Trade begins with procurement. Before the Waterdeep Trading Company can sell a single enchanted backpack or barrel of fine spirits, it must first acquire the raw materials, finished goods, and services that fuel its operations. The Procurement and Sourcing module in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is where those purchasing processes are defined, controlled, and executed with consistency and precision.

Purchasing configuration establishes who buys what, how goods are shipped, how vendors are categorized, and how pricing and discounts are applied. It connects procurement strategy to operational execution by defining buyer responsibilities, delivery terms, procurement categories, the full purchase order lifecycle, and the trade agreements that govern pricing and discounts. Greta Ironfist demands that every purchase, whether a bulk order of reagents from Baldur's Gate or a single cloak from a Waterdeep tailor, follows a clear, auditable path from requisition to receipt to payment. These labs ensure that expectation is met.

What You Will Learn in This Guide

Procurement and Sourcing Controls:  Define the system-wide rules that shape how purchasing operates: buyer groups, delivery terms, modes of delivery, and procurement and sourcing parameters. These controls remove ambiguity and ensure that every purchase follows a consistent, auditable process.

Procurement Categories:  Build and activate the controlled framework used to classify the goods and services the organization buys. This module covers procurement hierarchy design, hierarchy type assignment, and linking products and preferred vendors to category nodes.

Purchase Orders:  Execute the full purchase order lifecycle from creation through goods receipt, vendor invoicing, and transaction review. This module ensures that vendor commitments are honored, inventories remain accurate, and financial ledgers reflect the true cost of operations.

Pricing and Discounting:  Leverage trade agreements to manage vendor-specific pricing, price lists, discount agreements, and category-based pricing. This module covers activation, vendor and item discount groups, trade agreement journals, and applying negotiated rates automatically to purchase orders.

By completing these labs, we will have built a complete procurement framework for the Waterdeep Trading Company, ensuring that every purchase is properly categorized, every order follows a controlled lifecycle, and every negotiated price is applied automatically across the supply chain.