Question
Can Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central’s shipping functionality control when shipment confirmation and tracking emails are sent for orders packed today but shipping later?
Shipment Email Timing Control in Business Central
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central does not natively provide granular control over the timing of shipment confirmation and tracking emails when orders are packed and shipped on different days.
Dynamic Ship extends this capability by allowing users to manage the sending of shipment and tracking emails separately from packing and shipping events. This enables businesses to delay emails until actual shipment occurs, supporting workflows such as truckload shipping with packing done in advance.
Technical Details on Email Notification Timing and Shipment Processing
Native Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central lacks native features to specifically control the timing of shipment confirmation and tracking email notifications relative to packing and shipping events. This limitation arises because the standard system typically triggers these notifications when the shipment is posted or confirmed without options to delay or schedule them separately.
The extension Dynamic Ship introduces separate controls for shipment confirmation and tracking communications. It enables the decoupling of packing and shipping milestones, so notifications can be held back until the actual shipment date, even if packing occurs earlier.
Dynamic Ship’s packaging and shipping processes are integrated with carrier systems and include features like real-time rate shopping and label printing, but it also supports flexible communication workflows where the user can decide when to send emails. This flexibility accommodates scenarios such as consolidated truckload shipments where orders are packed in advance but shipped later.
Underlying this capability, Dynamic Ship manages shipment records and tracking status within Business Central, storing the relevant email templates and triggers that can be manually or automatically invoked according to business rules or user actions.
If shipment confirmations are generated automatically by third-party integrations or customizations, controlling email timing may require additional configuration outside standard Business Central or Dynamic Ship.
In environments not using Dynamic Ship, timing control for shipment emails is limited by native Business Central’s event triggers.
For drop shipping or very simple shipping scenarios, the email timing controls in Dynamic Ship may be unnecessary or less applicable.
Related Business Central Shipping and Fulfillment Tools
Dynamic Ship centralizes carrier integration, real-time rate shopping, packaging, label creation, and shipment tracking within Business Central. It introduces controls for email notification timing but does not alter the native shipment confirmation logic by itself.
Order Fulfillment Worksheet automates order availability decisions and pick creation but does not directly manage shipment email notifications.
Order Ship Express provides a simpler parcel shipping solution with some label and tracking capabilities but lacks the advanced email timing controls of Dynamic Ship.