Microsoft Inventory Management Software

If you’re searching for an inventory management solution, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is worth considering. Since its initial release in 2018, this powerhouse enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution has garnered a customer base of more than 15,000. It’s also built on the code base of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, which has more than 125,000 customers worldwide, Business Central adopts and expands upon many of NAV’s inventory management capabilities to create a well-rounded solution.

With its reasonable price and its seamless integrations with other Microsoft products, Business Central covers most inventory management needs for mid-sized businesses, including: 

• Item Cards to quickly reference tangibles and intangibles
• Inventory Tracking to view up-to-the-minute data on stock
• A Cloud Interface to keep data accessible anytime, from anywhere

Item Cards

To get the most out of Business Central’s inventory management features, your team should create item cards for each physical and intangible (or “nonstock”) product. Once you’ve registered items as cards, you can access those cards to view all purchase, storage, distribution, delivery, and account information for each respective item. The amount of each item listed on the card will automatically adjust when you post to the item ledger or update purchase or sales documents. 

Business Central offers several ways to slice and dice item data once you’ve created cards. Item cards have different types, such as Inventory, Service, and Non-Inventory, and your team can specify whether an item is a “parent” item as part of a bill of materials. You can even link specific vendors with items, which is helpful for items that can be purchased from multiple sellers. These cards make it easy to assess your current inventory and forecast future needs, all while keeping your whole team up-to-date. 

Inventory Tracking

With its cloud infrastructure and advanced item-tracking capabilities, Business Central is one of the top multi-location and multi-entity inventory management solutions on the market. Business Central allows your team to apply serial, lot, and package numbers to trace items across multiple locations. Using Business Central’s warehouse management features, for instance, you can bundle items into packages to create and track parent and child groups.

You can also set expiration rules for perishables and other time-sensitive materials, warranties for specific serial and lot numbers, and item number automations for inbound transactions. With all of these features at your fingertips, your team will have no trouble accessing the most accurate inventory data. Keep in mind that item cards only manage supply chain for individual locations; if you want multi-location supply chain management, you’ll need to use stockkeeping unit cards. 

Options for Larger Organizations

If Business Central seems a bit too small for your business, Microsoft does offer other solutions. Larger organizations might prefer the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management modules (formerly Finance & Operations). These come at higher price points but include features for Internet of Things (IoT) intelligence, transportation management, and public and private sector capabilities. 

If your business is on legacy software like Microsoft Dynamics GP, it’s time to upgrade to one of Microsoft’s best inventory management solutions. Contact us to learn more about what Business Central has to offer!