Manufacturers and distributors running high-volume warehouse operations share a common pressure: inventory has to be where the system says it is, at every point in the process. When a receiving dock brings in a full pallet of components and the system records it only at the item and location level, you lose the container picture. That pallet gets moved, split, partially picked — and now reconciling what’s actually on it requires manual counts, not a system lookup.
For manufacturers, this gap shows up in production: raw material containers are staged for a work order, but without container-level tracking, there’s no clean answer to which specific containers fed a given run. Traceability, quality reviews, and variance investigations all get harder. For distributors, the pressure is throughput — picking accuracy and outbound staging depend on workers being directed to the right container, not just the right aisle.
License plates in Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management solve this at the system level. They function as unique identifiers assigned to a pallet, tote, or container, giving the system continuous visibility into what’s on each container and where it is — from inbound receipt through outbound shipment. The tracking isn’t manual; it’s enforced by the system as part of every warehouse movement.
What a License Plate Does in F&SCM
In F&SCM, license plates are required in any location that has advanced warehouse management enabled. Anytime inventory moves into or out of one of these locations, the system requires a license plate — making container-level tracking a built-in part of the process rather than something that has to be enforced through procedure.
License plates support four core warehouse processes:
- Receiving — inventory is received onto a license plate during the inbound process
- Movement — license plates are scanned when inventory is moved between locations
- Picking — work orders reference license plates to direct warehouse staff to the right container
- Shipping — outbound shipments confirm which license plates are leaving the facility
Because every movement is recorded against the license plate, you also get a complete transaction history for any container in the system — useful for traceability reviews, discrepancy investigations, and audit responses.
How to Navigate to License Plates in the System
To find and review license plates in F&SCM, navigate to:
- Warehouse Management > Setup > Warehouse > License Plates
- On-hand inventory — what items are currently on that license plate and in what quantities
- Transactions — the full history of movements, receipts, and picks tied to that license plate
This view shows every license plate currently in the system. From here, you can select any individual license plate and, through the action pane, view:
This gives you an immediate audit view for any container without building a custom report or cross-referencing multiple tables.
Creating a New License Plate
New license plates are created directly from the License Plates list page. The process is straightforward:
- In the action pane, select New.
- Enter a license plate ID (for example, LP-0001).
- Save the record. The system auto-populates the creation date.
At this point, the license plate exists but is empty. If you open the On-Hand List for it, you’ll see no inventory — which is exactly what you’d expect. The license plate is now ready to be assigned during a receiving transaction.
Receiving Inventory onto a License Plate
The most common entry point for a license plate in active use is an inbound receipt. Here’s how receiving works once the purchase order is in the system:
- Navigate to Procurement and Sourcing > Purchase Orders > All Purchase Orders and open the relevant purchase order.
- In the warehouse mobile device emulator, go to Inbound > Purchase Receive.
- Enter the purchase order number, the quantity being received (for example, 10), and the item.
- Select the unit of measure (for example, changing from pallets to each).
- When prompted for a license plate, enter the newly created license plate ID (LP-0001).
- Confirm and complete the work.
The system creates the receipt and closes out the work associated with that receiving task.
Confirming On-Hand Inventory by License Plate
Once receiving is complete, you can verify the inventory landed on the correct license plate in real time:
- Navigate to Inventory Management > Inquiries and Reports > On-Hand List.
- Add the License Plate dimension to the view.
- Filter by the specific license plate ID and apply.
The filtered view confirms which items are on the license plate and in what quantity — in this example, item D-0010 with a quantity of 10. No batch job, no manual lookup, no reconciliation needed. The system reflects the receipt immediately.
Applying This Beyond a Single Purchase Order
The example above walks through a single receiving event, but the license plate framework scales across every warehouse movement in F&SCM. The same license plate that receives inventory at the dock can be referenced when that container is moved to a reserve location, picked for a sales order, or staged for outbound shipment.
License plates also support nesting — where a child license plate (such as a tote) can be contained within a parent license plate (such as a pallet) — which becomes relevant in operations that stage inventory in multi-level configurations before shipping.
Anywhere the system requires a location assignment in an advanced warehouse-enabled area, the license plate travels with the inventory. This continuity is what makes the audit trail meaningful — you can trace any item backward through its full handling history from a single container ID.
Watch the Walkthrough
The steps above are drawn from a live demonstration of license plate creation and receiving in D365 F&SCM. You can watch the full video walkthrough here: License Plates in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations: Overview, Setup, and Receiving Demo
Western Computer has spent 35+ years and 1,250+ implementations helping distributors, manufacturers, 3PLs, and food and beverage companies get more out of Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management. If your team is looking to extend your warehouse capabilities or optimize how F&SCM is configured for your operations, learn more at westerncomputer.com.
