Update Quantity on Finish
This feature makes a finished production order record what was actually produced rather than what was planned.
Standard Business Central leaves the Quantity on a production order line at the planned figure for the life of the order. If you plan 1,000 kg and produce 940 kg, the finished order still says 1,000 kg, and every component still carries the expected quantity for 1,000 kg. Anyone reading that order later cannot tell the expected recipe apart from the shortfall in output.
When Update Quantity on Finish is enabled, changing a production order from Released to Finished sets each line's Quantity to its Finished Quantity and rescales the component expected quantities to match. The planned figure is kept in a new Original Quantity field, so nothing is lost.
Business value
- Expected versus actual consumption becomes a true variance. Once the expected component quantities are scaled to the output actually achieved, the gap between expected and actual consumption is yield and waste, not the volume shortfall.
- The actual mix can be extrapolated. Expected quantity divided by line quantity gives the rate per unit produced, so the recipe that a historical order was run at can be derived directly from the finished order.
- The plan is still there. Original Quantity keeps the planned figure, so plan-versus-output reporting is unaffected.
Setup
Open Advanced Production Setup and, under Production Orders, turn on Update Quantity on Finish.
The setting is off by default. Existing finished orders are not affected — the feature only ever acts at the moment an order is finished.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Update Quantity on Finish | When enabled, each production order line quantity is set to the quantity actually finished as the order is finished, and the component expected quantities are recalculated to match. |
What happens when an order is finished
The update runs as part of the status change, after Business Central has completed its own finish checks and after flushing, and before the order is copied to Finished. Running after flushing matters: backward-flushed routing lines post their remaining output during the finish, so the finished quantity is only final at that point.
For every line on the order:
- Original Quantity is set to the line's planned Quantity, if it is not already set.
- Quantity is set to Finished Quantity.
- Remaining Quantity becomes zero.
- Each component's Expected Quantity is recalculated from the new line quantity, using the component's own Quantity per, calculation formula and scrap percentages.
The update is applied in both directions. If a line over-produced, its Quantity is increased to the finished quantity in the same way.
A line that produced nothing has its Quantity set to zero, and its components' expected quantities go to zero with it. This is deliberate — the line records that nothing was made. If you would rather such a line kept its plan, do not finish it: remove the line, or post the output first.
Because the quantity is validated, the standard Business Central checks apply. If an output put-away, or any other open warehouse document, still references the production order line, the finish is stopped with an error. Register or delete the warehouse document, then finish the order.
This is stricter than standard Business Central, which lets you finish in that situation and re-points the open put-away at the finished order. It is deliberate: the quantity is not rewritten behind an open warehouse document.
On a backward-flushed line the finish itself posts output for the whole remaining quantity, so the finished quantity already equals the planned quantity by the time the update runs and nothing changes. The feature has a visible effect on lines where output is posted manually or where the flush cannot cover the full quantity.
Where to see the result
Original Quantity is shown on the lines of a Finished Production Order, immediately before Quantity.
Compare the two to see the plan against the output.
Original Quantity is only ever written once. If an order is reopened and finished again, the field keeps the plan the order was first finished against, rather than the quantity it was reopened with. Reopening carries the field back to the released order, so nothing is lost in between.
When the feature is disabled, Original Quantity is still written as the order is finished — it is simply set to the same value as Quantity, so finished orders always carry a planned figure whether or not the feature was on at the time.
Effect on standard behaviour
- Costs. Cost Amount on the line and on each component is recalculated from the new quantities. Posted value entries are untouched; the finish continues to run standard WIP clearing and cost adjustment afterwards.
- Consumption posted during the finish is unaffected. Backward flushing calculates what to consume from actual output and the per-unit rate, not from the expected quantity, so it produces the same result either way.
- Reservations are verified as the quantity is validated, and are then removed by the finish regardless, as they are in standard Business Central.
- Open warehouse documents stop the finish, as described above.
- The missing-output warning when you finish an order still behaves exactly as it does in standard Business Central. It is evaluated against the planned quantity, before this feature runs.