// bitta apps · industries · distributors
Business Central for Distributors
Connect purchasing, multi-location inventory, warehouse fulfillment and finance in Dynamics 365 Business Central. Scope the costing, EDI and storefront workflows your distribution business needs before implementation.
What we hear from distributors
Inventory you can't trust
Counts drift between the warehouse system and the GL. Cycle counts surface variances every month and nobody can explain them.
Multi-warehouse blind spots
Stock at the second location takes a phone call to confirm. Transfers post late or not at all, and reorder points lag real demand.
Margin guesswork
Landed cost is approximated. Vendor rebates live in spreadsheets. Sales reps quote off stale price lists.
After Business Central is live
Inventory and warehouse controls
Configure locations, bins, transfers and item tracking around receiving and fulfillment. Agree reservation and availability rules, then test partial receipts, short picks and transfers against the stock your team can actually ship.
Purchasing and landed cost
Use item charges to assign freight, duty and other costs to the appropriate receipts. Test late freight invoices, returns and cost adjustments, then reconcile inventory valuation to the ledger with your finance lead.
Connected order-to-cash
Scope EDI, Shopify or other order sources with customer and SKU mapping, acknowledgments, shipment updates, invoicing and exception ownership. EDI usually requires an app or integration work; include trading-partner testing and fees in the proposal.
Migration with a stock reconciliation
Agree opening quantities and values by item and location, lot or serial requirements, units of measure and open orders. Rehearse a count or agreed inventory freeze and reconcile the opening position before live warehouse processing starts.
An operating model for the first close
Train purchasing, receiving, warehouse, customer-service and finance users on the same end-to-end scenarios. Name approvers for stock adjustments, credits and pricing exceptions, and include the first close in the support handoff plan.
Frequently asked
Is Business Central a fit for our distribution business?+
It is worth evaluating when purchasing, inventory, fulfillment and finance need shared controls across locations or sales channels. Fit depends on warehouse complexity, transaction volumes and specialist requirements. Bring examples of a standard order, return, transfer and landed-cost adjustment to discovery so we can distinguish standard setup from apps and custom work.
Do EDI, barcode scanning and warehouse automation come with the implementation?+
Only when explicitly scoped. We assess the Business Central warehouse configuration alongside your scanning devices, labels, carrier tools, EDI providers and trading partners. Third-party apps, hardware, onboarding fees and specialized automation are identified separately and tested as complete workflows.
How do you validate inventory during migration?+
We agree the source quantities, values, costing methods, locations, units and tracking requirements, then trial-load and reconcile them. Open receipts, shipments, purchase orders and sales orders need an explicit transition plan. Your operations and finance owners approve the reconciliation and final cutover.
What changes the implementation cost for a distributor?+
Companies, warehouses, item-data quality, tracking requirements, historical depth, pricing rules and integrations all affect scope. Published implementation bands begin at $28,500, with a written quote after scoping. A paid readiness assessment can establish risks and a plan before you commit to implementation.
Can you improve a distributor's existing Business Central system?+
Yes. Start with a scoped Health Check or a defined inventory, integration or AL backlog. We review the existing configuration and dependencies before recommending remediation, a new app or a support transfer. Existing work is retained where it meets the agreed requirements.