I want to show you a typical purchase-to-pay process in Dynamics 365 Business Central. To do this, I’m going to log in as four different users.

The first user will be Alicia; she’ll be working from Outlook in the purchasing department. She’ll be looking at offers from new vendors for a particular inventory item. Next, we’ll log in as Alan, who is in the accounting area. He’ll be reviewing the vendors and the purchase orders and then send them for approval. Next is the admin person, who will be approving the vendors and the purchase orders and also creating the vendor’s invoices. Lastly, we have David, who works in the warehouse and will be receiving the items.

Sourcing using Outlook

So let’s get started. I’m logged in here as Alicia, and Alicia has previously reached out to three new vendors, asking them for offers on a particular inventory item. We can see those responses here. Alicia decides to move ahead with Modern Products. From Outlook, she can set up a contact for the new vendor and initiate a new purchase order.

Once the vendor is established, Alicia can start the purchase order. Now, the purchase order will also go through an approval process, so let’s take a look at that.

Vendor Setup and Approval

Now, I’m logged in as Alan, who is in the accounting area. Alan will take a look at the vendors and the purchase orders and review those. Once he’s done, he will request approval for the vendor and the purchase order.

Purchase Order Creation and Approval

Next, let’s log in as the admin person. The admin person can see the approval requests and can review and approve the vendor and purchase order.

Finally, let’s log in as David, who works in the warehouse. David will receive the items by posting the receipt of the items into inventory.

PO Receiving, Vendor Invoices, Vendor Returns

Now, the next step is to invoice the purchase. The admin person can enter the vendor’s invoice and post it, making it an accounts payable waiting to be paid.

But a couple of days later, it’s discovered that one of the items previously received on that purchase order needs to be returned. So the admin person creates a vendor return order and processes the return.

And that’s it! That’s the end of the purchasing part of the purchase-to-pay process. Alicia sourced the offers, set up the vendor, and initiated the purchase order. Alan reviewed and approved the vendor and the purchase order. David received the items, and the admin person managed the invoices and the return. The process is complete!