How 3 Partners are Building Powerful Agents for Business Central
Three partners describe building agents for Business Central with Copilot Studio and the Business Central MCP server (captioned as 'MCB server'). Examples are a payroll agent, a manifest purchase order creation agent and a sales claim agent. The partners stress reusable agents built in Business Central rather than black boxes, and advise starting small with preconfigured industry-specific agents.
- Introduction to agent building with Copilot Studio
- Creating agents with Copilot Studio and MCP server
- Payroll solution and in-house payroll automation
- Payroll agent capabilities and competitive advantage
- Aptn as AI-first company and Business Central focus
- Industry-specific agents and agent reusability
- Developer recommendations and future opportunities
Overview
Three partners describe how they build agents for Business Central. They start with Copilot Studio because a first agent is easy to create, then build more complex agents over time. The Business Central MCP server is used to connect agents to Business Central and to create reusable solutions.
Examples include a payroll agent that reduces manual data entry and lets smaller companies run payroll in-house, a purchase order creation agent, and a sales claim agent. The partners say their agents are reusable across customers and partners, and are developed in Business Central rather than as black boxes. Their advice is to solve one problem at a time.
Key points
- Copilot Studio is the starting point because it is easy to create a first agent; partners say they build more complex agents each day.
- One partner mentions the Business Central MCP server (captioned ‘MCB server’) and says they want to create a reusable solution; this segment of the captions is partly garbled.
- The payroll agent automates tasks that rely on manual data entry and helps smaller companies bring payroll back in-house instead of outsourcing it.
- Industry-specific agents shown as business value: a manifest purchase order creation agent and a sales claim agent.
- One partner says its agents are completely reusable for every customer and partner, are not a black box, and are mostly developed in Business Central.
- The partner also uses Copilot Chat, which it says is changing how it develops, towards ‘back-driven development’ (as captioned).
- Advice to partners: start as soon as possible, take a small step and solve one problem rather than all of them.
Features
Every feature below: status not stated.
| Feature | At |
|---|---|
| Copilot Studio agent creation | 0:24 |
| Business Central MCP server | 0:36 |
| Payroll agent | 0:59 |
| Manifest purchase order creation agent | 1:54 |
| Sales claim agent | 1:54 |
| Reusable agent development in Business Central | 2:08 |
| Copilot Chat integration | 2:19 |
Quotes
- 0:24 “At the beginning, we are using Copilot Studio because it’s easy to create your first agent. Each day, we are creating more complex agents”
- 0:59 “We see that smaller businesses outsource their payroll because of the complexity. With Agent and Copilot, we can help smaller companies to in-house payroll”
- 1:10 “The biggest wins with the payroll agent is that it automates a lot of those tasks that rely on manual data entry.”
- 1:30 “Business Central is our main driver because we can build on top of this with our vertical industry solutions.”
- 2:08 “Our agents are completely reusable. It’s for every customer, for every partner. It’s not a black box. We are based normally in Business Central.”
- 2:30 “Make a small step forward. Don’t try to solve all the problems. Try to solve one problem, one issue.”
- 2:40 “Bringing preconfigured agent with specific industry needs, that’s what brings us the best opportunities for the future.”
Presenters (as heard): First partner speaker, Second partner speaker, Third partner speaker (Aptn).