Welcome to Hidden Gems, a new series from Tecvia, where we show you Business Central features that are already in your system, already paid for, and almost certainly switched off. Each issue covers one area where businesses consistently leave time and money on the table. No extra licences required!
You already pay for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. But if you are like most small and mid-sized businesses in the UK, you are probably using it as a sophisticated accounting tool and leaving a lot of the rest untouched.
That is not a criticism. Most Business Central go-lives focus on getting the core system working. Finance, purchasing, sales, and stock. The more advanced features tend to get noted as something to revisit later. Later rarely comes.
This article covers five features that sit inside every standard Business Central licence, cost nothing extra to activate, and can save your team a significant amount of time each week. We have also added a section on how Microsoft Copilot AI connects to several of these features, because that is where Business Central is heading, and it is worth understanding now.
Could Your System Be Doing More?
Before we get into the features, answer these honestly:
- Are your approvals still running through email?
- Do you find out about cash flow problems after they have already happened?
- Is your team switching between Outlook and Business Central dozens of times a day?
- Are staff exporting to Excel just to build a basic report?
- Does someone on your team carry out the same manual task every single week without fail?
If you answered yes to any of those, your Business Central system is not working as hard as it could be. None of the fixes below requires a new licence, a development project, or a significant amount of time to set up.
1. Workflows
What it does
Workflows automate approval processes for purchase orders, sales quotes, expense claims, credit limit changes, and more. You define the rules once. Business Central handles the routing, the reminders, and the audit trail.
What most businesses do instead
Email chains. Teams messages. Chasing a director who is in a meeting. Approvals that sit untouched for three days because nobody followed up. Documents that go out without the right sign-off because the process was unclear.
What you can set up
- A purchase order under £500 goes to a line manager for approval. Anything above goes to a director.
- Sales quotes above a certain discount percentage require a second sign-off before they leave the system.
- Credit limit increases trigger an approval request to the credit controller automatically.
- If an approver does not respond within 48 hours, the document escalates to the next person in the chain.
A business processing 50 or more purchase orders a month can reduce approval time from days to hours. Every action is logged, so there is a clear record of who approved what and when.
Copilot connection
Microsoft Copilot in Business Central can summarise pending approvals and flag overdue items in plain English. Instead of navigating to a workflow list, a manager can ask ‘what purchase orders are waiting for my approval?’ and get a direct answer. This is live functionality on Business Central SaaS.
How to check if you are using it
In Business Central, search for Workflows. If the list is empty, you are not using it.
2. Late Payment Predictions
What it does
This feature uses your historical invoice data to predict which customers are likely to pay late, before the due date arrives. It flags at-risk invoices so your credit control team can act early rather than chase afterwards.
What most businesses do instead
Wait until an invoice is overdue. Chase by phone or email. Repeat the same conversation with the same late-paying customers every month. Write off debt that could have been avoided with earlier intervention.
What changes when you switch it on
- Your aged debtor list shows a risk indicator alongside each open invoice.
- Your credit control team prioritises calls based on predicted risk, not just invoice age.
- You can spot patterns in which customers consistently pay late and adjust your terms or credit limits accordingly.
- Cash flow forecasting becomes more accurate because your predictions are based on likely payment behaviour, not just due dates.
The feature connects to AI Builder in Microsoft 365 and trains on your own data. Predictions improve as more invoice history accumulates. It works best with at least 12 months of data in the system, but it is worth activating earlier so the model starts learning.
Copilot connection
Copilot’s cash flow forecasting in Business Central draws on the same payment behaviour data. When you have Late Payment Predictions active and well-trained, the cash flow projections Copilot generates become considerably more reliable. The two features compound each other.
How to check if you are using it
Go to Customer Ledger Entries and look for a Payment Prediction column. If it is not visible, the feature is not active.
3. The Outlook Add-in
What it does
The Business Central Outlook Add-in lets your team view and update Business Central records directly inside Outlook, without switching tabs or logging in separately. It works on Outlook desktop, Outlook on the web, and the Outlook mobile app.
