When it comes to order fulfillment, the biggest headache for businesses is often inventory uncertainty. Stockouts lead to missed sales and frustrated customers, while excess inventory ties up capital and storage space. The key to balancing supply and demand? Better forecasting.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, combined with the Enhanced Forecasting Worksheet, provides a powerful demand forecasting solution that eliminates guesswork and gives businesses greater control over their stock levels, reorder points, and replenishment strategies.
Why do traditional forecasts in Business Central fall short?
Business Central’s built-in forecasting tools provide basic sales and inventory forecasts but don’t always translate into actionable insights.
- Static forecasts aren’t dynamic or customizable enough for real-world inventory management
- It doesn’t automatically adjust reorder points or safety stock
- Businesses often rely on spreadsheets or external calculations to tweak forecasts before applying them to their fulfillment processes
How does the Enhanced Forecasting Worksheet improve accuracy?
The Enhanced Forecasting Worksheet expands Business Central’s forecasting capabilities by incorporating Azure AI-powered predictions and user-defined planning parameters. This means businesses can forecast demand and automate replenishment planning based on real-world conditions.
Key Benefits include:
- Smarter forecasting using Microsoft’s Azure AI models
- Setting safety stock, reorder points, and maximum inventory dynamically using calculated expressions
- Adjusting forecasts with confidence levels and multiple forecasting algorithms
- Directly updating demand forecasts and item planning parameters in Business Central
- Adapting to growing inventory needs across expanding operations
What does the setup and forecast workflow look like?
Configure Forecast Settings
Navigate to Enhanced Forecast Setup in Business Central.
Select the Sales and Inventory Forecast Setup page and adjust the parameters.
Define Item Planning Expressions
Use predefined expressions or customized formulas for:
- Safety Stock = Average daily usage × Lead time
- Reorder Point = Forecasted daily demand × Lead time
- Maximum Inventory = Reorder quantity × Storage capacity
Run the Forecast
Select items, locations, and categories to forecast.
Choose a forecast period (weekly, monthly, quarterly).
Click Calculate Forecast to process data through Microsoft’s Cortana AI model.
Update Demand Forecasts & Planning
Review the AI-generated forecast results.
Push results into Business Central’s demand forecast for MRP/MPS planning.
Or update item planning fields to automate stock management.
What fulfillment problems does this solution actually solve?
Stockouts & Unfulfilled Orders
The Enhanced Forecasting Worksheet predicts demand more accurately, reducing last-minute shortages.
Overstock & Excess Holding Costs
Dynamic reorder points prevent over-ordering, ensuring capital isn’t wasted on stagnant inventory.
Manual Forecasting & Spreadsheets
It automates calculations directly within Business Central, eliminating spreadsheet dependencies.
Growing Inventory Complexity
Scales with business expansion, handling multi-location forecasting with ease.
You can explore the full solution in this blog post.
Disclosure: This post summarizes content published for Business Central users evaluating advanced forecasting tools. No paid links or sponsored content included.
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