Friday, 6:40 p.m. A salesperson confirms 200 units for Monday over WhatsApp, because the spreadsheet says there are 340. The warehouse has 90. The rest went out on Wednesday on a delivery note nobody got around to subtracting. On Monday someone calls the customer to ask for patience, purchasing orders an urgent restock with expensive freight, and at month end accounting can't reconcile the inventory value with the balance sheet.
Almost every company that sells physical products starts the same way: a shared Excel file, sometimes a standalone inventory control software that someone installed because it was cheap and solved the immediate problem. It works while there's one warehouse, a few products and two people who remember everything. This guide is for what comes next: the stock stops matching, and the question is no longer which spreadsheet to use but whether inventory should live inside the ERP, alongside sales, purchasing and accounting. We use Dynamics 365 Business Central as the reference, since it's Microsoft's ERP for small and midsize companies.
Signs your inventory has gotten away from you
You don't need a formal assessment. Look at what happened last month:
- You sell stock you don't have, or you have stock you don't sell because nobody knows it's there.
- Every stock count ends in a big adjustment, and nobody can explain where the difference came from.
- To find out how much of a product you have, someone has to call the warehouse.
- Purchasing restocks "just in case," and the balance sheet shows products that haven't moved in months.
- If you had to recall a bad lot, you wouldn't know which customers received it.
- Inventory cost is calculated in a separate spreadsheet once a month, and it never matches accounting.
One of these can be a bad month. Three or more almost always mean the same thing: inventory is disconnected from the rest of the business, and a better spreadsheet won't fix that.
Inventory control software or ERP: the actual difference
A standalone inventory system records what comes in and what goes out. An ERP does that too, and it also ties every movement to the document that triggered it and to its accounting impact. When you post a sale, stock goes down, the invoice is linked to the customer and the cost of goods sold reaches the ledger without anyone typing it again. In Business Central, for example, you can audit the reconciliation between the inventory ledger and the general ledger from within the system.
| Need | Spreadsheet or standalone tool | Inventory inside the ERP |
|---|---|---|
| Available stock | Updated when someone types it in | Changes with every posted receipt, shipment or transfer |
| Sales and purchasing | Cross-checked by hand | Orders reserve and replenish against the same stock |
| Inventory value | Separate monthly calculation | Automatic costing based on each item's costing method |
| Lots and serial numbers | A text column, if that | Traceability from vendor to customer |
| Multiple warehouses | One sheet per warehouse | Locations with transfers between them |
| Replenishment | Each buyer's judgment | Reorder point and safety stock per item |
To be clear, the table doesn't say everyone needs an ERP. A company with 80 products, one warehouse and modest volume can do fine for years with a good inventory tool. The ERP starts paying off when stock errors turn into lost sales, rush freight and month-end closes that take a week.
What Business Central brings to inventory and warehousing
Microsoft's documentation describes several features that cover what hurts most in a small distributor or trading company:
- Locations and bins. Each physical warehouse can be a location, and inside it you can use bins to know which shelf every product is on. The warehouse management overview lays out levels of complexity, from posting everything directly from the sales or purchase order to separate receipt, put-away, pick and shipment flows, and even directed put-away and pick.
- Lots, serial numbers and packages. You assign them at receipt and they follow the item through transfers and shipments. If you deal with expiration dates, you can turn on FEFO picking so whatever expires first goes out first.
- Costing methods. Business Central supports FIFO, LIFO, average, specific and standard. Settle this with your accountant before you start, because you can't change an item's costing method once it has transactions.
- Replenishment. Each item can have a reorder point, safety stock and a reordering policy (fixed quantity, maximum quantity, order or lot-for-lot). With that, the system suggests purchase orders instead of waiting for someone to notice a shortage.
- Cycle counting. You can set counting periods per item and count on a rolling basis instead of shutting the warehouse for a weekend once a year.
You don't have to switch all of this on the first day. We usually recommend the opposite: start with simple locations and add bins or directed picking when operations call for it.
Licenses and reference prices
According to the Business Central pricing page, checked in November 2026, there are three main licenses, with reference prices in US dollars per user per month, paid yearly:
| License | Reference price | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | USD 80 | Users in finance, sales, purchasing, inventory and warehouse management |
| Premium | USD 110 | Everything in Essentials, plus manufacturing and service order management |
| Team Members | USD 8 | People who look up, approve or update specific information |
For a company that buys, stores and sells, Essentials covers inventory and warehousing. Premium makes sense if you also make or assemble products. Microsoft notes that prices are for information only and can vary by country and currency, and that licenses are bought through a partner in the CSP program. AI agents, such as the Sales Order Agent, consume Copilot Credits that are billed separately.
One point specific to Chile: in its country availability table, Microsoft lists Business Central as available in Chile with partner-provided localization on top of the international version, and with data hosted in the Brazil Azure geography. In practice, local requirements such as electronic invoicing and tax formats are handled by localization apps that are worth reviewing before you sign.
What to prepare before migrating inventory
The software is the easy part. What delays projects is usually the data and the decisions nobody made. Before you start, define:
- A clean item master. One code per product, clear units of measure (if you sell by the box and buy by the pallet, say so) and no duplicates like "SCREW 3/8" and "Screw 3/8 galv."
- How the warehouse is organized. How many locations there are, whether you'll use bins and who records each movement.
- The costing method for each product family, agreed with finance.
- Which items carry lot or serial numbers. You can turn it on later, but sorting out the history costs more.
- The opening balance. Ideally, a physical count close to go-live, because moving spreadsheet discrepancies into the new system just relocates the problem.
If you're coming from another ERP or from several systems, Dynamics 365 partner in Chile: what to expect during implementation explains how data migration is organized and what your team has to do. And if you're still comparing options, see Business Central vs SAP Business One: how to decide.
Frequently asked questions
Can I start with inventory only and add other areas later?
Business Central is licensed per user, not per module, so inventory isn't bought separately. What you can do is implement in stages: start with purchasing, sales and inventory, then add advanced warehousing, projects or manufacturing.
Do I need barcode scanners or special devices?
Not to get started. Business Central runs in the browser. For busy warehouses, scanners and shared devices help, and Microsoft offers a device license for equipment that several people use.
What happens to the history I have in Excel?
Typically you migrate items, opening balances and open orders. The movement history usually stays in the old system or in a reference file, because bringing all of it over makes the project more expensive and it's rarely used.
Has your inventory stopped adding up?
At Disrupsoft we implement Dynamics 365 in stages, starting with the critical areas. We assess your sales and operations processes, set up inventory and warehousing around how you work today, connect the platform to Microsoft 365, Power Platform and the systems you already use, and keep supporting you with training and help after go-live. If you'd like to go over it with your own operational data, let's talk about your case.
