed on planning lines of type Schedule or type Both Schedule and Contract.
  • Contract - Currency Date is changed on planning lines of type Contract or type Both Schedule and Contract.
  • Schedule+Contract - Currency Date is changed on all planning lines within the jobs and job tasks we specify on the Job FastTab.
• Include Curr. Date From: Enter the starting date of the period for which we want currency dates to be moved. Only planning lines with a currency date on or after this date are included.
• Include Curr. Date To: Enter the ending date of the period for which we want currency dates to be moved. Only planning lines with a currency date on or before this date are included.
• Change Planning Date: Select to specify that planning dates should be changed on the jobs that are included in the batch job.
• Change Date Expression (Planning Date): Specify how the dates on the entries that are copied will be changed by using a date formula.
• Fixed Date (Planning Date): Enter a date to move the planning date on all planning lines to one specific date.
• Include Line type (Planning Date): Select the planning line type we want to change the planning date for.
  • <Blank> - Planning Date is not changed on any planning line.
  • Schedule - Planning Date is changed on planning lines of type Schedule or type Both Schedule and Contract.
  • Contract - Planning Date is changed on planning lines of type Contract or type Both Schedule and Contract.
  • Schedule+Contract - Planning Date is changed on all planning lines within the jobs and job tasks we specify on the Job FastTab.
• Include Plan. Date From: Enter the starting date of the period for which we want a Planning Date to be moved. Only planning lines with a Planning Date on or after this date are included.
• Include Plan. Date To: Enter the ending date of the period for which we want a Planning Date to be moved. Only planning lines with a Planning Date on or before this date are included.

DateFormula explanation

A date formula is a short, abbreviated combination of letters and numbers that specifies how to calculate dates. We can enter date formulas in various date calculation fields and in recurring frequency fields in recurring journals.

In all data formula fields, one day is automatically included to cover today as the day when the period starts. Accordingly, if we enter 1W, for example, then the period is actually eight days because today is included. To specify a period of seven days (one true week) including the period starting date e.g., then we must enter 6D or 1W-1D.

The date calculation formula can contain a maximum of 20 characters, both numbers and letters. We can use the following letters, which are abbreviations for time specifications. It is possible that there letters are different when we use non-English language (we must read help file for specific language). There are the basic letters:

• C: Current
• D: Day(s)
• W: Week(s)
• M: Month(s)
• Q: Quarter(s)
• Y: Year(s)

We can construct a date formula in next three ways:

1)    The following example shows how current plus a time unit.

1. CW: Current week
2. CM: Current month

2)    The following example shows how a number and a time unit. A number cannot be larger than 9999.

1. 10D: 10 days from today
2. 2W: 2 weeks from today

3)    The following example shows how a time unit and a number.

1. D10: The next 10th day of a month
2. WD4: The next 4th day of a week (Thursday)

The following example shows how we can combine these three forms as needed:

• CM+10D: Current month + 10 days

The following example shows how we can use a minus sign to indicate a date in the past.

• -1Y: 1 year ago from today