Originally published March 2025 and updated September 2026 to provide further details and focus on extending Microsoft Business Central with Power Platform. This update adds a new section on how Power Platform connects to Business Central, reflects the rename of Power Virtual Agents to Copilot Studio, expands each quick win with Business Central examples, and adds a new FAQ. Originally published March 10, 2025.
Extending Microsoft Business Central with Power Platform means using Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Copilot Studio to add reporting, custom apps, workflow automation, and AI agents on top of your ERP without heavy custom code. Because Microsoft Power Platform connects to Business Central through built-in connectors and APIs, most extensions can be built in days or weeks instead of months.
For growing businesses, that speed matters. You can eliminate manual data entry, give teams real-time visibility into operations, and handle more volume without adding headcount or waiting on a large development project. Best of all, the barrier to entry with Microsoft Power Platform, both technically and monetarily speaking, is low, enabling organizations to automate processes, harness AI, and drive efficiency quickly and at scale. In addition, many Business Central licenses include use rights for Power Apps and Power Automate.
If you’re looking to achieve quick wins in data analytics, workflow automation, and process optimizations through your technology investments, here’s how Power Platform can help you reduce manual efforts and unlock rapid efficiencies. Below, we cover what Power Platform is, how it connects to Business Central, and five quick wins you can put in place right away.
What is Microsoft Power Platform? The Low Down on Low Code
Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of AI-powered, low-code and no-code tools designed to enhance business processes through automation and analytics without the need to employ an army of technical resources.
It’s comprised of four key products as they relate to your existing (or future) Microsoft Dynamics Business Central system.
- Power BI is a robust data visualization and analytics tool (think pretty and easy-to-read dashboards) that helps companies and their key management resources gain access to actionable insights about operations and performance. Business Central includes embedded Power BI reports and ready-made Power BI apps for finance, sales, and inventory data.
- Power Apps is a platform for building custom applications and workflows without extensive coding. Using the Business Central connector, these apps can read and write ERP data directly, like a mobile app for warehouse staff or field technicians.
- Power Automate is a workflow automation tool that integrates with Microsoft and third-party applications to streamline repetitive tasks. It’s differentiated from Power Apps in that it focuses on automating across or inside existing platforms and systems, versus creating stand-alone applications. Users can even trigger flows and approvals right from the Automate menu inside Business Central.
- Copilot Studio is an AI-powered agent and chatbot builder for automating customer, employee, or vendor interactions and support. This used to be called Power Virtual Agents, but has since expanded to include AI agents that can work with your Business Central data.
As a side note, a solution called Power Pages is also a part of the Power Platform suite, providing a quick way to build customer-facing websites by leveraging customizable templates. However, this product is less related to existing operational and business management platforms, so we won’t be focusing on it.
By leveraging the four core data and automation tools inside Microsoft Power Platform above, you can rapidly extend the functionality of Microsoft Business Central, creating an integrated ecosystem that enhances efficiency and decision-making.
In other words, Power Platform is something of a life hack to bypassing the older, manual way of doing things, and getting your business ahead.
How Does Power Platform Connect to Business Central?
Power Platform connects to Business Central in several ways, and most of them are built in. In other words, you don’t need a big custom integration project just to get started. Here are the main connection points and what each one is good for.
The Business Central Connector
The Dynamics 365 Business Central connector is the workhorse. It lets Power Apps, Power Automate, and Copilot Studio read, create, and update Business Central records like customers, vendors, items, sales orders, and journal lines. If you’ve ever wished your ERP data would just show up (and stay up to date) in another app, this is how it happens.
Power Automate Inside Business Central
Business Central has Power Automate built right into the interface. From the Automate menu on most pages, users can run existing flows, create new ones from templates, and set up approval workflows for things like purchase orders or new vendors. Flows can also trigger automatically when a record is created, changed, or deleted.
Power BI Apps and Embedded Reports
Business Central comes with Power BI reports embedded in role centers, plus ready-made Power BI apps for finance, sales, purchasing, and inventory. That means you can get meaningful dashboards in front of your team without building a data model from scratch.
Dataverse Virtual Tables
For more advanced scenarios, Business Central data can be surfaced in Dataverse as virtual tables. The data stays in Business Central, but it becomes available to model-driven Power Apps and other Dataverse-based solutions without copying or syncing it.
