Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2: Complete Guide to New AI, ERP, Manufacturing and Business Features

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central continues to evolve, helping businesses manage finance, operations, supply chains, manufacturing, reporting and customer relationships through a connected ERP platform.

With the release of Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2 (version 29.0), Microsoft introduces a range of updates across AI-powered agents, financial management, manufacturing, e-commerce, reporting, sustainability and application development.

This release is particularly important for businesses looking to improve operational efficiency, automate repetitive tasks, strengthen financial controls and make better use of business data.

The updates also create new opportunities for organisations to connect Business Central with Microsoft Power Platform, Shopify and AI-driven workflows.

In this guide, we explore the key changes in Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2, explain their potential business impact and highlight what organisations should consider before upgrading.

What Is New in Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2?

Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2 begins with update 29.0, released in October 2026.

The update covers several important areas:

• AI-powered Copilot experiences and agent management
• Improved purchase order processing through Payables Agent
• Expense Agent enhancements
• Financial reporting and tax-related updates
• Manufacturing and subcontracting improvements
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capabilities
• Shopify B2B and e-commerce enhancements
• Power Platform and Dataverse integration
• Developer productivity and automation
• Reporting, governance and data analysis
• Sustainability and carbon footprint tracking
• User experience improvements

These updates are designed to help businesses reduce manual work, improve visibility and build more connected business processes.

1. AI, Copilot and Agent Enhancements

AI is one of the major areas of development in Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2. Microsoft continues to expand how AI-powered agents work with business information and operational tasks.

Microsoft Copilot Chat Experience

Public preview

Microsoft introduces an updated Copilot chat experience in Business Central.

The aim is to make it easier for users to interact with business information through conversational AI. Instead of navigating through multiple pages to locate information, users can explore supported business data through a chat-based experience.

Businesses should evaluate the preview against their security requirements, user permissions and actual workflows before adopting it for daily operations.

Improved Purchase Order Matching in Payables Agent

Generally available

The Payables Agent receives improvements to purchase order matching.

This helps businesses improve the process of comparing vendor invoices with purchase orders and related information. Better matching can reduce manual review and help accounts payable teams identify differences more efficiently.

For organisations processing a high volume of vendor invoices, this can support a more structured accounts payable workflow.

Easier Agent Permission Management

Generally available

Microsoft improves how administrators manage permissions for agents.

As organisations introduce more AI agents into their ERP environment, controlling what each agent can access and do becomes increasingly important.

Improved permission management helps administrators maintain better control over agent activities and access to business information.

Centralised Agent Task Management

Generally available

Business Central introduces a dedicated task pane for managing tasks from different agents.

This provides users with a more centralised way to review agent activities and manage outstanding tasks rather than checking separate areas for each agent.

Review AI-Generated Content Directly on Pages

Generally available

Users can review content generated by agents directly on Business Central pages.

This makes it easier to inspect AI-generated information in the context of the business record or process where it is being used.

Human review remains important, particularly when AI-generated content affects financial or operational decisions.

MCP Server and Data Query Capabilities

MCP Server: generally available · Data Query Tools: preview

Microsoft continues to expand Business Central’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) capabilities.

The MCP Server allows supported AI agents and tools to interact with Business Central through defined interfaces and permissions.

Microsoft also documents Data Query Tools that allow agents to explore table information and run read-only queries against Business Central data. These tools are currently in preview.

This development is important for organisations exploring AI-assisted reporting, business data discovery and more connected agent workflows.

Additional Agent Experience Improvements

Generally available

Other agent-related updates include:

• Improved agent user interface experiences.
• Notifications for agent actions and review activities on lists.
• Avatars showing who created or modified records.
• Better visibility into agent-generated content and tasks.

Together, these changes support more transparent collaboration between users and AI agents.

2. Expense Agent Enhancements

Expense management is another area receiving several updates.

Microsoft is expanding the Expense Agent to support more expense-related activities and reduce manual processing.

The following enhancements are listed for this release.

