Recording output and consumption in Business Central is a crucial task for managing production orders efficiently. This process ensures accurate tracking of materials used and products manufactured, helping businesses maintain inventory control and production efficiency. In this blog, we will provide a step-by-step guide on how to record output and consumption in Business Central based on the best practices provided by Microsoft through their Learn documentation. The values posted will be tracked in ledger entries under a Released Production order. We will review more about these postings throughout this guide.
Step 1: Open a Released Production Order’s Production Journal
Choose the icon to enter Released Prod. Orders, and then select the related link. Open a released production order line that is ready for registration. On the Lines FastTab, choose the Line action, and then select the Production Journal action.
This journal combines the functions of separate consumption and output journals into one, allowing you to manually post the consumption of components, the quantity of end items produced, and the time spent on each operation.
Step 2: Enter Posting Date
In the Posting Date field at the top of the journal, enter a posting date that applies to all lines. The work date is entered by default, but you can override this field with specific posting dates for individual lines if required.
Step 3: View and Enter Consumption and Output Quantities
In the Flushing Method Filter field, you can choose to view consumption and output that is posted automatically according to the flushing methods defined for the item and resource respectively. This helps in logically aligning the consumption data with the output data.
In the Production Journal, you can enter the relevant consumption and output quantities in the editable fields. The journal is preset with the quantities to be posted, showing expected quantities from the production order. If partial postings have been made, the quantity fields will show the remaining quantities. If an operation is finished, select the ‘Finished’ field on the relevant output line. This will mark the operation as completed. Quantities that have been posted will display at the bottom of the journal as actual entries.
Step 4: Post the Journal
Once all relevant quantities are entered, it is best practice to review the entries to be posted to the journal. This will provide another opportunity to review before finalizing the entries. This can be done using the Preview Posting action. Once the entries have been reviewed, the journal can be posted. The values are posted to ledger entries under the released production order. Consumption quantities are posted as negative item ledger entries, output quantities as positive ledger entries, and times spent as capacity ledger entries.
If there are remaining amounts, the Production journal will display these values the next time it is opened. If entries aren’t posted before the journal is closed, these changes will be lost. This is also true if multiple users attempt to post changes at the same time. In this case, Changes may be overwritten or lost.
3 Common Missteps when Recording Output and Consumption:
1. Incorrect Posting Dates
Entering incorrect posting dates can lead to discrepancies in inventory and financial records. Therefore, it is always recommended to double-check the posting date before finalizing entries. You can also use the default work date if applicable, but ensure it aligns with your actual production dates or do a final review with the Preview Posting Action before posting.
2. Posting Blocked Items or to Blocked Machine and Work Centers
During the posting of output and consumption, it is not always intuitive to check for a blocked item until you run into a posting error. This is also true for machine and work centers. When creating Released Production orders, confirming that the items and machine and/or work centers being used are not blocked helps prevent these posting issues.
3. Misalignment of Quantities and Item Tracking
Posting incorrect quantities for consumption or output, either due to manual entry errors or misunderstanding of the production order requirements can be particularly troublesome and require additional care when Item tracking is involved. Whether you are using a 3rd party tool for Production picking or native Business Central, auditing item tracking for Serial and Lot No with related quantities from the correct Locations, including Zone/Bins if applicable, can prevent extensive and expensive inventory clean-up and Production output corrections.
Business Central makes recording of Production easy, allowing users to combine the reporting of consumption and output together with the appropriate manufacturing setup, all while helping users avoid costly reporting mistakes.
