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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Modernize finance, supply chain, and operations to improve cross-functional coordination and agility.
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What Is Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Dynamics 365 Business Central is Microsoft’s cloud-based ERP solution for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Business Central provides real-time visibility into core business functions such as finance, supply chain, inventory, sales, and customer service, empowering organizations to make data-driven decisions and improve efficiency.

Empowering Small and Mid-Sized Businesses with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Organizational Impact of Dynamics 365 Business Central

Executive Perspective

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central delivers integrated financial management, supply chain oversight, and real-time analytics—empowering executives, managers, and operators to make fast, fact-based decisions. By tightly connecting business processes across finance, sales, supply chain, and manufacturing, it eliminates the process gaps and reporting blind spots that often hinder growth. With a unified platform, cross-functional teams can collaborate more effectively, respond to challenges with agility, and capitalize on opportunities—building a culture of teamwork, transparency, and accountability.

Departmental Perspective

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central enhances cross-functional planning and execution, enabling each department to better achieve its performance goals. By streamlining core processes like lead-to-order and order-to-cash, it provides robust, real-time reporting to every team involved in the S&OP process. With shared visibility into both overall performance and departmental metrics, teams can make timely adjustments, collaborate more effectively, and align around opportunities and risks—fostering stronger coordination and better outcomes across the organization.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain: Strategic Benefits

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central enhances the ability of finance teams to proactively manage operational performance by providing real-time access to financial data, deep analytics, and integrated reporting tools.

With the unified D365 BC platform, finance teams can have a single view of key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitor financial health across all business functions, including cash flow and profit margins.

The system can also help finance teams predict future trends and adjust strategies with its advanced forecasting and budgeting capabilities.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central simplifies inventory management by providing comprehensive tools to monitor stock levels and procurement to increase inventory turns while improving customer experience. 

  • Inventory Valuation: D365 BC supports multiple inventory valuation methods, including FIFO, LIFO, and average costing. Ascent ensures proper configuration for accurate reporting to increase awareness of variences.
  • Replenishment Management: With built-in demand forecasting and automated replenishment features, businesses can set reorder points and create purchase orders automatically to maintain optimal inventory levels and avoid stockouts.
  • Warehouse Management: D365 BC offers tools to manage bin locations, track shipments, and streamline receiving and shipping.

Business Central includes cost accounting features that allow you to track expenses and profitability across different dimensions (like departments or projects). You can:

  • Set up cost centers to track costs for various parts of the business.
  • Use dimensions to assign costs and analyze profitability.
  • Track actual vs. budgeted costs for various functions or departments.
  • Implement basic overhead allocation to cost objects.
     

Product costing in BC can be managed through its inventory management and manufacturing modules (if you’re using those). It allows you to:

  • Costing methods like FIFO, LIFO, or Weighted Average to track the cost of inventory.
  • Calculate COGS and track product margins.
  • Manage production costs if using manufacturing functionality, including tracking material and labor costs.

D365 SCM: Modules, Benefits, and Features

Finance

  • General Ledger & Financial Management – Automates journal entries, account reconciliations, and financial reporting; improves financial accuracy, reduces manual effort, and ensures compliance with accounting standards.
  • Accounts Payable (AP) Management – Tracks vendor invoices, due dates, and payments to manage cash outflows; enhances cash flow control by preventing late fees, optimizing payment schedules, and improving vendor relationships.
  • Accounts Receivable (AR) Management – Manages customer invoices, collections, and overdue payments; reduces outstanding debts and improves cash flow by automating reminders and follow-ups.
  • Bank Reconciliation & Cash Management – Automates bank statement imports, reconciliations, and cash flow forecasting; ensures accurate financial records and better liquidity management for informed decision-making.
  • Budgeting & Forecasting – Allows businesses to set financial goals, create budgets, and predict future financial performance; improves financial planning by aligning budgets with business strategies and monitoring variances.
  • Cost Accounting – Allocates costs across departments, projects, and cost centers for profitability analysis; provides detailed cost visibility, helping businesses make data-driven decisions to improve margins.
  • Financial Performance Analytics & Reporting – Generates financial statements, dashboards, and KPIs for business insights; enables real-time financial visibility, supporting strategic decision-making and improving profitability.