Public preview

Improved Mileage Calculations

Businesses can use additional date-range and vehicle-type information when calculating employee mileage.

This can help organisations manage travel expenses more consistently.

AI-Driven Expense Approvals

The Expense Agent introduces AI-driven approval capabilities to support expense review workflows.

This can help reduce repetitive administrative work, while organisations retain appropriate approval controls.

VAT Calculation and Reporting

The Expense Agent adds support for calculating and reporting VAT based on expense reports.

This can help businesses improve expense-related tax processing, subject to applicable regional requirements.

Automatic Withholding Tax Calculations

The update introduces automatic withholding tax calculations in expense reports.

This can support organisations that need to manage withholding tax as part of their expense processes.

Improved Duplicate Expense Prevention

Duplicate prevention is improved to help identify repeated expense submissions and reduce unnecessary manual checks.

Additional Countries and Languages

Microsoft expands country and language coverage for Expense Agent.

This is important for organisations operating across multiple regions and managing expenses for employees in different locations.

Project-Based Expense Controls

The Expense Agent also adds support for using assigned projects only in its web application.

This can help organisations maintain better control over project-related expense submissions.

3. Financial Management and Accounting Improvements

Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2 includes several finance-related enhancements.

These updates focus on tax calculations, financial reporting, self-billing and improved control over financial information.

Multiple Excise Duties Per Item

Public preview

Businesses can calculate multiple excise duties for an individual item.

This is relevant to organisations operating in industries where products may be subject to different excise duty requirements.

Withholding Tax for Employee Transactions

Public preview

Microsoft introduces support for withholding taxes in employee transactions.

This can help businesses manage employee-related transactions that require withholding tax treatment.

Vendor-Specific Number Series for Self-Billing Invoices

Public preview

Businesses can use vendor-specific number series for self-billing invoices.

This provides additional flexibility in invoice numbering and document management.

Improved Financial Report Management

Generally available

Microsoft introduces several improvements to financial reporting:

• Financial report changes are always logged.
• Financial report datasets are simplified.
• Multiple financial reports can be combined into a single PDF output.
• General ledger account usage can be traced in financial reports.
• System audit fields can be used in analysis mode and profiles.

These enhancements can help finance teams improve reporting consistency, review changes and investigate financial information more efficiently.

Improved Document Report Layouts

Generally available

Business Central adds further flexibility for document reporting.

Users can reuse header and footer layouts across document reports and use the updated Word add-in to design document reports and report themes.

Conditional visibility is also supported in the updated Word add-in.

This helps businesses create more consistent business documents and adapt report layouts to their requirements.

4. Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Enhancements

Manufacturing and supply chain operations are important areas for organisations using Business Central.

The 2026 Release Wave 2 update includes several improvements designed to simplify subcontracting, warehouse operations, quality inspections and manufacturing documentation.

Generally available

Improved Subcontracting Instructions

Microsoft adds the ability to carry subcontracting instructions into purchase orders.

This helps businesses maintain relevant instructions when working with external manufacturing or processing partners.

Easier Subcontracting Setup

The update also makes it easier to set up and explore subcontracting processes.

This can help businesses manage outsourced production activities more effectively.

Warehouse Put-Aways and Picks for Subcontracting

Business Central improves support for inventory put-aways and picks related to subcontracting.

This helps organisations manage the movement of materials between warehouse operations and subcontracted production activities.

Direct Transfer Orders from Warehouse-Enabled Locations

Businesses can post direct transfer orders from locations that use warehouse functionality.

This provides additional flexibility in inventory movement and warehouse operations.

Improved Quality Tests and Inspections

Microsoft introduces enhancements to reduce manual work in quality tests and inspections.

For manufacturers, quality management is important for maintaining product standards, identifying issues and improving production processes.

These improvements can support more efficient quality-related workflows within Business Central.

Manufacturing Documents and Capacity Calendars

The update also improves how businesses work with manufacturing documents and capacity calendars.

