The graphical inventory profile in Business Central lets you see which item ledger entries will expire and when. Instead of working from a static expiration date, you can also factor in remaining shelf life, which is the share of an item’s shelf life that must still be left when you ship it to a customer.
You set the remaining shelf life as a percentage in the setup for the graphical profile. If you require 60 percent, an item must have at least 60 percent of its shelf life left at the point of sale. Anything below that counts as unsellable, even though the official expiration date has not yet passed.
This matters because a lot that looks fine against its expiration date can become effectively expired much earlier once you apply a shelf life requirement. The graphical profile shows you this, so you can plan which batches to ship and spot inventory that is at risk before it becomes a problem.
If you use the Reverse Planning app, you can calculate and display all items that fail the remaining shelf life requirement, so you can act on them before they expire.
Viewing expiring item ledger entries in the graphical inventory profile
With the graphical inventory profile you can view item ledger entries that expire. When you open the graphical profile for an item, you see the entries that are due to expire within the period.
In the example, the profile shows an item ledger entry in the middle that expires. A quantity of 5,500 on a specific lot number will expire on a given date. In practice this means one sales order on that lot cannot be handled, because the goods will no longer be available to ship.
How remaining shelf life changes the picture
The graphical profile can also handle what we call remaining shelf life. The expiration date on the item ledger entry, for example July 28, is the date the goods technically expire. But a customer will not accept an item on the very day it expires. Customers often have their own demands for how much shelf life must be left when they receive the goods.
You handle this in the setup for the graphical profile. On the dates tab, where you have selected to show items that expire, there is a field that takes remaining shelf life into account. Here you enter a remaining shelf life percentage.
If you set this to 60, you are saying that your items should have at least 60 percent of their shelf life remaining when you sell them to the customer.
The effect on inventory and sales orders
After entering the percentage and viewing the graphical profile for the same item, the picture changes. The item ledger entry that looked fine before now expires earlier, because it only lasts 40 percent of the period before it falls below the shelf life requirement. This also causes another item ledger entry to count as expired within the period.
The practical result is that you can still ship your first sales order, but you have to take the goods from a different batch number in stock. You can then ship your second sales order as well. The impact on your inventory becomes more visible, because more stock is now flagged as unusable than the raw expiration dates suggested.
This gives you a clear overview of remaining shelf life and lets you plan which batches to use for which orders.
Finding items at risk with the Reverse Planning app
If you use the Reverse Planning app, you can calculate and display all your items that fall below the remaining shelf life requirement. That lets you find a way to get rid of them or sell them before they expire, rather than discovering the problem when it is too late.
Q&A
What does the graphical inventory profile show?
It shows item ledger entries that will expire and when, including the quantity and lot number affected. This helps you see which sales orders cannot be fulfilled from a given lot.
What is remaining shelf life in Business Central?
Remaining shelf life is the share of an item’s shelf life that must still be left when you ship it to a customer. It reflects that customers will not accept goods on or near their expiration date.
How do you set up remaining shelf life?
In the setup for the graphical profile, on the dates tab where you have selected to show items that expire, you enter a remaining shelf life percentage. For example, 60 percent means items must have at least 60 percent of their shelf life left when sold.
How does remaining shelf life affect which batches you ship?
Items can become effectively expired before their actual expiration date once the shelf life requirement is applied. You may need to ship a sales order from a different batch number, and more stock may be flagged as unusable.
How do you find all items that fail the remaining shelf life requirement?
Use the Reverse Planning app to calculate and display all items that fall below the requirement, so you can sell them or dispose of them before they expire.