November 10, 2025

Using Business Central and the Power Platform to Automate Everyday Business Processes

Modern businesses are expected to move faster, make smarter decisions, and accomplish more with fewer resources. Yet, even with a powerful ERP like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, many organizations still rely on manual steps—such as copying data into spreadsheets, waiting for approvals, or rekeying information between systems.

The Microsoft Power Platform changes that. By combining Power Automate, Power Apps, Power Pages, and AI Builder with Business Central, companies can automate repetitive tasks, integrate systems, and empower users to build their own automations—without requiring extensive IT involvement. The result is a more agile organization where data flows seamlessly and employees focus on higher-value work.

From ERP to end-to-end automation

Business Central provides the core business data—sales orders, purchase invoices, inventory levels, customer records—that most organizations rely on daily. The Power Platform extends that foundation, enabling you to:

• Automate workflows inside and outside Business Central.
• Create custom apps for employees, partners, or customers.
• Design secure external-facing portals for customers, partners, and vendors.
• Add intelligence with AI that reads documents, predicts outcomes, or suggests actions.

These tools share a low-code environment, meaning users with limited technical skills can build automations and apps securely within Microsoft’s governance framework. Everything connects through Dataverse, ensuring consistency across systems.

Power Automate: Turning routine work into background processes

For Business Central users, Power Automate is often the first step toward process automation. With hundreds of prebuilt connectors—including one for Business Central—organizations can automate approvals, notifications, and data synchronization between Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and third-party systems.

Here are a few everyday examples:

1. Automating purchase approvals
Instead of manually routing purchase orders, Power Automate can automatically send an approval request to a manager when a purchase invoice exceeds a threshold. The manager receives an adaptive card in Microsoft Teams or Outlook (an adaptive card in Power Automate is a platform-independent method for sharing information or collecting input from users via a user interface that automatically adapts to its host, such as Microsoft Teams or Outlook). The manager reviews the details and approves with one click. Once approved, the invoice status updates in Business Central automatically—no emails or manual follow-ups required.

2. Order notifications
When a new sales order is posted in Business Central, a Power Automate flow can trigger an email confirmation to the customer, update a CRM record, and alert the account manager in Teams. This keeps everyone informed and improves response times without adding extra work.

3. Reducing data re-entry between systems
If your business uses external services, Power Automate can connect them directly to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. For example, when an invoice is received via email, a Power Automate flow can be triggered to extract the details (vendor, amount, etc.) and automatically create a corresponding record in Business Central. As an inventory management example, users can set up a flow where a Business Central trigger (such as the stock level falling below a threshold) starts a Power Automate action that automatically creates a purchase order to reorder the item.

The beauty of Power Automate is that once a process is defined, it runs consistently in the background, allowing for seamless execution. What used to take hours of manual work each week can now happen instantly and error-free.

Enhance Power Automate with ArcherPoint’s Power Approvals app

ArcherPoint has created the Power Approvals app to work alongside Power Automate and Business Central to give users greater flexibility when automating approval workflows, more approver routing options, and dynamic notification settings, all within an upgrade-friendly architecture.

Power Apps: Tailored experiences that extend Business Central

While Business Central offers robust functionality, every organization has unique workflows that extend beyond the standard ERP interface. Power Apps bridges that gap by allowing you to create simple, purpose-built applications that interact directly with your Business Central data.

1. Mobile inventory management

Warehouse teams can utilize a Power App to scan barcodes, track item movements, and verify stock levels from a mobile device. The app connects to Business Central through its API, updating item ledger entries in real time. Employees no longer need to walk back to a workstation to make updates, improving accuracy and productivity.

2. Field service time tracking

Service technicians can log their hours and materials in a Power App while on-site. Once submitted, the app sends the data back to Business Central, creating time entries for billing or payroll purposes. Managers can view project costs in real-time, avoiding the delays associated with manual entry.

3. Quality control or inspection reporting

Production supervisors can use a Power App to record inspection results, attach photos, and trigger a corrective action workflow in Power Automate—all without leaving the shop floor.

Because Power Apps share the same security model, administrators can control access based on roles, ensuring sensitive data stays protected.

Power Pages: Secure portals for vendors, customers, and partners

While Power Apps focuses on internal users, Power Pages extends Business Central processes to external audiences, such as vendors, distributors, or customers, through secure, low-code websites.

Power Pages is built on the same Power Platform foundation and connects through Dataverse, meaning data entered on a portal can flow directly into Business Central workflows.

1. Vendor self-service portal

Suppliers can log in to view purchase orders, submit invoices, and update contact details. Behind the scenes, Power Automate can then validate and route submissions for approval, automatically creating records in Business Central.

2. Customer service or order tracking portal

Create customer portals so customers can check order statuses, view account balances, or request returns, or access troubleshooting tips—all while Business Central data stays up to date in real time.

3. Partner collaboration site

Distributors can upload sales forecasts, check product availability, or submit co-marketing requests through a secure portal, helping your operations stay aligned and proactive.

Because Power Pages integrates with Microsoft Entra ID, you can enforce authentication policies and role-based access, ensuring only authorized users can view sensitive business data.

AI Builder: Bringing intelligence to everyday processes

Automation becomes even more powerful when paired with artificial intelligence. AI Builder, integrated into the Power Platform, allows users to add pre-trained or custom AI models to analyze data, predict outcomes, and extract insights—all without writing code.

1. Invoice and receipt processing

Using the Document Processing model, AI Builder can read PDFs or images of invoices, extract key fields such as vendor name, invoice number, and amount, and feed them into Business Central. A Power Automate flow can then validate the data, match it against purchase orders, and automatically create the invoice record.

2. Predicting payment delays

AI Builder can analyze historical data in Business Central to predict which customers are likely to pay late. The results can trigger Power Automate flows that send proactive reminders or escalate to collections, improving cash flow.

3. Classifying service tickets

If you integrate Business Central with Customer Service data, AI Builder can classify incoming support requests by urgency or topic, helping to route them to the right team more efficiently.

AI Builder makes AI accessible to business users. Combined with Business Central’s data and Power Automate’s workflows, it turns raw information into intelligent action.

Governance and scalability with Microsoft’s ecosystem

For administrators, automation and citizen development can raise concerns about control and security. Microsoft addresses this with environment governance, data loss prevention (DLP) policies, and centralized monitoring within the Power Platform admin center.

Scalability is also a strength. Once a flow or app proves valuable in one department, it can easily be cloned, customized, and deployed across the organization. With templates and connectors continually added by Microsoft, the automation potential continues to grow.

The bottom line

Together, Business Central and the Power Platform deliver a unified environment for continuous improvement. Power Automate eliminates repetitive work, Power Apps empowers employees to build tailored tools, Power Pages securely connects external audiences, and AI Builder adds intelligence that helps you make smarter, faster decisions.

For Business Central users and administrators, this combination isn’t just about saving time; it’s about creating a connected business that adapts as you grow. Whether you’re automating approvals, building mobile apps, or adding AI-driven insights, the Power Platform ensures Business Central evolves with your needs.

Ready to take the next step?

Contact ArcherPoint by Cherry Bekaert to learn how you can get the most out of Business Central using the Power Platform.

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