Better access to manufacturing information and capacity-related details can help production teams plan and manage manufacturing activities.

For manufacturers managing production schedules, materials and external processing, these improvements can support better operational coordination.

5. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Capabilities

Public preview

Business Central introduces the ability to exchange EDI documents.

Electronic Data Interchange allows businesses to exchange structured business documents electronically with customers, suppliers and trading partners.

Common examples of EDI documents include:

• Purchase orders
• Sales orders
• Invoices
• Shipping-related documents

EDI can help reduce manual document handling and improve communication between trading partners.

For organisations working with large retailers, distributors or supply chain partners, this is an important area to evaluate.

However, businesses should review the preview functionality, supported document formats and integration requirements before planning a production implementation.

6. Shopify and E-Commerce Enhancements

Business Central continues to improve its integration with Shopify.

The 2026 Release Wave 2 update includes several enhancements for organisations managing online sales and business operations through connected ERP and e-commerce systems.

Generally available

Shopify B2B Company and Pricing Management

Businesses can manage Shopify B2B companies, catalogs and pricing through improved Business Central functionality.

This is useful for organisations selling to business customers with different pricing arrangements and product catalogs.

Improved Order Changes, Exchanges and Refunds

The Shopify integration receives improvements for processing order changes, exchanges and refunds.

This can help businesses manage post-purchase activities more consistently.

Better Control Over Sales Document Creation

Businesses receive additional control over the creation of sales documents for Shopify orders and returns.

This can help organisations align their e-commerce processes with their internal sales and accounting requirements.

Improved Shopify Connections

Microsoft also introduces improvements to help keep Shopify connections current.

Tariff Numbers and Country of Origin

Business Central can synchronise tariff numbers and country-of-origin values with Shopify.

This is particularly relevant for businesses involved in international sales, where product classification and origin information can be important for trade and shipping processes.

Together, these updates can help businesses improve coordination between online stores and back-office ERP operations.

7. Microsoft Power Platform and Dataverse Integration

Generally available

Business Central continues to improve its connection with the Microsoft Power Platform ecosystem.

The 2026 Release Wave 2 update introduces support for mapping additional Dataverse fields in Business Central.

Dataverse provides a common data platform used by Microsoft business applications, including Dynamics 365 and Power Platform solutions.

Improved field mapping can help organisations maintain more consistent information when connecting Business Central with other Microsoft applications.

For businesses using Power Apps, Power Automate or connected Dynamics 365 applications, this can support more integrated business processes.

Organisations should still review their data mapping, integration rules and customisations to ensure information is synchronised correctly.

8. Reporting, Analysis and Document Management

Reporting improvements are another important part of version 29.0.

Microsoft introduces several capabilities that can help users manage reports, analyse information and create more consistent business documents.

Generally available

Key enhancements include:

• Automating report outputs.
• Bookmarking list views and analysis tabs.
• Applying report themes to document reports.
• Managing the lifecycle of report layouts.
• Designing document report themes through the updated Word add-in.
• Designing document reports through the updated Word add-in.
• Creating reusable header and footer layouts.
• Applying conditional visibility in document reports.
• Combining multiple financial reports into one PDF.
• Tracking general ledger account usage in financial reports.
• Logging financial report changes.
• Using system audit fields in analysis mode and profiles.
• Simplifying financial report datasets.

These capabilities can help finance and operations teams improve reporting processes and make business information easier to review.

9. Developer Productivity and Application Improvements

Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2 also introduces a broad set of improvements for developers and implementation teams working with AL, extensions, testing and integrations.

These enhancements are particularly relevant for organisations using customised Business Central environments.

Generally available

Page Scripting Reaches General Availability

Page Scripting moves into general availability.

This provides a more established capability for recording and replaying supported user interactions, which can help with testing and automation workflows.

AI-Assisted Performance Analysis

Developers can use AI agents to profile slow Business Central sessions.

This can help development teams investigate performance issues and identify areas that may need optimisation.

AI-Assisted Debugging

The update introduces the ability to debug recorded Business Central failures with an AI agent.

