Artificial Intelligence and Business Central
Copilot AI is now available within Business Central 24! This version of Copilot is specifically designed for Business Central. You will see a new Copilot icon in the top right portion of your screen directly to the left of the search (magnifying glass) icon.
What can you do with co-pilot now?
You can chat with Copilot. There are currently three main categories:
a. Find - use verbs such as “Look up”, “Show”, “Go to”, etc.
Examples:
Look up posted sales invoice 55666.
Show invoices over 30 days past due.
Go to Cash Receipts Journal.
b. Explain
Examples:
Explain field “Due Date” on Sales Order
Help me understand posting.
c. How do I?
Examples:
How do I enter cash receipts?
How do I print financial reports?
Create marketing text
Map e-documents to purchase orders
Reconcile bank accounts
Suggest Lines on sales orders
Analyze data in lists
While Copilot is in its infancy with respect to Business Central and the outputs are not yet ideal, this is a great start and it will only get better as it improves.
You can find more details on the above here.
Have you outgrown Quickbooks?
Many small businesses start out on Quickbooks, but at some point, you will outgrow Quickbooks and look for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software to support your business.
What are some of the indicators that may be signaling you have outgrown Quickbooks? What are the pros and cons of moving to an ERP System. We will attempt to answer these two questions here.
You may have outgrown Quickbooks if one or more of the following apply:
It lacks the functionality to run your business smoothly without workarounds and/or manual solutions.
You are using multiple software systems due to the lack of functionality of Quickbooks, requiring double entry of data.
You are tracking processes off-line using Excel or other tools.
Your transactional load needs automation to keep up with your business demands and are currently being handled manually.
It does not lend itself to industry compliance requirements and/or standards.
You need functionality tailored specific to your business for legal, compliance, customer-driven or other reasons.
If any of the above points hit home, it may be time to start looking for an ERP software. ERP systems are fully integrated and will handle most of your business needs within a single solution. I say “most” because nothing is absolute and there is no single ERP software that does everything for every industry.
What are some of the pros and cons of an ERP System compared to Quickbooks? Let’s start with the cons. Note that some of the cons are actually benefits, although they may not seem so at first glance.
ERP systems are more complex than Quickbooks and will require dedicated training and user acceptance testing. This complexity means there will be a learning curve. This doesn’t mean that the system cannot be configured and sized appropriately to your business for easier user adoption.
ERP systems are more expensive than Quickbooks. Expect subscription fees and implementation fees to be higher than that of Quickbooks.
It takes good organization and a competent and dedicated team to properly implement an ERP system. Do it right and it will support your company in its expansion for years to come.
ERP systems properly implemented will enforce concepts such as “audit trails”, “separation of duties” and GAAP (Generally Accepted Account Principles) compliance. This means you cannot modify posted entries such as the date, etc. Quickbooks gives you quite a bit of leeway here. You will not typically see this “leeway” in an ERP system.
Depending on what you are trying to capture data-wise, an ERP system may require more data entry with the end result being better reporting to base decisions on.
Computerizing a process (where before it was loosely done or not done at all) requires discipline and a mindset change for staff.
Now, let’s look at the pros of moving to a full cloud-based ERP system:
Fully integrated ERP system encompassing most modules business require such as accounting, sales, CRM, inventory, purchasing, resource planning, projects, manufacturing, and more.
Access anywhere using a web browser.
May be integrated with other software using latest technologies available.
Support business specific requirements and tailor to your business as necessary.
Capture vital data to manage your business and report on outcomes.
Define, standardize and implement ideal business processes paralleled and supported by the software.
Increase efficiency by eliminating multiple data silos and double-entry.
Comply with legal requirements, best practices and principles.
As you can see, there are many positive benefits to moving to an ERP system when you are ready. Contact us to find out more how Microsoft Dynamics Business Central can support your business.
Advantages of Migrating from Dynamics GP to Business Central
Depending on your version of Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft has either stopped supporting or will sunset support in the near future. You can see the sunsetting dates in the link here.
A natural evolution may be to switch to Microsoft Dynamics Business Central. The reasons for this are:
Business central is tightly integrated with the Microsoft stack of products that you are already likely familiar with such as Outlook, Excel, Word, Teams, etc.
Business Central has built-in, evolved and improved. data migration tools to convert data from GP to Business Central. You will realize a significant cost savings over converting to an ERP system without built in tools.
You may qualify for a discount from Microsoft when migrating from GP to Business Central. The subscription model requires less up front costs and may be more affordable depending on your situation.
