Month: May 2025

Upcoming Microsoft Business Central Pricing Changes – What You Need to Know

Microsoft has officially announced pricing changes for Dynamics 365 Business Central, set to take effect on October 1, 2025. This marks the first significant price adjustment in over five years, accompanied by enhanced storage and powerful feature upgrades. Whether you’re an existing customer or considering Business Central for the first time, understanding these changes is crucial for future planning.

New Pricing & Storage Overview

Starting October 1, 2025, the updated monthly subscription prices and storage allocations are as follows:

License TypeCurrent Price & StorageNew Price & Storage
Essentials$70/month with 2GB$80/month with 3GB
Premium$100/month with 3GB$110/month with 5GB
Device$40/month with 1GB$45/month with 1.5GB

The Team Member license remains unchanged in both pricing and storage.

These changes reflect a 10–15% price increase, while offering 33–50% more included storage—a move aimed at better aligning value with functionality.

Why Is Microsoft Adjusting Prices?

Microsoft attributes the pricing update to continuous investments in Business Central’s capabilities. Here’s what’s new and improved:

  • AI-Powered Features: Built-in Copilot functions, real-time financial insights, and automated reconciliation.
  • Advanced Analytics: Deepened analysis tools for finance and manufacturing teams.
  • Power Platform Integration: Seamless connectivity with Power BI, Power Automate, and Power Apps.
  • New Functionalities: Modules for sustainability tracking and master data management.
  • Global Support: More extensive localizations to support multi-national operations.

What This Means for Your Subscription

  • Current Customers: Your existing pricing remains in effect until your first renewal on or after October 1, 2025.
  • New Customers: Will be onboarded at the new pricing structure from the same date.

Currency & Regional Considerations

Though the pricing is listed in USD, local costs may vary depending on currency exchange rates and Microsoft’s regional pricing adjustments.

This update reinforces Microsoft’s commitment to keeping Business Central competitive and innovative. While pricing is going up modestly, users gain access to richer functionality, greater storage, and deeper integration within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Hope this will help!!!

Introducing ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets in Business Central 2025 Wave 1

With the release of Business Central 2025 Wave 1, business central continues to enhance developer and user experience in reporting and data analysis. One such powerful addition is the new property: ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets. This feature addresses a long-standing limitation in Excel export scenarios—allowing multiple datasets to be exported into separate sheets within a single Excel workbook.

What is ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets?

The ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets property is a new setting introduced for report objects that use Excel layouts. It enables developers to bind multiple data items or datasets to different worksheets in an Excel layout file (.xlsx), making reports more organized and structured when exported.

🧩 Structured Reports
Separate sheets for different datasets make it easier for business users to navigate complex reports—such as Sales Orders on one sheet, Customer Info on another, and Totals on a summary sheet.

🛠️ Developer Control
You can name your data items and match them to sheet names in your Excel layout. This gives you more granular control and reduces the need for workarounds.

How to Use ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets

report 50100 MyMultiSheetReport
{
    UsageCategory = ReportsAndAnalysis;
    ApplicationArea = All;
    DefaultRenderingLayout = MyExcelLayout;
    ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets = false; // Global setting is to use a single sheet

    dataset
    {
        dataitem(Customer; Customer)
        {
            column(CustomerNo; "No.") { }
            column(CustomerName; Name) { }
        }
        dataitem(Vendor; Vendor)
        {
            column(VendorNo; "No.") { }
            column(VendorName; Name) { }
        }
    }

    rendering
    {
        layout(MyExcelLayout)
        {
            Type = Excel;
            ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets = true; // Override for this specific layout
        }
    }
}

In this example, even though the global ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets property for the report is set to false, the MyExcelLayout will render the output with two separate worksheets:

  • Data_Customer containing the customer data.
  • Data_Vendor containing the vendor data.

If the ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets property within the MyExcelLayout definition was set to false (or not specified), both datasets would be combined into a single “Data” sheet in the Excel output.

The enhancement of the ExcelLayoutMultipleDataSheets property in Business Central Wave 1 2025 offers developers greater flexibility and control over Excel report layouts. By enabling the creation of multi-sheet Excel files at the layout level, you can deliver more user-friendly and better-organized reports, ultimately empowering your users to gain deeper insights from their Business Central data.

Stay tuned for more ….

Optimizing Business Central Reports with the DataAccessIntent Property

When developing reports in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, performance and scalability are crucial—especially in cloud environments where system efficiency impacts everything from responsiveness to cost. One often-overlooked feature that can significantly enhance report performance is the DataAccessIntent property.

What Is DataAccessIntent?

The DataAccessIntent property is available on report objects in AL. It specifies how a report should access the database—whether it’s read-only or read-write.

The property supports two values:

  • DataAccessIntent = ReadOnly
  • DataAccessIntent = ReadWrite

ReadOnly

When you set DataAccessIntent = ReadOnly, you are explicitly telling the platform that your report only needs to read data from the database and will not perform any write operations.

Why is this important?

  • Better Performance: In Business Central SaaS, reports marked as ReadOnly can run on read-only replicas of the database. This reduces the load on the primary (read-write) database and enhances scalability.
  • Improved Report Execution Time: Since queries are routed to optimized replicas, report rendering can be faster and more efficient.

