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Business Central
Guides, articles, certifications and recommended training for Business Central.
What is Business Central?
Dynamics 365 Business Central is Microsoft’s ERP system for small and mid-sized businesses. It puts financials, sales, purchasing, inventory and basic manufacturing in a single application, so a growing company doesn’t need a separate tool for each. It can run in the cloud or on premises. For details on its service architecture and availability, see the Business Central service overview.
A brief history
Business Central grew out of Dynamics NAV, the product that began life as Navision and was later acquired by Microsoft. It was introduced under its current name in 2018, moving the NAV lineage into the Dynamics 365 family and onto a cloud-first footing.
Who uses Business Central?
Finance teams use it for ledgers, payables and receivables, and month-end close. Operations staff handle orders, stock and purchasing. Smaller companies often run it as their main system, and larger groups sometimes deploy it in subsidiaries. Partners and developers extend it with AL, its own programming language, and tailor it for particular industries.
Who should learn Business Central?
It suits functional consultants, accountants moving into ERP work, and developers who want to build extensions. Learn the core finance and inventory flows before anything else, then move into configuration and AL development as your role requires.
Certifications
- MB-800 Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant Associate
Set up and configure Dynamics 365 Business Central financials, sales, and purchasing for small and medium businesses. Free MB-800 study guide and prep resources.
- MB-820 Dynamics 365 Business Central Developer Associate
Design, develop, test, and maintain solutions based on Dynamics 365 Business Central. Free MB-820 study guide and prep resources.
Articles & guides
- How to configure the chart of accounts in Business Central
Configure the chart of accounts in Business Central: add G/L accounts, set categories, indent totals, then map consolidation and cost types.
- Business Central reporting architecture
Business Central reporting architecture: native analytics vs direct Power BI vs data pipelines, and when to use a data warehouse. How to choose.
- Sales Invoice Discount Codes in Business Central
How to use sales invoice discount codes in Business Central, and how to set thresholds that apply a discount to sales invoices.
- Use Customer Reminders in Business Central
How to set up and issue customer reminders in Business Central: reminder terms, levels, and fees that help you chase overdue invoices systematically.
- Calculate Delivery Dates for Sales in Business Central
How Business Central calculates delivery dates on sales orders: shipment dates, transit times, and the settings behind promised delivery dates.
- Intercompany Transactions in Business Central
How to set up and use intercompany transactions in Business Central: manage intercompany sales, purchases, and adjustments across legal entities.
- Manage Sales Prices in Business Central: The Complete Guide
How to manage sales prices in Business Central: set up price lists, discounts, and the new pricing experience for flexible customer pricing
- Business Central CRM
Business Central CRM is relationship management in Business Central: contacts, segments, campaigns, interactions and opportunities — not Dynamics 365 Sales.
- Bank Reconciliations in Business Central
How to reconcile bank accounts in Business Central: importing bank statements, matching entries automatically, and handling differences.
- Create an Employee Training Plan for a Dynamics 365 Go-Live
What to include in an employee training plan for a Dynamics 365 go-live, so users are ready for the processes they will own on day one.
- Manage Fixed Assets in Business Central
How to manage fixed assets in Business Central: acquisition, depreciation, and disposal, with the posting setup behind each step.
- Use approval workflows in Business Central
Use approval workflows in Business Central: from setting up approvers to managing approvals for sales and purchase orders and invoices.
- Vendor Payments in Business Central
How to run vendor payments in Business Central: suggest payments in the payment journal, apply invoices, post, and export the bank payment file.
- Use item charges in Business Central
How to use item charges in Business Central to add freight, insurance, and handling costs to inventory value for accurate landed costs.
- How to set up and use the MCP Server in Dynamics 365 Business Central
What the MCP server in Business Central is, how to set it up, and what it means for using AI agents like Copilot with your ERP data.
- Three-Way Invoice Matching in Business Central
How three-way matching works in Business Central: checking purchase invoices against purchase orders and posted receipts before you post.
- Segregation of Duties: BC vs Dynamics 365 F&O
How segregation of duties works in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations compared to Business Central, and how each platform handles conflicting duties.
- Understanding project WIP Methods in Business Central
How WIP methods and posting groups drive project accounting in Business Central, and how each method recognises cost and revenue across a project.
- Use Inventory Items in Projects in Business Central
How to use inventory items on projects in Business Central: the inventory transactions and costing concepts that apply to items used on projects.
- The production order process flow in Business Central
How the production order process runs in Business Central: from planning and released orders through component consumption, output, and finishing.
