Round 50 of our Dynamics GP vs. Dynamics Business Central: Functionality Face-Off series.
A truck backs up to the dock. Boxes come off. Somebody has to tell the system what arrived — and somebody has to put it all on the right shelf.
Last round we set up sites, locations, and bins. This round, we use them. Receiving is where accounting and the warehouse meet: the receipt updates your books, and the put-away decides where the stock actually lives. GP handles this with one entry window at a desk. Business Central gives you four ways to do it, from a single click to a real dock workflow. Let’s unload the truck in both.
How you do it in Dynamics GP
In GP, receiving is a data-entry task in the Receivings Transaction Entry window (Purchasing >> Transactions >> Receivings Transaction Entry). We covered the accounting side in Round 9; here is how it plays out for the warehouse.
- Pick your receipt type. A Shipment records goods that arrived without an invoice. A Shipment/Invoice records goods and the vendor’s invoice together. Choosing correctly matters, because it drives what gets posted.
- Key the header. Enter the receipt date, an optional batch ID, the vendor ID, and the PO number. You can pull items from more than one PO onto the same receipt by switching PO numbers line by line.
- Enter the lines. For each item, enter the quantity shipped. If the item tracks lots or serials, GP opens the lot or serial entry window. If you enabled multiple bins, GP asks for the bin as part of the same entry — that bin selection is the put-away, recorded at the keyboard.
- Post. The receipt updates inventory quantities, the PO, and the general ledger. Whoever keys the receipt is describing what the dock crew already did — usually from a packing slip that walked from the dock to the desk.
There is no separate put-away document in core GP. The system records which bin you typed, but nobody gets a task list that says “put 40 of item X in bin A-3-2.” Direction on the floor comes from paper, habit, or a third-party warehouse add-on.
How you do it in Business Central
BC lets each location choose one of four inbound methods, so the process matches the building.
- Method A — post from the order. For a small storeroom, open the purchase order and post the receipt. Done. No warehouse documents at all.
- Method B — inventory put-aways. Turn on Require Put-away, and receiving clerks work from an inventory put-away document created from the order — an order-by-order task list with bins on it.
- Method C — warehouse receipts. Turn on Require Receive, and the dock gets its own document. Create it from the purchase order with Create Warehouse Receipt, or pull it: release the order, open Warehouse Receipts, choose New, and use Get Source Documents to grab every released order arriving today — several POs on one receipt, received in one pass. Qty. to Receive fills with the outstanding quantity; adjust and post.
- Method D — receipts plus directed put-aways. For the full dock workflow, posting the warehouse receipt updates the source orders and the item ledger, then sends lines to the put-away function. BC generates put-away documents immediately or routes lines to a Put-away Worksheet, where one worker can grab put-aways for many receipts at once. Each put-away line tells the worker what to move and which bin to place it in, and the worker registers the move when done.
- Change your mind later. These are location settings, not a product edition. The storeroom runs Method A while the distribution center runs Method D — and either can move up a level by flipping toggles on the location card.
Side by side
| Dynamics GP | Business Central | |
|---|---|---|
| Receiving document | Receivings Transaction Entry, keyed at a desk | Purchase order post, or a warehouse receipt for the dock |
| Multiple POs, one arrival | Switch PO number line by line in one window | Get Source Documents pulls all released orders onto one receipt |
| Put-away | Bin typed during receipt entry; no task document | System-generated put-away documents with bin suggestions |
| Who works the screen | An entry clerk describing what already happened | Dock workers driving the process from their own documents |
| Direction on the floor | Packing slips and habit | Put-away lines say what to move and where |
| Scaling up | Third-party warehouse add-ons | Four methods per location, toggle by toggle |
Why Business Central comes out ahead
GP’s Receivings Transaction Entry is a dependable window — it handles multiple POs, lot and serial capture, and bin entry in one place, and it posts clean accounting every time. For a company where receiving is one person at one desk, it does the job.
The difference is who the system is built for. GP records the warehouse’s work after the fact. Business Central hands the warehouse its own documents: a receipt for the dock, a put-away with bin suggestions for the shelf runner, and a worksheet to batch the work. The books still post correctly — but the floor gets direction, not just data entry. And because the four methods are per-location settings, you start simple and grow without changing systems.
That is the same story we keep finding in this series: GP centralizes work at the keyboard, while BC pushes it to the people actually doing it — with the approvals and audit trail to match.
Ready to put your dock to work?
Aisling Dynamics has moved GP receiving desks onto Business Central warehouse workflows — and we know which of the four methods fits each building. See what we offer, or contact us at (251) 293-0555 to talk through your inbound flow.
Next round: picking and warehouse shipping — GP’s separate fulfillment steps vs. Business Central’s inventory picks and warehouse shipments.