The truck just pulled up. Boxes are on the dock, the packing slip is in someone’s hand, and your inventory isn’t right until those goods are in the system. Yesterday we entered the purchase order — today, in Round 9 of the Functionality Face-Off, we receive it.
Receiving sounds simple: tell the system what showed up. But the two systems ask you to do that in very different places.
How It Works in Dynamics GP: Receivings Transaction Entry
In GP, receiving is its own transaction in its own window. Microsoft’s Purchase Order Processing receipts documentation walks through it:
- In the navigation pane, choose Purchasing, then the Purchase Order Transactions list.
- Choose the receipt type — Shipment Receipt for goods only, or Shipment and Invoice Receipt if the vendor’s invoice arrived with the truck.
- In the Receivings Transaction Entry window, enter a vendor document number and the receipt date.
- Enter or select the Vendor ID and confirm the Currency ID — it has to match the currency on the purchase orders you’re receiving against.
- Pull in the purchase order lines and enter the quantity that actually arrived on each one — or use Auto-Receive to accept everything at once.
- Save the receipt to a batch, or Post it and let the posting journals print.
It works, and seasoned GP users move through it quickly. But notice the shape of the process: the receipt is a second document you build by hand, in a different window from the PO, with its own document number, date, and currency rules. The person on the dock needs to know which of the receipt types to pick before they start — and if the invoice comes later, that’s a third window (Enter/Match Invoices) waiting for accounting.
How It Works in Business Central: Receive on the Order Itself
In BC, you don’t build a receipt — you tell the purchase order what arrived. Microsoft’s receive items training shows the flow:
- Search (Alt+Q) for Purchase Orders and open the order the shipment belongs to.
- Check the Qty. to Receive column. It defaults to everything still outstanding — for a partial delivery, just type what actually showed up.
- Enter the Vendor Shipment No. from the packing slip.
- Choose Posting > Post, then pick Receive.
That’s it. BC creates the posted purchase receipt for you, bumps inventory, and updates the Qty. Received column. When the rest of the shipment arrives next week, open the same order and do it again — BC tracks the outstanding quantity the whole way. Received the wrong amount? An Undo Receipt action fixes a posted receipt line before it’s invoiced. Vendor sent a few extra? Over-receipt codes let you accept them with an approval trail instead of a workaround.
And when your warehouse grows up, receiving grows with it. The same system supports four levels of inbound processing — from posting right on the order line, to inventory put-aways, to full warehouse receipt documents that consolidate several orders into one dock workflow. You turn features on when you need them; the receiving screen your team already knows doesn’t change.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Dynamics GP | Business Central |
|---|---|---|
| Where you receive | Separate Receivings Transaction Entry window | On the purchase order itself |
| What you create | A receipt document you build by hand | A posted receipt BC builds for you |
| Partial shipments | Enter quantities per line on the receipt | Type the arrived amount in Qty. to Receive |
| Receipt types | Pick Shipment vs. Shipment/Invoice up front | One Post action — Receive, Invoice, or both |
| Fixing mistakes | Reverse or adjust transactions | Undo Receipt on the posted line |
| Extra quantities | Manual workarounds | Over-receipt codes with approval |
| Warehouse growth | Separate modules and windows | Four inbound levels, same system |
Why BC Comes Out Ahead
- No second document to build. The PO already knows what’s expected — you just confirm what arrived. Two fields and a Post button.
- Partial deliveries are the easy case. Qty. to Receive tracks the remainder automatically, order by order, with no math on paper.
- Mistakes have an undo. Undo Receipt and over-receipt codes turn dock-day surprises into clicks, not journal-entry archaeology.
- It scales without retraining. Simple location today, bins and warehouse receipts next year — receiving grows with you inside one system.
Get Your Dock and Your Books in Sync
If receiving in GP means a printed packing slip sitting on someone’s desk until “the system person” is free, the Aisling Dynamics team can show you what same-minute receiving looks like in BC.
Contact us or call (251) 293-0555 — and come back tomorrow for Round 10, when the vendor’s invoice shows up and we match it to what we received.