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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

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The Best Automation Workflows to Set Up in Business Central This Quarter
09
Feb

The Best Automation Workflows to Set Up in Business Central This Quarter

As we settle in with the quarter and the initial rush to plan is over, the reality of the daily grind has set in. For finance and operations teams using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC), this is the perfect time to pause and ask a critical question: Are we working for the system, or is the system working for us?  If your team still does any manual data crunching, copies and pastes invoices, or sends approvals around via email, then you’re leaving efficiency on the table.  Automation in Business Central is not about replacing the humans; it’s about freeing your team from repetitive administrative tasks and granting them time for strategy and growth. Here are the top-priority, high-impact automation workflows you should set up this quarter.  1. Finance: Automated Payment Reminders & Collections  Cash flow is the lifeblood of your business. But most accounting teams spend a considerable amount of time every week going over aging reports and composing emails to follow up on late payments.  The Workflow:  Establish in BC the “Reminder Levels” feature to automatically draft and send customers emails for reminders, based on due dates. How it works: You define the terms, such as sending a polite nudge at 7 days past due, a firm notice 14 days past due, and final demand at 30 days past due. BC calculates the interest/fees if applicable and sends the email out under the standard email logging setup.  2. Sales: The “Quote-to-Order” Conversion  Sales reps live in their inboxes or CRMs. When a client approves a quote, the last thing they want to do is log into BC and key up the data again to make an order.  The Workflow:  Use the “Make Order” functionality or integrate it with Power Automate to enable conversion. How it works: Once a quote status has been updated to “Accepted” within Business Central the quote will automatically be converted into a Sales Order. It can then trigger immediately a warehouse pick instruction.   3. Inventory: Smart Reorder Point Triggers  Stock-outs kill the sale; overstock kills cash flow. Finding this “Goldilocks” zone is usually a manual guessing game for purchasing managers.  The Workflow:  Deploy Replenishment Worksheets based on defined Reorder Points. How it works: You put in a “Reorder Point” for each SKU. When the inventory falls below that number, BC flags it automatically. Going a step further, you can create a Job Queue that will automatically create a Purchase Order suggestion by approval, per vendors’ lead times.   The ROI: You move from a reactive purchasing model-buy only when you run out-to a predictive one. This prevents stockout during peak demand and reduces excess inventory capital.  4. Operations: Bank Reconciliation using Feeds  Reconciliation of bank statements is usually the biggest time killer in finance. Matching items on your bank statement to items in your ERP system by hand is time-consuming and prone to errors. Establish the connection for Bank Feeds.   How it works:   Bank transactions are automatically fetched to BC every day. The system enables “Application Rules” for auto allocation of received payments to customer invoices and for outgoing payments to vendor bills.   5. Administration: Automated Approval Workflows  Is a purchase order above $5,000 signed off by the CFO or is a sales discount above 10% signed off by the VP? These signatures need to stop being recorded in Slack threads.  The Workflow:  Set up Approval Workflows in BC. “How it works: You set up a logic chain, like “If Document Type = Purchase Order and Amount > $5,000, Then Notify User = ‘CFO.’” The approver will receive a push notification within BC, which they can accept through the mobile app. The document will be “locked until approval is granted.””  Bonus – The Power Platform Integration  Although BC has native automation power in abundance, it reaches its true potential when integrated with Power Automate. For the current quarter, pick one “power user” workflow.  The Workflow:  Trigger: “CREATE: A new vendor is inserted into table ‘Vendors’.  Action Type: Automatically add the vendor to the “Vendor Onboarding” SharePoint List and place a message inside the Microsoft Teams channel alerting the procurement team to obtain insurance information.  Outlining a Business Plan      Rather than trying to automate all of it at once, you will inevitably overload your team and IT infrastructure. This quarter, pick one of the workflows from the above list where your business feels the most pain.  Map Process: List in detail how it is done currently.  Bottleneck: Identifying Where the Human Component Slows Things Down  Configure: You can make use of BC’s assistant guides or involve your partner to configure the workflow.   The Bottom Line:   Automation in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) is NOT an “future” project; it is something you NEED to do each quarter. By doing these tasks today, you are not just saving time; you are laying the groundwork for the rest of the year. 
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How Different Roles Use the Same Business Central ERP Differently
02
Feb

