Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Business Central for manufacturers
Connect product design, supply planning, shop-floor execution, inventory and financial costing in one cloud ERP—so production decisions stay tied to demand, capacity and profitability.
The complete platform
New to Business Central?
This page focuses on manufacturing. The main Business Central page covers the complete platform, including finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, warehousing, projects, service, analytics, Copilot, Microsoft 365 and licensing.
For manufacturers
Plan, execute and cost production in one system.
Business Central connects production structures, material planning, capacity and shop-floor transactions to inventory and finance. Manufacturing functionality is available with the Premium experience.
Order promising
Promise realistic dates before committing the order.
Use Available-to-Promise for supply already in inventory or scheduled, and Capable-to-Promise when Business Central must calculate when a shortage can be replenished.
Available-to-Promise (ATP)
- Calculates the earliest availability from inventory, scheduled receipts and gross requirements
- Uses unreserved quantities and expected supply
- Checks the requested quantity by item, variant and location
- Supports delivery commitments based on known availability
Capable-to-Promise (CTP)
- Applies when the requested quantity is not in stock or on scheduled orders
- Calculates the earliest date based on new purchase, production or transfer supply
- Evaluates only the quantity that ATP cannot cover
- Creates replenishment requisition lines for accepted dates
Delivery-date calculation
- Requested and promised delivery dates
- Shipment and planned shipment dates
- Outbound warehouse handling and shipping time
- Forward and backward date calculations
Setup and controls
- Order Promising Setup parameters
- Critical-item designation
- Lead times, calendars and location handling times
- Accept the earliest realistic shipment date on the order
Product definition
Define the material structure of every manufactured item.
Production BOMs organize components, subassemblies, quantities and effective versions so planning, execution and costing use the same product definition.
Production structures
- Multi-level production BOMs
- Raw materials, ingredients and subassemblies
- Component quantities and units of measure
- Phantom BOMs for reusable structures
Engineering controls
- Component scrap percentages
- Starting and ending dates
- Position and routing-link references
- Supporting comments and attachments
Versions and certification
- Draft, certified and closed statuses
- Version codes and effective dates
- Controlled revisions to released designs
- Separate BOMs for alternate configurations
Planning and costing foundation
- Component demand from production orders
- Low-level codes for planning
- Material-cost rollups
- Traceability from component to finished item
Process definition
Model the sequence, resources and time required to produce.
Routings define how work moves through operations and which work centers, machine centers, calendars and time standards apply.
Operations and sequence
- Operation numbers and dependencies
- Serial and parallel routing links
- Send-ahead quantities
- Standard task codes and descriptions
Resources and capacity
- Work centers and machine centers
- Shop calendars and available capacity
- Efficiency and capacity-constrained resources
- Alternate operational resources when configured
Time standards
- Setup and run time
- Wait and move time
- Lot-size and concurrent-capacity effects
- Units of measure for operation time
Versions and production use
- Routing versions with effective dates
- Certified process definitions
- Refresh production orders from routings
- Capacity load and cost calculated from operations
Planning
Balance demand, materials and available capacity.
Translate sales, forecasts and component demand into coordinated production, purchase and transfer recommendations.
Demand and supply planning
- Master production scheduling and material requirements planning
- Planning and requisition worksheets
- Forecast, sales-order and component demand
- Reschedule, change quantity, cancel or create recommendations
Capacity planning
- Work-center and machine-center calendars
- Capacity, efficiency and shop calendars
- Constrained resources and finite loading
- Expected operation start and end times
Production order planning
- Simulated, planned and firm planned orders
- Released orders for production execution
- Make-to-order and make-to-stock scenarios
- Subassembly demand and component availability
Planning visibility
- Exception and emergency planning messages
- Projected inventory and availability
- Capacity load by resource and period
- Connections to purchasing and warehouse activity
Production execution
Capture material, time, output and cost as work happens.
Released production orders provide the operational backbone for issuing components, recording activity and receiving finished output.
Production orders
- Simulated, planned, firm planned, released and finished statuses
- Order components and routing operations
- Refresh and replan actions
- Make-to-order and make-to-stock execution
Material and output
- Consumption and output journals
- Manual, forward and backward flushing
- Scrap and expected quantities
- Lot and serial number tracking
Time and performance
- Setup and run-time posting
- Work-center and machine-center activity
- Output quantity and operation completion
- Actual versus expected consumption
Financial impact
- Work in process and production cost
- Material, capacity, overhead and subcontract cost
- Finished-order cost adjustment
- Inventory and general-ledger integration
External operations
Coordinate outsourced production operations with purchasing.
Assign a vendor to a subcontract work center, include the operation in the routing and connect released production demand to purchasing.
Basic setup
- Subcontract work center linked to a vendor
- Direct unit or time-based cost
- Vendor operation included in the routing
- Lead-time and calendar considerations
Subcontract orders
- Create purchase orders from released production routing lines
- Use the subcontracting worksheet for grouped demand
- Maintain the link between purchase lines and production operations
- Receive the service and update the production order
Components and logistics
- Send components to the subcontractor
- Subcontractor locations and transfer orders
- Component supply methods
- Track quantities moving to and from the vendor
Commercial and cost controls
- Subcontractor prices
- Item charges and landed cost
- Subcontract cost included in manufacturing cost
- Vendor, item and operation traceability
Cost control and insight
Understand what production should cost—and what it actually cost.
Combine product structures, routing standards and posted production activity to analyze material, capacity, subcontracting, overhead, work in process and variances.
Manufacturing cost components
- Material and component cost
- Work-center and machine-center capacity cost
- Subcontracting cost
- Direct and indirect overhead
Expected and actual cost
- Standard or actual costing inputs
- Expected cost while production is open
- Actual cost from posted consumption and output
- Cost adjustment when production is finished
Cost analysis reports
- Single-Level Cost Shares
- Detailed Calculation
- Production order cost and variance views
- Capacity and production journal history
Operational reporting
- Built-in manufacturing reports
- Analyze Data on production and capacity lists
- Open in Excel for supported list analysis
- Manufacturing Power BI apps and governed dashboards
Microsoft resources
Explore manufacturing in Business Central
Manufacturing overview
Microsoft’s overview of production BOMs, routings, planning, capacity and execution.
Supply planning
See how Business Central balances demand and supply through planning suggestions.
Production orders
Understand production order statuses and their role in manufacturing execution.
Shape Business Central around the way your plant operates.
We can help map products, routings, planning policies, capacity and production transactions before configuration begins.