Warehouse documents in Business Central separate warehouse operations from purchasing and sales. The warehouse team works from their own receipts and shipments instead of the source orders.
Warehouse documents in Business Central give the warehouse team their own records to work from. Instead of opening sales orders or purchase orders, staff use records built for their role. This keeps data clean. Each team sees only what they need. Furthermore, it stops staff from changing prices, dates, or terms on source orders. Warehouse documents also make it easy to track stock movements apart from the billing cycle. So understanding this setup is a good first step. It helps any business that wants a clear split between warehouse and office work in BC.
What Are Warehouse Documents in Business Central?
Warehouse documents are records in Business Central that cover the movement of stock. They sit between the source order and the work on the warehouse floor. The main warehouse documents are the warehouse receipt for inbound goods and the warehouse shipment for outbound goods. Put away and pick documents are also part of this group. These cover stock movement inside the warehouse, such as moving goods from a receiving area to a storage bin. Indeed, each document type maps to a specific physical task. Receipts handle incoming goods. Shipments manage outbound orders. The pick document guides staff to collect items from bins. Put away documents move received goods into storage bins.
The core idea is role split. On the purchasing side, the team manages vendor details, prices, and terms. Warehouse staff focus on counts, condition, and correct storage. Thus, warehouse documents let each group work in the right place without touching each other’s records. Moreover, this cuts the risk of wrong changes to purchase and sales fields. Indeed, warehouse staff have no reason to edit prices or payment terms. In short, keeping them out of the purchase order protects your data.
How to Set Up Warehouse Documents on a Location
In Business Central, warehouse documents settings sit at the site level. Open the Locations list and select the location you want to update. Then, find the Warehouse section on the card. This section holds the options that control which document types run for that site. Each site can use different settings. Thus, a large site can run full warehouse documents while a small one uses a simpler approach.
The two main options are Require Receive and Require Shipment. Both are turned off by default. Turning on Require Receive means inbound goods must go through a warehouse receipt before BC updates stock. Turning on Require Shipment means outbound orders must go through a warehouse shipment before posting. Moreover, Require Put Away and Require Pick cover internal stock movement for sites that need those extra steps. In short, the location card gives you direct control over how far document split goes at each site.
How Warehouse Receipts Work
When a delivery arrives, the process starts by creating a receipt from the purchase order. On the purchase order, the ribbon has a button to create the warehouse receipt. Then, BC creates a receipt with its own number. The warehouse team works from this number rather than the purchase order number. The source reference appears on the receipt line for tracking. Thus, each side – purchasing and warehouse – has its own document tied to the same delivery.
What Warehouse Documents Do After Posting
The team prints the receipt, counts the quantity, and checks the condition of the goods. After checking everything is correct, they post the receipt. Then, the post takes a few seconds. Furthermore, BC handles the stock update in the background. Then, BC updates stock and marks the quantity as received on the purchase order. Consequently, the buying team can see the delivery is complete and match the vendor invoice. Furthermore, the warehouse documents in the inbound flow keep each team working in their own area. Meanwhile, the update happens right away. There is no delay between the warehouse post and the buying team seeing the result.
How Warehouse Shipments Work
The outbound process follows the same pattern. When a sales order is ready to ship, the team creates a warehouse shipment from the order. BC generates a document with its own number and lists the lines from the order. The same approach works here as it does for purchasing. Each team handles their own record. The warehouse team uses the shipment document. They do not need to open the sales order at all. Their job ends when the shipment is posted.
Then, the team picks, packs, and prepares the goods for the carrier. Once done, they post the shipment. Then, BC updates the sales order to show the shipped quantity. The buying team can then invoice. Moreover, posting with the packing slip option records the shipment without invoicing at the same time. Therefore, businesses that bill separately from shipping can keep a clean record of what left the warehouse and when.
Put Away and Pick Documents
Moreover, larger warehouses often add more steps to the basic receipt and shipment flow. After BC posts a receipt, goods land in a receiving area rather than going straight into storage bins. A put away document then guides the team through placing goods into the correct bins or shelves. Thus, the receipt handles the inbound count, and the put away document handles the placement step.
On the outbound side, pick documents extend the shipment flow. After creating a shipment, the team generates a pick. The pick tells staff exactly where to find each item they need. Once done, items move to a shipping area and the shipment posts from there. Consequently, a single transaction can involve several warehouse documents. These are the shipment, the pick, and the final posting. Each one is a clear record of one step. In short, this gives a clear view of what happened at each stage.
Wrapping Up: How Warehouse Documents Work in Business Central
Warehouse documents in Business Central create a clear split between office and warehouse work. Receipts handle inbound goods, shipments cover outbound orders, and put away and pick documents cover movement inside the warehouse. Each of these warehouse documents keeps the warehouse team on their own tasks. They do not need access to purchase or sales fields.
This is a core setup for any business that wants its warehouse to run cleanly and smoothly alongside the rest of BC. NAV SEAL will cover bins, put away, and advanced pick in follow-up videos in the warehouse series. Check the NAV SEAL YouTube channel and visit navseal.com for more Business Central guides.
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