Why Standard Business Central Inventory Counting Falls Short (And How to Fix It)

For companies using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, keeping an accurate inventory count is critical for maintaining smooth operations, reducing stock discrepancies, and ensuring financial accuracy. However, Business Central’s standard inventory counting tools present significant limitations that can lead to inefficiencies, errors, and time-consuming manual work.

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In this article, we’ll break down the shortcomings of Business Central’s default inventory count tools and introduce Advanced Inventory Count to streamline and enhance your inventory counting process.

The Limitations of Standard Business Central Inventory Counting

1. Lack of Multi-User Collaboration

Business Central’s built-in inventory counting function restricts efficient data entry by forcing a single-user approach. This becomes a bottleneck, especially for businesses managing large warehouses with multiple employees performing counts simultaneously.

The Problem - Business Central

Only one user can enter count data at a time, leading to slow processing. 

Business Central’s Physical Inventory Journal forces users to enter counts manually, one at a time. Without real-time collaboration, teams must wait for others to finish before updating inventory, slowing down the entire process.

The Fix - Advanced Inventory Count

Multiple users can enter count data simultaneously across different count sheets, dramatically reducing the time it takes to complete an inventory count. 

Advanced Inventory Count enables real-time collaboration by allowing multiple users to work on different count sheets simultaneously. This eliminates bottlenecks, improves efficiency, and ensures accurate inventory tracking.

2. Rigid Count Sheet Generation

The standard Business Central inventory count tool provides limited flexibility when generating count sheets, often forcing businesses to adopt inefficient counting workflows.

The Problem - Business Central

Count sheets cannot be customized based on how your team counts inventory. 

Business Central’s standard Physical Inventory Journal requires manual entry for each count. There is no built-in way to dynamically filter items, assign teams, or streamline recounts, leading to inefficiencies and delays.

The Fix - Advanced Inventory Count

Users can create count sheets based on:

1. Bin location
2. Shelf number
3. Product category
4. Item tracking codes (serial and lot numbers)
5. Custom filtering options

This customization ensures count teams work with logical groupings rather than inefficient, generic lists.

Advanced Inventory Count enables dynamic count sheet generation with multi-user collaboration. Teams can be assigned to specific count sheets, and discrepancies are automatically flagged for recounts, improving accuracy and efficiency.

3. No Seamless Barcode Integration

Manual data entry increases the risk of human error and slows down the entire inventory process. Business Central does not natively support barcode-based inventory counting, requiring businesses to rely on external systems or manual reconciliation.

The Problem - Business Central

Without barcode integration, users must manually enter item counts, leading to miscounts and incorrect stock levels. 

Business Central’s standard inventory counting requires manual data entry for each item, increasing the risk of human errors and slowing down the process. There is no built-in barcode scanning capability to streamline data input.

The Fix - Advanced Inventory Count

The app integrates directly with barcode scanners and other warehouse data collection tools to automate the entry of counted items. This speeds up the process and ensures accuracy. 

Advanced Inventory Count integrates seamlessly with barcode scanning devices, allowing users to scan item and bin labels in real-time. This reduces errors, speeds up the counting process, and enhances inventory accuracy.[/caption]

4. Limited Validation and Error Checking

Errors in inventory counts often go unnoticed until they cause problems in financial records or warehouse operations. Business Central’s inventory counting tools lack robust validation and discrepancy analysis features.

The Problem - Business Central

There is no automated way to flag potential miscounts before posting. 

 Business Central’s standard inventory journal lacks real-time validation, causing posting failures due to missing item tracking or incorrect categorizations. Errors like “Phys. Inventory must be equal to Yes” appear only at the final posting stage, leading to disruptions in inventory management.

The Fix - Advanced Inventory Count

• Uncounted Parts Report: Identifies missing inventory that hasn’t been counted.
• Count Difference Analysis: Highlights discrepancies in expected vs. actual counts.
• Missing Serial Number Report: Ensures serial-tracked items are correctly recorded.
• Item Journal Test Report: Prevents posting failures due to missing posting groups, blocked items, or tracking issues.

These reports ensure that inventory discrepancies are caught early before they cause major operational issues. 

With Advanced Inventory Count, errors are detected before finalizing the count. Real-time validation flags missing item tracking, incorrect categories, and other discrepancies, allowing users to fix issues early and ensuring smooth inventory adjustments without failed postings.

5. No Built-In Recount Mechanism

One of the most significant flaws in Business Central’s standard inventory count is its lack of structured recount functionality. When discrepancies arise, there is no efficient way to perform a recount without manually reconfiguring count sheets.

The Problem - Business Central

Business Central does not provide automated recounting or variance-based recount workflows. 

Business Central's standard inventory journal does not offer automated recount sheets, requiring manual tracking of discrepancies and recounts.[/caption]

The Fix - Advanced Inventory Count

Recount Sheets can be generated automatically based on the following:

1. Count percentage thresholds (e.g., recount items with a variance greater than 5%)
2. Value-based thresholds (e.g., recount items where the stock discrepancy is worth more than $500)
3. Manual recount triggers for high-priority SKUs.

All recounts are tracked with an audit trail to ensure compliance. 

 The Advanced Inventory Count app enables automatic generation of recount sheets based on pre-set thresholds, ensuring efficient and accurate recounts.

6. Inefficient Posting Process

Even after completing an inventory count, transferring the data into Business Central can be a headache. Users must manually enter the adjustments into Business Central’s Physical Inventory Journal, prone to errors.

The Problem - Business Central

Manual entry into the inventory journal increases the risk of mistakes and requires additional review time.

 Business Central’s standard posting process lacks efficiency, requiring manual interventions and causing delays in updating inventory records.

The Fix - Advanced Inventory Count

• The Copy Count to Journals function automates the transfer of counted inventory into the correct journal batches.
• Users can run a pre-posting test report to check for potential posting issues.
• This significantly reduces the chances of posting errors and eliminates tedious data entry.

 Advanced Inventory Count accelerates the posting process by reducing manual steps and ensuring real-time updates, improving overall warehouse efficiency.

Why Advanced Inventory Count is the Solution

For businesses struggling with inefficiencies in inventory counting, reconciliation, and posting, Advanced Inventory Count is a game-changer. By reducing manual errors, improving accuracy, and speeding up count completion times, this app ensures that inventory tracking becomes a seamless and reliable process. Ready to eliminate the headaches of manual inventory counting?