What about the (Mass) transfer option in the Fixed asset module of D365FO (or AX)?

When using the Fixed asset module in D365FO, in most cases the focus is on Acquisitions, Depreciations and Disposals of fixed assets. But also two transfer options are available in the Fixed asset module: one on the fixed asset master data form and one in the Periodic tasks:

What about these options and when to use it? That's what I describe in this article.

Basically these options are available to change financial dimension values on fixed assets where the earlier posted fixed asset transactions on the balance sheet (fixed asset value and accumulated depreciation values) also needs to be transferred to these new chosen values. It is the option to change both the history and settings for future postings when it comes to the use of financial dimensions on the fixed asset.

The transfer option

The transfer option can be used to change financial dimension values in the use of fixed asset books on one fixed asset. Besides the financial dimension value change on the book itself, the transfer also makes a reversal of ledger postings and transfer the values to the new dimension values.

For example in the Microsoft Contoso demo environment, the fixed asset value BUIL-000002 (Production site 1) is linked to business unit 001 for both books related to general ledger postings (not on books with posting layers 'None' because they are not posted in the General ledger. For more info about these choices read my article about Posting layers including a part for the use by fixed assets).

If I change the financial dimensions here on the book directly, on new ledger postings the new financial dimension value will be used. But postings already done for the fixed asset net book values in the balance sheet are still on the old dimension value.

To move (transfer) all these values as well on this specific fixed asset I can use the option 'Transfer fixed assets':

Now a pop up opens and in this form you see the current financial dimension values on the books. I can select the book(s) where I want to change the financial dimension values for. In my case I select Business Unit value 002:

Make sure you select all the books where you want to transfer the financial dimension values for and confirm by clicking on the button 'Update'. A new form appears where you will see the changes that will be done. When everything is ok, you can confirm the changes by clicking on the 'Transfer' button:

When finished, the (ledger) postings are made, where the fixed asset values are transferred from Business unit value 001 to Business unit value 002:

Also on the fixed asset transactions for both books, an Asset transfer transaction is added to the list:

This described example above is based on transferring one fixed asset value using the starting point in the related fixed asset master data form.

The Mass transfer option

However, in the Periodic tasks of the Fixed asset module you can also find the Mass transfer option. When selecting the Mass transfer option, you are able to transfer multiple fixed assets in the same action.

The transfer in this Mass transfer form is based on the standard D365FO filter that you can use to select all fixed asset that you want to transfer. To show what happens in the filter I select Fixed asset group 'BUILDINGS' to transfer all fixed assets in this group:

Also for this transfer I add financial dimension Business Unit value 002 to transfer all fixed assets to.

In the Actions of this Mass transfer you have two options. The first option is to Print a report of the selected assets, which will result in the action 'Preview':

The outcome of this action is a report where the fixed assets and related fixed assets books are mentioned that will be effected when doing the Mass transfer with these data:

When the information on this report shows that your transfer is correct this way, you can open the Mass transfer form again and select the second action: Transfer the selected books. You can confirm the transfer action by clicking on 'Ok':

Now the (mass) transfer posting will be done and in the Action center you can see the outcome:

Here the same ledger postings are made to transfer the fixed asset value from Business unit 001 to Business unit 002. For each fixed asset a separate voucher is used:

Also on the related fixed assets that where part of the mass transfer you can see that all the books that will create postings in the General ledger are having Business Unit value 002 now: