Using eConnect to import Inventory Adjustments with Multi-Bin

I recently fielded a question on the GP Developer newsgroup about an eConnect error that occurred when trying to import inventory adjustments with multi-bin.

The developer was able to import positive inventory adjustments, but negative adjustments would fail with this error:

The QTY entered has to be > 0

After poking around in the GP Item Transaction Entry window, I found the inconsistency that was causing the problem.

The Item Transaction Entry window is one of the few places in GP where you can enter a negative quantity. I admit that I truly enjoy being able to type a negative number in the Quantity field, since it's such a rare treat in GP.



The negative quantity is convenient and logical for decreasing inventory quantities; however, it is not necessarily consistent with the rest of GP, and when it comes to the Bin Quantity Entry window, GP suddenly reverts to the typical positive-only behavior.



In the Bin Quantity Entry window, you must enter a positive value in the Quantity Selected field, even though the transaction is a negative inventory adjustment. Yet there isn't any field or option on the Bin Quantity Entry to specify increase or decrease.

Once you insert the bin and quantity selection, note that the Extended Quantity is negative, but the Selected Quantity is positive.



This is a pretty poor, inconsistent design that can cause confusion in both the GP user interface, as well as the eConnect API.

If you look at the eConnect documentation for the taIVTransactionMultiBinInsert node, you'll see a node called ADJTYPE, which can be 0=Increase or 1=Decrease. Why this exists in eConnect but not in the GP user interface, well, I'll leave that for others to ponder.

So to summarize, when you import a negative inventory adjustment via eConnect using multi-bin, you have to first create a negative inventory adjustment, then you have to create a positive multi-bin record, and then you also have to specify that the multi-bin record is a Decrease adjustment. Obvious, right?

Why the Bin quantity entry window (and taIVTransactionMultiBinInsert) accepts only positive values for a negative inventory adjustment is yet another historical GP mystery that I'm sure has some highly rationalized explanation, but for now I'm going to chalk it up to them wanting to keep us on our toes.