Is Business Central a Good Fit for a Supply Chain Company Running GP?
If you are a supply chain company of any size still running GP, you might be considering moving to modern ERP. GP was (and still is) a powerful Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. Unfortunately, it was not built for the web, and Microsoft has made it clear that GP will not be modified for the web anytime soon, if ever.
While several very capable cloud ERPs are available, there are distinct advantages to staying within the Microsoft suite of Dynamics products, and Dynamics 365 Business Central should be on your shortlist.
In a previous blog post, we made the case for migrating from GP to Business Central. But companies that rely on complex supply chains and multiple warehouses have unique requirements, and you might wonder if Business Central is up to the task.
For most companies running GP, Business Central will prove more than capable for your current needs and foreseeable growth.
Business Central comes with native features required by companies to manage their complex supply chains, including:
Purchase Management – Business Central helps your increase efficiency, reduce costs, and maintain accurate records of your purchasing activities with capabilities such as purchase orders, vendor management, order tracking, vendor invoices, analytics, and integration with third-party software (inventory management, financials, sales, etc.)
Inventory Management – Manage your inventory by tracking stock levels, locations, and movements. Set up reorder points, manage item variants, perform inventory counts, and gain visibility into inventory valuation.
Warehouse Management – Business Central provides receiving, shipping, and internal transfers warehouse management capabilities, as well as bin and location management, item tracking, multi-site inventory, lot and serial number tracking, cycle counting, and inventory put-away and pick processes.
Demand Planning and Forecasting – Predict future demand using historical data to assist with inventory planning and purchasing decisions.
Supply Chain Analytics – Business Central provides reporting and analytics features to help you monitor and analyze key supply chain metrics, such as purchase order management and supplier collaboration. Additional capabilities are available through third-party add-on products.
While Business Central does not come with native capabilities for freight and logistics, it integrates easily with many third-party logistics (3PL) and transportation management systems (TMS) for shipment tracking, carrier selections, and documentation management. Dynamics GP users will be familiar with utilizing ISV solutions but will find they need fewer of them to create the supply chain functionality they specifically need.
Business Central also integrates with the Microsoft Power Platform, a suite of low-code/no-code tools for non-technical end users to access and analyze the information they need. The Power Platform includes Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, Power Pages, and Power Virtual Agents.
Business Central is also supported by a robust community of Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) who develop solutions that extend Business Central’s capabilities.
While there is no one-size-fits-all ERP solution, GP users looking to migrate to a cloud ERP should include Business Central in their search. Want to find out more? Take the quiz, Is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central a good fit for my organization?
Then request a free assessment to determine whether Business Central is right for you.