Demand Planner for Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Plan with clarity. Respond with confidence.

Turn demand signals into a plan your whole business can act on.

Demand Planner extends Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with a connected workspace for demand forecasting, collaborative review, forecast performance and inventory alignment—helping teams move from scattered inputs to one governed demand plan.

Explore capabilities Discuss your planning needs

Designed to complement Business Central’s native demand and supply-planning processes.

Demand & Inventory OverviewPLAN REVIEW

Forecast accuracy

WAPE

Track by segment

Demand plan

Versioned

Baseline + consensus

Planning horizon

Flexible

By profile

Historical demand & forecastForecast

— Historical / actual demand— Baseline forecast

— Consensus forecastSample illustration

Data readiness

Source validationReview

Mapping and quality checks

Planning health

ExceptionsPrioritized

Shortage and excess-risk review

One governed plan
from data to decision

Forecasts informed by data and business judgment

Versioned scenarios and review history

Approved demand connected to BC planning

Inside Business Central

See Demand Planner at work.

Screenshots from a Business Central demo company. Select an image to open it at full size.

Demand Planning Role Center in Business Central with cues for forecast versions, reviews, exceptions, operations and forecast accuracy as WAPE, bias and forecast value added — **Role Center.** Forecast versions in progress, in review and ready to publish, review tasks, open and supply-risk exceptions, forecast runs and import batches, with forecast accuracy shown as WAPE, bias and forecast value added.

Forecast versions list in Business Central with scenario, status, forecast dates, consensus totals, open exceptions and target demand forecast — **Forecast versions.** Each demand review and scenario is its own version, from calculated and in review to published and superseded, with consensus totals, open exceptions and the Business Central demand forecast it publishes to.

Forecast version card in Business Central listing each item's forecasting method, demand class, backtest WAPE and bias, and baseline, adjustment and consensus quantities — **Forecast version.** A forecasting method and demand class for every item, with backtest WAPE and bias, and baseline, adjustment and consensus quantities compared with the prior version.

Forecast matrix in Business Central with consensus quantities by item and month next to recent history — **Forecast matrix.** Consensus quantities by item and month next to recent history, with adjustments recorded by source and reason code.

A connected planning workspace

From demand history to decisions your teams can trust.

Bring the activities that shape a demand plan into one structured workflow—while keeping assumptions visible and decisions traceable.

Demand forecasting & targets

Create baseline forecasts using configured statistical methods, set planning horizons and periods, and define targets by product, location, customer group or other supported dimensions.

Unified demand data

Bring together Business Central demand history and mapped external inputs such as POS, e-commerce, campaigns or market signals, where those feeds are available.

Collaborative consensus planning

Capture sales, marketing, operations and finance input, record override reasons, and route selected forecasts through review and approval before publication.

Scenarios & forecast versions

Compare baseline, working, approved and what-if plans. Preserve previous versions and understand what changed, who changed it and why.

Inventory & supply alignment

Review demand alongside inventory positions, lead times, safety stock and replenishment settings. Highlight potential shortages, excess stock and service risks.

Accuracy, bias & exception management

Track forecast error and bias by product or segment, compare manual adjustments with the baseline, and focus reviews on meaningful exceptions.

Data quality & traceability

Detect missing periods, mapping gaps, unusual values and stale inputs. Keep run status, source lineage, validation results and publication history available for review.

Role-based dashboards

Give planners, sales teams, operations and managers role-relevant views of forecast trends, review status, key exceptions and planning performance.

Controlled publication to BC

Publish the selected approved forecast to configured Business Central demand forecast records and hand off to the standard supply-planning process.

A clear path from input to action

Make demand planning a repeatable business process.

Replace disconnected spreadsheets and informal adjustments with a controlled cycle your teams can review, improve and repeat.

See which source data and assumptions contributed to a forecast.
Keep baseline predictions separate from business overrides and approvals.
Prioritize exceptions by business impact instead of reviewing every line equally.
Compare forecasts with actual demand to learn where planning methods add value.

The planning cycle

Connect & validate data

Collect demand history and available signals, map dimensions and identify data-quality issues.

Generate & compare forecasts

Run configured forecasting methods, review diagnostics and establish a baseline for the selected horizon.

Review & agree the plan

Collect business input, model scenarios, document adjustments and complete required approvals.

Publish & monitor outcomes

Publish the approved demand plan into Business Central and monitor forecast performance and supply-related exceptions.

Built around Business Central

Planning intelligence—connected to the ERP you already use.

Demand Planner is designed to complement the Business Central data model and planning tools, not replace them. Use the demand plan to support better-informed supply decisions while keeping operational documents and transactions under your existing BC controls.

Demand forecastsPublish selected approved demand to configured BC forecast records.

Supply planningHand off to standard planning and requisition worksheets.

Inventory parametersAnalyze replenishment policies, lead times and safety-stock settings.

External data & BIConnect supported source feeds and analytics tools as configured.

Designed for complex demand

Useful across products, channels and operating models.

Configure planning dimensions and forecast workflows to reflect how your business serves customers and replenishes stock.

Wholesale & distribution

Anticipate changing item demand, compare demand by location and channel, and surface replenishment risks earlier.

Manufacturing

Provide a clearer demand signal for production planning while respecting Business Central’s standard dependent-demand and planning logic.

Retail & e-commerce

Bring sales history and available POS, online, campaign or event signals into a more consistent planning process.

Multi-location businesses

Organize forecasts by supported location, variant, product family, customer segment or other configured planning dimensions.

Measure what matters

Improve the quality of the plan—not just the size of the forecast.

Use configurable indicators to understand accuracy, service exposure, inventory health and the impact of planning decisions over time.

Forecast accuracyMonitor WAPE or other configured error measures at the agreed product, location and time level.

Forecast biasIdentify persistent over-forecasting or under-forecasting patterns by segment.

Inventory healthReview stockout exposure, excess and obsolete inventory signals, turns and days of supply where data permits.

Forecast value addedCompare the baseline against later adjustments to understand where human input improves the plan.

Frequently asked questions

Designed to work with your planning process.

Does Demand Planner replace Business Central supply planning?

No. Demand Planner focuses on forecasting, consensus planning, analytics and controlled publication. Business Central remains the system of record and continues to handle its standard demand/supply planning and operational document processes.

Can different forecast versions and scenarios be maintained?

Yes. Demand Planner keeps its own forecast versions and scenarios—such as baseline, working, approved and what-if plans—so planners can compare results and publish only the selected approved version.

Can we use external market or sales signals?

Yes, where suitable data and integrations are available. External sources such as POS, e-commerce, campaign or market feeds can be mapped and validated before they are used in forecasting.

Which forecasting methods are used?

Baseline forecasts use configurable statistical methods, including moving averages, exponential smoothing and trend analysis. More advanced modelling can use a separately hosted service where appropriate, depending on data volume, Business Central version, cloud or on-premises deployment, security and licensing.

Will a forecast automatically create or post orders?

No. Publishing a forecast is distinct from committing to a sales order, purchase order or production order. Any downstream document creation should follow an explicitly authorized workflow and the standard Business Central controls.

Start with your planning goals

Build a demand planning process that fits your business.

Discuss your forecast horizons, data sources, approval steps and Business Central setup to identify a practical implementation scope.

Contact EXTBC

External data feeds, BI tools and separately hosted forecasting services depend on your configuration and the target Business Central environment. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation; this page does not imply endorsement by Microsoft.