In the world of retail and commerce, managing sales returns efficiently is a critical aspect of customer satisfaction and operational excellence. In this blog, let’s explore how the sales return process works in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365FO) and explore how businesses can leverage the capabilities of this robust ERP system to streamline and enhance their return management. In this part, I will walk you through the standard process. Please keep in mind that the steps and setups may vary based on the business requirement. Let’s consider a scenario wherein we have sold 10 quantities to the customer and amongst them 3 quantities get damaged during transit. So now the customer wants to return those items back to us. So, lets create a Return Order, to do that go to Sales and Marketing>Sales Return>All Return Orders. Create a New Return Order. The RMA number is generated automatically based on the Number sequence set up. Tip: In order to generate the RMA Number manually you can enable the Manual number sequence parameter in the RMA Number Sequence set up. For this scenario, I have enabled the Manual Parameter. The next step is to Enter the Customer Details, Site, Warehouse, Return Reason Code and RMA Number. Then click OK. Now to add the line item on the Return Order line there are two ways to do it: For now, I will go with the Find Sales Order function. To use that go to the Return Order fast tab in that under the Return Tab click on the Find Sales Order button. The next step is to select the Sales Order Invoice for which the Return Order will be Created.   Based on my scenario the system has automatically taken the quantity as 3. In the above screen shot you can see that a New Return order is created with the Negative line quantity. Return Order processing: There are two ways to process a Sales Order Return: 1.Credit Only: In the credit-only process, the customer’s account is credited without the need for replacing or returning the item. Here, the Sales price is credited to the Customer deducting the charges. 2.Physical Return: The Physical Return process involves the Return of Item to the customer. Here during registration, a Disposition Code is assigned which determines the Sales Return process for that particular Item. To keep this simple and easy to understand I will go ahead with Credit Only process in this part. But for this we will first need to create a Credit Only Disposition Code. For that go to Sales and Marketing>Set Up>Returns>Disposition Codes. In that Click New and create a New Credit Only Disposition Code. Now the next step is to Register the Return order for that on the Return order lines click Update Line then under that click on Registration. Then select the Credit Only Disposition Code and click OK. Then Confirm the Registration. As I click on the Confirm Registration button a New Sales Return Order is created with the same quantity and same customer on the All-Sales Order page. The next step is to Invoice the Sales Return Order. After Invoicing the Sales Return Order, in the below screenshot you can see that the Return status of the order is changed to Invoiced. This completes the Credit only sales return order process. Maintaining customer satisfaction and operational efficiency in Sales and Marketing involves effectively managing sales returns. Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365FO) simplifies this task, whether you opt for a credit-only strategy or handle physical returns. By leveraging D365FO’s powerful features, businesses can ensure precise and efficient return management, enhancing both customer relations and operational excellence. Stay tuned for the next section, where we’ll dive into the Physical Return process. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com 

Introduction:  As a business owner, you might have come across a situation where you want to upgrade your current systems with renowned ERP solutions available on the market. One of the ERPs you would consider is Microsoft Dynamics. However, even choosing this would require a lot of brainstorming from all decision-makers because Microsoft Dynamics comes with two ERP platforms, i.e., Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain. I assume this brainstorming itself would have probably landed you on this article. Let’s dive into the key differences and use cases for each platform. Hopefully, by the end of the article, you will be able to make a decision and choose the right platform for your business.  Below are the key factors differentiating Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain: Company Size: When determining company size, the usual factors that are considered are revenue and employee count. The definition of which can change based on the country you are located in. Here, for reference, we would consider the following: – Revenue: a. SME: Having revenue between 0 and 1 billion USD. Business Central is ideal for this size of company. b. Large companies: Having revenue above 1 billion USD. Finance and Operations is the ideal platform for large organizations. – Employees: a. SME: having employees between 0 and 500. b. Large companies: having more than 500 employees. Number of Entities: If your company has multiple legal entities in multiple geographical locations across the world,a. Business Central is ideal for companies with a single legal entity or multiple legal entities in the same country. Business Central allows you to create and manage individual products and accounts for each legal entity; however, it cannot be managed centrally. b. Finance and supply chain are ideal for companies with multiple legal entities across the world. Finance & Supply