There are several different types of Inventory journals in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. It can be confusing to see so many different journal types within the Inventory management module, but each one has its own purpose!
As with a journal of any type, an inventory journal is designed to post transactions within your ERP system. The inventory journals post inventory transactions that can move, transfer, consume, and revalue inventory in your ERP. Let’s dive in and learn more about this topic!
Inventory Journal Types and Purposes
When a user navigates to Inventory management > Journal entries, there are three different options:
- Items
- Item arrival
- Item counting
Within those sections, the following journal types appear, and their purposes are defined below:
- Movement
- Inventory adjustment
- Transfer
- Bills of materials
- Inventory ownership change
- Item arrival
- Production input
- Counting
- Tag counting
Items
- Movement: A movement journal allows a user to designate a new offset account for inventory that has been posted to the default posting accounts. Costs can be updated, as well as the offset account for posting.
- Inventory adjustment: An inventory adjustment journal allows users to update the inventory cost when using this journal type. This journal type will use the default posting profile that was set up for the item type and the posting cannot be changed.
- Transfer: A transfer journal allows users to transfer inventory between sites, warehouses, locations, etc. within the same company. A transfer journal has “From” and “To” inventory dimensions such as site, warehouse, and location that can specify where the inventory transfers from and where it is going to.
- Bills of materials: Bills of materials (BOM) inventory journals allow users to quickly consume inventory related to the production of a finished good.
- Inventory ownership change: Inventory ownership is a journal type that moves inventory ownership from a vendor to the current company. This works well with consignment inventory scenarios.
Item Arrival
- Item arrival: The item arrival journal is used to register the receipt of items. This can be done at the journal level here, or at the Arrival overview page located at Inventory management > Inbound orders > Arrival overview. When creating an Item arrival journal, the reference document (usually a Purchase order) can be defined as well as the account number (Vendor number) and transaction number (PO number). Once in the journal, a user can create lines by using the create lines function, and lines from the reference document will populate the journal.
- Production input: Similar to item arrival journals, the production input journal allows users to designate a reference type of Production and specify a production order to generate finished inventory transactions against the order.
Item Counting
- Counting: Counting journals are used to count inventory and determine if there is truly a variance that needs to be captured or if a recount needs to be done. Values are entered into the Counted column and any variances will show in the Quantity column.
- Tag counting: Similar to Counting journals, Tag counting journals are used to count inventory, but the difference is that Tag counting journals track inventory that is tagged. Counted inventory can be reconciled by tag and a tag can be marked as Used, Voided, or Missing as well.
Items of Note – Journal in Use
It’s important to note that Inventory journals only allow one user at a time to work in the journal. This helps to avoid creating duplicate records or allow inventory to be used in multiple records. This can be difficult for users when creating counting journals, therefore users should make note that if an item is tied up in another journal, it will not be available to them. Likewise, they cannot work together on a journal when it’s marked “in use” and must wait to access the journal or
Conclusion
The different Inventory journal types can be very useful once a user understands what they can be used for and how to gain the greatest value from using them.
The post Inventory Journal Types in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations appeared first on Dynamics Communities.