Reverse Planning

App Overview

Reverse Planning is a supply chain planning app for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central that gives planners a faster, more transparent alternative to BC's native planning engine. Where the native planning engine runs a full regenerative or net-change plan across everything, Reverse Planning lets planners run targeted, template-driven calculations for exactly the items, locations, and scenarios they need — and see the results in a dedicated journal before anything is committed to actual orders.

The app is built around a common infrastructure — Planning Templates, the Planning Worksheet, and a shared journal engine — but exposes four distinct planning journals, each solving a different problem. A planner can use just one journal or all four, depending on their role and process. The journals are independent: running Simple MRP has no effect on Move Demand Dates, and vice versa. They do share a common output: all four journals carry lines to the Planning Worksheet, where purchase orders, production orders, and transfer orders are created using BC's standard Carry Out Action Message mechanism.

Beyond the four journals, the app includes two supporting tools: Sales Order Handling, which provides a controlled staging area for date changes to sales orders before they are written back, and Rolled Up Lead Time, which calculates cumulative procurement and production lead times through BOM structures and feeds them back into the planning horizon calculations.

Feature Map

Use this table to find the right article for your planning task.

Common Infrastructure

Several concepts and pages are shared across multiple features. Understanding them once makes all the feature articles easier to follow.

Planning Templates

Every calculation in Simple MRP, Move Demand Dates, and Direct Replenishment is driven by a Planning Template. A template is a saved configuration record that defines what a calculation includes: which demand types (sales orders, production components, service orders, forecasts), which supply types (purchase orders, production orders, transfers), the date range, the trigger condition, item filters, and automation flags.

Templates are reusable and per-feature — Simple MRP templates are separate from Move Demand Dates templates. Each journal has its own template list, but the structure and fields are largely the same. Templates can be categorised, copied, and refreshed from Abakion standard defaults.

When you run a calculation, you select or accept a template on the request page. The template's settings drive everything that follows. Changing the template changes the output — no code changes required.

Order Quantity Templates and Date Templates

Order Quantity Templates control how the Suggest Quantity to Order action fills in the order quantity on Simple MRP and Direct Replenishment lines. They define what to calculate from (lowest projected inventory, end inventory, etc.), what to calculate to (safety stock, reorder point, maximum inventory, etc.), and whether to apply order modifiers (minimum, maximum, order multiple).

Date Templates are linked to Order Quantity Templates and control how the suggested due date is set — for example, backward from the first date inventory falls below zero, or forward from the reorder point date. These two templates together make Suggest Quantity to Order a fully configurable, repeatable quantity and date proposal engine.

The Planning Worksheet

The Reverse Planning – Planning Worksheet is the shared downstream journal for Simple MRP, Move Demand Dates, and Direct Replenishment. When you run Carry Out Action Message in any of those journals, the accepted lines land here as standard BC requisition lines. From the worksheet, the standard BC Carry Out Action Message creates the actual purchase, production, or transfer orders.

The Planning Worksheet adds several capabilities on top of BC's standard requisition journal: total volume and weight footers, Create Purchase Quotes action, Update Due Date and Update Starting Date batch actions, Update Vendor No. batch action, and a shortcut to Identify Overstock.

Each user has their own named worksheet batch, configured in the Reverse Planning – Worksheet Setup page. Multiple planners can work in parallel without interfering with each other's batches.

Journal Batch Names

Every journal in Reverse Planning — Simple MRP, Move Demand Dates, Direct Replenishment, and the Planning Worksheet — uses named journal batches that are personal to each user. The batch is configured once in Reverse Planning – Worksheet Setup and is remembered between sessions. The batch name is visible at the top of each journal page and can be changed via lookup if you need to work in a different batch.

Item Filter Templates and SKU Filter Templates

Item Filter Templates save a BC item filter (on any combination of item fields — vendor, category, low-level code, location, etc.) as a reusable template that can be linked to a Planning Template. This means the same template can always calculate for the same item scope without re-entering filters manually.

SKU Filter Templates do the same for the Stockkeeping Unit table — useful for restricting calculations to items with Transfer replenishment, or to SKUs at a specific location.

Typical Planning Workflows

Daily purchase planning (Simple MRP)

1. Run Simple MRP with a template covering purchase items for the next 8 weeks.
2. Click Suggest Quantity to Order to auto-fill quantities.
3. Review lines, adjust if needed.
4. Carry Out Action Message → Planning Worksheet.
5. Carry Out Action Message in the worksheet → purchase orders created.

Weekly delivery review (Move Demand Dates + Sales Order Handling)

1. Run Move Demand Dates to identify sales orders that cannot be fulfilled on time.
2. Review suggested new dates and action messages in the journal.
3. Accept relevant lines → Carry Out Action Message → Sales Order Handling.
4. In Sales Order Handling, optionally run Calculate First Possible Shipment Date for lines without a date proposal.
5. Apply safety buffer and weekday rounding via Update New Promised Delivery Date.
6. Carry Out Action Message → sales order dates updated.

Month-end overstock review (Identify Overstock)

1. Open Identify Overstock with an Overstock Template targeting items above 3× reorder quantity.
2. Run the calculation including forecast and planning lines for the next 6 months.
3. Review the result list sorted by inventory value.
4. For flagged items, open the related purchase orders and reduce or cancel as appropriate.

Production planning across BOM levels (Simple MRP with all low-level codes)

1. Run Calculate Rolled Up Lead Time to refresh cumulative lead times.
2. Run Simple MRP with a template that has Run for all Low Level Codes enabled.
3. The calculation automatically cascades through BOM levels, creating supply suggestions at every level.
4. Carry out to the Planning Worksheet → production and purchase orders created.

Setup Checklist

Before using Reverse Planning for the first time, verify:

• Each user has a Journal Batch set up in Reverse Planning – Worksheet Setup
• At least one Planning Template exists for each journal type you plan to use (Simple MRP, Move Demand Dates, Direct Replenishment). Use Refresh Standard Templates to load Abakion's default template library.
• Item Filter Templates and SKU Filter Templates are configured if you want pre-scoped calculations per buyer or product group
• Order Quantity Templates are configured and linked to Planning Templates if you want automated quantity suggestions
• The Reverse Planning Setup record is reviewed — in particular Align Sales Dates per Group and Hide Supply Changes for Move Demand Dates users
• For Move Demand Dates users: the Reverse Planning Group field on sales order lines is populated (manually or via Master Data Information) if you use group-based shipment date alignment

Integration with Other Abakion Apps