Sales Features

  • Quote Management—Create, send, and convert sales quotes into orders quickly and accurately, reducing manual entry and helping the sales team focus on selling rather than administration.
  • Sales Order Processing – Automates order creation, fulfillment, and invoicing, ensuring smooth transactions, reducing order processing time and minimizing errors.
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Integration – Tracks customer interactions, preferences, and history for personalized engagement, improves customer retention and sales effectiveness by enabling targeted marketing and better service delivery.
  • Pricing and Discount Management – Enables customer-specific pricing, discounts, and promotional offers, increases marketing campaign effectiveness and sales conversion.
  • Inventory Availability & Order Promising—Provides real-time inventory status and expected replenishment dates, improves OTIF, reliability, and customer experience, and increases share of wallet.
  • Sales Forecasting – Uses historical data and forecast accurate trends to predict future sales demand; improves demand planning, helping businesses optimize stock levels and meet customer expectations without overstocking.
  • Return & Refund Management – Handles product returns and refunds efficiently, including credit memo processing, improves customer loyalty.

Operations

  • Supply Chain Management—Manages procurement, inventory, and supplier relationships. By integrating these operations, internal and external lead times can be reduced, and stock levels can be balanced to minimize out-of-stocks while improving cash flow.
  • Warehouse Management – Tracks inventory movements, bin locations, and stock levels in real-time, increasing labor productivity, increasing speed of order fulfillment, and reducing storage costs
  • Inventory Management – Automates tracking of stock, replenishment thresholds, reducing stockouts and overstock situations, leading to better cost management and customer satisfaction.
  • Procurement & Vendor Management – Streamlines purchasing processes, supplier negotiations, and contract management, lowering procurement costs by improving supplier relationships and automating purchase orders.
  • Production Planning & Scheduling – With improvements to forecasting demand and better understanding of production capacity, goals and allocation of resources can be more accurately determined and planned, minimizing disruptions to production.  
  • Compliance and Quality Control ensures adherence to industry standards, safety regulations, and quality benchmarks, reduce the risk of non-compliance penalties, and enhance product consistency.
  • Performance Analytics & Reporting—Provides real-time insights into operational efficiency, costs, and productivity. Data-driven insights improve decision-making and allow for continuous process improvement.

Production

  • Production Orders – Enables the creation and management of production orders to efficiently plan and execute manufacturing processes; streamlines production processes by automating tracking and execution, reducing manual effort and errors.
  • Bill of Materials (BOM) – Defines the structure of finished goods, including subassemblies and raw materials; improves demand planning, reduces shortages and prevents overstocking.
  • Routing – Establishes step-by-step production workflows, assigning specific work centers and machine centers for each task, improving equipment utilization.
  • Capacity Planning – Allows businesses to allocate machine and labor resources effectively, balancing workloads. With greater understanding of capacity, S&OP process is optimized.
  • Demand Forecasting – Uses historical data in combination with forecast accuracy and trending to predict future production needs, ensuring materials and labor are available when required to improve accuracy of the production forecast accuracy.
  • Shop Floor Control – Provides real-time tracking of production progress, labor, and material consumption, enhances real-time visibility into operations, helping managers make informed decisions and quickly address issues.
  • Work-in-Progress (WIP) Tracking – Monitors the progress of unfinished goods in production to improve inventory control, provides real-time visibility, ensuring better tracking of production stages and reducing delays.

Finance

  • Employee Management – Maintains a centralized and secure database for employee records, including personal details, job roles, and contracts, improves workforce visibility and ensures accurate employee data management.
  • Payroll Processing & Compensation Management – Automates payroll calculations, tax deductions, and direct deposits, simplifying accuracy and reducing manual errors.
  • Recruitment & Onboarding – Streamlines hiring by tracking applicants, scheduling interviews, and automating onboarding tasks, speeds up the hiring process and improves new employee experience.
  • Time & Attendance Tracking – Monitors employee work hours, leaves, and overtime using an integrated system, enhances productivity by automating time tracking, ensuring fair compensation, and reducing absenteeism.
  • Performance Management – Tracks employee goals, appraisals, and performance reviews with built-in KPIs, boosts workforce productivity by providing real-time feedback, recognizing top performers, and identifying areas for improvement.
  • Training & Development – Manages employee skill development, certifications, and learning programs, encourages continuous growth by identifying skill gaps and ensuring employees are trained for future roles.

Why Choose Ascent Innovations?

The consultants are industry experts and highly experienced in Microsoft Dynamics ERP deployments.

The Ascent team has helped multiple businesses optimize their business operations and enabled the leadership for informed decision-making with a 360-degree view.

Employing modern tools like Power Platform, Ascent is transforming client’s business operations, enhancing their customers’ experience, mobilizing the workforce, while delivering real-time operational and financial insights.

With a proven track record in business modernization, Ascent Innovations is the trusted partner for companies looking to leverage Dynamics 365 Business Central for long-term success.

Why Businesses Trust Ascent Innovations

Ascent Innovations is a trusted Microsoft Solution Partner, delivering scalable, business-driven D365 solutions that optimize operations and drive game-changing growth.

