Business Central and AI
We run Business Central across several entities. Where can AI help, and who can build it in Australia?
Last updated
AI helps Business Central groups most with order entry, supplier invoices and month-end. Start with what Microsoft ships: Copilot features, plus the Sales Order Agent and Payables Agent, which work from a monitored mailbox and use Copilot Credits. Get AI built around Business Central, with your BC partner, when work spans several entities or systems, arrives in varied documents, or needs your own approvals and accuracy evidence.
Who this is for
This page is for finance, operations and IT leads in groups that run Dynamics 365 Business Central across several companies and want to know what Microsoft's own AI covers, where an AI build around Business Central is the better tool, and who owns each part.
Solve8 builds AI and integration around Business Central for multi-site organisations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and across Australia and New Zealand. Solve8 is not a Microsoft partner and does not resell or configure Business Central. It works alongside your Business Central partner, who stays responsible for licensing, configuration, extensions and upgrades.
What Microsoft ships in Business Central
Copilot features
Microsoft lists bank account reconciliation assist, sales line suggestions, mapping e-documents to purchase order lines, analysis assist, summarising records, item substitutions and marketing text. Microsoft notes individual Copilot capabilities might not be available in every geography, so check the Copilot availability report for your country version.
Sales Order Agent
Watches a Microsoft 365 mailbox for customer requests, reads PDF, PNG and JPG attachments, finds the contact by email address, matches items and checks availability. It always creates a sales quote first, and a person reviews every outgoing email before it is sent.
Payables Agent
Watches a mailbox for vendor invoices and credit notes sent as PDF attachments, drafts the purchase document, proposes purchase order line matches and asks a supervisor to review. It creates unposted invoices and credit memos and never posts them.
Payables Agent limits
Microsoft lists no support for approval flows or anomaly detection, PDFs of up to 10 pages and 5 MB, and caps of 100 emails and 500 invoices a day.
Billing
Both agents use Copilot Credits, charged by interaction complexity, and need a billing model set up for the environment. When credits run out, the Sales Order Agent stops taking new email and works through the backlog once credits return.
Where processing runs
For Business Central environments hosted in Australia, Microsoft states Copilot features are processed in the same geography and agent features in the United States. Agents need the Allow data movement setting turned on.
Native agent or AI built around Business Central
| The job | Where it fits | Who to talk to |
|---|---|---|
| Reconcile bank accounts, suggest sales lines, analyse lists | Copilot in Business Central | Your Business Central partner |
| Turn customer emails for one company into quotes and orders | Sales Order Agent | Your Business Central partner |
| Draft supplier PDF invoices for one company against purchase orders | Payables Agent | Your Business Central partner |
| Route orders and invoices from one inbox to the right entity | AI built around Business Central | An AI consultancy, with your partner for the APIs |
| Read spreadsheet orders, long statements and scanned dockets | AI built around Business Central | An AI consultancy |
| Pass completed jobs from simPRO, Uptick or AroFlo into Business Central | Integration around Business Central | An integration or AI consultancy |
| Approve invoices by entity, spend limit or cost centre | Business Central workflows, Power Automate or a custom layer | Your partner or an AI consultancy |
When the native agents are enough
One company, one inbox
Requests or invoices for a single company arrive in a mailbox the agent can own, and staff already approve inside Business Central.
Clean master data
Microsoft says item descriptions, attributes and contact email addresses decide how well the Sales Order Agent matches. Where those are in order, switching on an agent is quicker than a build.
Standard documents
Customer requests and supplier PDFs are short, in English and within the documented page and volume limits, and your risk owners accept agent processing in the United States.
When you need AI built around Business Central
Several entities share the work
Microsoft documents agent setup company by company. Groups often want one inbox where the AI works out which entity an order or invoice belongs to, routes it and flags intercompany items.
Documents vary
Spreadsheet orders, scanned dockets, statements over 10 pages and customer part numbers that never appear in Business Central need extraction and matching rules of your own.
Work starts in another system
Jobs completed in simPRO, Uptick or AroFlo, or quotes raised in Salesforce, have to arrive in Business Central as checked drafts.
Approvals are part of the job
The Payables Agent does not run approval flows. Rules by entity, spend limit or cost centre need Business Central workflows, Power Automate or a custom layer.