What most businesses do instead
Read a customer email. Open Business Central in a separate tab. Search for the customer. Check their balance and open orders. Make a note. Close Business Central. Go back to Outlook. Write a reply. Do this every single time, for every customer email.
For a sales or finance team processing 30 or 40 customer emails a day, this switching adds up to significant lost time every week.
What you can do with it active
- See a customer’s outstanding balance, open orders, and recent transactions without leaving your inbox.
- Create a sales quote or order directly from an email, with the customer details already populated.
- Log a contact note against a customer record from inside the email.
- Check whether an item is in stock before replying to a customer enquiry.
- Access the same information on your phone via the Outlook mobile app.
Setup takes around 10 minutes per user. It requires no development work and no additional licence.
Copilot connection
Microsoft Copilot in Outlook can draft replies to customer emails. When the Business Central Add-in is active alongside Copilot, your team can check the customer’s account status and draft a response to a query in the same inbox session. The two tools work together without requiring any additional configuration.
How to check if you are using it
Open Outlook and select a customer email. If there is no Business Central panel on the right-hand side, the Add-in is not installed.
4. Power BI Reports
What it does
Business Central comes with a set of pre-built Power BI report templates covering finance, sales, purchasing, and inventory. You connect them to your data once and they update automatically. No exports, no manual builds, no emailing spreadsheets around.
What most businesses do instead
Export data from Business Central to Excel. Build a report manually. Format it. Send it by email. The figures are already out of date by the time the recipient opens the attachment. Next month, someone does the same thing again.
What the pre-built templates cover
- Finance: income statements, balance sheet, cash flow, budget versus actual.
- Sales: revenue by customer, salesperson performance, pipeline value, order status.
- Purchasing: spend by supplier, purchase order status, price analysis.
- Inventory: stock levels, turnover rates, aged stock, item profitability.
You can view these dashboards directly inside Business Central on your home screen, or in the standalone Power BI app. Both are included in your existing Microsoft licences.
Once connected, your finance director can look at last week’s figures on a Monday morning without asking anyone to pull a report. Your operations manager can check stock levels without opening a separate screen. The data is always current.
Copilot connection
Microsoft Copilot in Power BI, available as part of Copilot for Microsoft 365, lets users ask natural language questions about their data. A sales manager can type ‘which customers have not placed an order in the last 90 days?’ and get a filtered answer directly from the dashboard. This does not replace the reports, but it removes the need to know how to build the right filter each time.
How to check if you are using it
On your Business Central home screen, look for Power BI report tiles. If they are blank or absent, the connection has not been set up.
5. Job Queue
What it does
Job Queue lets you schedule recurring tasks to run automatically inside Business Central. Posting journals, sending customer statements, running aged debtor reports, generating overdue reminders. You set the task and the schedule once. The system handles it from that point forward.
What most businesses do instead
Assign the task to a person. That person does it every Monday, or on the last day of the month, or whenever they remember. When they are on holiday, it does not get done. When they leave the business, the task disappears with them until someone notices.
Common uses businesses set up with Job Queue
- Monthly customer statements sent automatically on the first working day of each month.
- Aged debtor reports emailed to the credit control team every Monday morning.
- Recurring journals are posted on a set date without manual intervention.
- Overdue payment reminders generated and sent without anyone initiating the process.
- Scheduled data imports from connected systems running overnight so the data is ready at the start of each day.
Job Queue removes the dependency on a specific person carrying out routine system tasks. It also removes the risk that something gets missed because someone was busy, absent, or simply forgot.
Copilot connection
As Copilot capabilities in Business Central develop, the intent is for AI to suggest Job Queue tasks based on patterns it identifies in how your team uses the system. If the same report is being pulled manually every Monday, Copilot may surface that as a candidate for automation. This is part of Microsoft’s roadmap for Copilot in Business Central, not a current live feature, but it is relevant context for how the platform is developing.
How to check if you are using it
In Business Central, search for Job Queue Entries. If the list is empty or only contains system-generated entries, you are not using it for your own scheduled tasks.
Your Five-Point Checklist
Go through each item and be honest about whether it is active and in use:
- Workflows set up for at least one approval process in your business.
- Late Payment Predictions visible and active on your customer accounts.
