Describe Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management
This domain of MB-920 tests whether you can explain, at a functional level, what Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (SCM) does and which capability solves a stated business problem. You are not configuring anything; you are matching business scenarios to modules and knowing the vocabulary Microsoft uses for them.
Product and inventory foundations
Everything in SCM begins with the product. A product master defines the item; released products make it usable in a specific legal entity. Items are governed by item model groups, which bundle three kinds of dimension groups: storage dimensions (site, warehouse, location, inventory status), tracking dimensions (batch and serial numbers) and product dimensions (configuration, color, size, style). Advanced warehouse processes - mobile device scanning, work templates, location directives, waves and cycle counting - apply only to items and warehouses enabled for them.
Plan, source, make, move
- Master planning (MRP) explodes demand into planned purchase, production and transfer orders. A static plan uses a snapshot; a dynamic plan considers all current transactions. Planned orders are proposals and become real documents only when firmed.
- Procurement and sourcing: purchase requisition → request for quotation → purchase order → product receipt → vendor invoice, with three-way matching and vendor collaboration.
- Production control: bills of material (BOM), routes, production orders, kanban/lean; process manufacturing instead uses formulas, co-products and by-products.
- Adjacent modules complete the picture: transportation management, asset management, quality management and cost accounting.
Worked example
A bicycle maker sources a batch-tracked frame with a 10-day lead time. A sales order creates demand; master planning produces a planned purchase order covering the shortage. The planner firms it, creating a purchase order, then a product receipt and a vendor invoice matched to it. Because the item carries a tracking dimension group, batch numbers are captured on receipt; the site/warehouse/location values come from the storage dimension group instead.
Traps that cost marks
Planned orders are not real orders until firmed. Static versus dynamic plans are reversed often in questions. Storage dimensions and tracking dimensions are frequently swapped. "Warehouse management" is not the same as basic inventory on-hand, and WMS features are unavailable for items not enabled for them.