Sales and purchasing in Business Central
How the order-to-cash and procure-to-pay flows work in Business Central — quotes, orders, invoicing, requisitions, and approvals.
The sales and purchasing modules are where most day-to-day Business Central users spend their time. Both follow the same document-driven pattern — quote → order → shipment/receipt → invoice → posting — which keeps the system consistent and easy to learn.
Sales (order-to-cash). Sales starts with a customer card carrying credit terms, prices, currency, and posting groups. From there, salespeople create sales quotes, which convert to sales orders once accepted. Orders can be partially or fully shipped (creating posted shipments and inventory transactions), and partially or fully invoiced (creating posted invoices and ledger entries). Standalone sales invoices and credit memos exist for transactions that don't need order tracking. Pricing is driven by price lists, customer-specific prices, line and invoice discounts, and customer/item discount groups. Sales returns are handled through return orders that reverse inventory and value.
Purchasing (procure-to-pay). Purchasing mirrors sales: vendor cards, purchase quotes, purchase orders, partial receipts and invoices, and posted credit memos for returns. The requisition worksheet plans purchases based on demand from sales, projections, or minimum stock, suggesting POs to release. Item charges (freight, duty, insurance) can be allocated across received lines to land cost correctly into inventory. A built-in vendor item catalog lets you map your item numbers to a vendor's, and price/discount agreements can be time-bounded.
Approvals. Both sides support workflow-driven approvals — sales quotes over a threshold, purchase orders over a vendor limit, customer credit-limit overrides, and so on — configured in the workflow designer and routed through users or roles. Approvers can act from Outlook, Teams, or the web client.
Documents and reporting. Posted documents are immutable and can be reprinted, emailed, or sent as PDFs. Each posted document writes to the relevant vendor ledger, customer ledger, item ledger, and value entry tables, which are the foundation for AR/AP ageing, sales analytics, and inventory valuation.
Related guides
- Blocked items and customers in Business CentralHow block fields on items, customers, and vendors prevent transactions in Business Central — the three block levels, when each applies, and how to design a block strategy that doesn't paralyse operations.
- Electronic document sending in Business CentralHow Business Central sends electronic documents — PEPPOL, country-specific formats, document exchange services, and the operational rhythms of e-invoicing.
- The marketing and relationships module in Business CentralBusiness Central's built-in contact-and-relationship management — when it works, when Dynamics 365 Sales is the better answer.
- Sales prices and price lists in Business CentralHow Business Central handles pricing — the modern price list model, prioritisation, discounts, and the migration from the old per-customer pricing tables.
- Account schedules and financial reports in Business CentralHow Business Central's account schedules and the newer Financial Reports feature work — and how to build P&L and balance sheet reports without leaving BC.