How do you automate purchasing in Business Central?

ReorderOwl is a purchasing agent for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: it reads your sales history, stock on hand, open purchase orders, vendors and lead times, then tells you what to order and how much. You ask in ChatGPT, review a reorder workbook, and it drafts purchase orders that are saved in Business Central only after you confirm.

What does ReorderOwl read from Business Central?

ReorderOwl reads five things: sales history, stock on hand, open purchase orders, vendors and lead times. It syncs them into one common shape, so the same purchasing logic runs the same way whichever ERP the data came from.

Sales history goes back three years. Open purchase orders count as incoming supply, so ReorderOwl does not suggest buying what is already on its way. The hosted engine reads your data with read-only access. A purchase order is saved in Business Central only after you confirm it.

How does ReorderOwl decide what and how much to order?

For each item, ReorderOwl forecasts demand, then orders enough to cover the vendor lead time plus your safety stock, measured in days of cover. Stock on hand and open purchase orders are counted first, so it only suggests the gap.

• Forecast. The default method looks at 36 months of monthly demand for each item. Items that sell most months get a trailing average (12 months by default). Items that sell only now and then get a method built for intermittent demand, and their reserve is at least one typical order.
• Seasonal options. If you want seasonality, you can choose a same-season-last-year or three-year seasonal median method. The default is a flat rate, not seasonal.
• Lead time. A one-run override wins, then a vendor and warehouse rule, then a vendor rule, then the lead time stored in your ERP.
• Safety stock. Set as days of cover, with a company default you can change.

Every row in the workbook says which forecast method it used and why, so a buyer can check the reasoning instead of trusting a black box.

What is in the reorder workbook?

The workbook is a spreadsheet you download and review before anything is ordered. Its main sheet, Order Recommendations, lists each item with the numbers a buyer needs to decide.

Each row shows figures such as available stock, quantity on order, the sales forecast, safety stock, the suggested order quantity, lead time, the forecast method and the primary vendor. Summary cells show inventory value and overstock value. Other sheets cover incoming purchase orders, product folders and the forecast methods. If an item has no lead time, the lead time cell is left blank and marked red so you can fix it at the source.

How do purchase orders get created in Business Central?

Purchase orders follow a draft-then-confirm flow. You say "Draft a PO" for a vendor, review the lines, then say "Confirm it". Only the confirmed draft is saved in Business Central.

Nothing goes to a vendor until someone on your team sends it. ReorderOwl saves the purchase order in your ERP; your buyers still decide when and how it reaches the vendor. If a confirmation is replayed, it does not create a second order.

Where do you use it: ChatGPT or Slack?

For Business Central, you use ReorderOwl in ChatGPT. You ask plain questions such as "What should I reorder from Ironwell Tools this week?" and get the answer, the workbook and the draft PO in the same conversation. See the purchasing agent in ChatGPT.

Slack works with EBMS only today. If your team lives in Slack and runs Business Central, book a demo and tell us; we will not claim Slack support for Business Central until it exists. ReorderOwl is coming to the ChatGPT app directory; today we set it up with you.

How does it work alongside Business Central planning and requisition worksheets?

Business Central has its own supply planning. You set a reordering policy on each item or stockkeeping unit (Fixed Reorder Qty., Maximum Qty., Order or Lot-for-Lot), then run Calculate Plan in the requisition worksheet to get action messages and turn them into purchase orders. Microsoft describes the requisition worksheet as the main planning page for wholesale companies that replenish by purchase or transfer.

That planning engine works from the parameters you set and the demand it can see: sales orders, demand forecasts you enter, blanket orders, safety stock and reorder points. ReorderOwl starts from a different place: it builds a forecast from your sales history and turns it into a purchase list you can question in plain language. Teams can use both. Some keep Business Central planning for items with well-tuned policies and use ReorderOwl as a forecast-based check before they buy. For the full trade-off, read Business Central planning vs ReorderOwl. To tune the built-in fields first, follow our guide on setting reorder points in Business Central.

What is the status of the Business Central connection, and how do you get it?

The Business Central connection is built and tested against Business Central test systems; we connect it to yours with you during setup. Testing covered the data sync, reorder lists for several vendors, a hand check of item numbers and a test purchase order that was created and then deleted.

To get started, book a demo. We walk through how it works and then connect your Business Central company with you during setup.

Frequently asked questions

Does ReorderOwl send purchase orders to my vendors?

No. ReorderOwl saves a confirmed purchase order in Business Central. Nothing goes to a vendor until someone on your team sends it.

Can ReorderOwl create a purchase order without me confirming it?

No. In ChatGPT it first drafts the purchase order for you to review. It is saved in Business Central only after you confirm it.

Do I have to use the requisition worksheet to use ReorderOwl?

No. ReorderOwl builds its own forecast from your sales history, stock, open purchase orders, vendors and lead times. You can keep using Business Central planning alongside it.

Does ReorderOwl work in Slack for Business Central?

Not today. Slack works with EBMS only. Business Central customers use ReorderOwl in ChatGPT.

Is ReorderOwl already used by Business Central customers?

The connection is built and tested against Business Central test systems. We connect it to your company with you during setup, after you book a demo.

Sources

1. About planning functionality, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
2. Supply Planning, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01
3. Setup best practices - Reordering policies, Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-10-01