Manufacturing planning and shop floor management in Dynamics 365 Business Central: New report notes implementation mismatches

Manufacturers using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central continue to struggle with production planning, scheduling, and managing work on the shop floor, according to a new report from Pulseoniq.

The report, The Pulse of Business Central & Manufacturing 2026 (registration required), found that D365BC helps manufacturers keep track of production orders and materials, but many still need other tools to plan and manage their daily production work.

Pulseoniq co-founders Elmar and Martin Karlowitsch wrote the report based on a survey of D365BC partners conducted between August and October 2026.

Manufacturers need better production planning tools

One of manufacturers’ biggest challenges is figuring out which jobs they can start with the materials, machines, and workers they have available.

According to the report, 67% of partners said their customers need help deciding which jobs they can start, while 66% said they need better tools to schedule work based on the resources they have available.

However, manufacturers don't always implement the applications they request. For example, partners estimated that 59% of new manufacturing customers ask for finite capacity scheduling, which helps companies plan work based on available resources. But only 34% end up with an application that provides that capability.

The report found a similar gap with manufacturing execution systems, which help companies manage and track production activities. While 62% of customers want these features, only 41% get them.

The gap is even bigger among smaller D365BC partners. Larger partners implement scheduling tools that take available production capacity into account for 48% of their manufacturing customers, compared with just 23% for smaller partners.

The report suggests that poor manufacturing data, implementation costs, and the work involved in setting up these applications may help explain why some customers don't implement them.

Paper and spreadsheets still common

Many manufacturers are still relying on spreadsheets, whiteboards, and paper documents to manage their daily production activities. Partners estimated that, on average, only 37% of their manufacturing customers rely entirely on D365BC to plan and manage production. The others use additional tools outside the D365BC environment.