How Different Roles Use the Same Business Central ERP Differently 

One of the strongest points of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is that all users work within the system but do not experience the system in the same way. For a CFO, Business Central is essentially a financial control tower. It’s an inventory nerve centre for the warehouse manager because everything is in real time. It is a deal-closing tool for the sales representative. For the buyer, it’s the crystal ball of the supply chain. Same ERP, completely different worlds. Now, let’s get into Business Central and observe how various people utilize it in their own, special way.  Finance & Accounting: The Guardians of the Numbers  For Financial professionals, Business Central means accurate, compliant, and transparent operations. They live inside:  Their goals:  Features They admire:  To finance, the control system of their business is Business Central.  Warehouse & Inventory Teams: The Real-Time Operations Hub  To warehouse teams, Business Central is much more than an accounting system-it’s a command centre each day. They focus on:  Their goal:  Features they rely on:  For them, Business Central is the real-time nerve of the warehouse.  Sales Teams: The Revenue Engine  Sales reps have one thing on their minds: Can I close this deal and ship it on time? They use:  Their objectives:  For sales, Business Central is your deal accelerator.  Procurement & Purchasing: The Supply Chain Brain  Buyers and procurement managers use Business Central to ensure that stock never runs out and never overflows. They dwell in:  Their Goals:  Features they rely on:  Regarding procurement, Business Central serves as the negotiation and forecasting engine.  Manufacturing Operations and Production Layer: Execution Layer  In manufacturing and assembly operations, Business Central transforms into a “factory brain.” They use:  Their Goals:  Features they admire:  To the operations side, Business Central is the pulse of the plant.  Executives & Managers: The Decision Cockpit  A leader isn’t a participant in a transaction, but consumes: THEIR GOALS:  For them, Business Central is a real-time business dashboard.  IT & ERP Administrators: The Control Tower  Admins don’t manage a business; instead, they protect a business. They manage:  Their goals:  For IT professionals, Business Central acts as a governance and integration platform.   One System. Many Perspectives. Total Alignment.  “The real magic of Business Central is not that everyone uses it, it’s that everyone uses it together.”  All from the same data, all in real time, with no silos. It is this that makes Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central more than the traditional systems and turns it in complete business operating mechanism. 
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Can Your ERP Think? Exploring AI Features Coming to Business Central
19
Jan

