Continuous application improvements were once again an important part of the last fall wave of Business Central. This time, investments were made especially in the optimization of inventory and warehouse processes.
Business Central 2023 Wave 2 was again expanded in various warehouse areas. In addition to optimizing the processing of excess items, a more detailed differentiation of storage processes and the improved use of put-away suggestions, the current version also includes a new availability overview and the option to partially or completely block item variants.
Processing excess items
If more goods arrive than ordered, it sometimes makes more sense to accept them instead of refusing them. For example, it can also be cheaper to store the excess items than to send them back. The supplier may even offer a discount for this. With Business Central, these over-receipts can be processed without having to prepare a new order and possibly request extra approval. The latest version now makes it possible to use over-receipts in Inventory Put-away documents. Previously, this was only possible in purchase and sales orders.
More detailed differentiation of warehouse processes
There is no longer a one-size-fits-all solution for warehouse processes such as picking and replenishment. Business Central therefore offers a wealth of functions for warehouse management and enables companies to individually configure inbound (purchasing), outbound (sales) and internal (production) workflows.
With the current Business Central version, the configuration options have now been expanded. In future, it will also be possible to define separate warehouse throughput control for production, assembly and projects. For example, when outputting production, it is now possible to configure whether or not warehouse processing or picking should take place.
Use directed pick and put-away suggestions
Business Central 2023 Wave 2 also introduces a function for basic warehouse configurations, which was previously only available via an advanced configuration. Business Central will suggest the most suitable bin for items based on the ranking of the bins, the minimum and maximum quantities specified for fixed bins or the put-away template set up for the warehouse.
Put-away templates can be set up to control the put-away of items in the warehouse in more detail. They are particularly useful if items or stockkeeping units have special storage requirements, e.g. volume, class or bins that contain the same items. The respective put-away rules can be created on a line-by-line basis and are processed one after the other during the search.
Business Central then searches for a bin that meets the put-away requirements set up for the warehouse, item or stockkeeping unit. If no suitable bin is found, the search is based on the requirements in the second line. If several bins meet the criteria of the put-away template, Business Central uses the bin with the highest priority. If the criteria of the put-away template and the bin priority are identical for several bins, Business Central proposes the bin with the highest bin code.
Availability overview for calculating quantities in the warehouse
Extended information on the availability of items in the warehouse can now be called up from source documents such as sales, production or assembly orders using the “Show Summary (Directed Put-away and Pick)” toggle. The information is available in real time and takes into account factors that affect availability, e.g. dedicated bins, blocked bins and items that are not available for picking.
For example, items could be reserved or waiting for put-away or shipping processes. The summary can be used to check the items that Business Central has not included in the picking documents and then take the necessary action.
The functionality is available for locations that are configured for controlled put-away and picking.
Lock article variants
Over time, it can happen that some article variants are no longer needed in the system. Although variants that are no longer used cannot be deleted in Business Central, they can now be locked. This prevents the variants from being selected in sales or purchase items or posted in transactions. The options available are “Blocked”, “Purchasing Blocked” and “Sales Blocked”.
