Business Central demand planning for pharma teams
Business Central runs your orders and stock. The forecast, shelf life by market and CMO lead times usually sit in a spreadsheet beside it. PLAIO plans them on Business Central’s data through the existing connector, and approved orders go back to it.
See a few of your SKUs forecast in PLAIO
30 minutes with a PLAIO planning specialist. Bring a few SKUs and the spreadsheet you forecast in today.
Leading pharmaceutical companies
Where the forecast lives on Business Central
Business Central knows what you sold and what you hold. The forecast, the tender you expect next quarter and the shelf life each market accepts tend to sit in one planner’s workbook next to it.
The sales export comes out on Monday. Then one person rebuilds the forecast by hand, every cycle.
Commercial sends its numbers in another workbook and CMO commitments arrive as PDFs. The shelf-life rules are in someone’s head. One planner stitches it all together, and the forecast is only as current as their last rebuild.
Ask how accurate last quarter’s forecast was, by product or by market, and nobody can tell you quickly. Ask who changed a number and why, and there’s no record to show.
Why it matters:
Your ERP is a good system of record. A planning layer on top gives the forecast a proper home, with versions, accuracy and a change history, and leaves the ERP alone.
What you can do with PLAIO on Business Central
Build the forecast in layers
Start from a baseline, scale it, and put a tender on top. Each layer stays visible, and you can switch one off to see what it adds.
Measure accuracy against saved plans
PLAIO saves the plan each month and scores the forecast against it once actuals come in. You see which products run high and which run low.
Turn the forecast into orders
Suggested orders respect each lane’s lead time, MOQ and order increment. A planner approves them, and they go back to Business Central.
How PLAIO works with Business Central
Business Central stays the system of record
Orders, inventory and financials stay in Business Central. Master data and transactions come into PLAIO through the existing connector.
Build, save, measure
Set a base forecast and its adjustments, save it as a version before S&OP, and measure accuracy as sales come in.
Start before the connector is live
Plan on spreadsheet exports while the connector is set up. When it’s ready, each dataset switches to the live feed and the plan carries on.
Planners approve every order
Approved orders are published for Business Central to collect, and it creates each one in its own process. Every write is logged, and a batch that fails validation is rejected in full.
Bring a few SKUs. See them forecast on Business Central data
30 minutes on your own products, your markets and the spreadsheet you forecast in today.
Test it on a few SKUs Prefer to read first? 3-step framework for stable pharma forecasting