Demo environments
Demo environments for Business Central: how to choose between an MDX demo environment, a prospect trial, and a sandbox, and how to set up and enhance each one. It answers questions about demo setup options, Contoso Coffee demo data, connectivity apps, and Sales and Field Service integrations.
Path: Administration > Understand Business Central online > Environment types > Demo environments · tier official · system administration · narrative reviewed (checked by Opus)
Overview
This area helps partners and resellers prepare environments to demonstrate Business Central. It compares three approaches (MDX demo environment, prospect trial, and sandbox environment) based on demo goals, control requirements, and timeline.
Start with the page on preparing demonstration environments to pick an approach. Then follow the matching setup page: one for MDX, which builds repeatable demos with Microsoft 365 apps and services in independent Azure tenants, and one for trial and sandbox options, which show Business Central in a prospect’s own organization or in an isolated scenario within an existing tenant.
A further page covers enhancements to demo environments, such as adding Contoso Coffee demo data, connectivity apps, Dynamics 365 Sales and Field Service integrations, and Dataverse connections.
Key points
- Three demo approaches are compared: MDX demo environment, prospect trial, and sandbox environment.
- MDX creates repeatable demo environments showing Business Central with Microsoft 365 apps and services in independent Azure tenants.
- MDX setup covers the premium user experience, Contoso Coffee Demo Data, connectivity apps, Dynamics 365 Sales Professional integration, Microsoft Edge profiles, and performance optimization.
- Trial and sandbox options include prospect trial signup, trial extension, sandbox setup, and partner sandbox licenses.
- Trials show Business Central in the prospect’s own organization; sandboxes give isolated scenarios within existing tenants.
- Demo environments can be enhanced with Contoso Coffee demo data, Dynamics 365 Sales and Field Service integrations, and a Dataverse connection.
- Sandbox environments can be reset, as mentioned in the enhancement guidance.
- The trial and sandbox page references February 2022.
Learn pages
- Add enhancements to Business Central demo environments: Enhance your demo environments with Contoso Coffee data, connectivity apps, Dynamics 365 Sales integration, and Field Service capabilities.
- Prepare demonstration environments for Business Central: Learn about options for setting up Dynamics 365 Business Central online demo environments that help turn prospects into customers.
- Set up Microsoft 365 and Business Central demo environments with MDX: Create and configure Business Central demonstration environments with Microsoft demo experience (MDX) for presales.
- Use trial and sandbox demo environments: Add Business Central trials to prospect organizations or set up sandbox-based demo environments for advanced scenarios.
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.
Learn also names 1 object with no object page: page/2502.
Source: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0). Descriptions are Learn’s own.