A business should have an efficient and reliable system to fulfill the demand for its products or goods in the market. A business requires a robust purchasing and procurement mechanism to ensure that the supply chain operations function smoothly. It includes finding the best vendor who can deliver quality goods at the right price and at the right time, placing the order, and receiving the goods.
That said, this seemingly simple process, if not planned correctly, can have a massive impact on a business’s bottom line. Traditionally companies have been using spreadsheets or emails for managing their purchasing and procurement processes.Due to technological advancement, better tools with more advanced features are available. The spreadsheets or emails do not offer these features and hence seem outdated for these processes.
The disadvantages of these outdated tools are:
- Manual data entry errors can result in the entire process going haywire and resulting in monetary losses.
- Tracking data across multiple emails or spreadsheets is cumbersome, especially in case of longer purchase cycles. Also, as mentioned earlier, there is a chance of human error resulting in a critical piece of information not being included.
- It is not real-time and hence can result in unnecessary delays. In cases, the speed at which a business takes decisions is a critical factor to determine success or failure.
- These tools are not efficient in managing large chunks of data. Typically, the procurement planning exercise is done a few months in advance. It would require multiple calculations, and if the data is present across different spreadsheets or emails, it may result in faulty calculations. It may have a severe impact on the lead times.
- Each department involved in the process maintains data separately. In absence of a centralised system, the data flow is not smooth. Also, the data access is complicated since the data remains in silos within each department. Hence, it fails to provide real-time insights and reduces the overall effectiveness. It will also impact the team productivity as they invest a lot of time ensuring data accuracy, data access, and data maintenance.
- The processes would become more complex as the business grows and hence a solution which can scale as you grow is essential.
To overcome these challenges, Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
It is a cloud-based ERP consisting of modules that simplifies purchasing and procurement planning to a great extent. A business can configure Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to perform various tasks. Some of them are listed below:
- Business Central auto-calculates the time an item should be re-ordered and received.
- The workflows can map the price revision processes. The ERP procurement module can post sales transactions and manage receivables in multiple currencies for each customer.
- Create a purchase invoice as per the agreement with the vendor and include delivery and payment terms
- Create a request for a quote for your vendor which can later be converted into a purchase order
- Create a purchase invoice for all or some of the items
- Automatically create a credit memo for unpaid purchase invoices and then either cancel the purchase invoice or recreate it so you can make corrections
- Create a purchase credit memo to revert a specific posted purchase invoice to reflect which products you are returning to the vendor and which payment amount you will collect
- Convert electronic invoices from your vendors to purchase invoices within Business Central
It helps businesses to streamline their inventory management and vendor management significantly. Also, since it is a cloud-based ERP, it offers multiple benefits.
Advantage of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Tighter control on your supply chain operations
- More accurate and hassle-free inventory management
- Ease of data flow and communication across different departments
- Available and accessible anytime, anywhere, and from any device
- Real-time data insights help make faster decisions
- For a multi-nation set-up, Business Central can be effective to manage prices and discount policies in different currencies
- Easy to use interface as it is similar to other Microsoft products like Office 365
- A robust platform with multiple third-party integrations and native application integration options
- Easily scalable as per the business requirements
- Better productivity and performance improvement of the procurement team due to automated workflows and enhanced collaboration
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central makes purchasing and procurement processes more efficient. If you want to know more about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central implementation and its impact on your business, connect with us at CCIT Services Pvt Ltd.
We are a trusted Microsoft Gold partner offering intuitive Business Technology Consulting and Automation implementation. We also provide ongoing support as per your business requirement.
We help businesses in their digital transformation journey by delivering Microsoft Business Automation tools, Power Apps, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Power BI, and other technology solutions services and support.