Chain allows you to manage products and accounts centrally and release them centrally to each legal entity across the world. Business Operations: Does your company have streamlined and simple operations? a. Business Central can handle operations for companies with streamlined and simplified operations that do not require very detailed data capture or sophisticated reporting. b. Finance & Supply Chain captures detailed data, covers a lot more processes than Business Central, and hence can provide robust and detailed reporting. Future Growth: It is also important to consider what the growth plans are for your company. If you currently have 2–3 legal entities, you may be tempted to go with Business Central, as it comes with low implementation and operating costs, ease of use, and faster implementation timelines. However, ERP projects are not done frequently, and it is important that you consider future organizational plans. Let’s say you intend to expand over the next three to five years into multiple different geographical areas. You should think about finance and supply chain as your organization’s go-to platform since this will be a big, long-term investment. You might want to consider the following factors while making the decision: – Licensing: a. Since finance and supply chain are for large companies, they come with a minimum licensing requirement of 20 licenses. b. Business Central is perfect for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) because it only requires one license and has no minimum licensing requirements. – Implementation timelines:a. Finance and Supply Chain has a typical implementation timeline of 6 months or more, considering the size of the implementation and global rollout.b. Business Central can be up and running in 3–6 months.    Conclusion:  Choose Business Central if: You’re an SME seeking an easy-to-use, all-in-one solution with a lower upfront and operating cost.  Choose D365 Finance & Operations if: You’re a large enterprise requiring extensive functionalities, deep customization, and global capabilities.  We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Introduction: Businesses in the digital age depend on cloud platforms and ERP systems integrating seamlessly. Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (F&O) and azure integration is one such potent combination. Numerous advantages, such as improved scalability, agility, and data-driven decision-making capabilities, are made possible by this integration. The step-by-step instructions for connecting Azure with Dynamics 365 F&O will be provided in this blog. Steps to achieve the goal: Step 1: Setting up Azure Services a. Create an Azure account: Sign up for an Azure account if you don’t have one already. b. Provision Azure resources: Set up the required Azure resources such as virtual machines, databases, storage accounts, and other services according to your needs. Below are few links to create azure account. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/433827/how-to-get-an-azure-account-without-credit-card https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/free/students Step 2: Configure Azure Active Directory (AAD) a. Click on New on the App Registration page. Set the name and set the type like below screenshots. b. Once you click on Ok button you would get notification like below. c. Now go to API Permission and click on Add permission d. Select Dynamics ERP e. Select Delegated Permission f. Select all permission and then click on Add Permission g. After selecting this permission again add permission on the screen this time selected Application Permission. h. Now we have to generate client secret value. Just select Certificates and secret. i. You will see the below screen where you can generate a new client secret j. Once you click on new you will see below screen where you can set the date to which this secret key would be valid. Max validity is 2 years. k. This is how the secret value would look like just copy Value. l. Now copy the Directory ID and Application ID Step 3: Connect Azure Services to F&O a. Go to Finance and Operations and serach globally Azure Active Directory/Microsoft Entra ID b. And then click on New and add your client id over here and set User ID as Admin. Please Note you should have the admin access right if not this won’t work. Conclusion: Azure integration with Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations empowers businesses to streamline processes, unlock data insights, and achieve operational excellence. Next blog would be how to connect standard API on postman and perform get and post function. Stay tuned! We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

We are delighted to announce that a leading US-based Industrial Cybersecurity Company is partnering with CloudFronts for Dynamics 365 support & maintenance with a Managed Services Agreement (MSA).  The client is based out of Houston, Texas and is an industrial cybersecurity company providing end-to-end digital security solutions that protect critical operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) infrastructure against advanced threats. They enable industrial clients with the most effective cyber defense possible and unprecedented situational awareness from the plant floor to the cloud by providing timely, proactive solutions that overcome today’s business, security, and technology challenges. Client’s partnership with CloudFronts began with the implementation of Services Automation with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations and Business Central which enabled them to experience significant improvements in its business processes and system efficiency.  