Can Your ERP Think? Exploring AI Features Coming to Business Central 

Imagine your ERP solution could do things beyond just storing information and handling mundane tasks. What if it could understand information, indicate the next step, create content, forecast results, and act upon your behalf? “With Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the future of AI isn’t something that will happen someday, it’s here today. And through the power of AI capabilities like Co-pilot and intelligent agents, Business Central is moving from being a reactive data solution to a full-fledged ERP system that can think, act, and help.” So, let’s dive in and look at AI capabilities in Business Central and what it may mean for you. AI Is Built In, Not Bolted on as compared to the traditional add-ons where the implementation and learning process is required, the AI capabilities in Business Central come as an in-built function and make perfectly well with the existing data in your system.  1. Co-pilot: Your AI Assistant Inside the ERP  Co-pilot is the integrated AI assistant in Business Central. This requires natural language understanding and generative AI to assist users in working smarter without requiring expertise in technology.  What Co-pilot Can Do:  Answer questions clearly, for example, “Show me overdue invoices.”  Explain reports and data trends instantly  Help with tasks such as bank reconciliation  Compose business content such as product descriptions  Summarize the records or findings in lay terms  This transforms your ERP system from a transactional system to an interactive system which is an advisor to you and makes it easy to do more without any specialist skills.  2. AI-Driven Data Analysis as Demand  AI capabilities in Business Central makes it possible to analyse data using natural language instead of filters and formulas.  “Show total sales by product category over the past quarter.”  receiving an immediate, structured response without having to prepare specific reports. These enable the following insights to become possible:  First, without requiring an analyst or a BI expert.  3. Intelligent Agents That Automate Work for You  Business Central is now offering AI agents, or artificial intelligence assistants that automatically watch data, make transactions, and alert you when necessary. For instance:  The Sale Order Agent can process customer emails, as well as understanding the information, to generate sales orders.  This makes mundane input tasks and processes like ordering faster, leaving more time for higher-value activities to be performed by human agents.  4. AI Forecasting & Predictive Insights  AI assists you in looking beyond the news of the past to the forefront of what decisions need to be made in the future. Some of the predictive capabilities being developed around Microsoft Business Central include:  Sales & Inventory Demand Forecasting: Prevents shortages & overstocking  Late Payment Prediction: Notifies you of possible delayed payments of invoices   Cash flow projections using AI technology: Predicts cash requirements and risks Automated Bank Reconciliation: Suggestions by AI and Identification of Discrepancies   They rely upon the past ERP data to forecast the future behaviour of the business instead of simply reacting to the business change that has occurred.  5. Content and Communications Generation  A very useful application of AI is in creating commercial content such as products descriptions, customer communication, and so on, which generally has to be done manually. Business Central can suggest or prepare:  This assists teams to work faster, more accurately, and with fewer mistakes.  6. Integration with Power Platform and Co-pilot Everywhere  Artificial intelligence does not remain within Business Central; it also reaches out into the overall Microsoft ecosystem.  Thanks to the integration with products such as Power Automate Copilot, the user can create automation workflows with natural language processing.  Example: “Create a workflow to automatically transmit purchase orders to suppliers when the stock level reaches the reorder point.” Copilot breaks it down, creates the automation, and activates it for you without writing code.  7. Future Enhancements on the Horizon  Even more advanced AI features are in preview or under development:  Model Context Protocol (MCP): This enables tailored AI agents to directly interface with Business Central’s data model with minimal setup.  Custom AI solutions: Developers can build enterprise-specific AI workflows tied into BC data.  This means your ERP’s AI will continue to get smarter, more customizable, and more powerful over time.  What This Means for Your Business  An AI-powered Business Central is not “a bit smarter”; it is a different paradigm for how businesses conduct themselves:  It is now urgent that the rear guard be replaced.  Or in other words? Your ERP no longer just records the past, but it helps in shaping the future.  Final Thoughts: Your ERP Is Learning to Think  Business Central is changing its features from traditional ERP to such systems that it:  Everything is powered by AI features right within the platform, not separate add-ons or external tools. The age of a thinking ERP is here, and Business Central is leading the way. 
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Why Business Central Is Basically Your Silent Internal Auditor
29
Dec

Why Business Central Is Basically Your Silent Internal Auditor

“No business would mind having an internal auditor who never sleeps, who never forgets, who never misses an error, and who never gets weary of checking figures.” If you are using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you already have a silent internal auditor.  Business Central has its eye on all the transactions, confirming all the entries, monitoring all the changes, and ensuring that all the financial and business information remains accurate, compliant, and traceable. It doesn’t attend meetings, but it doesn’t have to write reports either, because there’s something even better: protecting the business from mistakes, from fraud, from bad data.  Let’s go through the details of how Business Central functions in the background as the silent internal auditor.  1. All Transactions Are Fully Traceable  Each sales invoice, each purchase receipt, each inventory adjustment, and each journal entry generates a sequence of records, like:  Each one connects to:  2. Permission Sets Enforce Segregation of Duties  One of the basic auditing concepts is the segregation of duties, where the person responsible for recording the transaction should not be the same person who approved it. Business Central ensures this with:  So, you can control who,  This ensures that neither forgery nor errors occur.  3. Posting Groups Prevent Accounting Errors  Posting groups are the financial ruling engine for BC. They determine which G/L accounts to debit/credit on:  “If it is incorrectly configured, it will result in posting being blocked by BC.” It means that the user cannot accidently post the inventory to the wrong balance sheet account or accidently post revenue to the wrong line item.  4. Change Logs: What and Who made the changes.  Ever wonder who:  It is all answered in the Change Log. It monitors:  5. The Posting Preview lets you See the Impact of the Transaction Before It Occurs  The Posting Preview facility will allow you to post your content before posting. That is:  This enables accounting teams to examine and approve any transactions before they are recorded. Auditors appreciate this feature. So do CFOs.  6. Corrections Are Never Hidden  In Business Central, you never delete financial history. If something is wrong, you:  This leaves an observable trace of:  Correction Exactly as the auditors wanted it.  7. All Inventory Movements Are Fully Logged  Every item movement creates:  This enables tracing for:  It becomes easier to detect shrinkage, write-offs, and discrepancies.  8. Dimensions Unveil Financial Transparency  Dimensions guarantee the following tags on each transaction:  Thus, costs and revenues cannot hide in the wrong bucket, and accountants have complete visibility regarding the movement of funds within the business.  9. System Validations: Protect against Bad Data  Business Central prevents transactions from happening if they violate certain rules:  It’s like what an internal auditor might say:  “This doesn’t meet policy, you can’t proceed.”  10. Reports Are Always Reproducible  Since everything is recorded as ledger entries, you can always:  Nothing hinges on the manual spreadsheet. This would be an audit and compliance professional’s dream come true.  Conclusion: The Always-On Finance Protector  You may not notice it, but Business Central is always working in the background:  Business Central never forgets. It never misses a check. “That’s why it is largely your silent internal auditor.”  
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The Secret Life of an Item Card: What Happens Behind the Scenes When You Post a Transaction
22
Dec