- Outlook Add-in installed for your finance and sales team.
- Power BI dashboards connected and displaying live Business Central data.
- Job Queue running at least one scheduled task that previously required a person.
If you ticked fewer than three, your system is not working as hard as it could be.
If you ticked none, you are carrying manual overhead every week that your licence already covers.
Why This Matters More as Copilot Develops
Microsoft is building Copilot AI deeper into Business Central with every release wave. New features are added twice a year and they are not optional extras. They are part of the SaaS subscription you already have.
The businesses that will get the most from Copilot are the ones whose Business Central environments are properly configured to begin with. Clean workflows, active data features, connected Power BI, scheduled automation. Copilot works best on top of a system that is already set up well.
If your Business Central is being used as a basic accounting ledger, the AI features sitting above it will not have much to work with. If your system is doing the things described in this article, Copilot has meaningful data, structured processes, and real usage patterns to build on.
Getting these five features active is not just about fixing today’s inefficiencies. It is about making sure your system is ready for where Business Central is going.
What to Do Next
Most businesses that come to Tecvia are not under-licensed. They are under-utilising.
Business Central is built to support a business that is growing, not just processing transactions. The five features above are not upgrades or add-ons. They are already in your system, already paid for, and waiting to be switched on.
Start with the checklist. Be honest about what you are actually using. Even getting one or two of these features active can reduce the manual work your team carries every week.
If you are not sure where to start or want someone to review your current setup, that is exactly what Tecvia is here for. Visit tecvia.co.uk to get in touch.
FAQs
We hope this FAQ section provides you with the information you need. For any other inquiries, please reach out to us directly. We’re here to support you and ensure your Dynamics 365 Business Central experience is smooth and successful.
No. Workflows, Late Payment Predictions, the Outlook Add-in, Power BI Reports, and Job Queue are all included in standard Business Central licences. You are not paying more to switch them on.
It depends on the feature. The Outlook Add-in takes around 10 minutes per user. Job Queue entries can be configured in under an hour for most tasks. Workflows take longer because you need to map your approval rules first, but a straightforward purchase order workflow can typically be live within a day. Power BI dashboards require an initial connection that usually takes an hour or two, then they update automatically from that point.
Some of them, yes. The Outlook Add-in and basic Job Queue entries are straightforward. Workflows and Late Payment Predictions benefit from someone who knows Business Central well, so the rules are configured correctly from the start. Setting up rules incorrectly can cause approval bottlenecks or data issues further down the line. Tecvia can configure any of these for you if you would rather not risk it.
Not if they are configured correctly. These features sit alongside your current setup. They do not alter how existing data is stored or how your current processes run. A brief review of your environment before switching anything on is always worth doing.
Most Business Central implementations focus on getting the core system working correctly. Additional features tend to be noted for later review. Later does not always come unless someone proactively goes back and checks what is active. If your partner has not raised this, asking them directly about your feature usage is a reasonable next step.
Yes. You can build multi-level approvals with conditions based on value, department, supplier, or document type. Escalation rules mean that if an approver does not respond within a set time, the document moves automatically to the next person. This covers most approval scenarios without needing any custom development.
The feature builds its model from your historical invoice data. With less than 12 months of data, predictions will be less precise initially but will improve as more data accumulates. It is worth activating early so the model starts learning from your first year of data rather than waiting until later.
Yes. It works in the Outlook mobile app as well as desktop and web versions. Your team can check customer balances and order status from their phone without opening Business Central separately.
Yes. You can schedule statements to send at a set time each month without anyone initiating the process. The same applies to overdue notices, remittance advice, and internal reports. Any task that runs on a regular schedule is a candidate for Job Queue.
Copilot uses the data and processes already in your Business Central environment. Workflows feed it approval data. Late Payment Predictions improve the accuracy of its cash flow forecasting. Power BI gives you natural language access to your reports. The better your Business Central setup, the more useful Copilot becomes. Businesses that have not activated these features will get less from Copilot than those that have.
Start with the checklist in this article. If you are still unsure, a short review of your current Business Central setup will show you exactly where the gaps are. Tecvia offers this as a starting point for businesses that want to get more from the system they already have.