Business Central likely contains the functionality and features your business needs. A wide variety of extensions are available from the marketplace to fill in any gaps. “Extensions” are apps that may be installed or uninstalled from Business Central.
As a cloud solution, Business Central is updated monthly with two major updates semi-annually. You will be able to take advantage of the latest features and functionality and stay-up-to-date with technologies such as AI.
Save on IT hardware, software licensing and recurring service costs, You will not need physical or virtual servers, or server software to run Business Central in the cloud. All you need is a web browser.
If you would like more information on converting from GP to Business Central, contact us today!
What I love about Business Central
I’m going to geek out a little bit in this blog. I’m going to talk about the features that I absolutely love about Business Central. These are the ones that make one’s life easier or save’s one hide in a pinch. Some of these are not strictly based on the software and extend beyond ones and zeros. Without further ado, here are my favorites!
1. Restoring environments - restoring sandbox environments from production data from a specific point in time. Sometimes, you have to recreate a problem in order to solve it and that problem often only is demonstrable in the production environment. By making a copy of production into a sandbox, one can typically debug the issue and resolve it. In the past, this could be a daunting task, but with Business Central cloud, it takes minutes.
2. Automatic updates - we often take automatic updates for granted as practically everything updates automatically these days - automobiles, phones, TV’s, smart devices of every sort, to name a few. Business Central automatically updates along with your extensions (customizations made for your business). This means you will not end up with aging software and outdated technologies faced with an expensive upgrade years down the line. You get two major releases every year and monthly minor updates.
3. Continual improvement - it’s quite a relief when something you found cumbersome, annoying or lacking is now resolved or available. It’s enough to let out an audible sigh of relief or perhaps a joyful expletive. Microsoft has listened to us and you can provide direct feedback to Microsoft on desired features and vote for them on Microsoft Dynamics Ideas website. Ideas (dynamics.com)
4. Peace of mind and lowered IT costs. Having your software hosted in the cloud by Microsoft takes out a great deal of complexity out of running an ERP system. No servers! No SQL server licenses. No security certificates. No remote desktop server. No Citrix server. And if you don’t know what any of that means - it means less headache and less cost and less things to worry about. Microsoft takes care of all of the backend and you are the consumer of the product and simply use a web browser to access the software. It couldn’t be simpler.
5. An active and thriving field. The Business Central field is huge and continually growing. Many ISV (independent software vendors) continually innovate and create solutions for industry specific needs or areas where a niche can be filled. Some examples are sales tax integrations, web portals, credit card processing and more. There is a strong community and user groups where you can network, receive or give training and exchange ideas.
Why Business Central?
If you are in the market for a new ERP system, why choose Business Central over the competition? Here are a few compelling reasons:
One of the key advantages of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is its comprehensive, all-in-one approach. Unlike some competitors that offer fragmented solutions requiring multiple integrations, Business Central provides a unified platform that seamlessly integrates financials, sales, service, and operations. This integrated approach fosters collaboration across departments, breaking down silos and enabling a holistic view of your business operations.
Scalability - Businesses evolve, and your ERP solution should grow with you. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is designed with scalability in mind. Whether you are a small startup or a large enterprise, Business Central can adapt to your changing needs. Its modular structure allows you to start with the functionalities you need and scale up as your business expands. This scalability ensures that your ERP system remains a strategic asset rather than a limitation as you navigate the challenges of growth.
Stable and secure platform, self-maintained, automated backups and point-in-time recovery, frees up your IT resources to focus on other areas of the business.
Seamless Integration with Microsoft 365 and Power Platform: Business Central isn't just a standalone ERP solution; it's a seamless part of the larger Microsoft ecosystem. Integration with Microsoft 365 facilitates smooth communication and collaboration, while the Power Platform empowers users to create custom apps and automate workflows without extensive coding knowledge. This integration ensures that Business Central aligns effortlessly with your existing technology stack, enhancing overall efficiency and user experience.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers robust business intelligence and reporting tools, providing real-time insights into your company's performance. With Power BI integration, users can create visually compelling dashboards and reports, turning raw data into actionable intelligence. Informed decision-making becomes second nature, enabling your business to stay ahead of the competition in a data-driven world.
Continuous innovation - Staying competitive in the digital age requires constant innovation and adaptation. Microsoft understands this, and that's why Business Central benefits from regular updates and enhancements. As a cloud-based solution, updates are seamlessly delivered, ensuring your business always has access to the latest features, security patches, and improvements. This commitment to innovation means you can future-proof your business, staying ahead in a rapidly evolving business landscape.
