This article examines key inventory tracking features in D365 F&O, the benefits and limitations of each, and provides actionable best practices to support a successful implementation.

Key inventory tracking capabilities in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations offers robust inventory tracking features designed to boost accuracy, traceability, and operational control. Here are the key capabilities you should know:

1. Multi-Unit of Measure (UoM) tracking

Overview

Supports inventory tracking across various units (e.g., boxes, pallets, pieces), enhancing operational flexibility.

Benefits

• Simplifies procurement and sales processes
• Enhances financial and inventory accuracy

Limitations

• Requires precise configuration and thorough testing
• User training is essential to prevent transactional errors

Pro tip

Always validate unit conversions using real-life data in a sandbox environment before go-live.

2. Catch weight management (Variable weight items)

Overview

Ideal for industries such as food, chemicals, or metals, where items vary by weight but are sold by quantity.

Benefits

• Supports weight-based pricing and costing
• Enables accurate inventory valuation for variable-weight products

Limitations

• May require integration with digital scales or weighing systems
• Adds complexity to transactional flows

Pro tip

Use catch weight tracking only when weight impacts pricing, cost, or compliance.

Read more: How to set up catch weight products in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations

3. Lot and serial number tracking

Overview

Allows tracking of individual items or item batches through lot or serial numbers.

Benefits

• Ensures traceability for regulatory compliance
• Enhances quality control and recall management

Limitations

• Increases data entry and operational time
• Not suitable for all item types

Pro tip

Restrict tracking to regulated or high-value items to maintain operational efficiency.

4. Advanced Warehouse Management (WMS)

Overview

Leverages barcode scanning, mobile workflows, and automation for real-time inventory visibility.

Benefits

• Streamlines warehouse operations
• Reduces errors through mobile validation and automation

Limitations

• Requires detailed design and process testing
• Must be piloted in a controlled environment

Pro tip

Implement gradually, starting with a specific warehouse zone before scaling organization-wide.

Further reading: Drive operational excellence with Dynamics 365 Warehouse Management Solution

5. Inventory costing and valuation methods

Overview

Supports methods such as FIFO, LIFO, moving average, and standard costing to align with financial reporting standards.

Benefits

• Ensures accurate cost tracking
• Supports audit and compliance requirements

Limitations

• Requires collaboration with finance stakeholders
• Periodic reconciliation is necessary

Pro tip

Select the appropriate costing method early and align it with organizational accounting practices.

6. Product variants and inventory dimensions

Overview

Enables item tracking at the variant level (e.g., size, color, configuration) for improved master data management.

Benefits

• Simplifies reporting and stock management
• Reduces item duplication

Limitations

• Excessive variant use can lead to system complexity
• Requires disciplined data governance

Pro tip

Maintain a clean variant matrix and adhere to consistent naming conventions.

Best practices for inventory tracking in D365 F&O

1. Conduct a business process review

Analyze current processes before selecting tracking options, particularly for costing, fulfillment, and inventory reconciliation.

2. Test with real data

Simulate transactions in a sandbox environment, including edge cases like returns, partial deliveries, and non-standard UoMs.

3. Focus on user training

Go beyond “how” and explain the “why” to warehouse, procurement, and finance teams.

4. Implement barcode scanning and mobile apps

Enhance speed and accuracy by utilizing D365 mobile apps for inventory management and counting.

5. Schedule regular inventory reconciliation

Utilize cycle counting and inventory journals to identify and correct discrepancies.

6. Track key inventory metrics

Monitor KPIs like inventory accuracy, turnover rate, and warehouse performance using embedded Power BI or third-party analytics.

Concluding thoughts: Strategic advantage through inventory tracking

Effective inventory tracking in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is more than a system configuration; it is a strategic initiative that strengthens operational reliability, financial transparency, and supply chain agility.

Organizations that implement D365 F&O’s inventory tracking capabilities with discipline and purpose can achieve improved forecasting accuracy, streamlined compliance, and better customer service.