Business Central APIs
When a use case goes beyond what the standard connector covers, Business Central’s APIs (including custom APIs) give developers a clean way to expose exactly the data and actions a flow or app needs. This is where a partner with custom development experience can save you a lot of trial and error.
Connecting Business Central and Dynamics 365 Sales
If you also run Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, Power Platform and Dataverse are what tie the two together. Business Central has a built-in integration with Dynamics 365 Sales that syncs customers, items, quotes, and orders, so your sales and finance teams are working from the same information.
A quick note on deployment. These capabilities work best with Business Central online. If you run Business Central on-premises or in a hosted environment, you can still connect Power Platform through the on-premises data gateway, though some features, like virtual tables, are available only in the cloud.
Here’s a quick look at how each Power Platform tool fits into Business Central and where to start.
| Power Platform tool | What it does for Business Central | A good first quick win | Skill level to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power BI | Turns Business Central data into dashboards and reports | Deploy the ready-made Power BI finance or sales app | Low |
| Power Apps | Builds custom apps that read and write Business Central data | A mobile app for warehouse counts or field service updates | Low to moderate |
| Power Automate | Automates workflows and approvals in and around Business Central | A purchase order approval workflow with Teams notifications | Low |
| Copilot Studio | Builds AI agents and chatbots that work with Business Central data | An agent that answers customer order status questions | Moderate |
How Power Platform Leverages AI in Business Central
One of the most significant, and relatively recent, advancements in Power Platform is its AI capabilities. Microsoft’s integration of Copilot in Power Platform democratizes AI by enabling users to automate workflows, analyze data, and create applications using natural language commands.
This innovation accelerates development and empowers both technical and non-technical users to deploy AI-driven solutions.
For example, AI in Power Automate can extract key information from emails and documents, like vendor invoices, and create or update the matching records in Business Central, eliminating the need for manual data entry or management. Additionally, AI agents built in Copilot Studio can handle initial customer inquiries by directing them to resources, answering questions, and even looking up order status in Business Central, improving response times and customer satisfaction.
Business Central also has its own built-in Copilot features and AI agents, like the Sales Order Agent. Power Platform is how you extend that intelligence to the processes that are unique to your business.
Also read: 6 Warning Signs Your Business Technology is Failing You
5 Quick Wins from Extending Business Central with Power Platform
1.Automate Manual Processes for Immediate Time Savings
Manual tasks like data entry, approvals, and notifications consume valuable time and are often riddled with errors. With Power Automate, you can set up workflows that automatically process invoices, update records in Business Central, and trigger notifications in Microsoft Teams.
For example, one of our customers reduced product delivery time by over 50% by automating order processing workflows to eliminate what was previously manual data entry across systems in order to trigger inventory and warehouse location availability and shipping activities.
2. Improve Communication and Visibility Across Teams
Lack of real-time information across key resources slows down operations. It’s a fact. Power BI provides dynamic dashboards that consolidate data from Business Central and other sources, offering actionable insights at a glance.
For instance, a manufacturing company can use Power BI to track production metrics from Business Central in real time, allowing managers to identify inefficiencies and optimize operations immediately.
3. Enhance Customer Engagement with Automated Notifications
Power Automate can send automated customer emails and reminders based on Business Central activity, like shipment confirmations or overdue invoices, ensuring timely communication and reducing administrative workload. This type of proactive engagement will also help improve customer loyalty and lifetime value.
A service-focused business using Business Central can integrate Power Automate to send repair status updates to customers, reducing inbound inquiries and improving their overall experience.
4. Decrease the Need for Additional Overhead
Traditionally when businesses grow, they need to add exponentially more overhead to handle the increased volume of processing everything from data to orders to customer inquiries and everything in between. But now, by using any of the tools in Power Platform and leveraging embedded AI, organizations can extract and process data and automate workflows at large scale, without the need for more people on staff.
Just automating document processing with AI, for instance, which will extract and summarize key data from email attachments in seconds and push it into Business Central, saves tens of hours and at least another person on the roster you don’t need to hire.
5. Reduce IT and Development Expenses
Low-code solutions like Power Apps allow businesses to leverage custom applications quickly without relying on expensive software development teams. With reusable templates and intuitive design tools, apps can be built fast and put into action often in the same day.