The Secret Life of an Item Card: What Happens Behind the Scenes When You Post a Transaction 

The Item Card in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central might seem basic, a place to put the basic product details like description, cost, and inventory levels. But the moment you post a transaction, a purchase, sales order, or transfer, the Item Card springs to life.  Behind all that, there is a complex choreography of costing, ledgers, reservations, availability, and so on. That’s what, in fact, makes Business Central so powerful. This blog reveals the secret life of an Item Card in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and describes what happens under the hood when you hit Post.  1. The Item Card Isn’t Just a Form, It’s a Control Centre  Think of the Item Card as the command hub for everything related to your product.  Each domain drives how BC will treat transactions, cost, reservations, or replenishment.  2. How the Item Card Handles the Purchase  Posting a Purchase Order receipt triggers the following actions in Business Central:  a. Item Ledger Entries are created.  BC pens a new entry recording:  This becomes part of the item’s inventory history.  b. Value Entries are generated  These store the financial impact of the receipt, including:  c. Costing Method decides valuation  Depending on whether the item uses FIFO, Average, Standard, LIFO, or Specific, BC assigns cost layers differently.  d. Availability updates instantly  On-hand inventory increases the moment the receipt posts. Behind the scenes, the Item Card updates fields such as:  3. Sales Posting: How BC Depletes Inventory and Calculates Cost of Goods Sold  When you post a Sales Shipment or Invoice, the Item Card invokes its costing logic:  a. Inventory is reduced  BC identifies which cost layer to use based on the costing method and reduces on-hand quantity.  b. Outbound Item Ledger Entry is created  Documenting:  c. Cost of Goods Sold is calculated  Value Entries are made by using the correct cost layer.  For instance,  Every outgoing transaction refers to its precise incoming origin.  4. Routine of Cost Adjustment Begins to Work Silently  If costing isn’t fully known at posting for example, expected cost, then BC schedules Adjust Cost, Item Entries in the background.  This process:  This is the reason you might see cost adjustments “jump” into financial reports later.  5. Reservations & Item Tracking Kick In  When you post, BC checks:  Item Card settings determine whether the system:  Item tracking ensures traceability at every stage for inventory.  6. The Replenishment System Wakes Up  Posting a receipt or shipment may trigger planning actions:  This is where the Item Card acts as a feeder into Business Central’s full planning engine.  7. Posting Groups Determine the Financial Effect  Posting of an item is not just an inventory update; it is an accounting event.  The Item Card’s Inventory Posting Group and General Posting Group determine which G/L accounts are used for:  When you post, the Item Card sends instructions to the G/L via Posting Groups.  8. The Item Card Updates Its Own Statistics  After every posting, BC updates key fields automatically:  These fields become the source for reports such as:  9. If posting is wrong, reverse transactions activate  When users reverse a transaction, BC doesn’t delete anything.  Instead, it creates:  The Item Card assures full auditability.  10. All This Happens in Seconds Automatically  Every click of Post runs a full chain reaction:  All powered by the humble Item Card.  Concluding Remarks:   The Item Card in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the brain of Inventory within Business Central. What seems to be a simple product record is a deeply interconnected engine controlling:  Traceability Analytics Knowing what goes on behind the scenes will help users troubleshoot, optimize, and trust the data Business Central provides. 
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How Business Central Predicts the Future: Planning Parameters Explained Creatively
15
Dec