Explore Confiz’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management services to drive smarter tracking and enhanced operational excellence. Contact us at marketing@confiz.com to discover how our experts can help you.

While batch jobs are highly beneficial, there are times when you may need to cancel them. In some cases, the tasks within a batch job cannot be terminated gracefully, leading to potential errors that can be frustrating to handle. Now that we’ve covered what a batch job is, let’s explore how to deactivate and delete them using this guide.

When is it necessary to deactivate or delete a batch job?

• Accumulated jobs in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can disrupt ongoing data processes, introducing discrepancies in datasets.
• Managing these jobs is critical for maintaining data integrity and ensuring accurate reporting for well-informed decision-making.
• Efficient management enhances data processing speed, facilitating smoother operations and improving user experience.
• Managing recurring data batch jobs ensures optimal resource utilization. By deactivating and deleting outdated jobs, you can free up system resources for current and future data integration processes, enhancing the overall performance of the system.

Potential errors when cancelling or deleting a batch job in D365

If you go to the system administration > inquiries > batch jobs, you cannot abort or delete the integration recurring batch jobs. You might encounter one of these errors:

Click on batch job ID which you want to delete.

If you go to delete the batch tasks or batch job completely, it will show the “Definition Groups cannot be deleted while dependent IntegrationActivityTable exist” error. Or “Delete dependent IntegrationActivityTable and try again” error.

Problem in deleting batch jobs from data management

If you try to delete the recurring data project itself from data management by following the path administration > workspaces > data management, it will again show the same error message as above.

How to successfully deactivate, cancel, or delete batch jobs: A step-by-step guide

Don’t worry if you encounter these errors. Follow these steps to successfully deactivate or delete batch jobs:

Step 1: From the home screen of Dynamics 365, go to the system administration workspace. Not from the modules.

Step 2: From the summary, click on “Data management IT.”

Step 3: Go to the recurring data jobs and find the required data job, in the enabled field, select “Inactive.”

Step 4: The job will be inactive. Now click on the name ID to open the detailed form. From there, perform the following steps:

• Disable recurring data job
• Process messages in order
• Use company from message
• Delete button will be enabled, now we can delete.

Summing up

By following the steps outlined in this guide, we hope you can streamline your processes, minimize system load, and ensure the smooth operation of your Dynamics 365 environment. If you encounter any errors while deactivating or deleting batch jobs, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at marketing@confiz.com for assistance.

What is carton management for inventory?

Carton management involves systematically handling and tracking containers within the supply chain, particularly useful for intercompany sales or bulk shipments. It minimizes packing errors, reduces scanning costs, and streamlines the shipment and receiving process. At Confiz, our customized approach towards carton management enhances automation in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, combining standard excellence with tailored automation for efficient and adaptable retail operations!
Let’s break down carton management for inventory into three key points:

• It is a functionality that allows businesses to optimize the packaging of items for shipment into cartons/containers or boxes.
• At the time of receiving, the user scans the carton barcode, and all the packed items will be marked as received in Dynamics 365.
• Can be used for intercompany sales and transfer orders for retail stores.

Pre-requisites for getting started

To benefit from carton management, you must have Advance Warehouse Management System in D365 enabled. Below are the brief details of AWMS setup:

• Storage dimension – Should be enabled for site, warehouse, location and enable the use warehouse management process.
• Reservation hierarchy – Should be enabled on location level.
  Unit sequence groups should be joined.
• Warehouses with AWMS should be enabled with location profiles and locations created.
• Packing profiles, containers, warehouse workers, mobile device menus should be created.

Note: Retail stores warehouses don’t need to be enabled to AWMS.

Functionality overview

Let’s review the functionality for both scenarios i.e. intercompany sales and transfer orders:

Carton management for intercompany sales

Carton receiving process against purchase order

When the sales order is processed it is time to receive the stock against the purchase order. On the warehouse dock, assume a number of cartons have arrived. Each carton contains inventory i.e. jewellery items, cosmetics, stitched clothes, shoes and bags etc. If a user verifies and marks each item as registered of product receipt in the system, this will consume a lot of time.

