If you work as a purchaser in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can use a purchase management journal to keep track of every interaction with your vendors on a purchase order. The journal stores the lines you send, so you always have an overview of what you requested and what the vendor confirmed.
When a vendor confirms a different quantity or a later receipt date than you asked for, you can update the purchase order directly from the confirmation. The quantity and date on the order are updated automatically, and you can change them again and resend the request if you need to.
Why purchasing is more complex than it looks
On the surface, being a purchaser seems like a simple job. You create a purchase order, send the request to the vendor, accept the answer, and you are done.
In reality it rarely works that cleanly. You often need to change something on the order. That means you have to resend the request to the vendor and accept a new answer. Sometimes this happens several times before the order is final. So handling a purchase order is much more complex than just creating it and sending it off once.
Keeping an overview with the purchase management journal
To make the purchaser’s job easier and keep track of all the interactions, you can work with a purchase management journal in Business Central.
When you create a purchase order and fill it out, you handle and send it as usual. The lines you just created then appear automatically in your purchase management journal. From there you are waiting for the vendor’s answer, and the journal keeps the relevant lines ready for you.
Handling vendor confirmations that differ from your request
Vendors do not always confirm exactly what you ordered. A vendor might tell you they can deliver only 12 units instead of the 15 you requested, and give you a receipt date on another line that is one day later than you asked for.
You register the vendor’s answer in the journal, and the purchase order updates accordingly. The quantity and the date on the order are now adjusted to match the confirmation.
If you then need to change something again, for example the quantity, you can do that and resend the request. The journal handles each new round, so you always keep the overview no matter how many times the order changes before it is settled.
Q&A
What is the purchase management journal in Business Central used for?
It keeps track of every interaction with your vendor on a purchase order. When you send an order, the lines appear automatically in the journal, where you can register the vendor’s confirmation and update the order if the confirmed quantity or date differs from your request.
What happens if a vendor confirms a different quantity or date than I ordered?
You register the vendor’s answer, and the quantity and date on the purchase order update automatically. For example, if you ordered 15 units and the vendor can deliver only 12, the order is adjusted to 12, and a later receipt date is applied where the vendor confirmed one.
Can I change a purchase order again after a vendor has confirmed it?
Yes. You can change the order, for example the quantity, resend the request to the vendor, and accept the new answer. The journal handles each round, so you keep the overview through every change.