You need accuracy evidence
A shadow pilot on live work, where staff keep doing the job while the AI's output is compared field by field, shows accuracy before anything writes to Business Central.
Data must stay in Australia
An AI layer can run on your own infrastructure in Australia and reach Business Central through an integration user with limited permissions.
How AI built around Business Central connects
Business Central online has standard REST APIs (v2.0) for customers, vendors, items, sales documents and purchase invoices, enabled by default. Microsoft notes the standard APIs cannot be extended with extra fields, so custom fields need a custom API page written in AL, usually by your Business Central partner.
API calls address one company at a time, so an AI layer serving several entities keeps a mapping of which company each document belongs to. It signs in as a registered application with only the permissions the job needs, and writes sales quotes or unposted purchase invoices that staff approve in Business Central as usual.
Power Platform or a custom build
Power Platform fits
Approvals, notifications and simple record updates inside Microsoft 365 at moderate volume, using the Business Central connector for Power Automate.
A custom build fits
High volumes of varied documents, rules that span entities and systems, and accuracy measured field by field.
Many groups use both
Power Automate routes approvals while a custom layer reads the documents and prepares the drafts.
How a first project runs with your Business Central partner
Agree who owns what
Your partner owns Business Central, extensions and upgrades. The AI provider owns the AI layer, its review screen and accuracy reporting.
Discovery on one process
Measure current effort and error rate on one queue at one site, such as supplier invoices for one entity.
Shadow pilot
The AI drafts on live work without writing to Business Central, and your team sets the accuracy bar it must meet.
Build into your systems
The AI layer runs on your infrastructure in Australia and writes drafts through the agreed APIs. A person approves each record.
Support or handover
Retest before each major Business Central update, then keep support with the provider or hand the code and runbook to your team.
Related answers
Purchase orders into the ERPHow AI reads emailed PDF orders, checks them and writes them back.
Supplier invoices into the ERPMatching invoices to POs and receipts across several entities.
Multi-entity month-end closeIntercompany matching and one consolidation across entities.
Power Platform or custom buildWhen Power Automate fits and when a custom build does.
ERP partner or AI consultancyWho should build what, and the questions to ask each.
Sources
Microsoft Learn, Sales Order Agent overview, checked November 2026: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-au/dynamics365/business-central/sales-order-agent
Microsoft Learn, Payables Agent overview, checked November 2026: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-au/dynamics365/business-central/payables-agent
Microsoft Learn, Data movement across geographies for Business Central Copilot and agent capabilities: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-au/dynamics365/business-central/ai-copilot-data-movement
Microsoft Learn, API (v2.0) for Business Central: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-au/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/api-reference/v2.0/
Questions
Who can help us add AI to Business Central in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane?
For Copilot features and the Microsoft agents, start with your Business Central partner, who can switch them on and set up billing. For AI that reads documents across several entities or systems and creates drafts in Business Central, use an AI consultancy that works with your partner on the APIs. Solve8 builds this layer for multi-entity Business Central groups, starting with one company and one queue such as supplier invoices.
Can one agent handle orders or invoices for all our companies?
Microsoft documents agent setup within each Business Central company, with each agent watching its own mailbox. Groups with several entities usually need an instance and mailbox per company, or a step before Business Central that works out which entity a document is addressed to. Confirm the setup for your version with your Business Central partner.
Does our data leave Australia when we use the agents?
Microsoft states that for environments hosted in Australia, Copilot features are processed in the same geography and agent features in the United States, and agents need data movement allowed. Microsoft also states the data is not used to train foundation models. If your policy requires processing in Australia, an AI layer on your own infrastructure is the alternative.
How are the Business Central agents charged?
Both agents consume Copilot Credits, which Microsoft charges by interaction complexity, and the environment needs a consumption billing model before they run. Set a daily email limit and watch credit use in the Power Platform admin centre, because a backlog is processed when credits return.
Is Solve8 a Microsoft partner?
No. Solve8 builds AI and integration around Business Central and works alongside your Business Central partner, who stays responsible for licensing, configuration, extensions and upgrades.
Running Business Central across several entities?
A 30-minute review with a senior consultant. You leave with a written one-page summary you can share internally.
Fixed-fee phases, agreed before we start. Stop after any phase.