Imagine this: you're trying to sell a product to your customer. You issue an invoice or create a sales order. According to your stock levels, you're able to fulfill the order completely. You send the order to the warehouse for them to assemble and ship it using the delivery method chosen by the customer.
Feeling good, you go to make yourself a cup of coffee, ready to return to working on other orders. Unfortunately, upon your return, you're greeted with bad news – the warehouse can't fulfill the order because the stock is insufficient. Your good mood vanishes, much like the mysterious disappearance of stock from the warehouse. Now you're left with the unenviable task of informing your customer that the order can't be delivered as expected.
It could have been different...
All it would have taken was real-time information about product availability. What if three other salespeople sold the same product around the same time? Everyone sees the current stock level and assumes the order can be fulfilled without issue. However, the stock status doesn't account for what's happening around it: for instance, three orders might need to be fulfilled the next day, or a new shipment is expected, which will change the stock quantity.
That's where availability comes in. It takes into account expected deliveries, new batches currently in production, and the fact that multiple pallets of goods will be shipped from the warehouse throughout the week. Availability calculates supply and demand in real time, down to the last item. This means that every time a salesperson or another responsible party prepares an offer or order, the available stock is adjusted accordingly. So, with each new order, the system will immediately show if it can still be fulfilled.
It can be different!
This isn't science fiction – it's completely possible! The solution lies in the "Availability Templates" functionality in Business Central. It allows you to calculate availability for each type of document. Availability is displayed in the lines for that particular document. For example, take a sales order.
Next to the stock quantity, you see "My Availability," clearly illustrating the issue that could have ruined someone's day. According to the stock records, there are 144 units available, but someone issued a sales document before you. At that moment, the system took that document into account, and now you can see that you can no longer sell 120 units to the customer because only 114 are available.
It can work exactly how you want!
The functionality is configurable to meet your needs, meaning the availability field can display a quantity perfectly tailored to your company's processes. Even the name of the availability field can be customized, which is why we saw "My Availability" in the previous example.
Each template contains a field indicating the document types on which it will be displayed. You can create one template for production orders and another for sales. In the line section, you can freely modify the availability calculation formula. There's an option to immediately include the quantities from purchase orders in the availability. If there is a transfer order in the system, you can automatically increase availability at the destination location.
Additionally, it's crucial to reduce stock availability when it’s assigned to sales orders or reserved. This helps avoid situations where you attempt to sell products that have already been reserved or allocated to other orders. Efficient inventory availability management prevents stock shortages, eliminating the risk of "disappearing" products and maintaining a balanced stock level.
You can start using availability today!
The availability functionality is available in our product, Advanced Inventory. This solution will help you better monitor stock availability, minimizing the risk of shortages. The product is ready for immediate use, and if you order now, you can take advantage of a 20% discount. Just mention this article when speaking with us.
If you're interested in our solution or need help managing product availability in your warehouse, use the form below to reach out to us!
You can find Advanced Inventory on AppSource and on your website: Advanced Inventory.
