Smarter, connected work: How Office 365 and D365 Business Central drive greater efficiency

Suppose your organization’s finance team is reviewing real-time sales figures directly in Microsoft Excel, effortlessly refining budget, and disseminating updated forecasts quickly via Teams; all of this without the friction of toggling between applications or tedious manual data entry. In today’s digital landscape, your business needs flexible and connected systems to work smarter, collaborate better and make informed decisions. 

A comprehensive ERP solution, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is designed to streamline financials, operations, supply chain, and customer interactions. However, its true potential emerges when integrated with Microsoft 365 applications such as Outlook, Excel, Word, Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. This unified and seamless approach bridges the gap between enterprise resource planning (ERP) and daily productivity tools, empowering teams to operate faster, smarter, and more efficiently. This article will explore:

• Strategic benefits of integrating D365 Business Central with Microsoft 365.
• How businesses can enhance collaboration, automate workflows, and gain real-time insights, with a familiar Microsoft ecosystem.

1. Microsoft Excel with Dynamics 365 Business Central

Microsoft Excel significantly enhances operations within Business Central, offering flexibility, intuitive usability, and extended functionality. The following are some key integration scenarios:

1.1 Effectively managing lists and records

• • Open in Excel: Generates only a read-only Excel file.
  • Edit in Excel: Enables real-time data editing through the Business Central Excel add-in connected via OData web services.

1.2 Advanced analytical reporting with Excel layouts

Power users can design sophisticated report layouts directly in Excel with a flexible report design tool. An operational analyst let’s say can easily build inventory analysis reports customized to management preferences. Once uploaded to Business Central, these Excel-based layouts merges seamlessly with live data, facilitating easy report generation and download by other users.

1.3 Streamlining G/L budget management

Export General Ledger (G/L) budgets from Business Central into Excel for detailed review, planning, or modifications. For instance, a finance director can quickly model multiple budget scenarios and re-import the final version in a matter of minutes. The updated budget in Excel is imported back into Business Central, ideal for finance teams who prefer working with budget data in spreadsheets.

1.4 Simplifying data management and migration

• • Export a configuration package to Excel.
  • Set up or modify your data within Excel.
  • Re-import the modified data back into Business Central.

2. Microsoft Word for Document Management with Dynamics 365 Business Central

Power users in Dynamics 365 Business Central can leverage Microsoft Word in the following key scenarios:

 2.1 Custom outgoing document layouts

2.2 Optimize mass communication

3. Boost productivity with OneDrive integration in Business Central

OneDrive for Business, a cloud-based storage service included with Microsoft 365, works seamlessly with Dynamics 365 Business Central to help users store, access, and share files more efficiently.

Integrating Business Central with OneDrive enhances file management and collaboration. When an administrator enables OneDrive integration, users gain access to additional features that make working with files much smoother.

Some of these enhanced capabilities include:

3.1 Enhanced file management

Open in OneDrive and Share capabilities are directly available, making file handling swift and intuitive—like the Report Inbox or wherever files are attached to records. For example, a sales executive can instantly share a customer report from a meeting, directly from Business Central to the team.

On list pages, the Open in Excel and Edit in Excel actions will now automatically save the file to OneDrive and then open it in Excel Online for real-time editing. Similarly, the Send to Microsoft Excel or Send to Microsoft Word actions will upload the file to OneDrive and open it in the respective web app—Excel Online or Word Online.

3.2 Developer enhancements

Developers can also enhance OneDrive integration by writing AL code to add options like Open, Share, or Edit on custom pages. This can be especially useful when managing files in tailored solutions. With this integration, Business Central users can collaborate more effectively using familiar Microsoft tools—all within the flow of their daily work.

4. Using customer interactions with Microsoft Outlook

A smooth integration with Microsoft Outlook makes customer and vendor interaction management seamless. With the Business Central add-in for Outlook, you can work more efficiently by accessing the key features right from your email or calendar.

4.1 Instant customer insights

4.2 Swift document access

5. Facilitating team collaboration with Microsoft Teams

Bringing Business Central into Microsoft Teams significantly improves internal collaboration:

With the Business Central app for Teams, you gain several benefits:

• Effortless data sharing: Share customer, vendor, or transaction details from Business Central directly in Teams chats or channels—helping everyone stay informed without switching apps.
• Rapid inquiry response: Quickly retrieve and share relevant records from Business Central when a team member asks about an order, invoice, or customer, speeding up your response time.
• Unified seamless workspace: Prevent departmental silos and miscommunication whether you're in sales, finance, or support. Anyone and everyone can access the same up-to-date information within their Teams workspace.
• Inline data access: Access Business Central pages, cards, and records without leaving Microsoft Teams, keeping workflows uninterrupted and efficient.
• Real-time collaboration: Foster dynamic team discussions, reviews and swift decision making on Business Central data within Teams, thus turning static records into interactive discussions.

This integration empowers your team to work smarter by combining communication and business processes in a single, connected space.

6. Expanding capabilities with Microsoft SharePoint via AL Code

As an AL developer, extend capabilities of Business Central by integrating it with Microsoft SharePoint, enabling seamless file and data interactions directly from your extensions. The SharePoint integration module acts as a wrapper for the Microsoft SharePoint REST API, making it easier to connect and perform operations from within your AL code.

Using this module, you can:

• Establish a secure connection to authenticate and initiate a session with SharePoint directly from your AL code.
• Interact with SharePoint Content and perform essential operations such as creating, updating, or deleting files and folders, lists and list items, and attachments within SharePoint lists
• Simplify document management with SharePoint as a robust backend for managing Business Central-related documents and resources programmatically.

This integration demonstrates how Business Central can relate to SharePoint to support document management and collaboration scenarios, all driven programmatically through AL.

Conclusion

The future of enterprise productivity lies in seamless integration. And as tools like Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 Business Central converge, they are quickly re-shaping how organizations operate. It helps connect workflows, accelerate decisions, and enhance collaboration in ways once considered out of reach.

Businesses won’t just adopt this technology; it will be part of their DNA. By aligning everyday tools like Excel, Teams, Outlook, and SharePoint with real-time ERP insights, they’ll turn disconnected tasks into cohesive, data-driven strategies. Now is the time to rethink how your teams work. With Business Central and Microsoft 365 at the core, unlock a smarter, faster, and a more connected future.