A number of tables allow require the user to create their own entries or add to the existing list but there is no way to flag an existing entry as being inactive. Sales Tax Schedules and Reason codes come to mind. The workaround is to rename the entry by adding 'DO NOT USE' at the end of the ID but that just gets nasty after a while. The entries do not need to get deleted to preserve the referential integrity and they can still be included in reports, but any of the programs that provide these as options would filter the list by which ones are currently active.
by: Dan G. | over a year ago | 6 - General Enhancements
Comments
This type of functionality began in version 2019 for Buyers and Reason Codes. In2021 we added ship methods. Since behaviors for inactive minor entities varied by application, it requires modifications to many different applications so cannot appear as a product update.
Our general approach is:
1) Do not allow implemented inactive minor entities to be added as part of a new record.
2) Allow existing pending records that encounter a currently inactive minor entity value to keep the reference to avoid halting processing. This will work itself out over time.
3) For history type reporting processes, limit value selection to only those that can appear in a report, regardless of active status. So if you have 90 active values and 10 inactive values, yet only 6 have ever been used, then only show those six.
4) Avoid propagation of inactive defaults when a new record is being created.
This is the basic approach, and there may be a few exceptions. Other minor entities may be added in future releases.