Does Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Forecasting Include a Slow Moving Inventory Feature?

Question

Does Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central inventory forecasting include a slow moving inventory feature?

Slow Moving Inventory Feature Is Not Included

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central’s native forecasting focuses solely on sales history data for demand prediction.

The standard forecasting tools do not include a specific feature for handling slow moving inventory.

The Enhanced Forecasting Worksheet app is extensible and allows adding custom logic, but no slow moving inventory feature is provided out of the box.

Details On Forecasting Limitations And Extensibility

Business Central’s native forecasting primarily leverages historical sales data to project future demand. It does not explicitly account for slow-moving inventory characteristics, as the focus remains on anticipated sales trends.

This limitation arises because the forecasting relies on Microsoft Azure Machine Learning models that process standard sales history without differentiating inventory velocity.

The Enhanced Forecasting Worksheet enhances base forecasting capabilities by offering a workspace to review and adjust forecast outputs, but it does not automatically analyze slow-moving inventory.

Nevertheless, it supports extensibility through events and customizations. Developers or consultants can add logic to incorporate slow-moving inventory analysis by enhancing the forecasting data and calculation processes.

If no historical sales data exists for an item, forecasting results will not reflect accurate demand predictions, which may affect visibility into slow moving stock.

Without customization, slow moving inventory handling must be manually identified outside the native or enhanced forecasting tools.

Extensibility requires development effort and is not available as a pre-configured feature in standard Business Central or the Enhanced Forecasting Worksheet.

Related Tools For Business Central Forecasting And Planning

The Enhanced Forecasting Worksheet provides a customizable environment for demand forecasting within Business Central, allowing data-driven updates to planning parameters based on sales history.

The Enhanced Planning Worksheet complements forecasting by combining supply, demand, and vendor planning into a consolidated interface, but neither tool includes native slow moving inventory analysis.

These extensions allow real-time inventory planning adjustments but require custom development to handle specific scenarios like slow moving inventory.