Strong independent software vendor community. Extensions are solutions created by the community that expand the functionality of Business Central for specific industries, features, integrations and more.
In the realm of ERP solutions, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central stands out as a compelling choice for businesses seeking a unified, scalable, and innovative platform. Its seamless integration with Microsoft 365 and Power Platform, coupled with robust business intelligence capabilities, positions Business Central as a strategic asset for businesses of all sizes. Make the wise choice for your business's future success — choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central over the competition.
Contact us today 888-512-3195 or email us: sales @erpefficiency.com
Business Central Productivity Tips and Tricks
Here are some of our favorite tricks and tips, shortcuts and productivity enhancments in Business Central.
1. Return to your home role center - Click your company name in the top left corner.
2. Use more than one monitor. If you never tried this, it is a game changer. You can run Business Central in multiple tabs on your browser and drag and drop the tabs onto multiple monitors.
3. Switching environments/companies - near the top left part of the page, you will see “Environment Sandbox” or “Environment Production”. Click on this to quickly switch between environments and/or companies.
4. If you use lot or serial numbers - Press CTRL-Shift-i to quickly get into the Item Tracking page.
5. Copy data from cell from the row above - Press F8.
6. Tired of deep menu trees? - you can personalize your page and drag and drop your commonly used functions higher up on the menu tree.
7. Forget to enter fields on certain pages? - Personalize your page and move the field to a more useful position. You can move fields on both card and list pages.
8. Don’t like second level menu row disappearing? - After clicking on a top row menu item, click the push pin icon to the far right. This will prevent second level menu from disappearing.
9. Bookmark all of your commonly used pages by clicking the bookmark icon near the top right portion of the page. They will then show up on your home role center as menu items and are easily accessible.
10. Edit in Excel - if you want to mass update data, you can do so in Excel and publish the results back into BC. On a list page, click the icon that looks like an open box with an arrow pointing to the right in the upper right side of the page, then click Edit in Excel. You may also set filters before editing in Excel. Your data will load in Excel and you can make your changes. Click Publish to publish your changes back to BC. Recommended for advanced users.
Go Live Checklist
A Go live checklist is key to a successful go live. One would not fly a plane without one and one should not take an ERP system live without one!
A Go live checklist can be started at the beginning of the project and added to as the project progresses. This will ensure important tasks are not forgotten. Every project will have different tasks, but there will be some that are consistent with every project. These may include:
· Cutting off the old system
· Verifying set ups
· Verifying data conversions
· Ensuring users and security are set up
· Ensuring users can access the production environment.
· Printing out key reports such as aged accounts receivable, payable and inventory valuations and comparing against source data.
One should make a list of all key items and check them off once completed. One will not likely consider of every requirement while going through the stress of go live without such a checklist considered well in advance.
What is Business Central?
Wow, it has been a couple of years since I wrote a blog! We’ve been quite busy delivering projects and services for Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics NAV and our business has grown organically over these very fast four years. Anyhow, let’s get on with the topic at hand!
Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a well-known ERP system which has been around for years and years. It has gone through many versions, the latest being NAV 2016, NAV 2017 and NAV 2018.
In April, 2018, Microsoft released Business Central. This is a replacement for NAV. No further NAV versions would be created and so NAV 2018 is the last version of NAV that will ever exist.
Basically, Microsoft renamed Microsoft Dynamics NAV to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Now that is a mouthful, so we just called it “Business Central”.
Business Central does not have version numbers, per say, but is just referred to with release dates, such as the “April 2019 Release” or the “Oct 2019 Release” and so on.
Microsoft aggressively updates the product with monthly service packs (fixes mainly) and bi-annual updates).
One of the advantages of Business Central is the flexibility in licensing and deploying it. Here’s the breakdown:
Business Central can be licensed in several ways:
1) Perpetual licensing - one time purchase plus annual maintenance fee for the rights to service packs and upgrades.
2) Subscription licensing - lease the software and pay on a quarterly or annual basis.
Business Central can be deployed in several ways:
1) On-premise
2) Private cloud - this could be any cloud provider of your choice.
3) Microsoft Cloud (SaaS) - on the Microsoft cloud you will receive automatic updates.
There are pros and cons to each deployment method which I will cover in a another blog. It’s good to be blogging again, it is something I enjoy and shouldn’t neglect for so long. Look forward to seeing you at the next one.