With carton management enabled in Dynamics 365, the user will just have to login to the warehouse mobile device and scan the carton barcoded. All the packed items will be registered in relevant purchase order. The process is explained via the figure below:

Solution walkthrough in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations with AWMS

Let’s review the functionality step by step. In the below screenshot, we can see that the work against sales order has been completed and stock is placed on the packing location:

Now, the warehouse worker will pack the stock into a container by scanning the item bar codes. This will generate container ID:

Once all the items are packed into the container, the user will close the container and confirm the shipment. See the below screenshot of closed container.

Note: Shipment can be auto confirmed in batch process after container close.

Attach the container bar code

You are now ready to print the carton barcode and paste it on the carton physically:

Receive the container

The Inventory will arrive to the receiving company’s warehouse against intercompany purchase order. Now without opening the carton, the warehouse worker will login to warehouse mobile device and scan the cartons to make registration of the packed inventory.

Below is the screenshot of the mobile device, displaying the container number:

After clicking OK, it will feed the information i.e. the purchase order number and all the packed items information with quantity that is packed in scanned carton:

After confirmation, go to the purchase order and verify that the stock is registered on floor (main) location:

Inventory registration

Now the user will generate and post product receipt against registered inventory in the purchase order.

Carton management for transfer orders

Transfer order process

Once the transfer order inventory arrives at destination retail outlet, the user will log into Dynamics 365. In a custom form, the user will select from and destination warehouse and without opening the carton, he will scan the carton bar code.
After scanning, it will show the lines of inventory that is packed in the cartons.

Note: As mentioned in the start, the retail outlet user doesn’t need to use warehouse mobile device because retail warehouses are not enabled for AWMS.

Solution walkthrough in D365 Finance and Operations

Let’s review the system’s screens. Assuming that the transfer order work has been completed, and stock is placed on packing location for containerization.

Now the container is closed, and shipment is confirmed:

Carton scanning at time of transfer order receiving

Select the from and destination warehouses, and scan carton barcodes without opening the carton. It will show the packed items’ detail. Verify the details and click on save. An auto batch job will mark the transfer order as received in Dynamics 365:

Technical aspects to remember

Above functionality of carton management is available D365 F&O as standard feature. There is a standard data entity which is “Inbound ASN V3” and it contains 5 child entities that run in sequence. An XML file must be imported in Inbound ASN V3 which will be creating a packing structure in the intercompany purchase order load lines.
As per standard process of Microsoft, you need to import the XML file into Inbound ASN V3 and run it.
We have worked with developer for automation of Inbound ASN and set the data batch job on recurring.

Below is the content of the XML file:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>

<Document>

<WHSInboundLoadHeaderEntity TractorNumber=””>

<WHSInboundShipmentHeaderEntity VENDORSHIPMENTID=”” VENDORADDRESSCOUNTRYREGIONID=”” VENDORADDRESSSTREET=”” VENDORADDRESSSTATEID=”” VENDORADDRESSCITY=”” VENDORADDRESSZIPCODE=””>

<WHSInboundLoadPackingStructureEntity LICENSEPLATENUMBER=””>

<WHSInboundLoadPackingStructureLineV3Entity PACKINGSTRUCTURELICENSEPLATENUMBER=”” PURCHASEORDERNUMBER=”” ITEMNUMBER=”” PRODUCTCOLORID=”” PRODUCTSTYLEID=”” PRODUCTSIZEID=”” PURCHASEORDERLINENUMBER=”” QUANTITY=”” UNITSYMBOL=”” />

</WHSInboundLoadPackingStructureEntity>

</WHSInboundShipmentHeaderEntity>

</WHSInboundLoadHeaderEntity>

</Document>

Summing up

We hope this guide provides valuable insights into carton management for your inventory. If you need assistance or encounter any issues, feel free to contact us at marketing@confiz.com, we’re here to help!