What's new: Demystifying the New Microsoft Copilot Chat in Business Central (2026 release wave 2)
Microsoft Copilot Chat in Business Central, coming to all users in the 2026 release wave 2, answers natural language questions using Business Central and web data. The video covers the agentic loop, MCP server basis, permission enforcement, citations and admin control, with two demos.
- Introduction and session overview
- Copilot demo: multi-source data query setup
- Demo 1 - Top items by price with currency conversion
- Demo 2 - Vague query resolution
- How copilot works: data sources and context
- Agentic loop and response generation
- Q&A: Permissions and access control
- Q&A: MCP server technology and data access
- Q&A: Response accuracy, citations and verification
- Q&A: Feedback and closing remarks
Overview
The session introduces the new Microsoft Copilot Chat for Business Central, which Microsoft says will reach all users with the 2026 release wave 2. Two demos show a multi-source query (top items by price with currency conversion) and a vague query where “S100” is resolved to the item “S100 semi-automatic”.
The second half explains how Copilot works: intent detection from conversation history, then an agentic loop that iterates over multiple tools and data sources instead of a single attempt. A Q&A covers permissions, the Business Central MCP server, citations and how to verify answers, and how users send feedback.
Key points
- Copilot runs as the authenticated user and respects Business Central permissions, so it cannot access data the user may not view.
- Admins control who gets Copilot features through a Copilot and Agent Capabilities page, where they can opt in or opt out of AI features.
- Copilot uses an agentic loop: it iterates through multiple tools and data sources rather than making one attempt to find the answer.
- The underlying technology is the Microsoft Business Central MCP server, which gives access to all tables, including data from extensions and customizations, without custom APIs.
- Answers include clickable citation pills that open the source data in Business Central, and a sources button at the end lists all data accessed.
- Copilot can combine Business Central data with web data, work data, calendar, Outlook, SharePoint and agents built with Microsoft tools.
- It can pull context from the page the user is viewing, keeps conversation context, suggests follow-up questions and can return charts and tables.
Features
| Feature | Status | At |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Copilot Chat in Business Central | generally available (roadmap Enable Microsoft Copilot chat experience), demoed | 0:05 |
| Business Central Tools | status not stated, demoed | 7:09 |
| Agentic Loop | status not stated, demoed | 6:37 |
| Intent Detection | status not stated | 6:26 |
| Multi-source Data Integration | status not stated, demoed | 7:09 |
| Citations and Verification | status not stated, demoed | 13:18 |
| Permission Enforcement | status not stated | 9:36 |
| Copilot and Agent Capabilities Control | status not stated | 10:23 |
| MCP Server Technology | status not stated | 11:17 |
| Extension Guidelines for Copilot | status not stated | 12:36 |
| Conversational Context and Suggestions | status not stated, demoed | 8:40 |
| Rich Output Formatting | status not stated, demoed | 8:18 |
| Progress Messages | status not stated, demoed | 2:02 |
| Vague Query Resolution | status not stated, demoed | 3:37 |
| UI Context Awareness | status not stated, demoed | 5:51 |
| User Feedback Loop | status not stated | 14:48 |
A status with a roadmap link comes from the Microsoft 365 roadmap feature this part of the video covers (matched by Haiku; links Opus dropped are not used); other statuses need a status word in the video itself.
AL objects mentioned
As heard in the captions. A name that matches one object page by exact type and name links to it; the others stay as named.
Quotes
- 0:05 “the new Microsoft copilot chat to come to all our users with this release and we are absolutely excited about it”
- 6:37 “instead of doing this kind of one time attempt to find the right response we’re going to go through something which is called aentic”
- 9:48 “Every time you run a copilot, it runs as you. For example, every time you ask a pilot information about business central, about tables”
- 11:17 “It’s a the same technology we use to build all agentic integration around Business Central. It’s a Microsoft Business Central MCP server.”
- 12:00 “Microsoft copilot has access to all the tables and all your data which you have in your environment. This may include data from your”
- 13:18 “you get a copilot answer but along with the copilot answer you get a bunch of citations. So the small pills that come up”
Presenters (as heard): Abdulat Khan, Guinea.