Electronic Recycling & Asset Disposition

Client Profile

Wisconsin-based certified electronic recycler with 5 facilities
and 28 sites.

Refurbishes Computers and mobile devices.

Multiple levels of government & OEM contracts.

Solutions

  • Simplified Receiving and redesigned Recycling process
  • Customer portal – Ordering, Reconciliation, Settlements
  • Directives, Workflows and Certifications for Compliance
  • Dock scheduling Calendar & Power BI for analytics

Challenges

  • System flexibility for reverse-production process
  • Reconciling Sales orders with Material Receipts
  • Asset Disposition tracking, quality controls & auditing.
  • EPA, ITAR, State Compliance laws & Certifications

Outcome

  • Flexible Recycling with accurate Labor and Commodities.
  • Customer Service automation reduced human errors by 70%.
  • Positioned for growth in newer areas – forecast up by 22%
  • Improved gross margins

Pharma / Healthcare

Client Profile

Illinois-based manufacturer of injectable grade ingredients
for medicines and vaccines, promising purity.
Contract manufacturer of Vaccine and Biologic stabilizers.
Manufacturer of Low-metal and Low-Nitrosamine excipients.

Positioning for growth in high-purity products and services.

Solutions

  • Batch Tracking
  • Integrated PLC with Dynamics 365 for accurate real-time data
  • Production Orders and Formulae updated with PLC inputs
  • Quality Controls & Quarantine process configured
  • Asset Leasing – ROUs configured with ASC 842

Challenges

  • Not able to track Consumption & Wastage
  • Formulae costing is not reliable
  • Product Costing is just a guesswork.
  • PLC machines’ reports do not match the ERP.
  • Quality Control not integrating with ERP.
  • Regulatory Compliance was labor intensive.

Outcome

  • Accurate Real-time Inventory & Production Costing
  • Tracing ingredients in Batch with full audit & documentation.
  • Amortization and Depreciation within D365 Finance.
  • Quality Mgmt. process reduced the labor costs by 35%.
  • Capacity tripled (300%+) production during COVID.

Specialty Coatings & Sealants Manufacturer

Client Profile

Ohio-based leader in specialty coating and sealants.

Member of Fortune 500 with $7.3B in global sales.

50+ brands, 17,000 employees, 119 manufacturing facilities

Solutions

  • Data Warehousing, Analytics, and Power BI.
  • Implementing Manufacturing dashboards across all the 16 European entities with brand segmentation and product lines.
  • Implementing Sales dashboards by region.

Challenges

  • Expansion into the European market with multiple acquisitions.
  • Sales and Manufacturing Analytics were missing.
  • Standardization of financial reporting in both IFRS and GAAP.

Outcome

  • Visibility into changing trends for effective decisions and actions.
  • Reduced SSRS reports within D365 – saving on project costs by 18%.
  • Interactive Gross Margin analytics helping employee productivity.

Our Insights

See what refreshingly easy, AI-powered solutions can do for your business.

Frequently Asked Questions

What services does Ascent Innovations LLC offer for Dynamics 365 Business Central?

Ascent Innovations LLC provides comprehensive services for Dynamics 365 Business Central, including implementation, customization, data migration, integration, and ongoing support to help businesses streamline operations and improve efficiency.

At Ascent Innovations LLC, we follow a structured implementation process that includes business analysis, solution design, configuration, testing, and user training. This ensures a smooth transition and helps businesses quickly realize the value of Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Yes, Ascent Innovations LLC specializes in customizing Dynamics 365 Business Central to meet industry-specific requirements, whether in manufacturing, retail, distribution, or professional services, ensuring the solution aligns with your unique business processes.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a comprehensive business management solution that helps small and mid-sized businesses manage finances, operations, sales, and customer service in one unified platform.

Key features include financial management, inventory and supply chain management, sales and purchasing, project management, reporting, and analytics.

Yes, it is primarily a cloud-based solution, but it also offers an on-premises deployment option for businesses with specific infrastructure requirements.

It is designed for small to medium-sized businesses that need an integrated system to replace multiple disconnected applications and improve operational efficiency.

It provides real-time financial visibility, automates accounting processes, supports budgeting, and delivers detailed financial reports to improve decision-making.

Yes, it integrates seamlessly with Microsoft tools like Excel, Outlook, Teams, and Power BI, enabling better collaboration and data insights.

Yes, it is highly scalable and flexible, allowing businesses to add users, features, and integrations as they grow.

Ready to start transforming your business?

Talk to us about how Ascent Innovations can help you realize business value faster with end-to-end solutions and cloud services.