What does Business Central do?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a cloud-based ERP solution tailored for small to medium-sized businesses. It integrates seamlessly with the Microsoft 365 suite, offering a unified platform across finance, manufacturing, sales, and project management. In this blog, we will explore what Business Central does, focusing on its ability to optimize various aspects of business operations, including finances, supply chains, customer engagement, and manufacturing.

Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) is Microsoft’s cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution developed with small to medium-sized businesses in mind. It offers a unified platform that integrates with the Microsoft 365 suite, enhancing organizations’ abilities to streamline operations, automate key processes, and derive meaningful insights from their data. The solution’s cloud nature not only ensures scalability and ease of access but also facilitates automatic updates, removing the burdens of in-house infrastructure upkeep and allowing businesses to concentrate on their primary activities.

As part of the Dynamics 365 portfolio, Business Central is a comprehensive solution supporting various business operations, including finance, manufacturing, sales, and project management. It’s designed to cater to the distinct needs of various industries such as manufacturing, retail, service providers, and distribution sectors. Tailored for businesses aiming for growth and adaptability, Business Central excels in environments that demand strong integration with other Microsoft products, leveraging the Microsoft ecosystem to boost productivity and harmonize data across applications. It’s particularly valuable for those looking for an ERP system that not only fits well with existing operations but also supports expansion and enhanced data connectivity.

For those interested in learning more about Business Central and its different versions, check out our blog on What is Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an all-in-one software solution that enables companies to manage their entire business, including finance, manufacturing, sales, shipping, project management, services, and more. It serves as a comprehensive platform designed to streamline operations, enhance productivity, and drive growth. In the sections below, we’ll dive into what Business Central does and the key capabilities that empower organizations to achieve operational excellence and maximize their potential.

Dynamics 365 Business Central stands as a unified ERP solution designed to streamline operations across finance, sales, inventory, and operations, seamlessly integrating with Microsoft 365 applications to drive efficiency and productivity. By offering a cohesive platform, it effectively reduces the need for multiple disparate systems, ensuring a smoother workflow and better data management. Business Central’s built-in intelligence and automation capabilities further enhance decision-making and operational processes, making it an essential tool for businesses looking to optimize their operations and position themselves for growth.

• Centralizes core business functions such as finance, sales, inventory, and operations for improved efficiency and data utilization
• Integrates directly with Outlook, Excel, and Teams, allowing for easier access and management of business data within familiar tools
• Utilizes AI and automated workflows to speed up tasks, simplify processes, and support informed decision-making
• Ensures data protection and meets regulatory standards with robust security measures
• The system eradicates data silos, offering real-time dashboards, adaptable reporting, and KPIs tailored to each business function

Dynamics 365 Business Central equips organizations with a suite of financial management tools designed to enhance efficiency and accuracy across financial operations. This comprehensive solution streamlines the financial close process, improves forecasting through AI-enhanced tools, and ensures compliance and security. The platform supports end-to-end financial management, from budget oversight and bank reconciliation to fixed asset tracking, all while providing detailed insights through advanced reporting features. These capabilities are integrated seamlessly, offering a clear, analytical view of an organization’s financial health to support informed decision-making.

• Automated bank reconciliation and financial closing processes
• AI tools for accurate cash flow forecasting
• Advanced reporting compatible with Excel and Power BI
• Comprehensive fixed asset management
• Unlimited dimensional tagging for transaction analysis
• Robust compliance and data security measures

Dynamics 365 Business Central offers robust supply chain management (SCM) capabilities that streamline and enhance various aspects of the supply chain process. Whether it’s managing sales and purchase orders, coordinating manufacturing operations, or overseeing inventory and warehousing, Business Central provides a comprehensive set of tools to ensure efficiency and adaptability. By leveraging a range of sales and purchase documents, businesses can set up processes that best suit their operational needs, from straightforward invoicing to complex order management systems.

• Ensure timely product delivery and adaptability to changing business models with comprehensive visibility across all supply chain functions
• Optimize the supply chain through advanced vendor management, integrated e-commerce solutions like Shopify, and efficient order fulfillment and returns processing
• Enhance inventory management with AI-powered forecasting, enabling precise replenishment based on real-time demand and availability

Dynamics 365 Business Central’s project management capabilities are designed to help businesses track project usage, provide accurate invoicing data, and ensure successful project execution and profitability. It supports both fixed-price and time-and-materials projects, offering tools for configuring jobs, scheduling resources, managing budgets, and monitoring progress. Businesses can improve project costing and management using timesheets and reporting, while optimizing resource levels and utilization by planning capacity and sales. Real-time intelligence on project status, profitability, and resource utilization metrics drives project profitability. Additionally, team productivity is enhanced with role-based access and collaboration is fostered through integration with Microsoft Teams, allowing users to share links to projects directly within the platform.

