Unexpected Changes the Expected Receipt Date in Dynamics NAV

Overview
This is one issue that I hear from customers using Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision) quite often is why does the Expected Receipt Date keep changing?

The Expected Receipt Date in Dynamics NAV is the main driver for inventory planning. Dynamics NAV uses this field to calculate the availability of the item. Based on this date, Dynamics navNAV calculates when the item can be received into your warehouse.

On the purchase order, the field is on the header and on the lines. Dynamics NAV will only use the field on the purchase lines in the calculation.

What the Help Says
Looking at the help, the explanation is simple enough:

ExpectedReceiptDate1

Basically, what it says is that the Expected Receipt Date on the purchase line should copy the information from the purchase header, if it exist. Otherwise, it will follow a formula:

Planned Receipt Date (Order Date on the purchase line + Lead Time Calculation on the Vendor/Item Catalog, if it’s blank, then the Lead Time Calculation on the vendor card)
+ Safety Lead Time (On the Item card or SKU card)
+ Inbound Whse. Handling Time (On the Inventory Setup or the Location card)
= Expected Receipt Date

However, if you continue to drill into the help, you’ll find another formula for the Expected Receipt Date:

ExpectedReceiptDate2

Order Date (on the Purchase Order)
+ Lead Time Calculation (From the Item Vendor table, if blank it’ll use the field on the SKU, then the item card)
= Expected Receipt Date

If you drill down on the Lead Time Calculation Help, it will say:

ExpectedReceiptDate3

If I follow the formula correctly based on the help:
Order Date + Lead Time Calculation =
= Planned Receipt Date
= Planned Receipt Date + Inbound Warehouse Handling Time + Safety Lead Time
= Expected Receipt Date

Yes… Nice and Simple…

Other Fields that Affect this Date
What the help doesn’t mention is that there are other fields that will affect the Expected Receipt Date. To test this, just create a purchase order and go to the Shipping Fasttab (or tab if you’re using the classic client) in your version of Dynamics NAV.

ExpectedReceiptDate4

The Safety Lead Time, Lead Time Calculation and the Inbound Whse. Handling Time explanation is pretty straight forward. In our test, the CRONUS database has 1 day on the Safety Lead Time.

Here’s what happens when you change the following dates on the Purchase Header:

Requested Receipt Date, it will changed/updated on the Purchase Line:
– Order Date
– Planned Receipt Date
– Requested Receipt Date

Promised Receipt Date, it will changed/updated on the Purchase Line:
– Planned Receipt Date
– Expected Receipt Date
– Promised Receipt Date

Expected Receipt Date, it will changed/updated on the Purchase Line:
– Planned Receipt Date
– Expected Receipt Date

Here’s Where It Gets Awkward
These dates work FIFO. So whatever date you change on the Purchase Order header will take precedent over what was entered before.

Worst, when you update the dates on the header, you’ll get a message asking if you want to change the Purchase Lines, WHERE ALL THE INVENTORY CALCULATION TAKES PLACE!

Conclusion
There are a lot of instances where the user will want to look at the purchase order header and get a feel for what is coming in what by who. Make sure the user know exactly what’s going on.

An option would be to remove these dates from the header and force the user to enter the lines. But if you have long purchase order, this is not really an option.

In the end, becareful about changing those dates when you’re entering purchase orders in Dynamics NAV!

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