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Map data from Business Central to AGR
Updated over 2 months ago

Overview

This article will help you identify which fields are pulled from Business Central (BC) to AGR, providing a clear understanding of the data flow.

You’ll notice we divided this article into 2 different sections: Static and Transactional. This data will allow AGR to create demand forecasts and provide you with accurate order suggestions.

For best results, you should aim to register as much data as possible in BC. It is important to note that it’s not mandatory to register all data at once before using AGR. Instead, you can begin with 1 or 2 key vendors and respective items and add more later.

For additional information, we recommend checking Microsoft’s documentation.

Static Data

Fields pulled directly from your ERP will have a fixed value unless you change it.

In AGR's data hierarchy, the information entered in the Stockkeeping Unit Card takes priority over the Item Card, which, in turn, has precedence over the Vendor Card data. This hierarchy aligns with the priority order in Business Central.

This means the data will be taken from the SKU level if available. If not, it will use the item level. Lastly, if no other values are available, it will use the vendor’s data.

Check out this Microsoft article on how to set up Stockkeeping Units.

Item No and Item Name

Change the item number and name by defining it in the No. and Description boxes.

Primary Vendor

In the Item Card under the Replenishment section, you can assign a Primary Vendor to your item by using the Vendor No. column.

Location

AGR pulls the location Code and Name from your location list in BC. For more information on location setup criteria, check out this article.

Closed

Closed items can be found in the option Purchasing Blocked in the Item Card under the Replenishment section.

This means that items that have the purchasing blocked flag enabled in BC will show up as closed in AGR. Therefore, AGR won’t generate orders for these items, but they still need to be visible in AGR for reporting purposes.

Not to be confused with items that have the Blocked field enabled (under the Item section in BC, which will not be visible in AGR) or Sales Blocked (in the Prices & Sales section).

Lead time

AGR uses an item's lead time to calculate the expected delivery date of an order generated in AGR. This is the estimated number of days it takes for an order to arrive from the vendor once it is placed. Note that lead time impacts the calculated order proposals as it defines the order period.

  • SKU-level lead time

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as the Item Card. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

  • Item-level lead time

If you want to make exceptions to the Vendor Lead time for individual items, you can do so in the Item Card under Replenishment.

  • Vendor-level lead time

Lead time can be registered in the Vendor Card under the Receiving section. This assigns the lead time to all items linked to a specific vendor. If no specific lead time is set, it defaults to 1 day.

The lead time mapped from BC will become the default lead time for items in AGR. It is possible to overwrite lead times in AGR for individual items in the Item Card or with Bulk Update for multiple items at once.

The Minimum Order Quantity refers to the quantity requirements from the vendor to place an order. If this field is populated, orders for this item calculated by AGR will automatically be constrained to be at least this quantity.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

If you always order in multiples of the Base Unit, such as a whole Purchase Unit, AGR can take this into account and automatically round the order proposals up to the next Order Multiple.

Warning

If you have a Purchase Unit of measure different from the Base Unit, the Order Multiple will still be a multiple of the Base Unit.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Purchase price

Purchase Price is the price at which an item is bought from a vendor.

AGR uses the Last Direct Cost to populate the Purchase Price column. You can find the Last Direct Cost in the Item Card under the Costs & Posting section.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Cost Price

Cost Price corresponds to the purchase price plus additional costs such as shipping, handling, and manufacturing expenses.

Cost Price is read from the Unit Cost cell in the Item Card under Costs & Posting.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Sale Price

The Sale Price is the amount at which items are sold to your customers. AGR pulls it from the Unit Price column in the Item table, under Prices & Sales.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Weight

To map the data related to the weight of the item, Gross Weight should be populated in BC, under the Inventory Section.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Volume

AGR reads the Unit Volume from the Item Card under the Inventory section. This value is used to display the Total Volume in order aggregation and can also be used to constrain order volume using order constraints.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Pallet Qty.

This field is calculated as the quantity of base units of measure on a pallet.

The Unit of Measure Code for Pallet can be customized in AGR (Settings > General > Unit of Measure). This means that if you created a custom unit of measure with a different code in BC, AGR will be able to read it.

AGR pulls the Qty. per Unit of Measure in the Item Units of Measure in BC.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Purchase Unit of Measure

This is where the unit of measure for purchases is registered.

By default, the Purchase Unit of Measure is set to be equal to the Base Unit of Measure. To assign a different unit of measure as the Purchase Unit of Measure in BC, you must first define the Unit of Measure and input a conversion between the two units of measure in the Item Unit of Measure.

