If you've ever wanted a list, a report, or a view of your data that doesn't quite exist in MYOB Acumatica out of the box, Generic Inquiries are your answer.
In our Avanza Solutions customer webinar, consultant Simon Angland walked through Generic Inquiries in detail — covering what they are, how to build one from scratch, and some of the more advanced capabilities many users haven't yet discovered. This blog captures the key lessons from that session.
You can also watch the full recording here:
What Is a Generic Inquiry?
Generic Inquiries are the interactive, list-based screens you see throughout Acumatica — think the Stock Items screen, or the Customers list. They're designed to be dynamic: users can sort, filter, search, and drill into records in real time.
They're quite different from reports. Here's a quick way to think about the distinction:
- Reports are static output — formatted for printing, sending, or scheduling. They're great for your standard business forms and historical summaries.
- Generic Inquiries are operational and on-screen — designed for day-to-day interaction with live data.
Both tools allow you to export data to Excel, but Generic Inquiries are generally much easier to work with for that purpose. They also offer far more flexible navigation, including drill-down links and side panels.
Tip: Not every screen that looks like a Generic Inquiry actually is one. Some screens — like the Customer Summary — are programmatic screens that can't be edited. You can identify a true Generic Inquiry by checking whether the Customisation option allows editing.
Building a Generic Inquiry from Scratch
Simon walked through building a supplier part number list — a practical example that doesn't exist as a standard inquiry in Acumatica. Here's the process he followed.
Step 1: Identify your data sources
Before building anything, you need to know where your data lives in the database. Acumatica's inspect tool (Control + Alt + Click on any field) shows you the underlying Data Access Class (DAC) and field name. This is essential for building accurate queries.
For the supplier part number list, the key table was the PO Vendor Inventory table — not the main Inventory Item table. Getting this right from the start saves a lot of troubleshooting later.
Step 2: Add your data sources and join them
In the Generic Inquiry editor, you add your primary data source first, then use the 'Add Related Table' function to bring in additional tables. Acumatica will suggest the join relationship automatically based on known links between tables.
Understanding your join type matters:
- Inner join — returns only records that exist in both tables (e.g., only stock items that have at least one supplier part number).
- Left join — returns all records from the primary table, even if there's no matching record in the joined table.
- Cross join — avoid this unless you know what you're doing. It multiplies every record in one table by every record in another, which can produce an enormous and unusable data set.
Step 3: Build your results grid
Add the fields you want to display. You can also create calculated fields — for example, concatenating an item code and its description into a single column using a formula. Acumatica's formula editor supports conditional logic (IIF statements) and null handling, which is important when working with fields that might be blank.
Tip: When concatenating text fields, always wrap each field in an ISNULL() check. If either field is null, the concatenation will fail — returning nothing instead of the values that do exist.
Step 4: Add conditions and parameters
Conditions filter the data that's returned. Parameters give users control over those filters at run time — for example, letting someone select a specific supplier before the results load.
When building optional parameters (where the inquiry should return all results if no value is entered), you need to include an OR condition that checks whether the parameter is empty. Simon demonstrated this pattern:
- Condition 1: Vendor ID equals [Parameter]
- Condition 2 (OR): [Parameter] is empty
The OR group must be bracketed to work correctly with any AND conditions that also apply.
Filtering, Searching, and Sorting
Once your inquiry is built, there are several ways to make it easier for users to work with the data.
- Quick Search: Tick the 'Quick Search' box on specific fields to enable the search bar at the top of the screen. Without this, users can only filter by opening the filter panel.
- Default sort: Set a default sort order so the data appears in a logical sequence when the inquiry first loads — users can change it, but a sensible default saves time.
- User-controlled filters: Users can save their own filter sets, which can also be made the default view.
Navigation and Side Panels
One of the most useful features of Generic Inquiries is the ability to control where clicking a field takes the user. By default, clicking an inventory item will open the stock item screen. But you can add custom navigation links — for example, taking the user directly to the inventory summary instead.
Side panels are even more powerful. They allow you to surface related information alongside your inquiry without navigating away from it. As you scroll through records, the side panel updates automatically to show data relevant to the selected row. This is particularly useful for operational tasks where you need to reference multiple data points quickly.
