Advanced pricing

Article09/20/20237 min read

Sales

The Aptean Food & Beverage Advanced Pricing (APR) extension makes it possible to determine sales prices and discounts for items based on a predefined hierarchy instead of the lowest price. For instance, you may have set a low sales price for all customers and a second-higher sales price for a specific customer. In this case, you want the system to collect the customer price because specific agreements have been made with it. By default, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central chooses the lowest price, which is the lowest permissible price with the highest permissible line discount on a given date. The Advanced Pricing extension allows us to determine the pricing per customer, per customer price group, or the whole company if the prices and discounts must be based on a predefined hierarchical structure instead of the standard lowest price determination. When this hierarchical determination is used by setting up the Advanced Pricing as the price calculation method, the system searches for valid prices in the following order when an item is entered in a sales document:

  1. Campaign & item
  2. Customer & item
  3. Customer price group & item
  4. All customers & item
  5. Item card

If a valid price is found, that price is considered, and the system will no longer search for prices at the levels lower in the hierarchy. The same hierarchy is considered to determine sales discounts, but extra levels have been added due to the available setup for item discount groups.

The system first looks for a valid price or discount where the currency code is equal to the sales document and where the variant matches the item on the sales price line. If there is no applicable price (or discount) found on one of the hierarchical levels, the system goes through the hierarchy again, but then with currency and/or variant code empty. This aspect is explained in detail in the Advanced pricing method hierarchy.

This extension also offers other functionality besides the hierarchical price and discount determination. In the industries, especially when you sell to retail, it is common to use discounts expressed in percentages and amounts. By default, it is only possible to express sales discounts in percentages in Dynamics 365 Business Central. The extension makes it possible to set up and calculate the sales discounts in an amount as well. Those amounts are only applied if the “Advanced Pricing” method is used in the sales price line as the price calculation method instead of the lowest price method.

To provide the user with detailed insight into the sales and discount calculation based on the Advanced Pricing method, the Applied Sales Price and Discount page can be opened from a sales price line. It shows information concerning the origin of the applied sales price or discount line and the used item units of measure. It explains how the applied unit price from the sales price line is converted into the unit price on the sales price line. This is done considering that the unit of measure code and the currency code from the applied sales price line can differ from the codes on the sales price line. The same explanation is shown if the unit price in the sales price line is expressed, including VAT, whereas the unit price on the sales price line is expressed excluding VAT or vice versa.

Insights in Applied Sales Price and Discount are available in all sales documents, including Blanket Sales Order, Sales Quote, Sales Order, Sales Return Order, Sales Invoice and Sales Credit Memo. When standard functions in Business Central such as Copy Document, Get Posted document lines to reverse, Archive document is executed, the sub administration of Applied Sales Prices and Discount are copied from the original to the new document.

You can also find the applied sales price and discount fields on the sales document lines, which are editable based on the configuration on the Advanced Pricing Setup page. These fields are not available by default on the sales document lines. You must personalize them. For more information, see With Allow Direct Sales Line Price Influence toggle turned on.

Furthermore, the extension offers multiple tools for flexible deployment of sales pricing strategies:

  • Apply the same pricing strategy to multiple customers simultaneously by introducing a reference customer to register sales prices and discounts.
  • Differentiate pricing strategies for various locations of one customer by defining pricing parameters on the ship-to address level.
  • Define reference dates used for pricing (order date, shipment date, delivery date) on customer level.

The Advanced Pricing extension functionality is seamlessly integrated with all the sales pricing functions available in standard Business Central.

Purchase

The Aptean Food & Beverage Advanced Pricing extension makes it possible to determine purchase prices and discounts for items based on a predefined hierarchy instead of choosing the lowest price.

For instance, you may have need to set a low purchase price for all vendors and a second-higher purchase price for a specific vendor. In this case, you want the system to collect the vendor price because specific agreements have been made with it.

By default, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central chooses the lowest price, which is the lowest permissible price with the highest permissible line discount on a given date. The Advanced Pricing extension allows us to determine the pricing:

  • Per vendor
  • For All Vendors
  • Per Item

If the prices and discounts can be based on a predefined hierarchical structure instead of the standard lowest price determination. When this hierarchical determination is used by setting up the Advanced Pricing method as the price calculation method, the system searches for valid prices in the following order when an item is entered in a purchase document:

  • Vendor & item
  • All Vendors & item
  • Item card

If a valid price is found, that price is considered, and the system will no longer search for prices at the levels lower in the hierarchy. The same hierarchy is considered to determine purchase discounts, but extra levels have been added due to the available setup for item discount groups.

The system first looks for a valid price or discount where the currency code is equal to the purchase document and where the variant matches the item on the purchase price line. If there is no applicable price (or discount) found on one of the hierarchical levels, the system goes through the hierarchy again, but then with currency and/or variant code empty. This aspect is explained in detail in the Advanced pricing method hierarchy.

To provide the user with detailed insight into the purchase and discount calculation based on the Advanced Pricing method, the Applied Purchase Price and Discount page can be opened from a purchase price line. It shows information concerning the origin of the applied purchase price or discount line and the used item units of measure. It explains how the applied direct unit cost from the purchase price line is converted into the direct unit cost on the purchase price line, This conversion is done considering that the unit of measure code and the currency code from the applied purchase price line can differ from the codes on the purchase price line. The same explanation is shown if the direct unit cost in the purchase price line is expressed, including VAT, while the direct unit cost on the purchase price line is expressed excluding VAT or vice versa.

Insights in Applied Purchase Price and Discount are available in all purchase documents, including Blanket Purchase Order, Purchase Quote, Purchase Order, Purchase Return Order, Purchase Invoice and Purchase Credit Memo. When standard functions in Business Central such as Copy Document, Get Posted document lines to reverse, Archive document is executed, the sub administration of Applied Purchase Prices and Discount are copied from the original to the new document.

You can also find the applied purchase cost and discount fields on the purchase document lines, which are editable based on the configuration on the Advanced Pricing Setup page. These fields are not available by default on the purchase document lines. You must personalize them. For more information, see With Allow Direct Purchase Line Cost update toggle turned on.

Furthermore, the extension offers multiple tools for flexible deployment of purchase pricing strategies:

  • Apply the same pricing strategy to multiple vendors simultaneously by introducing a reference vendor to register purchase prices and discounts.
  • Define reference dates used for pricing (order date, shipment date, delivery date) on vendor level.

The Advanced Pricing extension functionality is seamlessly integrated with all purchase pricing functions available in standard Business Central.