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Business Central (BC) Introduction

Microsoft Business Central, also known as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, is an all-in-one business management solution developed by Microsoft. It is a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) system designed to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) manage various aspects of their operations, including finance, sales, supply chain, manufacturing, project management, and more.

Business Central is a bit similar to SAP Business One.

Some key features of Microsoft Business Central include:

Financial Management: Business Central allows users to manage their financial activities, such as general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, banking, cash flow forecasting, budgeting, and fixed assets.

Sales and Customer Service: The solution includes tools for managing sales orders, quotes, pricing, invoicing, and customer interactions. It helps businesses track and nurture leads, manage customer relationships, and provide better customer service.

Supply Chain Management: Business Central enables businesses to handle inventory management, order processing, purchasing, demand forecasting, and warehouse management. It helps optimize supply chain operations and improve order fulfillment.

Project Management: The system offers capabilities for project planning, resource allocation, task management, time and expense tracking, and reporting. It helps businesses manage projects, track progress, and control costs.

Manufacturing: Business Central supports manufacturing processes such as production planning, capacity management, material requirements planning (MRP), and shop floor control. It helps optimize production efficiency and control inventory levels.

Reporting and Analytics: The solution provides built-in reporting tools and customizable dashboards that allow users to analyze data, generate reports, and gain insights into business performance.

Microsoft Business Central is a cloud-based solution, which means it can be accessed from anywhere using various devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. It offers integration with other Microsoft applications like Microsoft Office 365, Power Platform, and Azure services, providing a cohesive ecosystem for SMBs to manage their business processes effectively.

However, BC can also be deployed on-prem.

BC at Power Partners

At Power Partners, we use Business Central as follows:

  • We have a business central connector that allows building a DWH on top of BC. See py-bc for details.
  • We have a product built around BC: Finacc BC. See Finacc Installation Overview for details.
  • We have a number of client installations built on top of BC. For example:
    • bom
    • duco: This is an example of a cloud installation, where we combine data from BC cloud with other on-prem data.
    • umbr: This is an example of an on-prem installation
    • tb: This is an example of a solution where we use the Power BI Connector to access data from BC

We typically use the OData and the API to get data out of BC.