Decision help - To enable or not to enable advanced warehousing

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Posted on by Sreehari

Hi,

My client is a distributor of printer, copier, related equipment, accessories etc. Also provide services and engaged in rental business too. In order to manage their inventory and handle transactions, do we need to enable advanced warehousing? The business requirements could be by and large addressed using standard inventory module but users are interested in transacting using mobile devices (e.g. PO receipt, Transfer receipt, cycle counting etc.). Will it be a wise decision to enable advanced warehousing to achieve scanner operations when standard inventory module can address most of the requirements? (except scanning). Are the additional configurations and process overheads worth going with adv WH? What are the key criteria for this decision?

Regards,

Sreehari.

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André Arnaud de Cal... 301,035 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi Sreehari,

Next to using advanced warehousing and the Microsoft mobile device, there are also ISV solutions available which can help you here. For example, To-Increase has a product called Dynamics Anywhere for Logistics which is able to do mobile work on the standard inventory processes like receipt, picking, transfer, counting and more.

You have to verify the pros and cons of using Advanced Warehousing one side compared to standard logistics with an ISV for your client. The outcome can be different per customer scenario.

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Satish Panwar 14,671 Moderator on at

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Hi Sreehari,

Standard inventory management is easy to configure as compared to Advanced warehouse. The major benefit is scanning. In addition to what Andre mentioned, there other other ISV's... RFSmart is one of the ones that provided scanning solutions much earlier to Advanced warehouse. They do come with additional cost and on-going maintenance.

Advance warehouse management gets more complex, but with more complexity comes so many features that can provide business much needed competitive advantage. If scanning not required, try configuring basic inventory management and see if that would work with the business.

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Zain Mehmood 4,187 Most Valuable Professional on at

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Hi Sreehari,

If one wants to have live access to the stuff that's been happening around in the warehouse then advance warehousing can be used. If you want to record every work related activity wether it's purchase receipt, transfer issue, cycle counting, packing & sale order pick to be managed on the run and also through a mobile device you can have this option.

Mainly one needs to think of there's any need for tracking every work done. It can be a need in warehouses where there are different zones, large numbers of location which needs to be defined for different sorting & pick/put criteria with every item. Need to use license plate tracking across the warehouse.

There are many advantages for the WMS but also no of things are needed to be considered from the data entry perspective. I guess discuss these with the client and then make your dicision in time and budget constraints. .

Please mark YES against the answer that helps you

Regards,

Zain

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Sreehari 2 on at

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Thank you Andre, Satish and Zain.

There is no requirement from my client to track the warehouse work transactions closely or to measure operator efficiency or get help from system in suggesting pick/put locations etc. If they are ready to do away with scanning requirement, standard inventory is a straight fit. Would it be an over kill to enable advanced warehousing (without ISV) just to achieve this scanning requirement? I know that the answer could be subjective depending upon individual perception. But that's Ok with me and I am only trying to get a subjective opinion from people in this domain.

Regards,

Sreehari.

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Satish Panwar 14,671 Moderator on at

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Hi Sreehari,

If inventory MGMT is straight fit, setting up Adv MGMT is overkill from my perspective. It comes with processes that would require lot of setup, training for users, lot more on-going maintenance, license plate/inventory status and lot of other terminology/concepts. Assuming you have considered little bit of Future perspective as well and not just current requirement. Change from Inv MGMT to Adv WHS can be lot of work.

Setup simple inventory mgmt, run business process, do walkthrough and if business is good with what you present, all is well.

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Rahul Mohta 21,032 on at

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additionally consider setting up barcode on item and it could be scan in D365FO UI opened in mobile and could scan the item barcode on item number field.

Advanced warehouse needs quite some setup and extensive usage of work though it's user interface is solid but could become extra work if business users are not up for it.

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Sreehari 2 on at

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Thank you Satish and Rahul.

Views from more people are welcome!

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