Prepare Business Central

Path: Administration > Prepare Business Central · tier official · system administration · narrative reviewed (checked by Opus)

Overview

This section gathers the tasks needed to get a Business Central environment ready for use. It starts with an overview of setup tasks (company information, number series, email, printers, report selection, base calendars, data migration) and then branches into more specific topics.

Key points

• Overview of setup tasks lists company configuration, general functionality, business processes, Microsoft product integrations, apps, and data migration.
• Configuration packages: set up reusable templates (worksheet, questionnaire, RapidStart export), then apply them to new customers and import data from Excel.
• Per-tenant extensions are uploaded and scheduled via the Admin Center or Extension Management page; apps must be unique and versions managed.
• Conflicting per-tenant extension upgrades require uninstalling, removing naming conflicts in objects and fields, then reinstalling.
• Marketplace apps in production are upgraded manually through Extension Management or the Admin Center.
• The Excel add-in can be acquired individually, deployed centrally through Microsoft 365, or installed manually; the network must allow the required endpoints.
• Outlook add-ins (Contact Insights, Document Links) can be deployed centrally, automatically, or per user.
• Feature Management lets you enable optional features early (some are irreversible); a separate page lists features becoming mandatory from 2023 to 2026 release waves.

Learn pages

• Apply Company Configuration Packages: Streamline your implementation process by using configuration packages with standard settings and to migrate customer data.
• Deploying a tenant customization: Overview of how you deploy an .app package with a tenant customization to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
• Enabling Upcoming Features Ahead of Time: Learn how to enable select features ahead of time as the administrator of Business Central online or on-premises.
• Get the Outlook add-ins for the business inbox: Learn about the technical aspects of the Outlook add-ins so that users can use Outlook as their business inbox and manage Business Central data in Outlook.
• Getting the Business Central add-in for Excel: Learn how to get users the Business Central Add-in for Excel.
• Optional Features Now Mandatory: Learn about the features that were optional but are now mandatory.
• Overview of tasks to set up Business Central: Read an overview of the tasks necessary to set up, initialize, and configure Business Central to suit your needs.
• Preparing your network for the Excel Add-In: This article includes information that helps administrators configure advanced device and network settings for the Excel add-in for Business Central.
• Recommend Apps: Curate a collection of Dynamics 365 apps that your customers can choose from with the Recommended Apps extension.
• Set up app key vaults for Business Central online: Learn how to set up Azure key vaults for Business Central online extensions. Follow step-by-step instructions to securely manage secrets for your Marketplace apps.
• Set Up Company Configuration Packages: Streamline your implementation process by turning a set of company types you use with most customers into company configuration packages available for reuse.
• Upgrading Marketplace Apps in Production: Describes how to upgrade apps available on Marketplace that are already in running in production.
• Upgrading Per-Tenant Extensions that conflicts with other extensions: This article describes how to upgrade a Per-Tenant Extension that contains table or a table field that conflicts with another extension in Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Videos and posts

Linked by a Haiku matcher with a grounding quote from the item’s summary (link/topics.ts); machine-generated.

• How Do I: Create a Business Central Trial From Scratch (community post): “Creating a Business Central trial requires starting with a clean Microsoft 365 trial”
• What’s New: Contoso Demo Tool (2025 release wave 1) (video): “Modular demo data architecture; Code-based demo data definition”
• Introducing: Contoso Demo Tool (2023 release wave 2) (video): “Demo Data Module Interface; Helper Code Units for Demo Data”
• Guidelines for Using the Welcome Banner (video): “welcome banner; onboarding experience; user checklists; role center”

Business Central pages and reports

The pages, reports and queries this hub’s Learn pages name (ms.search.form, API reference), joined to the code by exact object id (data/index/docs-objects.json); a page shows the table it runs on.

• Page 1340 “Config Templates” · captioned “Templates” · on Table 8618 “Config. Template Header”
• Page 1480 “Excel Centralized Depl. Wizard” · captioned “Excel Add-in Centralized Deployment” · on Table 1480 “Edit in Excel Settings”
• Page 1799 “Data Migration Overview” · on Table 1799 “Data Migration Status”
• Page 1800 “Configuration Package Files”
• Page 1807 “Data Migration Settings” · on Table 1806 “Data Migration Setup”
• Page 4750 “Recommended Apps List” · captioned “Recommended Apps” · on Table 4750 “Recommended Apps”
• Page 4751 “Recommended App Card” · on Table 4750 “Recommended Apps”
• Page 8610 “Config. Questionnaire” · captioned “Configuration Questionnaire” · on Table 8610 “Config. Questionnaire”
• Page 8613 “Config. Question Areas” · on Table 8611 “Config. Question Area”
• Page 8614 “Config. Package Card” · on Table 8623 “Config. Package”
• Page 8615 “Config. Packages” · captioned “Configuration Packages” · on Table 8623 “Config. Package”
• Page 8620 “Config. Template List” · captioned “Configuration Templates” · on Table 8618 “Config. Template Header”
• Page 8632 “Config. Worksheet” · captioned “Configuration Worksheet” · on Table 8622 “Config. Line”

Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn’s own.