"You do not have access privileges needed to change this quantity" in GP Manufacturing

In Dynamics GP, as a general rule, a user assigned the POWERUSER role or the sa account are "all powerful," and can perform any task. What happens when the sa or a POWERUSER tries to change the ending quantity on the Manufacturing Order and they receive the following error. "You do not have access privileges needed to change this quantity?" I have seen this issue a couple of times in the forum recently, so I thought it would be prudent to write a blog article on the topic.

There is a simple cause and a simple solution to this problem. Dynamics GP Manufacturing was once a third party product (a very long time ago), and a programmer, was likely asked to make sure that a user could not just change the quantities on a Manufacturing Order.  So this programmer created a feature, outside typical GP security setup to control access to Manufacturing Order quantity field changes.

In the end, what was produced is security more akin to Hold Processing or Tolerances in various Financial and Distribution Modules; a security setting that exists at the module configuration level and not at the System Security level.

When the user receives the "You do not have access privileges needed to change this quantity." error, either they have not be granted access, or this feature hasn't been set up at all - it is typical the latter.  If you implement GP Manufacturing, you should add explanation and configuration of this feature to your setup checklist.

Here's an overview of how to set this feature up:

First - navigate to Manufacturing > Setup > System Defaults > MO Schedule Prefs and select your Default Settings.  Enter a Process Security ID for Manufacturing Qty Overrides. 

You should receive a dialogue box indicating the ID doesn't exist, and asking if you would like to create it.  You should click Add.

Clicking Add will trigger System Security, if a System Password has been configured. So, you'll need to know this password before you begin to setup Process Security.

Once you have provided the correct system password, the Process Security Setup window will open.  At this point you have a decision to make.  Configure security to prompt for a password when a Manufacturing Quantity is changed, or configure security to only allow approved users to change Manufacturing Quantities.

While the easiest to setup and maintain option is Password control, passwords have a tendency to 'escape into the wild' and the next thing you know, your control is control in name only. I am a fan of configuring user specific control. If you go the User ID route, you should add this step to your New User Check List. If you don't have a New User Check List, create one.  

If you go the Password route, simply enter a password here, and distribute the password to personnel authorized to change quantities on Manufacturing Orders.  If not, selecting the User ID radio button will bring up a list box, where User ID's authorized to change quantities on Manufacturing Orders can be inserted.

I am not a big fan of the design of this screen. In order to add users, you must click on the Magnifying glass, look up a user and select it, you cannot tab through the fields typing in User ID's.

What is not immediately obvious, is opening the Process Security setup window, which opens automatically, when prompted by initiating configuration, is there is no clear way to open this window, after initial setup has been completed.  So, a shortcut to this window should be added to your home screen. 

This window can be accessed under Manufacturing > Setup > Process Security. I think it would be better to add a shortcut from this window.

To add a shortcut to your Home Screen, first, go to your Home Screen. Then right click in the Navigation Pane and select Add > Add Window.  

This will open up the Add Window Shortcut Window.  To Add the Process Security Setup window, you must browse to and select Manufacturing > 3rd Party > Process Security Setup (Alphabetically) and click Add.

Earlier I mentioned the reason this feature fell outside normal GP System Security setup, was due to the fact Manufacturing was once a 3rd party application - you will note, many of the Manufacturing Windows are still listed as 3rd party.  This is something to be aware of when working with Manufacturing Windows, Reports and the like.

Now that you've added this shortcut, you're ready to move forward using this feature.