This can support troubleshooting by helping developers investigate recorded errors and understand potential causes.

Improved AL Testing and CI/CD

Microsoft adds support for building extensible, data-driven AL test suites and running AL tests through command-line and CI/CD workflows.

This can help development teams improve automated testing and maintain more consistent deployment processes.

Additional AL Development Improvements

Other developer updates include:

• Accessing application links through ModuleInfo.
• Improving tooltip inheritance for report and page actions.
• Turning indexes on or off through AL code.
• Auditing AL app accessibility and debugging boundaries.
• Checking records for uncommitted changes.
• Configuring AL MCP workspaces dynamically.
• Defining indexes across base table and table extension fields.
• Diagnosing AL MCP Server activity through file logging.
• Discovering objects in connected Business Central environments.
• Evolving AL interfaces with default implementations.
• Receiving clearer guidance for AL object structure.
• Allowing agents to allocate free AL object IDs.
• Restricting global symbol resolution to a minor version.
• Simplifying AL extension setup and authentication in Visual Studio Code.
• Tracking AL compiler diagnostics in automated builds.
• Translating objects with the same name in different namespaces.
• Using AL language intelligence from AI agents and other editors.

These improvements can support better development practices, testing, troubleshooting and ongoing application maintenance.

10. Governance, Administration and Platform Improvements

Microsoft also introduces improvements that help administrators monitor and manage Business Central environments.

Generally available

SIFT Index Management

Administrators can turn SIFT indexes on or off.

This provides additional control over the management of indexed data and related performance considerations.

Open in Excel Telemetry

Microsoft adds telemetry to monitor the usage of the Open in Excel functionality.

This can help administrators understand how users interact with Business Central data through Excel.

Improved Table Extension Data Loading

The platform introduces an improved data model for table extensions to support faster data loading.

This is relevant to organisations using extensions and customised applications.

These changes can help support platform administration, performance monitoring and application management.

11. Sustainability Management and Carbon Footprint Tracking

Generally available

Business Central continues to expand sustainability management capabilities.

The 2026 Release Wave 2 update includes improvements for calculating and tracking carbon emissions across different business activities.

The new capabilities include:

• Estimating carbon footprints in Service Management.
• Reversing Sustainability Ledger entry transactions.
• Tracking carbon footprints for fixed assets.
• Tracking carbon footprints through item journals.
• Tracking carbon footprints through item reclassification journals.
• Using formulas to calculate emissions in purchase documents.
• Selecting specific carbon footprint calculation methods when enabling item tracking.

These updates can help organisations capture more sustainability-related information and improve visibility into the environmental impact of their operations.

Businesses should evaluate how these capabilities align with their sustainability reporting requirements and internal data processes.

12. User Experience Improvements

Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2 also includes smaller but useful enhancements to the user experience.

Generally available

The update includes:

• Notifications for agent actions and review activities on lists.
• The ability to preview images directly in the web client.
• Recently searched items displayed in Tell Me.
• Recently used items displayed in lookup windows.
• Avatars showing who created or modified records.

These changes can make everyday navigation and record review more convenient for users.

13. Important Feature Management and Compatibility Changes

Alongside new functionality, organisations should review changes to existing Business Central features before upgrading.

Some features that were previously optional become mandatory in version 29.0.

Features That Become Mandatory

Microsoft lists the following changes:

• The manual manufacturing flushing method no longer requires picking.
• Per-activity-code VAT settlement generation in Italy.
• Default values for financial reports.
• New communication texts for reminder terms.
• Disabling SOAP web services on Microsoft UI pages.
• User interface support for masking sensitive data.

These changes may affect existing configurations, customisations and integrations. Businesses should review the relevant functionality before upgrading.

New Optional Features

Microsoft also lists new optional features in version 29.0:

• Accelerated Depreciation.
• New Document Report Experience, disabled by default.

Administrators should review Feature Management and assess whether these features are appropriate for their environment.

