The direct replenishment journal in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central lets you fill up items manually on a location, even when those items are not critical, below zero, or otherwise flagged by your normal planning. You control this behaviour with a template that has the “always trigger line insert” setting enabled.
When you set up a stock keeping unit with a maximum inventory and use “suggest quantity to order maximum”, the journal calculates the difference between what is on hand and the maximum. If a service car holds 10 of an item and the maximum inventory is 80, the journal suggests 70.
This is useful when you want to top up a shop, a service technician’s car, or a third-party logistics location to maximum and bundle items into a single combined transfer or pick.
How the direct replenishment journal fills up items manually
You use the direct replenishment journal to fill up items on a location manually. The behaviour is driven by the template you select.
In the template card you can set the check mark “always trigger line insert”. This means all lines within the filter or the stock keeping unit filter on the template are inserted into the journal, regardless of whether they are critical, below zero, or otherwise triggered by standard planning logic.
Using maximum inventory to fill up shops, service cars, and 3PL locations
This setup works well in a few practical scenarios:
- You are planning for a shop or sales location and want to fill it up. You know you are shipping some items out there, and you want to look for other items to include in the same load.
- You have a service technician driving a car. If you create the car as a location, you set up a maximum inventory on the stock keeping unit card for that location.
- You have a separate third-party logistics (3PL) location you want to top up.
When you run the simple MRP or classic MRP and discover that a service car is running low on some components, you have to call the car back to fill it up anyway. While it is back, you might as well prepare other items and fill the car up to maximum inventory. That way the technician comes back fewer times instead of many times.
Setting up the template for replenishment to maximum inventory
For this purpose you select a replenishment template and set “inventory up to maximum inventory” on the template. In the template you choose to calculate up to maximum inventory.
This means that even though there are many stock keeping unit cards for a car or a sales location, you can use the maximum field to trigger the replenishment.
When you calculate direct replenishment with this template and select a location, which can be a shop, a car, a separate 3PL location, or whatever you want to fill up, the quantity to order is empty except for the items where you have set up a maximum inventory. That is because you have used “suggest quantity to order maximum”. You can still change the quantity manually and try something else.
If you filter on “quantity to order” greater than zero, the journal shows all the items with a maximum inventory and the suggested quantity to order based on the end inventory. So if the car already holds 10 and the maximum inventory is 80, it suggests 70.
Carrying out the replenishment as a combined transfer or pick
This approach makes it easy to bundle items into a service car, a shop, or any other location to create a combined transfer or combined pick for a specific location.
After calculating, you set the action message on the lines and carry it out to transfer it into the requisition planning worksheet. From there you carry out the action again.
If you want to make a transfer in inventory as well, the warehouse can prepare the pick for shipping it to the location or for filling the car when it comes back.
Q&A
What does the direct replenishment journal do?
It lets you fill up items manually on a location in Business Central, even when the items are not critical, below zero, or otherwise flagged by standard planning. The behaviour is controlled by the template you select.
How do I force items into the journal even when they are not triggered by planning?
Set the “always trigger line insert” check mark on the template card. All lines within the filter or stock keeping unit filter are then inserted into the journal.
How does the maximum inventory field control the suggested quantity?
When you set up a maximum inventory on the stock keeping unit card and use “suggest quantity to order maximum”, the journal suggests the difference between the end inventory and the maximum. If you have 10 on hand and a maximum of 80, it suggests 70.
What scenarios is this replenishment method suited for?
It works for filling up a shop or sales location, topping up a service technician’s car set up as a location, and replenishing a separate third-party logistics (3PL) location. It lets you bundle items into a single combined transfer or pick.
How do I complete the replenishment after calculating it?
Set the action message on the lines and carry it out to transfer them into the requisition planning worksheet. From there, carry out the action again. If you want an inventory transfer, the warehouse can prepare the pick for shipping to the location or filling the car when it returns.