Comparison ยท Business Central
Business Central planning or ReorderOwl: which should you use?
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Business Central's built-in planning turns reordering policies and reorder points you maintain into purchase suggestions in the requisition worksheet, and it is included in the product. ReorderOwl builds a forecast from your sales history, explains each suggestion in a workbook, and drafts purchase orders from a ChatGPT conversation that you confirm.
What does Business Central's built-in planning do?
Business Central plans supply from parameters on each item or stockkeeping unit. You choose a reordering policy, set fields such as Reorder Point and Safety Stock Quantity, and run Calculate Plan. The result is a list of action messages you can carry out as purchase orders.
Planning nets demand against supply. Demand includes sales and service orders, blanket orders, component needs and the demand forecast. Supply includes inventory and open purchase, transfer, assembly and production orders. Planning can also suggest cancelling, reducing or rescheduling orders when demand drops, which keeps inventory from growing for no reason.
Four reordering policies cover most needs: Fixed Reorder Qty., Maximum Qty., Order and Lot-for-Lot. Wholesale companies usually work in the requisition worksheet; manufacturers use the planning worksheet, which runs MPS and MRP across bills of materials. Our guide on setting reorder points in Business Central walks through the setup.
Where does Business Central get its forecast?
The demand forecast that planning uses is entered by hand. Microsoft's documentation says you create forecasts manually on the Demand Forecast page, and only one forecast is valid for planning at a time.
Microsoft also offers forecasting tools beside planning. The Sales and Inventory Forecast extension uses Azure AI to predict sales from item ledger history and can help create replenishment requests; Microsoft notes it forecasts in aggregate across locations and variants. The Inventory Forecasting Power BI report, for 2025 release wave 2 and later, projects the next three months from the previous six.
As for AI agents, Microsoft's Business Central AI overview (dated 2026-07-01) lists a Payables Agent, a Sales Order Agent and an Expense Agent, plus Copilot features such as chat, analysis assist and item substitute suggestions. That page does not list an agent for purchasing or replenishment.
How does ReorderOwl work differently?
ReorderOwl reads sales history, stock on hand, open purchase orders, vendors and lead times, and builds its own forecast for each item. You do not have to type a forecast or maintain reorder points for it to make a suggestion.
By default it looks at 36 months of monthly demand. Items that sell most months get a trailing average; items that sell only now and then get a method built for intermittent demand. It then orders enough to cover lead time plus safety stock in days of cover. You ask in ChatGPT, review a workbook that states the forecast method for every row, and say "Draft a PO", then "Confirm it". Nothing goes to a vendor until someone on your team sends it. See ReorderOwl for Business Central.
How do they compare side by side?
Choose Business Central planning if your policies are tuned or you run MRP; choose ReorderOwl if you want a forecast from sales history and a plain-language buying conversation without maintaining reorder points.
| Business Central built-in planning | ReorderOwl | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you work | Requisition or planning worksheet inside Business Central | A ChatGPT conversation plus a downloadable workbook |
| What drives suggestions | Reordering policies and planning parameters you maintain, plus actual demand and the demand forecast | A forecast built from 36 months of sales history, with lead time and safety days of cover |
| Forecast source | Entered manually on the Demand Forecast page; optional forecasting extension and Power BI report | Calculated per item; the method is shown on every row |
| Manufacturing and MRP | Yes: MPS, MRP, bills of materials, production orders | Purchasing only |
| Reschedule and cancel suggestions | Yes, through action messages | Suggests new purchases |
| Creating purchase orders | Carry Out Action Message on accepted lines | Draft a PO, then confirm it; saved in Business Central |
| Extra tool to adopt | No, it is part of Business Central | Yes, set up with our team after a demo |
| Connection status | Part of the product | Built and tested against Business Central test systems; we connect it to yours with you during setup |
When should you choose Business Central's built-in planning instead?
Choose Business Central's own planning when it already fits how you work. It is a mature engine, it lives where your data lives, and it needs no extra tool.
- Your reordering policies are already tuned. If buyers trust the reorder points and the requisition worksheet output, a second system adds little.
- You manufacture or assemble. MPS and MRP plan components through bills of materials and create production and assembly orders. ReorderOwl only plans purchases.
- You need order-by-order planning. The Order policy links each supply to a specific demand, which suits make-to-order, drop shipments and special orders.
- You want reschedule and cancel suggestions. Action messages tell you to move, shrink or cancel existing orders when demand changes.
- You prefer one system. Keeping everything inside Business Central means one set of permissions, one interface and no extra setup.
When does ReorderOwl make more sense?
ReorderOwl fits teams whose reorder points have drifted or were never set, and who would rather review a forecast than maintain parameters item by item.
- You have many items with no Reordering Policy or stale reorder points.
- You want each suggestion explained, with the forecast method on every row.
- Your buyers prefer asking "What should I order from Ironwell Tools?" to filtering a worksheet.
- You want a forecast-based second opinion before you carry out action messages.
The two can run side by side. Business Central planning keeps covering manufactured and order-linked items, while ReorderOwl checks purchased stock items against sales history.
Frequently asked questions
Does Business Central have a built-in purchasing agent?
As of 2026-10-01, Microsoft's Business Central AI overview lists a Payables Agent, a Sales Order Agent and an Expense Agent, but no agent for purchasing or replenishment. Microsoft adds features often, so check its release plans.
Can I use ReorderOwl and the requisition worksheet together?
Yes. ReorderOwl reads your Business Central data and saves a purchase order only after you confirm it, so your planning setup can stay as it is.
Does ReorderOwl replace MRP?
No. ReorderOwl plans purchases. If you manufacture, Business Central's MPS and MRP plan production and components.
Do I need to set reorder points for ReorderOwl to work?
No. ReorderOwl builds its forecast from sales history, stock on hand, open purchase orders, vendors and lead times.
Sources
- About planning functionality, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
- Supply Planning, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
- Setup best practices - Reordering policies, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
- Run Full Planning, MPS, or MRP, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
- Create a demand forecast, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
- Using the Sales and Inventory Forecast extension to manage inventory, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
- Inventory Forecasting (Power BI report), Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
- Business Central AI, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01