Inefficient receiving processes can create significant bottlenecks in your supply chain, leading to delays, higher labor costs, and increased error rates. When goods arrive at the dock but take too long to verify, record, and store, it impacts everything downstream—from inventory accuracy to order fulfillment times.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) provides robust built-in tools for managing inbound warehouse activities, including receiving and put-away. These features can be further enhanced with extensions like Warehouse Insight from Insight Works, which adds real-time barcode scanning, streamlined workflows on handheld devices, and advanced capabilities, such as license plate tracking. This combination helps businesses achieve faster, more accurate inbound operations—often reducing receiving cycle times by 20-30% through reduced manual entry and immediate verification.
In this article, we’ll explore key aspects of receiving and put-away in BC, common challenges such as handling damaged goods and assigning license plates during receiving, and integration opportunities with tools like Dynamic Ship to improve outbound efficiency. Whether you’re an end user optimizing daily warehouse tasks or a Microsoft Partner guiding implementations, these insights will help configure effective workflows tailored to your operation.
Understanding Receiving and Put-Away in Business Central
Business Central supports different warehouse configurations, from basic to advanced (directed pick/put-away), determining how receiving and put-away are handled:
- Basic setups often use the Inventory Put-away document, which combines receiving and put-away into a single step for simpler locations.
- Advanced setups separate the processes: Use the Warehouse Receipt to record inbound items (posting creates warehouse entries and often generates put-away instructions), then handle the Warehouse Put-away to move items from receiving areas (e.g., staging bins) to final storage locations.
In directed setups, put-aways follow calculated strategies based on bin types, item attributes, and warehouse rules—ensuring optimal placement (e.g., high-turnover items near packing areas).
These core features provide a solid foundation, but manual processes can still slow things down. Extensions bridge this gap by enabling device-based execution.
Enhancing Inbound Workflows with Barcode Scanning and Real-Time Verification
Barcode scanning is one of the most impactful upgrades for receiving accuracy. BC natively supports item references and cross-references, but handheld device scanning verifies items in real time against purchase orders or warehouse receipts.
With solutions like Warehouse Insight:
- Workers scan barcodes directly on devices to confirm item numbers, quantities, lots/serial numbers, and variants.
- The system prevents posting incorrect items or quantities, reducing errors such as shipping the wrong product.
- Real-time sync keeps BC inventory up to date instantly—no waiting for paper-based entry or batch processing.
This approach physically aligns the virtual (BC records) and physical worlds, boosting confidence in stock levels and minimizing discrepancies.
Generating Labels Upon Receipt
Printing labels during receiving streamlines downstream processes like put-away and future picking.
In BC, you can configure label printing from documents or journals. Extensions extend this to handheld devices:
- Generate item, bin, or pallet labels immediately after scanning during receipt.
- Use data matrix codes for dense information (e.g., item, lot, expiration, quantity) in compact formats.
- Print to network printers assigned to the device or location.
This eliminates the need for separate labeling steps and ensures items are trackable from the moment they enter the warehouse.
Assigning License Plates at Receiving
License plating groups items (e.g., on pallets or boxes) under a single scannable identifier, ideal for mixed loads or outbound prep.
Warehouse Insight supports building license plates during receiving:
- Start license plating in the receiving app, scan items to add them to a new or existing plate.
- Assign a unique license plate number (often barcoded) to the group.
- For put-away, scan the license plate once instead of scanning each item—faster for bulk movements.
- In advanced flows, plates built at receiving carry through to put-away, where the entire unit moves to the designated bin.
This reduces scans and supports visibility: View contents of any plate via inquiry apps.
Handling Damaged Goods During Receiving
Damaged items arriving from vendors need careful handling to avoid inflating usable inventory and to ensure compliance with quality standards.
BC doesn’t have a dedicated “damaged” flag on receipts, but practical approaches include:
- Use reason codes or non-conformance tracking in quality processes (if extended).
- Receive into a quarantine or damaged bin/location for inspection.
- Post partial receipts (good qty to inventory bin, damaged to separate area), then use item journals for adjustments (negative for write-offs) or return orders.
- Capture evidence with device cameras—attach photos to purchase orders or ledger entries for audits.
Extensions like Quality Inspector from Insight Works enhance this by enabling inbound receiving inspections directly tied to purchase receipts. During receiving, you can automatically or manually create a quality test, capture photos of damage (with automatic upload to OneDrive), and apply configurable grades (e.g., “Fail” or custom failure codes) based on inspection results. This flags issues in real time, blocks lot transactions (e.g., preventing sales or picks for failed lots), and supports retests or dispositions, such as moving to quarantine bins—keeping physical goods in-house but unavailable for use while maintaining a centralized electronic record for audits and compliance.
Integrating with Dynamic Ship for Seamless Outbound Flows
License plates shine when linking inbound to outbound. Plates built during receiving/put-away provide detailed contents for shipping.
Dynamic Ship (another Insight Works tool) integrates to:
- Use license plate data for packing slips, carrier labels (UPS/FedEx), and bill of lading generation.
- If picking builds additional plates, combine with the received ones for accurate shipment manifests.
- Post shipments directly and update BC records in real time.
This creates end-to-end visibility—from dock receipt to customer delivery.
Implementation Best Practices for Partners and End Users
For Microsoft Partners:
- Assess location setup early: Enable “Require Receive” and “Require Put-away” for controlled flows.
- Recommend hardware (Android scanners) and test Wi-Fi coverage for real-time ops.
- Use Quick Start programs for rapid deployment, focusing on barcode integration first.
- Customize menus/columns in extensions for client-specific views (e.g., show vendor, expected date).
- Train on license plating early—it’s a high-ROI feature for mixed-SKU environments.
For End Users:
- Start with vendor-barcoded items to maximize scanning efficiency.
- Configure two-stage receiving (stage → put-away) for better control.
- Use offline mode as a backup for Wi-Fi dead spots, but prioritize real-time for error prevention.
- Regularly review discrepancies via cycle counts to maintain accuracy gains.
Conclusion: Unlock Faster, More Accurate Inbound Operations
Streamlining receiving and put-away in Dynamics 365 Business Central transforms warehouse efficiency by eliminating bottlenecks, reducing errors, and ensuring inventory data remains reliable from the moment goods arrive. Built-in documents and configurations provide a strong structural foundation, while extensions deliver the real-time capabilities modern warehouses require: barcode scanning for instant verification, license plating for efficient bulk handling, label generation at the point of receipt, and intelligent quality checks to properly manage damaged or non-conforming items.
By combining these elements—real-time device-based workflows, photo capture with automatic attachments, configurable quality grades, lot blocking when standards aren’t met, and seamless outbound integration via tools like Dynamic Ship—you gain end-to-end visibility and control that directly impacts downstream processes such as picking, packing, and shipping.
Whether you’re an end user looking to speed up daily operations or a Microsoft Partner helping clients achieve measurable improvements, the path forward is clear: start with a solid BC warehouse setup, layer on targeted extensions like Warehouse Insight and Quality Inspector from Insight Works, and focus on quick wins such as vendor-barcoded receipts and license plating.
Small, thoughtful configuration changes—often completed in weeks rather than months—can deliver 20-30% faster receiving cycles, dramatically higher inventory accuracy, fewer returns, and stronger compliance. If you’re ready to move from reactive firefighting to proactive, efficient inbound operations, reach out to your Microsoft Partner or visit the Insight Works website for demos, Quick Start programs, and implementation resources. The tools are available—now is the time to put them to work and unlock real supply chain performance gains.