When Less is More: Warehousing in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Business Central

Implementing Warehousing in NAV/BC is a challenge for any company.  One of the hardest decisions to make during implementation is the amount of warehouse functionality to turn on.  It is easy to see all of the functionality that is available and want to turn it all on, especially if you are currently living in a world of paper and spending hours looking for inventory in your warehouse.

The reality is that many user teams may not be able to handle the amount of change necessary to implement Advanced Warehousing.  With new functionality comes new processes, and with new processes comes learning curve. Advanced functionality like scanning or batch tracking provides better efficiencies and quantifiable reporting, however such large changes all at once can cause unintended overhead. A phased approach can help ease teams into the new functionality.

A phased approach might look like this:

1. Turn on ‘Bin mandatory’ with a few bins in the warehouse – Go Live
2. Turn on ‘Require Receipt’ – 90 Days post go live
3. Turn on ‘Require Pick’ – 120 Days post go live
4. Add Automation – (hand helds or tablets) – 210 Days post go live
5. Turn on ‘Direct Bin’ and ‘Put Away’ using Zones and Bins in your warehouse - 365 Days post go live

The benefits include:

1. Higher User Acceptance
2. Smaller amount of functionality to train users on over a longer period of time
3. Change happens in smaller increments with less business interruption

A phased approach is one tactic to implement more functionality in your warehouse.  There are also reasons to skip the phased approach and just rip off the Band-Aid and go all in.  We’ll talk about that in our next blog.