Under this MSA, CloudFronts will provide support & maintenance services for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations and Business Central. Client has doubled their MSA from 20 hours/month to 40 hours/month.  Visit us at https://www.cloudfronts.com/ to learn more about our Dynamics 365 offerings.  About CloudFronts  CloudFronts is a Dynamics 365 focused Microsoft Solutions Partner helping Teams & Organizations worldwide solve their Complex Business Challenges with Microsoft Cloud. Our head office and robust delivery centre are based out of Mumbai, India, along with branch offices in Singapore & the U.S.   Since its inception in 2012, CloudFronts has successfully served over 500+ small and medium-sized clients all over the world, such as North America, Europe, Australia, MENA, Maldives & India, with diverse experiences in sectors ranging from Professional Services, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Retail, Logistics/SCM, and Non-profits.  Please feel free to connect with us at transform@cloudfronts.com 

Hello everyone, in this series of Blog, we are going to learn about the Advance warehouse management in D365.  In this blog we will learn about the basic setups required for the Advanced Warehouse Management process. These setups may vary depending on the business scenarios. As a continuing blog from https://www.cloudfronts.com/blog/advance-warehouse-management-item-creation-part-1/ and https://www.cloudfronts.com/blog/advance-warehouse-management-warehouses-and-locations-in-microsoft-d365-fo-part-2/, this is will be a part 3 of the series. The following are the setups that we need to configure:  Load:  The loads are useful when we group multiple shipments. So, you can consider load as an object that will be used to transport the material.  Path:   Warehouse Managementà SetupàLoadà Load Templates  I have created two containers here as a load. One is a 20 ft container, and the other is a 40 ft container.  Location Directives:  The Location Directive plays a significant role in inventory movement in advanced warehouses. Location Directives are the set of rules which define the pick and put, Counting, License Plate building, Status change and Quality check etc. for individual warehouse or group of warehouses.  For my current scenario, I will create location Directive for a Purchase Order transaction. In further blogs I will write about other transactions as well.  Select the Work Order type as Purchase Order.  Select the work type as “Put.” For the receipt location, I have mentioned the default receipt location in the warehouse master.  For default receipt location, Go to Warehouse managementà Setupà Warehouse à Warehouses.  Select the default receipt location from the Drop down.  Select the Warehouse for which this “Put” rule going to work. You can group the warehouse and select the warehouses to work similar to the rule.  In the lines I have mentioned the from Quantities and to quantities.  For location directive action, I am using “Only fixed locations for the product.” By this, the system will ask for the location while Putaway operation in the Purchase Order.  Now, the Loads and location directives are ready to use in Advance Warehouse process.  That’s it for this blog!!  How to use these Loads and location directives in actual transaction will be discussed going forward in the blog series.  Keep learning!!!!!  Next in the Blog series:  How to create Work Classes and Work Templates in Advance warehouse management in D365.  How to set up Worker in Advance warehouse management in D365. We hope you found this article useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

CloudFronts is delighted to announce that Maldives based Sonee Hardware Pvt. Ltd is partnering with CloudFronts to integrate Leafio with Dynamics 365 Finance & Operation.  Sonee Hardware is one of the largest hardware retail businesses in the market and has built a reputation among its loyal customers with a strong drive for reaching the customers’ expectations. With 6 outlets, the company has diversified into various areas of businesses. Apart from being in B2C retail business, Sonee Hardware also champions in B2B business by offering competitive prices to dealers, traders and wholesalers. Learn more about Sonee Hardware at https://sonee.com.mv/  Sonee Hardware wanted to integrate Leafio platform with Dynamics 365 Finance & Operation. The purpose of this integration is for Sonee Hardware to have near real time demand forecasting based on the historical data available in D365 Finance and operations. This integration will enable Sonee hardware to manage their stocks efficiently by reducing the over stock and under stock scenarios using the Leafio platform.  On this occasion, Anil Shah, CEO of CloudFronts, said, “Our collaboration with Sonee Hardware is an example of how innovation and experience can come together. Through the integration of Leafio, we will be able to propel the hardware industry’s digital transformation. We are excited to work together to provide innovative solution and promote long-term growth.”  About CloudFronts   CloudFronts is a Dynamics 365 focused Microsoft Solutions Partner helping Teams & Organizations worldwide solve their Complex Business Challenges with Microsoft Cloud. Our head office and robust delivery centre are based out of Mumbai, India, along with branch offices in Singapore & the U.S.  Since its inception in 2012, CloudFronts has successfully served over 500+ small and medium-sized clients all over the world, such as North America, Europe, Australia, MENA, Maldives & India, with diverse experiences in sectors ranging from Professional Services, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Retail, Logistics/SCM, and Non-profits.   Please feel free to connect with us at transform@cloudfronts.com 

