When you setup dimensions and activate them using account structures in Microsoft Dynamics AX, the order of the fields on forms displaying the default dimensions is alphabetically on name. This post will inform you how to change the order without customizing your Microsoft Dynamics AX environment.
There have been some blogs related to this topic. The ones I found always showed a solution where you needed to customize the system. One of these blogs is from Munib Ahmed. He is also one of the current Microsoft Dynamics AX MVPs. This could be a good solution, but when possible I would like to avoid customizations. So this blog will describe a way to achieve the requirement for another order of the dimensions using standard setup.
Standard behavior
First I will describe the standard way how AX will display these dimensions. Assume you have setup three dimensions: BusinessUnit, CostCenter and Project.
We have created two account structure active in a legal entity having the main account linked to these dimensions:
- Main account, Project, BusinessUnit
- Main account, CostCenter
On forms like Customer details the dimensions will be displayed in alphabetically order. It is sorted on the Dimension name.
Setup your own order
As mentioned above the sorting is on the Dimension name. So we can change the dimension names having a pattern with a prefix which manages the order. You can see an example in the next screenshot.
When you only change the Dimension name on the forms it will also show the dimensions with the prefix D00#. Per dimension you can setup a Translation.
If you enter the translations for your language (or languages) the translated text will be used as a friendly name.
Additional notes
It is not possible to start the Dimension name with a number. It should be a letter. Also spaces are not allowed.
When you change the name after you have entered the Translated text it will reset the translation to the new Dimension name. So in that case you have to re-apply the translations. Probably customization, as blogged by Munib, would be your choice if this would be too cumbersome.
You can leave some gaps in the numbering to be able to easily add new dimensions in between when needed.
I do hope you liked this post and will add value for you in your daily work as a professional. If you have related questions or feedback, don’t hesitate to use the Comment feature below.
That’s all for now. Till next time!
Cool tip! Thanks!
Good logic, thanks to wake it up
Great idea!
Nice post
It worked until I saved and refresh. It went back to Financial dimension name. I then tried to reenter the translation and it still keeps going back to the name. Have you seen this issue? I’m in D365.
Hi Kellen,
When you look at the additional notes, then there is a situation where the translations will be reset to the default. Is this your scenario? If not, please elaborate in more detail what issue you are facing.