Stock journals

Stock journals are a requirement in Dynamics 365 and are used to post physical stock transactions of various types e.g. posting of issues and receipts. Each journal name is assigned a type that has a specific system-generated control which governs where the journal appears. For example, a journal of type ‘Stock adjustment’ will only appear for Stock adjustment journals. Various global controls can be assigned to journals including specific number sequences, reservation policy and whether Approval workflows are to be used.

The following types of stock journals are available:

• A stock movement journal can be used to add cost to an item when you add inventory, but you must manually allocate the additional cost to a particular general ledger account. This stock journal type is useful if you want to overwrite the default posting accounts. A Microsoft demo of a stock movement journal can be found here.
• A stock adjustment journal can also be used to add cost to an item when you add inventory, but the cost is automatically posted to a specified general ledger account – you are unable to change the general ledger account at the time of posting. This stock journal type is used to update the inventory quantities.
• A transfer journal can be used to transfer items between locations, batches, or product variants without any associated cost implications. Stock transfer journals reflect the immediate movement of material.
• A counting journal is used to correct the current on-hand inventory with a physical stock count.
• A BOM journal is typically used in simple or high-volume production scenarios where routes are unnecessary. By using a BOM journal, a stock receipt of the product is completed, together with stock issues for any associated BOM items.
• An item arrival journal can be used to register the receipt of items (for example, from purchase orders).
• A Production input journal can be used to register the receipt of an item from a works order.

Workflow is a system that provides functionality to create business processes and control. It defines how a document flows through Dynamics 365 with pre-defined steps needed to process and approve it, along with who needs to process it.

There are several functions and benefits to using a workflow including:

• Create a multiple approval hierarchy: If, for example, the value of the journal is over a set amount, this can trigger an automatic second layer of approval before the journal can be processed
• Unlimited steps and conditions: Selecting various IF, OR, AND statements allow full transparency and accuracy of who is responsible for the transaction
• Sub-workflow: A workflow can open a sub-workflow if a condition is met and the sub-workflow would have a separate set of rules and conditions that need to be passed prior to approval
• Approval Timeline: Conditions can be created whereby if a transaction is not approved within a certain time scale, the transaction can be recalled or diverted to another approver
• Approval Groups: Several approvers could be part of the approval group and a condition could be added that states, for example, any 2 out of the possible 5 approvers have to approve.

Further information related to stock journals can be found on Microsoft Learn via the URL below.

Inventory journals – Supply Chain Management | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn

Inventory journal approval workflows – Supply Chain Management | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn