The Procurement Agent in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management helps purchasers manage supplier communication and understand the impact of supplier changes to purchase orders. The impact analysis capability evaluates whether and how supplier changes affect inventory levels, production schedules, and customer deliveries.

When a supplier proposes a change to a purchase order, the Procurement Agent automatically analyzes the downstream impact on sales orders, production orders, transfer orders, and inventory levels. It traces supply changes across the system to identify affected orders where marking and pegging apply. It checks each order against confirmed incoming supply and projected on-hand inventory.

What impact analysis shows

A clear impact summary surfaces directly in the procurement workflow, enabling purchasers to see immediately whether a change is safe to accept. The impact analysis feature classifies each change as either Has impact or No impact. Purchasers can then drill down into detailed impact information to see exactly which orders are affected, including linked orders if pegging data is available. Graphs show how projected inventory levels compare before and after the proposed change. Impact analysis also highlights when a change will cause inventory levels to drop below minimum thresholds or go negative (stockout).

How impact analysis works

Impact analysis automatically analyzes the downstream impact of changes that suppliers communicate through one or both of the following channels:

Supplier emails (through the supplier communications capability of the Procurement Agent)
The vendor collaboration module in Supply Chain Management

Impact analysis uses available planning and inventory data to trace impacted orders and calculate projected inventory levels after the change. If you use Supply Chain Management for master planning, the system can use marking and pegging to trace full chains of directly and indirectly impacted orders. If you use an external planning system, impact analysis considers markings, which are explicit reservations.

Impact simulations

Impact simulations enable purchasers to see the downstream impact of proposed quantity and date changes. For example, simulations can show whether:

Potential changes to at-risk or critical purchase orders have a downstream impact.
Changes communicated through other channels (such as telephone) have a downstream impact.
Specific supplier proposals to move delivery dates might reduce or eliminate the impact.

The user experience

The following screenshots show how the results of the impact analysis are displayed in Supply Chain Management:

Image 1 shows how impact analysis appears in the supplier communications experience. The Emails from vendors page displays a summary of the vendor's proposed changes alongside the current purchase order values. The Impact column indicates whether each change Has impact or has No impact, and an AI-generated summary describes the effects on orders and inventory. The View details button opens the detailed analysis.
Image 2 shows how impact analysis appears in the Purchase order preparation workspace for responses received through the vendor collaboration module. The In external review requires action tab lists purchase orders with vendor responses, and the Impact column shows whether each change has a downstream impact. From here, you can go to View impact analysis or the purchase order response page.
Image 3 shows the detailed impact analysis page that opens when a you select View details for a change that Has impact. The page shows the AI-generated impact summary, a tree of impacted orders (including production orders and linked sales orders), and the projected inventory analysis with site, warehouse, expected inventory level, and expected impact date. The inventory graph compares projected levels before and after the proposed change and highlights minimum-threshold breaches.
Image 4 shows the impact simulation page, which is accessible from any open purchase order. Change the confirmed receipt date on the purchase order header or adjust the date and quantity on individual lines, and then select Simulate impact to evaluate downstream effects. The results show the same detailed analysis as the automatic impact evaluation, including impacted orders, projected inventory, and threshold or stockout indicators.