Hello everyone, in this series of Blog, we are going to learn about the Advance warehouse management in D365.  In this blog we will learn about the basic setups required for the Advanced Warehouse Management process. These setups may vary depending on the business scenarios. For a Warehouse to work in an Advance warehouse scenario, there are some prerequisites that we need to do first. The following are the setups that we need to configure:  Path: Inventory Management Inventory Breakdown Warehouses.  Click on New. Enter the warehouse and Warehouse name.  Most importantly, for warehouse to work in a advanced warehouse scenario, we have to enable the “Use warehouse management processes”.  For advanced warehouse management, the location plays an important role for better inventory visibility and item tracking. For this, we need to do multiple setups as per below.  In the location type, I have mentioned four main locations. These are Baydoor, Floor, receiving and User.  These locations will increase or decrease as per business scenarios.  Recv: This location I am using primarily for entry of the goods/items in the warehouse.   Floor: This location I am using for storing the goods/items in the warehouse.  Baydoor: This location I am using for exit of the goods/items from the warehouse.  User: This location I am using for default. This user location will be used in the Warehouse management parameter, in User Location profile.  Location formats are used as the naming system by which we can create the unique and consistent names for different locations within the warehouse.  Here, I have mentioned the length as 1.   The location profiles will be used for connection between location type, Location formats and the locations. The location profiles are very important setup because the location capacity can be mentioned here. Also, how the inventory is stored in the location, and how the inventory is getting accessed is also dependent on the location profiles.  Here, I have enabled User license plate tracking, allow mixed items, Allow mixed inventory statuses, Allow mixed inventory batches.  Click New. Select warehouse from the drop-down menu. Enter location name as per requirement. Select the Location profile ID from the drop-down menu.  We can add as many locations as we want.  Now, the warehouse and locations are ready to use in Advance Warehouse process.  That’s it for this blog!!  How to use these warehouses and locations in actual transaction will be discussed going forward in the blog series.  Keep learning!!!!! 

Hello everyone, in this series of Blog, we are going to learn about the Advance warehouse management in D365.  What is Advance Warehousing Process?  The day-to-day transactions in the advanced warehouse are a bit different than in a normal warehouse. Workers in the advanced warehouse use mobile devices to move stock from one location to another. Here location doesn’t mean just the location, we can move it from one warehouse to another. So, instead of sitting in one place, workers can move around the warehouse to pick up or put the stock. In Advance warehouse management, the visibility of the stock is very clear. Workers can see where the stock is in the warehouse and in what quantity. This results in Streamlined warehouse operations, reduced inventory carrying costs, and thus improvement in customer satisfaction through faster and more accurate order fulfillment.  In this blog we will learn about the basic setups required for the Advanced Warehouse Management process. These setups may vary depending on the business scenarios. For an item to work in an Advance warehouse scenario, there are some prerequisites that we need to do first. The following are the setups that we need to configure:  Path: Product Information Managementà Dimension and Variant Groupsà Storage Dimension Groups.  In the Storage dimension group, activate the “Use warehouse management process.”   Once you activate the use warehouse management process, the Location, Inventory Status, License Plate will be automatically activated.   2. Reservation hierarchy   Path: Warehouse Management à Setupà Inventoryà Reservation Hierarchy.  A reservation hierarchy helps delay specific reservation details until after you’ve placed an order. This hierarchy relies on item-related factors like inventory status and license plate for storage and tracking. While it’s essential to have site, warehouse, and inventory status information during the ordering process, certain details like location can be added after making reservations. For instance, the warehouse management system can identify the best locations for picking based on this reservation hierarchy.   3. Unit sequence groups Path: Warehouse Management à Setup à Warehouse à Unit sequence groups.  Unit sequence group is mandatory setup which works when dealing with movement of material. Now take one example: If the Unit sequence group is mentioned as Each and Box, then While making product receipt from a Purchase Order, mobile device will show the options to receive the materials in two different units which are Each and Box.  Here based on my scenario, I have mentioned the default unit for Purchase orders and Transfer Order as Box.  Now, the Item is ready to use in Advance Warehouse process.  That’s it for this blog!!  How to use this item in actual transaction will be discussed going forward in the blog series.  Keep learning!!!!!  Next in the Blog series:  How to create Warehouses in Advance warehouse management in D365.  How to create Locations in Advance warehouse management in D365.