• Achieve successful project outcomes with comprehensive tools for planning, resource allocation, tracking, costing, billing, and real-time insights
• Enhance project costing and management through detailed budgeting, advanced job costing, and efficient timesheet integration
• Optimize resource planning and usage by managing capacity and sales, and accurately tracking customer invoices against planned or actual costs
• Boost project profitability with real-time data on project status, profitability, and resource utilization

Dynamics 365 Business Central offers native sales capabilities, allowing sales teams to manage customer interactions, streamline sales processes, and maximize opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and renewals. By integrating with familiar Microsoft tools like Outlook, Business Central provides a seamless experience for managing the entire sales cycle. Additionally, integrating with Dynamics 365 Sales enhances these capabilities, offering a more comprehensive lead-to-cash process and enabling users to make informed decisions without switching platforms.

• Contact management: Maintain detailed records for all business relationships and personalize approaches to avoid duplicates. Create quotes and sales documents effortlessly.
• Campaign management: Organize and manage campaigns using reusable criteria, and send documents in multiple languages to various segments. Utilize existing segments for new campaigns.
• Interaction and document management: Record and revisit interactions such as calls, meetings, and letters. Attach and log documents automatically for easy access.
• Opportunity management: rack and manage sales opportunities through different stages for informed decision-making. Gain an overview of the sales process to optimize management.
• Sales invoicing and order management: Set up, post, and print invoices and credit memos, and manage quotes, orders, partial shipments, and prepayment invoices. This streamlines sales operations and financial management.
• Integration with Dynamics 365 Sales: Seamlessly connect Business Central with Dynamics 365 Sales for a unified lead-to-cash process. This integration enables users to check product inventory, synchronize sales orders, and manage pricing across different currencies directly from the Sales platform.

Dynamics 365 Business Central enhances warehouse management by providing tools to streamline receiving and shipping goods, as well as organizing internal warehouse activities. You can efficiently handle tasks such as putting away items, moving items within or between warehouses, and picking items for assembly, production, or shipment. The system allows for detailed management at the bin level, enabling the picking and putting away of items, optimizing space usage, and improving picking processes through comprehensive reporting. Additionally, Business Central supports the assembly of items for sales or inventory, ensuring a smooth workflow within the warehouse.

• Enhance organization within storage facilities with an easy pick and put-away process supported by bar code scanners
• Streamline receiving, capacity management, docking, and shipping operations
• Improve manufacturing operations by enhancing throughput, quality, and uptime, while reducing costs
• Configure warehouse processes to suit each location’s specific needs, including the use of bins and the separation of picking and shipment steps
• Optimize warehouse space by assigning items to bins and setting up bins according to warehouse layout and dimensions
• Utilize directed pick-up and put-away processes based on zone and bin rankings to improve efficiency
• Reduce operations costs and ensure timely shipments to meet customer expectations

In any business, providing ongoing service to customers is paramount for satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue generation. The Premium version of Dynamics 365 Business Central offers a robust set of tools to facilitate the management and tracking of service operations, catering to repair shops and field service environments. From planning and dispatching to service contract management, Business Central empowers businesses to deliver exceptional service experiences seamlessly integrated with sales and customer service processes.

• Deliver better service experiences with efficient planning, dispatching, and service contract management.
• Seamlessly transition from sales to service, tracking customer returns and repairs, and managing service agreements to meet and exceed customer expectations.
• Elevate the customer journey and enhance the customer experience by integrating with Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, and Field Service.
• Optimize service operations in complex distribution systems, industrial environments with bills of materials, and high-volume dispatching scenarios with spare parts management.

Premium licensing in Dynamics 365 Business Central unlocks powerful manufacturing capabilities, empowering organizations to optimize production outputs even in agile and complex environments. Before production begins, various parameters such as work centers, routings, and production bills of materials (BOMs) need to be set up to ensure smooth operations. With detailed bills of materials, support for assembly-to-order processes, and efficient production order management, Business Central enables organizations to ensure production within supply and capacity constraints, reduce operational costs, and deliver on promised customer outcomes.

• Efficiently manage production orders to convert purchased materials into manufactured items, routing work through various work or machine centers on the shop floor.
• Streamline production processes with detailed information contained within production orders, including planned products, required materials, and manufactured items.
• Enable planning, controlling, and tracking of production operations, creating production orders manually or automatically from sales or order planning pages.
• Facilitate output posting to report progress and update inventory with finished items, either manually or automatically through backward flushing.
• Implement agile manufacturing to plan rush hours, make exceptions, and handle last-minute changes with multiple planning options.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a powerful tool for businesses seeking efficiency and growth. From financial management to manufacturing optimization, Business Central provides comprehensive solutions. By leveraging its capabilities, businesses can streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive innovation, positioning themselves for success in today’s competitive landscape. To learn more about BC and how it can benefit your business, contact Rand Group today.