Extending Generic Inquiries Beyond Acumatica
Generic Inquiries don't have to live inside the system. Simon covered several ways to push data out to other tools and users.
OData and Excel integration
Enabling OData on a Generic Inquiry allows the data to be consumed directly by Excel or Power BI. Instead of exporting a static spreadsheet, users open a live-connected workbook that pulls fresh data from Acumatica on demand.
This is particularly useful for building Excel models or dashboards that need to stay current. You can even join multiple Generic Inquiries in Excel, using Excel's own formula capabilities to combine data sets in ways that might be complex to build inside Acumatica.
Mobile access
Generic Inquiries can be added to the Acumatica mobile workspace, making key data accessible from a phone or tablet. Because mobile presents data in a card format rather than a grid, it's best to design mobile-facing inquiries with just one or two key fields rather than replicating a full desktop view.
Dashboards
Most dashboard widgets in Acumatica are powered by Generic Inquiries underneath. You can create KPI tiles, charts, and summary widgets based on the same inquiries your team uses operationally — including conditional colouring to highlight overdue amounts, negative margins, or other exceptions.
Note: If you edit a Generic Inquiry that's being used by a dashboard, the change will affect the dashboard widget too. Always check what's using an inquiry before modifying it.
Business Events: Using Inquiries to Trigger Notifications
One of the more advanced capabilities Simon demonstrated was Business Events — a feature that uses Generic Inquiries to detect data changes and trigger automated notifications.
The example covered was supplier price changes. When a purchase order is raised and updates a supplier's last cost, Acumatica can automatically send an email notification to the relevant product manager, including the item details and the new price.
Notifications can be sent via:
- SMS (if an SMS bundle is active)
- Push notifications via the mobile app
- In-system tasks assigned to users
Business events can also trigger import scenarios — automating updates to other records in response to a data change, without manual intervention.
Anomaly Detection
A newer capability in recent Acumatica releases, anomaly detection allows you to flag specific fields in a Generic Inquiry for AI-driven analysis. The system monitors those fields over time and highlights records that fall outside expected patterns — for example, an unusually low margin on an invoice line for a particular customer.
Anomaly detection can be run on demand or scheduled to run automatically. Flagged records are highlighted in the inquiry with a severity indicator, giving your team an early warning system for exceptions that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Mass Updates and Mass Deletion
Some Generic Inquiries — including the main Stock Items inquiry — support mass updates. This allows you to select a filtered set of records and update specific fields across all of them in one action. For example, updating minimum and maximum stock levels for an entire item class at once.
Important: The 'Update All' button applies to all filtered records, not just those visible on the current page. The 'Select All' tick box at the top only selects the current page. Always apply a filter before using Update All to avoid unintended changes across your entire data set.
Mass deletion is also possible on some inquiries, but should be treated with caution. Records can only be deleted if the system allows it, but there's no undo — the confirmation prompt can also be disabled, making it easy to delete records accidentally.
Pivot Tables Within Acumatica
For sales analysis and similar use cases, Generic Inquiries support pivot table views inside Acumatica — similar to Excel pivot tables. You can group data by a date part (such as quarter), by customer, or by product category, and present that pivoted view on a dashboard.
The largest standard Generic Inquiry in the system — the Invoiced Items inquiry, which contains every sales order line — is a common starting point for this type of analysis.
Watch the full webinar recording
This blog covers the key themes from the session, but the live demo goes into considerably more detail — including the formula editor, OData connection setup, and a live business event trigger. Watch the recording here: How to Use Generic Inquiries in MYOB Acumatica (Build, Filter, OData & More)
Want help building your own Generic Inquiries?
Our consultants build and customise Generic Inquiries for Avanza customers regularly — from simple operational lists through to complex OData-connected Excel models and business event automations. If there's a view of your data you've been wanting but haven't been able to create, get in touch.
Contact us: support@avanzasolutions.co.nz
About the Avanza Webinar Series
This blog is based on Session 1 of our ongoing customer webinar series. Future sessions will cover the Modern UI, new release features, dashboards and KPIs, advanced report building, and practical how-to guides — all free for Avanza customers. Watch out for upcoming invitations.
Presented by Simon Angland, Consultant at Avanza Solutions.