One organization we work with requested a custom expense tracking system to replace manual spreadsheets and improve financial oversight. In a not-so-distant past, this would have been a large scope, heavily coded IT project or customization to an ERP. But we were able to use Power Apps connected to Business Central to build it in hours, and the client was testing and using it the next day.
How to Get Started Extending Business Central with Power Platform
For organizations looking to implement Power Platform (which should be you by now!), starting small and scaling up is the key to success. After all, you aren’t going to boil the automation ocean in one fell swoop.
Here’s a simple roadmap to get you going.
- Identify pain points. Determine which manual processes are slowing down productivity. Write them all down, then start to determine what on that list is costing you the most in time, money, or risk from human error so you can prioritize what you tackle first.
- Leverage existing data. Your Business Central ERP is already full of data and processes integrated with your operations, so starting there will garner some low-hanging automation and data fruit.
- Automate one process at a time. Start with a small automation, such as notifications or approvals, before expanding. Business Central’s built-in approval workflows are a great first candidate. Keep in mind, you can build up. For example, you can start with a Teams notification, then add an email send after you’ve used it and tested it.
- Monitor and refine. As with most things, you risk spending 80% of your effort addressing the 20% of “what-ifs” and outliers. Don’t fall into this trap or you’ll unnecessarily make leveraging Power Platform complicated and time consuming. Start somewhere (see point 3), give it a few weeks, then refine it or expand it. Whether it’s a dashboard, a workflow, or a new app, don’t aim for perfection out the gate and we promise you’ll win the long game.
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Develop and Execute Your Business Central Power Platform Strategy
Just because Power Platform’s robust set of products are low/no code solutions, doesn’t mean you can or should approach them with reckless abandon. There are intricacies and considerations that must be addressed with all integrated business processes and management tools. Specialized, certified advisors and technical experts are the best place to initiate your approach to automation.
As a long-standing, trusted Microsoft partner, Tigunia specializes in helping businesses extend the capabilities of Microsoft Business Central and their broader Microsoft Dynamics and data management systems by unlocking the full potential of Power Platform. Consider us your extremely proficient transformation advisors.
We provide:
- Expert guidance on Power Platform adoption and integration with Business Central
- Customized automation strategies for immediate efficiency gains
- Efficient build of workflows, apps, and AI-powered BI solutions
- Ongoing support to scale and optimize your investment
If you’re ready to maximize efficiency, reduce operational bottlenecks, and gain quick wins with Power Platform and Business Central, book a free consultation and demo with Tigunia today and see what’s possible!
Extending Microsoft Business Central with Power Platform FAQ
What does it mean to extend Business Central with Power Platform?
It means using Microsoft Power Platform tools, including Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Copilot Studio, to add reporting, custom apps, workflow automation, and AI agents to Business Central. These tools connect to Business Central through built-in connectors, so you can expand what your ERP does without heavy custom code.
Does Business Central work with Power Automate?
Yes. Power Automate is built right into Business Central through the Automate menu, and the Business Central connector lets flows trigger when records are created, changed, or deleted. Common uses include approval workflows, invoice processing, and automated customer or team notifications.
Is Power Platform included with a Business Central license?
Partially. Business Central Essentials and Premium licenses include use rights for Power Apps and Power Automate when working with Business Central data. Apps or flows that go beyond that, such as those using premium connectors, typically need separate licensing, and sharing Power BI reports generally requires Power BI Pro. A Microsoft partner can help you confirm exactly what’s covered.
Can Power BI connect to Business Central?
Yes. Business Central includes embedded Power BI reports and ready-made Power BI apps for finance, sales, purchasing, and inventory. You can also connect Power BI Desktop directly to Business Central to build custom dashboards around your own KPIs.
Do I need a developer to use Power Platform with Business Central?
Not usually for quick wins. Power Platform is low-code, so notifications, approvals, simple apps, and dashboards can often be built by business users. But more complex scenarios, like custom APIs or integrations across multiple systems, benefit from an experienced partner to keep things secure and scalable.
Does Power Platform work with Business Central on-premises?
Yes, through the on-premises data gateway and the Business Central on-premises connector. Some features, like Dataverse virtual tables, are only available with Business Central online, so it’s worth reviewing your deployment with an experienced partner before planning larger projects.