You can find more information on this in the Unit of Measure documentation from Microsoft.

Once the Units of Measure have been set up in BC, you can assign the item a Purchase Unit of Measure in the Item Card.

Base Unit of Measure

AGR reads the Base Unit of Measure from the Item Card in BC.

The base unit of measure is the standard unit used to count items in inventory. It is the reference point for managing, tracking, and reporting inventory quantities (e.g. pallet, piece, pack, set). This unit type is used for all inventory transactions and conversions.

Special Order Item

In AGR, it is possible to label some items with a Special Order Item flag. These items, also known as purchased-to-order or make-to-order items, do not have statistical forecasts or safety stock calculated. Replenishment for these items is solely driven by open sales orders from your customers.

To set this up in BC, use the Reorder Policy field with the value Order.

Note that the Reorder Policy set to "Lot for Lot" is utilized for regular items for which you want to generate a statistical forecast.

Item Group

AGR creates item groups from the top level of Item Categorization in BC. If hierarchies of Item Categories exist in BC, AGR will map the first level to Item Group Level 1 and the second level to Item Group Level 2. Learn more on Item Categorization in BC here.

For Item Level Group Level 1, AGR maps from the Item Category.

For Item Level Group 2, AGR maps from Item Categories.

Responsible

In the Vendor Card under the General section, you can assign purchasers responsible for vendors using the field Purchaser Code.

Items linked to the vendor will be assigned this value in the Responsible field in AGR. It can be used for grouping purposes or for quickly filtering a set of items that a user is responsible for.

If you can’t see the field, click “Show More”.

Original Item No

The Original Item Number refers to the reference number assigned by your supplier for the item you purchase from them. If you want to change this number, you can do it in the Replenishment field, under Vendor Item No.

Min Stock

If the minimum stock is higher than zero, AGR will ensure that stock levels do not drop below the minimum value. This value can be adjusted in the Safety Stock Quantity field, under Planning.

If you notice that your Safety Stock quantity isn't being populated into AGR's Min Stock column, please ask someone from the AGR staff to toggle the following System setting:

AGR has its own field called Safety Stock, which is calculated dynamically.

The safety stock is influenced by the item’s sales history/forecast uncertainty, confidence factor and order period. It is not mapped from any specific field in BC.

If you only want to consider the minimum stock in the forecast, turn off safety stock by setting a confidence factor of 50% on each item.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Max Stock

AGR maps the Maximum Stock from the Maximum Inventory field in the Item Card under the Planning section.

Its value can be used for the Reorder Point/Max Order Logic, as long as both Reorder Point and Max Stock are populated. Both fields are not included when the Standard Order Logic has been chosen.

If you want to map information from the SKU card, that will be done in the same field as shown here. If the SKU card has data, then it will have precedence over Item information.

Reorder Point

AGR maps the Reorder Point from the Reorder Point field in the Item Card under the Planning section.

Its value can be used for the Reorder Point/Max Order Logic, as long as both Reorder Point and Max Stock are populated. Both fields are not included when the Standard Order Logic has been chosen.

BOM

AGR reads both Assembly BOMs and Production BOMs in BC.

See more details on Work with Bills of Material.

Transactional Data

AGR tracks the evolution of these data series' values over time.

Sales

This is read from the Item Ledger Entry. Only entries with Entry Type of Sale count towards Actual Sale.

Stock Units

Stock units are calculated from the sum of stock movement in the Item Ledger Entry. To find this you need to search for Item Ledger Entries.

Undelivered

The Outstanding Quantity in base units refers to the amount that remains to be received from Purchase and Transfer Orders. This quantity is taken into account when AGR calculates orders. For more information, read more on Order calculations.

Selecting one order you can see more detailed information.

Open sales orders quantity

In AGR, Open Sales Orders are read from any BC Sales Order with an outstanding quantity. It won't be an open sales order as soon as it turns into an actual sale.

In BC, AGR takes information from the Sales line level, but if it is missing there it defaults to getting it from the Sales header level.

Please note that, for the Delivery Date, there are 3 column options to register dates:

  • Shipment Date (Sales Order Line), if registered

  • otherwise, Promised Delivery Date (Sales Header)

  • otherwise, Requested Delivery Date (Sales Header)

The screenshots below show the fields AGR pulls in.

Sales Header

You can then open a specific sales order by clicking on its number. Inside a sales order, you can view more detailed information about it.

Sales Order Line

To conclude, this article summarizes every field mapped from BC to AGR, identifying where AGR is obtaining its data. If you have any questions related to this, feel free to ask your BC partner or your Customer Success Manager.

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