License Plating for Warehouse Receiving in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
When pallets arrive at the dock, the fastest path from dock to storage bin is a single scan. Warehouse Insight lets receiving teams build license plates during the receiving process itself — scanning items onto the plate as they work through the receipt — and then put away the entire pallet with one LP barcode scan. Business Central tracks the contents of the full plate from the moment the first item is scanned onto it.
At a Glance
- Build license plates during receiving by scanning items onto the plate as you process the purchase order, transfer order, or receipt document.
- Print the LP barcode label directly from the device as soon as the plate is complete.
- Scan the LP barcode once during put-away to assign the entire pallet to its destination bin, without line-by-line confirmation.
- All receiving lines on the plate must share the same bin, ensuring clean inventory records in Business Central from the start.
Have a Question about License Plating for Warehouse Receiving?
Key Capabilities
Start a license plate from within the receiving application. Workers press Start License Plate from the receiving application menu, and the device creates a new plate. The status bar shows the active license plate number throughout the receiving process. Workers continue scanning items and entering quantities as normal. Every line processed while the plate is active is added to the plate’s contents.
Scan a license plate template barcode to create a new plate. Instead of pressing Start License Plate from the menu, workers can scan a license plate template barcode to create a new plate instantly. For high-volume receiving operations where workers build multiple plates per shift, this speeds up the plate creation step to a single scan.
Reopen existing plates. Workers can reopen an unassigned or document-assigned license plate to continue adding items. This supports scenarios where a pallet is built across multiple receiving sessions or where items from the same pallet are processed at different times.
Stop and print. When the pallet is complete, workers press Stop License Plate. The device prompts to print the LP label — the label prints to any BC-configured printer directly from the handheld. Workers apply the label to the physical pallet before it moves to the staging area.
Single-scan put-away. When the put-away document appears for the received goods, the worker scans the LP barcode. Warehouse Insight assigns the entire pallet to the destination bin in one transaction. Business Central updates all inventory lines simultaneously. For operations processing dozens of inbound pallets per shift, this replaces dozens of line-by-line confirmations with one scan per pallet.
Scan a pre-built license plate to receive. Operations can also scan a previously built license plate to receive against an existing receipt document. The receipt lines must all share the same bin and match the license plate bin.
Lot and serial tracking on the plate. Lot and serial numbers captured during receiving are attached to the plate’s contents in Business Central. Workers capture tracking information in the standard quantity dialog when scanning each item onto the plate. The plate carries the tracking detail through to put-away and every subsequent transaction.
How License Plating Works During Receiving
The license plate build process runs inside the standard Warehouse Insight receiving application. Workers open the purchase order, transfer order, or inventory receipt as they normally would. Before scanning the first item, the worker presses Start License Plate or scans a license plate template barcode. The device creates a new plate and displays the plate number in the status bar.
From that point, receiving continues normally: scan the bin, scan the item, enter the quantity and any lot or serial tracking information. Each line processed adds to the active license plate. When the pallet is physically complete, the worker presses Stop License Plate, confirms the print prompt, and the LP label prints immediately. The worker applies the label to the pallet before it moves.
When the put-away document generates in Business Central, the worker opens it on the device and scans the LP barcode. Warehouse Insight confirms the entire pallet to the destination bin in a single transaction. All lines on the pallet process simultaneously. Business Central updates in real time.
Why LP Receiving Speeds Up the Dock
The efficiency gain from license plating at receiving shows most clearly at put-away. Without license plates, a worker putting away a pallet of 12 different SKUs must confirm 12 separate scan-and-quantity steps. With a license plate built during receiving, that same put-away is one scan. The plate carries the item, quantity, and tracking detail for every line. Put-away time per pallet drops to seconds regardless of how many SKUs it contains.
For operations running two-step receiving, where goods land in a staging area before a separate put-away task assigns them to storage bins, license plates make the handoff seamless. The pallet sits in staging with a barcode label. The forklift operator scans the label, and the entire pallet is moved to the correct bin in a single transaction.
Who Uses LP Receiving
Receiving clerks build license plates at the dock as pallets arrive, scanning items onto the plate as they process each receipt and printing LP labels before pallets move to staging. Forklift operators and put-away workers scan LP barcodes to move entire pallets from staging to storage bins with one scan per pallet, without scanning individual items. Warehouse supervisors configure the selection of the LP label report, printer assignment, and put-away posting behavior in Business Central.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. License plate building during receiving works for purchase orders, transfer orders, sales return orders, and inventory receipts in Business Central. The process is the same regardless of document type: press Start License Plate, scan items as normal, press Stop License Plate, print the label.
Yes. All receiving lines assigned to a license plate must share the same destination bin. This ensures the put-away transaction is clean: a single scan of the LP barcode confirms the entire pallet is placed in a single bin. For pallets that need to split across multiple bins, workers build separate license plates for each destination bin during receiving.
Yes. Workers press Start License Plate and select the reopen option from the prompt. The device displays a list of unassigned license plates and plates already assigned to the current document. Selecting an existing plate reopens it, and workers continue scanning items onto it. This supports pallets that build across multiple receiving sessions or where items process at different times within the same receipt.
Lot and serial numbers captured during the receiving process are attached to the specific items in the plate’s contents in Business Central. Workers enter tracking information in the standard quantity dialog when scanning each item. The plate carries the full tracking detail through put-away and all subsequent transactions, so lot and serial accuracy is maintained from the first scan at the dock.