Getting Started with Reverse Planning

1. INSTALL AND TEST

You have chosen to evaluate or get started with Reverse Planning for Dynamics 365 Business Central, and this is your guide to installing and getting started with the solution.

You should test the app in a sandbox before you deploy it to your production environment.

If you test the functionality, you will create productions, so please do all your testing in a sandbox environment.

2. PURPOSE

This app is usually used for 4 purposes, and number 1 is the most popular, so we will focus on it to get you started. We have many instructional videos available about all the details.

Purpose 1: SIMPLE MRP PLANNING

Simple MRP Planning is a simplified and much more user-friendly version of the full MRP in Business Central. MRP, although very useful, requires complex knowledge and control of data and configurations, making it complicated to process. With the Simple MRP Planning you can identify all items that fall below the safety stock level within lead time. This allows you to take action on the items that are most critical. Reverse Planning suggests actions based on all known supplies and demands

The Simple MRP Planning function makes daily work easier, and everybody will benefit from using it.

Purpose 2: MOVE DEMAND DATES

With Business Central’s MRP, the sales order is the starting point for planning, and purchases and production must be planned accordingly. But reality doesn’t always work that way. With Reverse Planning’s “Move Demand Dates”, you start from what is possible in purchasing and plan when you can produce and deliver.

You must assess whether it is best to plan based on sales orders or purchases. The answer depends on what is most difficult to change in your situation.

If purchasing is the most difficult to plan, and production and customers have to adapt to whatever is possible, then the “Move Demand Date” function in Reverse Planning is very effective as it suggests changes to relevant Sales Orders.

Purpose 3: IDENTIFY OVERSTOCK INVENTORY

The “Identify Overstock Inventory” function allows you to manage your stock in detail. You can identify which items you have too many of in stock, so you can reduce the inventory binding. You can also identify items that are nearing their expiration date. Naturally, this requires that you register expiry dates on items.

If you manage inventory in detail or you work with remaining-shelf-life, then Reverse Planning is quite indispensable.

Purpose 4: DIRECT REPLENISHMENT

The ‘Direct Replenishment’ function enables you to automatically restock all inventory in a specific location, such as a service van, to its maximum level whenever any item reaches its minimum threshold. This means you can fully replenish the van while it’s at the warehouse. Additionally, ‘Direct Replenishment’ allows you to order all necessary items from a particular vendor, even if only one item is below the re-order point, thereby reducing freight costs and ensuring timely restocking.

3. THE PLANNING WORKSHEETS

There is no configuration of this app. Once installed and activated, it’s ready to use.

You can search for Reverse Planning to find the App Cockpit from where you can access the four major functions – each with its own custom worksheet. For each of the functions you can draw from a list of pre-defined planning templates to get started. You can also customize and share the templates simplify operations and enhance efficiency.

4. FIRST USE OF “SIMPLE MRP PLANNING”

“Simple MRP Planning” provides a quick overview of whether there are any items that are critical right now. Are there components or items that you need to order now.

Many use MRP for the overall planning monthly, and Reverse Planning for all the daily challenges and conflicts. If a warehouse employee discarded a case of an item this morning and you must deliver soon, Reverse Planning can easily show that a need has arisen.

When calculating the Simple MRP, under options, click use templates. Use the template with the description “Find Critical Items Below Zero”. You can play around with the template and tailor it to your needs, although when you use it, you will be given a list of all critical items and suggests actions to restock.

A dialogue window offers you many filtering options, but for now, we suggest you run it as it is. The result is a list of items that you will at some point run out of because the inventory hits zero or safety stock.

Many companies do not have 100% accurate dates on deliveries and orders. Perhaps you have purchased an item that arrives the day after the delivery date on the sales order. You may know that it is not a problem for the customer, but Business Central will say that you are short of the item, if you are looking for items that at some point will pass zero.

Try running the “Simple MRP Planning” again. This time you configure it to check if there are any items missing at the end of the period. The items that pass zero during the period, but do not end up with a shortage, will not be included in the list. You must set the following:

– Calculate according: Zero
– Trigger on End Inventory: Yes

This creates fewer lines in the worksheet because it only shows the really big problems.

In the worksheet there are many columns for many purposes. We suggest that you focus on these 3 columns to begin with:

– Inventory
– End Inventory
– Lowest Inventory

This is the information you need to evaluate the inventory situation and find critical items.

5. TRAINING

Now, you have tried the basic functionality of Reverse Planning. You have only scratched the surface, but hopefully you now have an idea about what the app can do.

If you want to try the “Move Demand Date” or other functionalities, we suggest you head to the Use Dynamics portal and watch some of the instructional videos about Reverse Planning.

You will find all the Reverse Planning videos here: usedynamics.com/reverse-planning
And these are direct links to some of the main topics:
Find Critical Items: usedynamics.com/reverse-planning/calculation-find-critical-items
Move Demand Dates: usedynamics.com/reverse-planning/move-demand-dates
Find Overstock Items: usedynamics.com/reverse-planning/find-overstock-items
Expiration: usedynamics.com/reverse-planning/expiration-date-remaining-shelf-life-percentage