- Business Central Accounts Payable
How to set up and run accounts payable in Business Central, from vendor and posting configuration through invoices, payments, and reconciliation.
- Business Central Security Groups vs Permissions
What security groups do in Business Central, how they tie users to permission sets, and when to use them instead of assigning permissions directly.
- D365 end user training: costs, options, and mistakes to avoid
What end-user training for Dynamics 365 costs, the delivery options to weigh up, and which approaches tend to stick after go-live.
- Inventory Costing Methods in Business Central: Which One to Choose
FIFO, LIFO, average, standard, and specific costing in Business Central: what each method does to your inventory value, and how to choose one.
- Dynamics 365 Training: Your Options Compared
The main ways to train a team on Dynamics 365 (self-paced, instructor-led, and in-house) and how to match each to budget and rollout timing.
- How to pass MB-820: Dynamics 365 Business Central Developer
Preparing for the MB-820 exam? What the Dynamics 365 Business Central Developer certification tests, and how to plan your study around it.
- Microsoft Certifications for Dynamics Applications: A Consultant's Guide
A consultant's guide to Microsoft Dynamics 365 certifications in 2026: which exams are live, which have retired, and how to match exams to consultant, developer, and architect roles.
- Manufacturing Flushing Methods in Business Central
Manual, forward, and backward flushing in Business Central: how each method consumes components in production orders and when to use each one.
- Receiving Goods in Business Central Using Warehouse Management
How to receive goods in Business Central: warehouse receipt and put-away options from the simplest location setup to full warehouse management.
- Handling Purchase Returns in Business Central
How to handle purchase returns in Business Central: from raising a return order, to shipping goods back to the vendor, and posting credit memos.
- Building an Employee Upskilling Strategy for Dynamics 365
How to build an upskilling strategy for Dynamics 365: assess your team's current skills, plan learning paths, and keep capability growing after go-live.
- Implementing Data Archiving in Dynamics 365 Business Central
How to set up data archiving and retention in Business Central, who can define retention policies, and how archiving keeps the database lean.
- Advanced Inventory Management Features in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
Advanced inventory features in Business Central: item tracking, cycle counting, and the lesser-known tools that tighten day-to-day stock control.
- How to pass MB-800: 9 things for the Business Central exam
Sitting the MB-800 exam? Nine things to focus on as you prepare for the Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant certification.
- Business Central Permission Sets: The Complete Setup Guide
How to set up permission sets in Business Central to control what each user can see and do, from built-in sets to custom permissions.
- Managing Payables in Business Central: The Complete Guide
How to manage accounts payable in Business Central day to day: post purchase invoices, schedule and apply payments, and reconcile vendor ledgers.
- Understand Inventory Posting in Business Central
How inventory posting works in Business Central: posting groups, value entries, and how inventory transactions reach the general ledger.
- Reserve inventory for sales in Business Central
How to reserve inventory against sales orders in Business Central and ring-fence stock for specific customer orders before picking starts.
- How to Use Package Tracking as a License Plate in Business Central
How package tracking acts as a license plate in Business Central warehousing, letting you move and track a whole pallet by a single number.
- Sales Prepayments in Business Central: Setup & Invoicing Guide
How to set up and invoice sales prepayments in Business Central: prepayment percentages, posting setup, and collecting deposits before you ship.
- Order to Cash Process in Dynamics 365 Business Central
Learn the order-to-cash process in Business Central: from sales order through shipment, invoicing, and payment against the customer ledger.
- Use contacts in Dynamics 365 Business Central
How to use contacts in Business Central for relationship management: create contacts and link them to customers, vendors, and other business relations.
- How to Cross-Dock Items in Business Central
How to cross-dock items in Business Central: route received goods straight to outbound shipments, skipping put-away and picking entirely.
- The Complete Guide on How to Ship Items in Business Central
How to ship items from a sales order in Business Central, from creating the shipment to posting it and printing the documents that travel with the goods.
- Move Items in a Warehouse Location in Business Central
How to move items between bins in a Business Central warehouse, including picking by FEFO and recording the movement so stock stays accurate.
- Register new customers in Business Central
How to register a new customer in Business Central: the fields that matter, and customer templates that fill in mandatory fields for you.
- FEFO Picking in Business Central
How to set up FEFO picking in Business Central: expiration dates, item tracking, and the settings that send the oldest stock out of the warehouse first.
- How to Setup and Use Lot Numbers in Business Central
How lot numbers track inventory in Business Central: assigning them on receipt, following them through to shipment, and using them for traceability.