General

A shortage occurs when the ordered quantity of a product cannot be delivered. This is generally linked to poor anticipation of supply needs.

This results in potential customer dissatisfaction and in certain cases may be subject to compensation. It is therefore important for a supplier or customer to be able to monitor their shortages as best as possible (“Shortage rate” performance indicator).

The goal of the shortage management functionality is to allow complete recording of the quantities originally ordered. In standard Dynamics 365 Business Central , an order can only be closed if the ordered quantity is completely delivered.

In the event that a shortage occurs (the ordered quantity cannot be honored) if the user wishes to close his order then he must adjust the quantity ordered with the quantity actually delivered, thus losing all traceability of the ordered history.

In order to preserve these quantities originally ordered, we have added fields for storing the quantities initially ordered on purchase/sales orders, on purchase/sales invoices, as well as on receipt/shipment documents and all associated archived documents (orders archived, invoices recorded).

Shortage management policy Change Order Quantity is not compatible with prepayment as prepayment suggest that the whole ordered quantity will be shipped. If you setup shortage management with Change Order Quantity policy for your customer and create order with prepayment a popu up message will inform you that a prepayment is already posted then order quantity can’t be adjusted. In that specific case shortage will have to be handled manually.

Last updated on Dec 31, 2025