ReadWrite

If your report needs to modify data during execution—a rare scenario—you should use DataAccessIntent = ReadWrite. This forces the report to run on the primary database.

However, you should avoid using ReadWrite unless absolutely necessary because:

  • It eliminates the benefit of using read replicas.
  • It may degrade performance, especially under high concurrency.

When to Use Each

ScenarioUse ReadOnly?Use ReadWrite?
Standard data listing/reporting✅❌
Reports that update records❌✅
Diagnostic or audit reports✅❌

How to Set DataAccessIntent in AL

report 50100 "Customer Balance Report"
{
    DataAccessIntent = ReadOnly;

    dataset
    {
        dataitem(Customer; Customer)
        {
            column(Name; Name) { }
            column(Balance; "Balance (LCY)") { }
        }
    }

    layout
    {
        // Define RDLC or Word layout
    }
}

By default, if you don’t specify the property, it behaves as ReadWrite. So it’s a good practice to explicitly set it to ReadOnly when applicable.

Important Considerations

  • The DataAccessIntent property is only a hint to the Business Central server. The server may not always be able to use a read-only replica, even if the property is set to ReadOnly.
  • If a report with DataAccessIntent set to ReadOnly attempts to modify data, a runtime error will occur.
  • The DataAccessIntent property can be overridden by the user through the “Database Access Intent List” page in Business Central.

In short: if your report doesn’t write data, use DataAccessIntent = ReadOnly. It’s an easy win for performance and best practice compliance.

Stay tuned for more….

Boosting Performance in Business Central with SETLOADFIELDS

When building customizations or integrations in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, performance is often a key concern—especially when working with large datasets. One powerful tool for improving performance is the SETLOADFIELDS method on record variables.

🚀 What is SETLOADFIELDS?

In Business Central, when you retrieve a record (using FIND, GET, NEXT, etc.), all fields of the record are loaded from the database by default. This includes fields you might never use, such as FlowFields (which are calculated on the fly). This can lead to unnecessary memory usage and slower data retrieval.

SETLOADFIELDS tells the system which fields to load, so it skips the rest. This can dramatically improve performance, particularly when:

  • You’re looping through large datasets
  • You’re only using a few fields per record
  • Your table includes FlowFields or BLOBs

📘 Syntax

Rec.SETLOADFIELDS(Field1, Field2, ...);

You place this line before reading the records. This tells the AL runtime engine to load only the specified fields when the records are retrieved.

Let’s say you need to loop through all items and check their No. and Inventory:

Item.SETLOADFIELDS("No.", Inventory);
if Item.FINDFIRST then
  repeat
    if Item.Inventory > 0 then
      // do something
  until Item.NEXT = 0;

  1. Use SETLOADFIELDS only when needed – Overusing it without understanding the data flow may result in missing fields or unexpected behavior.
  2. Calling CALCFIELDS still works – You can still explicitly calculate FlowFields after using SETLOADFIELDS.
  3. Resets on modification – If you call MODIFY, INSERT, or VALIDATE, the load fields context is reset. Use SETLOADFIELDS again if necessary.
  4. BLOB and FlowFields – Avoid loading BLOBs and FlowFields unless absolutely necessary. SETLOADFIELDS helps you skip them efficiently.

👨‍💻 Summary

FeatureWithout SETLOADFIELDSWith SETLOADFIELDS
Data LoadedAll fieldsOnly specified fields
Memory UsageHighLower
SpeedSlowerFaster

By leveraging SETLOADFIELDS, developers can significantly optimize the performance of their AL code in Business Central. It’s a small addition that can make a big difference in speed and scalability.

Avoid it when doing full record operations like MODIFY, unless you’re confident about which fields are required.

Stay Tuned for more…

How to Define Allowed Languages Per Environment in Business Central 2025 Wave 1

With the release of Business Central 2025 Wave 1, BC continues to enhance administrative control and governance features. One of the most welcome additions for global organizations is the ability to limit the available language options per environment. This is a game-changer for companies seeking better localization control, user experience consistency, and governance.

🚀 What’s New?

Until now, Business Central environments would display all installed languages by default, allowing users to switch freely. While flexibility is good, it posed problems in certain scenarios:

  • Local subsidiaries wanting only their national language.
  • Confusion due to long lists of unused language options.
  • Incorrect UI labels or translations due to unintended language selection.

Wave 1 2025 introduces the ability to define which languages are allowed per environment. Admins can now limit language choices for users based on the business unit, geography, or internal policy.

🔧 How to Configure Allowed Languages

To define allowed languages for a specific environment, follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to the Business Central
  2. Navigate to the new section: “Allowed Languages”.
  3. From the list of installed languages, check the boxes for only those you wish to allow.

Once applied, users in this environment will only see the allowed languages in their My Settings > Language dropdown.

This new feature may seem minor at first glance, but for global businesses and IT admins, it’s a powerful tool for consistency, control, and compliance. Whether you’re managing multiple countries, brands, or test environments, defining allowed languages per environment helps streamline operations and avoid confusion.

Stay tuned for more..