Dynamics 365 AI and The Sales and Inventory Forecast – How To Guide
Dynamics 365 simplifies and automates daily tasks. It has built-in intelligence to save you time and enable you to monitor patterns and changes in your business. Business Central cleverly notifies you of actions you may want to consider for tasks you are currently completing. It allows you to streamline tasks and reduces data entry, thereby making you more productive.
This guide covers the Sales and Inventory Forecast AI Extension, which is available to add to your D365 system at no cost. Other AI extensions include:
- Cashflow forecast
- Late Payment Predictions
The Sales and Inventory Forecast Extension predicts future sales using historical data and identifies when you will need to order more inventory to meet these orders. It enables you to manage your stock more efficiently and subsequently, service your customers better.
Why our Customers love this feature
Being able to accurately forecast and predict stock levels means your products could never be out of stock again! The benefits of this are vast, including reduced lost sales, increased customer satisfaction and reduced part shipments.
Importantly, customers need not tie up cash reserves by holding too much stock.
Typical uses of this function include;
- Forecast future sales using historical data
- Predict items that are likely to go out of stock, considering factors such as delivery time from your suppliers
- Directly create purchase orders for the required vendors, including prepopulating required information
- Identify any other items that should be ordered from the supplier to avoid them becoming out of stock.
This advanced automation and AI is one of our Top 5 Features of Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Overview of Dynamics 365 AI and Forecasting
The Sales and Inventory Forecast extension helps you to manage stock levels. It predicts potential sales by using historical data and gives a clear overview of items that you are expected to run out of.
We take a closer look below.
In D365, you have a list of stock items, including the costing methods and planning details per item.
If you pick an item:
You can also see additional attributes that you can define and set:
You can also forecast data, based on criteria you set and historical data in the system. The graph below displays the stock level forecast, showing that you will soon be in negative stock.
You can also see a sales forecast:
From here, you can change the forecast type and settings, and also raise a purchase order:
The PO will be created, based on the settings within the forecast. In this example, this is a 2-month stock horizon.
Summary
The Sales and Inventory Forecast extension is just one of the many ways that Microsoft Dynamics 365 uses its intelligence to help you work more efficiently and improve customer service. By streamlining your stock management, you can avoid products being out of stock, improve customer satisfaction and better manage your cashflow.
For more information, visit our Dynamics 365 Business Central page or simply get in touch.