How Business Central Predicts the Future: Planning Parameters Explained Creatively 

Imagine if your ERP system could predict the future.   This would be a helper who will always know exactly when you are running low on your stock, exactly when it’s time for replenishment, exactly what you will need next month, and at exactly what times your perfectly formulated plan will be destroyed because of an unexpected spike. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central already does this, thanks to the capabilities offered by Planning Parameters. The small fields within an Item Card have more might and prowess than most people appreciate. These fields can best be described as tools for fortune telling and influencing your procurement and replenishment strategy.  So today, we’re going to explain these concepts in a creative manner, as there’s a fun tale lurking beneath all that technical talk.  Meet the Fortune Tellers: Your Planning Parameters  A planning field within Microsoft Business Central works like a character with personality, role, and forecasting method.  1. Reorders Point  Reorder Point: Reorder Point wakes up at exactly the moment you are running out of stock and says:  “Hey! The inventory numbers are falling below the threshold–ORDER NOW!”  As a result, in practice, it will mean that as soon as your inventory goes below a certain level, BC will propose a new Purchase/Production Order.  Great for:  Not great for:  2. Safety Stock   The Safety Stock sits at the entrance of your inventory and guards it against chaos.  whispers: “I know demand can be unpredictable… so here’s a cushion.”  It will help you with:  3. Lead Time  Lead Time understands how long it will take for the inventory to arrive and predicts: “Order now, because your supplier takes 20 days. I’ve already looked into the future – trust me.”  Lead Time allows BC to make decisions regarding when it should offer suggestions for purchases or production requirements.  Without correct Lead Time:  4. Lot Accumulation Period  Lot Accumulation Period, your scheduling coach, it says  “Let’s not make an order every time you sell an article, merge demands.”  This parameter is suited for:  5. Reordering Policy Reordering Policy determines strategy. It acts differently based on your choice:  Fixed Reorder Quantity  “Always order exactly this amount.”  Maximum Quantity  “Keep inventory topped up to a target level.”  Lot-for-Lot  “Order exactly what is required. No more, no less.”  Order  “Only order when needed, no extra planning logic.”  This is MRP’s master decision-maker.  6. Min/Max Order Quantity   Both these parameters control ordering.  Minimum Order Quantity:  “No order below this size.”  Maximum Order Quantity:  “Do not buy more than this limit.”  Ideal for instances where vendors have rules on ordering or if you need regular ordering pattern behaviour.  7. Order Multiple   Multiple Order ensures that all buying recommendations comply with rules imposed by vendors or packaging.  “’Your supplier ships in packs of 24. So, 24, 48, 72… not 37.””  BC adjusts for orders based on multiples.  8. Dampener Period and Dampener Quantity   These are soothing for your planning engine.  “Stop overreacting to tiny changes. Let’s avoid creating pointless new orders.”  Used especially for:  9. Time Bucket   Time Bucket determines planning and timeline:  To define planning and timeline, Day. Week. Month.  It influences BC’s concept of demand for every planning window. It is the pulse of the planning engine. Together, they form the business central crystal ball.  Conclusion:  When you put all these parameters together, it becomes an actual predictive engine termed as Business Central. It can:  You’re more than just reacting; you’re seeing it before it occurs.  Planning Parameters Give BC Its Superpower, It should be noted that it doesn’t have magic powers that allow it to know what needs to be ordered and exactly when. You teach it how to think. Planning parameters refer to rules, logic, and intelligence within it that governs predictions. When set up properly, these components make Business Central a ‘future Seeing’, ‘demand Forecasting’, and ‘Inventory Optimizing’ When set up incorrectly … Well, that’s when chaos breaks out. 
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