Important SOAP Web Service Change

One particularly important technical consideration is the removal of support for exposing Microsoft UI pages as SOAP web service endpoints in version 29.0.

Businesses that depend on these endpoints should review their integrations and plan an appropriate transition.

Microsoft recommends considering supported alternatives such as Business Central APIs and OData V4. Where necessary, organisations may also need to move custom functionality into extension-based solutions.

This is especially important for businesses with older integrations or customised environments.

14. Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2: Upgrade Considerations

Upgrading to a new Business Central version requires more than installing the latest update.

Businesses should review their existing environment, extensions, integrations and business processes before moving to version 29.0.

Business Central Online Customers

Microsoft states that new customers automatically receive version 29.0.

Existing online customers receive an update notification when version 29.0 becomes available. Administrators can schedule the update within the five-month update period, which ends in February 2027.

Businesses should use the available update window to plan testing and coordinate the upgrade with relevant teams.

Business Central On-Premises Customers

On-premises customers need to review Microsoft’s supported upgrade paths and compatibility requirements.

Deployments using version 24 or earlier cannot upgrade directly to version 29. They must first upgrade to version 25.

Businesses should also review obsolete objects, extensions, customisations and integrations before starting the upgrade process.

Recommended Upgrade Checklist

Before upgrading, organisations should:

1. Review the new version 29.0 features and their availability.
2. Check compatibility of third-party extensions.
3. Review custom AL code and application dependencies.
4. Identify integrations that rely on older SOAP endpoints.
5. Test financial, manufacturing and warehouse processes.
6. Review permissions and security configurations.
7. Test reporting and document layouts.
8. Back up the environment and prepare a rollback plan.
9. Perform testing in a suitable sandbox environment.
10. Schedule the production upgrade with the relevant business teams.

A structured upgrade approach can help reduce disruption and support a smoother transition.

15. What These Updates Mean for Businesses

The Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2 updates offer opportunities across finance, manufacturing, supply chain, e-commerce and business administration.

However, the value of these features depends on how they fit into an organisation’s existing processes.

Here are some examples of where businesses may benefit.

16. How Brightpoint Infotech Helps Businesses Get More from Dynamics 365 Business Central

New ERP features create opportunities, but businesses need the right implementation strategy to turn them into measurable operational improvements.

Brightpoint Infotech helps organisations plan, implement, customise and optimise Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions based on their business requirements.

Our team works with organisations to improve financial management, supply chain operations, manufacturing processes, reporting and business application integration.

Our Dynamics 365 services include:

• Dynamics 365 Business Central Implementation: ERP implementation, configuration and deployment based on business requirements.
• Business Central Upgrades and Migration: Planning and support for moving from older ERP systems and Business Central versions.
• ERP Customisation and Development: Custom functionality, AL extensions and business-specific workflows.
• Microsoft Power Platform Integration: Connecting Business Central with Power Apps, Power Automate and other Microsoft applications.
• Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management: ERP solutions for organisations with more advanced financial and operational requirements.
• Copilot and AI Integration: Evaluating AI capabilities and identifying opportunities to improve business processes.
• ERP Support and Optimisation: Ongoing assistance, troubleshooting, system improvements and performance optimisation.

With 20+ years of experience, 300+ successful projects, Microsoft-certified experts and global delivery capabilities, Brightpoint Infotech helps businesses make informed decisions about their Microsoft technology investments.

Whether your organisation is planning a new ERP implementation, upgrading an existing Business Central environment or exploring AI-powered business automation, our team can help you identify the right approach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2026 Release Wave 2 brings meaningful improvements across AI, finance, manufacturing, supply chain, reporting, e-commerce and application development.

The release reflects Microsoft’s continued investment in making Business Central a more connected and intelligent ERP platform.

For businesses, the next step is to understand which updates are relevant to their operations, review feature availability and prepare their systems for the changes.

With the right implementation and upgrade strategy, organisations can use Business Central to improve operational visibility, streamline processes and build a stronger foundation for future growth.