If you work as a planner in Business Central, the graphical inventory profile gives you a visual way to understand why the system suggests the actions it does. You can open it directly from the planning worksheet or the requisition worksheet.
The profile shows your existing supply, demand, and inventory as one curve. When you enable the planning view, you also see what happens to your inventory if you carry out the planning suggestions. This makes it easy to see consequences before you act, for example whether following the suggestions will lower your inventory significantly.
Opening the graphical inventory profile from the planning worksheet
When you run planning, you often end up with several worksheet lines on the same item. In a typical scenario you might have four lines for one item, where some suggest cancelling existing orders and others suggest creating new ones. To understand why the system makes those suggestions, you can pull up the graphical inventory profile straight from the planning or requisition worksheet.
You run the profile with all the normal filters you would otherwise use, so you see exactly the item and conditions you are interested in.
Including existing orders and planning lines in the view
The profile has two options that control what you see.
- Include planning lines adds what is called the red curve. This shows your existing situation: current orders, all supplies and demands, and your inventory.
- The planning view sits on top of that and shows the consequences of carrying out the suggestions. The small green dots represent what happens if you act on the planning lines.
With both enabled, you can compare your current position against the result of following the plan in a single graphical view.
Using the profile to explain planning decisions
This is a practical tool for explaining what will happen when you carry out the planning lines. In the example above, the graphical view makes it clear that acting on the suggestions will lower the inventory significantly. Seeing that visually gives you a much faster way of understanding a planning line than reading through the numbers alone.
Q&A
Where can I open the graphical inventory profile in Business Central?
You can open it directly from the planning worksheet or the requisition worksheet, so you stay in the context of the lines you are reviewing.
What does the “Include planning lines” option do?
It adds the red curve, which shows your existing situation: current orders, all supplies and demands, and your inventory.
What do the small green dots in the planning view show?
The green dots show the consequences of your planning suggestions, meaning what your inventory situation will look like if you carry out the planning lines.
How does the graphical profile help when I have several planning lines on the same item?
It lets you see the inventory profile behind the suggestions, so you can understand why the system suggests cancelling some orders and creating others, and what the combined effect on your inventory will be.