As a part of the Inventory year-end process in Dynamics GP, there is an optional feature to remove discontinued items.  Although this option may sound like a nice “house-cleaning” feature, proceed with caution!  Not only is the item removed from the Inventory Master file, all of the inventory historical transactions for that item will be gone too.

If this box is marked when the Inventory year-end process is performed, any item that meets the following criteria will be removed from the Inventory Item Master file:

1.  Item Type = Discontinued

2.  0 quantity on hand

3.  Not on any un-posted inventory, PO, or sales transaction

The reports and windows within the Inventory module will show as if the items removed never existed.  You will be able to see the items on the historical sales and purchase order transactions but you won’t be able to see them anywhere in the Inventory Module.  If you recently discontinued and item, you may still want to see the inventory activity for that item for a while.  In which case, you would NOT want to select this remove option.  A better/safer method would be to manually delete a discontinued item sometime well after you stopped selling/using it and you are sure you no longer need/want to view it in the Inventory module.  (When you are sure you’re ready, you would bring up the discontinued item on the Item Maintenance window and click the Delete button.)

I discuss this closing feature along with many other Dynamics GP year-end closing features in our “Prepare for Year-End Processing” class.  The class is a half day, information-packed class held numerous times in December.  Checkout the training schedule on our website at http://www.rosebizinc.com/training/classes.asp for exact dates and times.  Register soon, year-end will be here before you know it!