Commodity Repricing for Dynamics 365 Business Central
Replacement cost worked out from the latest receipts in Business Central and this week’s vendor quotes, laid against the current sell prices by category and your margin floor. The proposed changes and the open quotes they touch, for the person who owns pricing to update in Business Central.
Purchasing & inventoryUpdated Oct 202620 ERPs
See it work on Business Central.
Click through the steps. Fictional data, in Business Central’s terms; the real thing runs on Business Central.
| Group | Items | Repl. cost | Margin now | Floor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPF studs | 6 | +7.8% | 17.2% | 22% | Under floor |
| SPF plate and lengths | 18 | +5.1% | 20.4% | 22% | Under floor |
| Treated | 14 | +0.6% | 26.0% | 24% | Hold |
| OSB and plywood | 9 | −3.4% | 29.8% | 24% | Room to come down |
| LVL and I-joist | 11 | 0.0% | 27.5% | 25% | Hold |
Replacement cost from last week’s receipts and Monday’s quotes, against the sell and the floor. Two groups moved.
The problem, as it happens in Business Central.
Framing lumber and panels move every week, and the sell price in Business Central moves when someone gets to it. The buyer has the mill quotes in email, the last receipt cost on the item card is from two weeks ago, and the price change gets worked out on a spreadsheet on Friday afternoon, by category, with a percent applied across the board. Studs, plate, 2x10 and OSB all get the same bump whether they moved or not.
Nobody tracks the week the market went up and the price didn’t. The counter sold 2x4 studs for four days at a margin that was gone, the pro desk honoured a quote written at last month’s cost, and the gross margin on framing for the month is off by points nobody can explain. When the market drops it goes the other way: the price stays high and the contractor buys across town.
How it works.
- 1
Replacement cost, this week
For every commodity item: the cost on the latest receipts in Business Central, the vendor quotes that came in this week by email or file, and the cost on open POs not yet received. Replacement cost is what you could buy it for today, per item.
- 2
Laid against your sell prices
Each item’s current sell at every price level, the margin on it at replacement cost, and your margin floor for the category. An item under the floor, or a category that moved more than your threshold, is on the list. One that didn’t move is left alone.
- 3
The change proposed, by group
New sell prices proposed per item, rounded to your price points, grouped the way the yard thinks: SPF studs, plate and lengths, treated, OSB and plywood. Beside each group, the open quotes written at the old price and what they are worth.
- 4
The person who owns pricing updates Business Central
Accept a group, change a number, hold a group until Monday. The accepted prices go into Business Central as a Business Central API call or import where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared, and the quotes at risk are listed for the sales desk to call.
How it connects to Business Central.
Lunica reads the item card for the commodity categories, receipts with their cost by item and date, open purchase orders and their costs, the price levels and current sell prices, and open quotes with the items on them through Business Central’s API, under a user that can only read. Vendor quotes arrive by email or file at an address you set up and are read by a model for the items and prices on them.
Nothing is changed in Business Central on its own. The proposed prices are a list the person who owns pricing accepts, edits or holds, and the accepted ones go back as a Business Central API call or import where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared. The open quotes affected are listed for the sales desk, and a note to a customer whose quote is expiring is a draft until a person sends it.
What a week looks like.
- Replacement cost known per item on Monday, from your own receipts and quotes.
- Prices proposed where the market moved, left alone where it didn’t.
- The open quotes written at the old cost listed before the price changes.
- The margin on framing explained week by week, not reconstructed at month end.
Questions
Does it change prices in Business Central?
No. The proposed prices are accepted, edited or held by the person who owns pricing, and the accepted ones go into Business Central as a Business Central API call or import where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared.
Where does replacement cost come from?
Your own receipts in Business Central, the vendor quotes that came in this week, and the cost on open purchase orders. It is not a published index; it is what you could buy the item for today.
Can we use a market index too?
If you subscribe to one, it can be read as a file beside your quotes. It informs the proposal; your receipts and quotes decide it.
What about open quotes?
Every open quote with an affected item is listed with the item, the old price and the new, and what the quote is worth. The sales desk decides whether to honour it or call the customer, and a note to the customer is drafted and sent by a person.
Does it price by length and grade?
Yes. Each length and grade is its own item in Business Central and is priced on its own replacement cost. A group is only a way of reading the list; the proposal is per item.
How often does it run?
Weekly by default, or whenever a vendor quote arrives that moves a category past your threshold. You set the day and the threshold.
What does the model see?
The vendor quote being read, and the rows behind one proposal when someone asks why. The replacement cost and the proposed prices are arithmetic on Business Central’s numbers, not a model’s guess.
Does it need a server?
Lunica runs on one server inside your network, whether Business Central is in Microsoft’s cloud or on your own server, set up and maintained by Lunica. It reads Dynamics 365 Business Central through Business Central’s API, under a user that can only read. There is no inbound connection from outside your network.
What does Lunica read in Business Central?
The customer card, open items and terms, purchase orders and receipts, the item card, quotes and order history, as each workflow needs them. Read-only, and only the rows a task is about.
Can it post to Business Central?
Nothing lands in Business Central without a person. What belongs in Business Central goes back as a Business Central API call or import where one exists, or keyed by your team from what Lunica prepared.
What about our documents?
Invoice copies and scans keep living in the attachments on the record. Lunica reads them when a workflow needs one and never writes to them.
The same workflow, on another ERP.
Commodity Repricing is written for every system on the list. You’re reading the Business Central version.
Lumber and building materials
Wholesale distribution
General business
- Dynamics 365 Business Central
- NetSuite
- Sage 100
- QuickBooks Enterprise
- Acumatica
- SAP Business One
- Epicor Kinetic
Another system? Tell us which →
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