Round 49 of our Dynamics GP vs. Dynamics Business Central: Functionality Face-Off series — and the first of our warehouse rounds.
Every warehouse question starts the same way: where is it? Which building, which room, which shelf. Your ERP models that answer with two building blocks — a place (a site or location) and a spot inside it (a bin).
Both Dynamics GP and Business Central have those blocks. The difference is what it takes to turn them on. In GP, bins are a system-wide feature you enable carefully, with a backup first and a maintenance routine after. In Business Central, bins are a toggle on each location’s card — and a worksheet builds hundreds of them for you. Let’s set up a warehouse in both.
How you do it in Dynamics GP
GP splits the job in two: sites first, then the multiple bins feature.
- Create your sites. In GP’s Inventory Control module, you define sites — storage areas or warehouses — and then assign items to those sites. Each item you stock at a site gets an item-site record with its own quantities.
- Back up before you go further. Microsoft’s own multiple bins setup guide starts with a warning: make a complete backup of the database before enabling the feature. Bins change how quantities are stored, so this step is not optional.
- Enable multiple bins. The Inventory Control module must be registered. Then open the Inventory Control Setup window (Tools >> Setup >> Inventory >> Inventory Control) and select the Enable Multiple Bins check box. GP reminds you to follow the inventory setup checklist, including running Check Links.
- Run Check Links. After enabling bins, GP has you run the Check Links maintenance routine so quantities line up with the new bin structure. Until you assign real bins, GP parks quantities in a system-generated bin called AUTOCREATE.
- Create bins and defaults. Open Site Bin Maintenance (Cards >> Inventory >> Bin/Sites) to create the bins at each site. Then, for each item at each site, open Quantities/Sites, pick the item and site, and type the default bin. If you skip this, everything stays in AUTOCREATE — which tells you nothing about where the item actually sits.
It works, and thousands of GP warehouses run this way. But notice the shape of it: one switch for the whole company, a database backup, a maintenance routine, and a default bin typed item by item, site by site.
How you do it in Business Central
BC treats every warehouse as a location, and each location decides its own level of detail.
- Create a location. Search for Locations and choose New. On the Location Card, give it a code and a name, then fill in only the warehouse fields you need. A simple storeroom can stay simple; a busy distribution center can turn on receipts, put-aways, picks, and shipments. You can adjust a location’s configuration any time until it has posted entries.
- Flip on bins where you want them. On the location’s Warehouse FastTab, turn on the Bin Mandatory toggle. That is the whole enable step — per location, not per company. Your main warehouse can run bins while your van stock location does not.
- Build the bins. Create bins one at a time from the location card (choose the Bins action, then New), or generate the whole rack-section-shelf grid at once: open the Bin Creation Worksheet, choose Calculate Bins with a bin template, and BC proposes the lines. Choose Create Bins and your naming scheme becomes hundreds of bins in one pass.
- Set default bins. Use the Bins FastTab on the location card to set default bins for receipts, shipments, and production. BC also builds bin contents as you post, and a Bin Content Creation Worksheet assigns default bins to items in bulk.
- Grow into zones later. If you outgrow basic bins, the same location can add zones and, with advanced configuration, directed put-away and pick — no re-implementation, just more toggles on the same card.
Side by side
| Dynamics GP | Business Central | |
|---|---|---|
| The “place” record | Site, in Inventory Control | Location Card with warehouse settings |
| Turning on bins | One system-wide checkbox in Inventory Control Setup | Bin Mandatory toggle per location |
| Prep work | Full database backup, then Check Links after | None; adjust freely until entries are posted |
| Creating bins | Site Bin Maintenance, bin by bin | Bins action, or Bin Creation Worksheet in bulk |
| Default bins | Typed per item, per site | Location defaults plus bulk worksheets |
| Mixed detail levels | Bins are on for everyone once enabled | Each location picks its own depth |
| Growth path | Third-party add-ons for advanced warehousing | Zones and directed put-away on the same card |
Why Business Central comes out ahead
GP deserves credit here: sites and multiple bins have been solid distribution features for a long time, and the AUTOCREATE fallback keeps quantities safe while you finish setup. The steps are documented and they work.
But the shape of the setup tells the story. In GP, bins are a company-wide commitment — backup, checkbox, Check Links, then manual bin defaults across every item-site combination. In Business Central, bins are a per-location decision you can make today for one warehouse and next quarter for another. The worksheet builds the bin structure in minutes instead of window-by-window entry, and the same location card scales from a storeroom to directed put-away and pick without switching products.
We saw the same pattern in item setup and physical inventory counts: GP asks you to configure everything up front, while BC lets each part of the business opt into exactly the detail it needs.
Ready to map your warehouse?
Aisling Dynamics has set up sites, bins, and locations in both systems — and we know how to translate a GP site structure into BC locations without losing history. See what we offer, or contact us at (251) 293-0555 to talk through your warehouse layout.
Next round: warehouse receiving and put-away — GP’s Receivings Transaction Entry vs. Business Central’s warehouse receipts and put-aways.