Customization in Dynamics 365 Business Central

Why a user or company may need to customize

There are many reasons why a company may consider moving to a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution or provider, but one of the most important ones is often overlooked. How will users adapt to this new system, or more importantly, how will this new system adapt to the users?

Some ERP systems are rigid for different user types, forcing them to get used to a new normal. Other ERP systems are made with flexibility in mind, offering core business processes upfront and providing the option to add extra functionality that they may need later. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central would be classified as the latter.

What comes out-of-the-box with Business Central

Dynamics 365 Business Central is Microsoft’s all-in-one business management solution that was released in early 2018. Business Central manages most business processes in an online unified interface. Business Central is sold in two packages, Essentials and Premium. The Essential plan includes modules for:

• Finance
• Sales
• Purchasing
• Inventory
• Project Management
• Relationship Management
• Human Resources
• Assembly Management
• Manufacturing
• Warehouse Management

The Premium plan contains all of these modules plus Manufacturing and Service Management.

Microsoft integrations

Because Dynamics 365 Business Central is a cloud-based Microsoft application, it natively integrates with other Microsoft cloud applications including other Dynamics products and Office 365. There are free Power BI content packs that utilize Business Central data to build powerful and insight-rich visualizations. Business Central can also connect with your Outlook mailbox, allowing users to view client data, schedule meetings, and more without even having to open the system.

Business Central also extends to Microsoft’s chat and collaboration platform, Microsoft Teams. With this integration, nearly every action from Business Central is available to do in Teams, so no more endless switching between programs and/or screens. Chat with colleagues in Teams about products, clients, finances, and then do what you’re talking about all in one unified experience.

Third-party extensions (all users, all companies)

Outside of Microsoft extensions, Microsoft has created an online marketplace for 3rd party extensions called Microsoft AppSource. AppSource contains thousands of extensions for Microsoft business products that extend functionality in areas like analytics, collaboration, customer service, and more. This is where users can really push the limits of what is possible in Business Central. Because Business Central is so new, many of the applications are focused on core business needs like payroll, invoicing, and time tracking. As Business Central grows in use, expect AppSource to greatly expand the number extensions available.

Personalize the Workspace (user only)

It’s more than likely that not every user in an organization will use Business Central for the same purposes. Unlike most other ERP systems, Business Central allows users to personalize their workspace in really any way they see fit:

• Add, move, remove fields
• Add, move, remove columns in a list
• Change the freeze panes
• Adjust column width
• Moves and remove tiles
• Move and remove subparts like charts, other pages

These small changes can drastically alter the appearance of the Business Central dashboard. For example, instead of the dashboard listing the highest-selling products, maybe you need it to display the accounts that haven’t made contact in a while. Or instead of seeing various financial ratios, have the dashboard display metrics from recent marketing efforts. In scenarios like these, changes are quick and easy to make using the Personalize tool.