Blanket Orders in Business Central Explained

Blanket Orders in Business Central record a long-term sales or purchase agreement, then let you create multiple “real” orders over time as you fulfil it.

The really bad explanation (on purpose)

A Blanket Order is basically a corporate pinky-swear.

Your customer says, “We’ll take 2,400 units this year.” You nod solemnly, wrap the promise in a ceremonial fleece throw, and place it in a cupboard labelled “Future Problems”. Each month you open the cupboard, yank out the blanket, and a fresh Sales Order drops out like a toaster pastry.

Nothing is delivered. Nothing is invoiced. But everyone feels organised, which is the true KPI.

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The Better Explanation (one you can trust)

In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, a Blanket Order is used to capture a framework agreement with a customer (Sales Blanket Order) or vendor (Purchase Blanket Order).

It records the overall commitment (items, quantities, and often agreed pricing/discounts) for a period. You then create one or more standard Sales Orders or Purchase Orders from the blanket order as you actually deliver or receive in parts.

Why use a Blanket Order instead of a normal order?

The big functional difference is this: quantities on a blanket order don’t affect item availability. That means the blanket order acts like a planning and monitoring document, rather than immediately “reserving” stock in the system.

It’s useful for forecasting and visibility without messing up availability calculations.

How it works: Sales Blanket Orders

A typical scenario is a customer agreeing to buy a large quantity, delivered in smaller shipments over time.

The practical flow is:

1. Create the Blanket Sales Order and enter the lines/total quantities.
2. Leave the Order Date blank. When you create separate Sales Orders from the blanket order, their order date is set to the current work date.
3. When you’re ready to fulfil a portion, use Make Order to create a standard Sales Order for the quantity you want to ship now.
4. You then ship and/or invoice from the Sales Order as normal. When you post those documents, Business Central updates the related Quantity Shipped and Quantity Invoiced against the blanket order lines.

Business Central also stamps traceability into the created order lines: the blanket order number and line number are stored on the sales lines created from the blanket order, so you can track what was released from what agreement.

How it works: Purchase Blanket Orders

On the buying side, a Purchase Blanket Order does the same job: it records the long-term deal with a supplier (pricing/volume), and you generate multiple Purchase Orders over time as you actually need stock.

This is particularly handy when you’ve negotiated terms once and want consistent, controlled draw-downs rather than re-keying the same lines repeatedly.

Practical Tips (the bits that save you pain)

• Treat the blanket order as the agreement and the generated orders as the fulfilment history. If you blur the line, reporting becomes a soap opera.

• Use it when the delivery plan changes. If every delivery is fixed and predictable, a normal order schedule might be enough.

• Review shipped/invoiced progress regularly. The blanket order is only useful if someone actually monitors it, not if it becomes another digital attic.

Blanket Orders are most valuable when you’re trying to balance customer commitments with sensible stock planning, without over-promising availability or constantly rebuilding orders from scratch.

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