Introducing: AI-Powered Analysis with Copilot (2024 release wave 1)
Analysis Assist with Copilot in Business Central, in public preview with 2024 release wave 1 (version 24.0 or later). Users describe an analysis in natural language and Copilot builds columns, filters, sorting and grouping on list pages. Covers limits, availability, data privacy and admin requirements.
- Introduction to Copilot in Business Central
- Analytics Needs and the BI Triangle
- Announcing Analysis Assist with Copilot
- Demo: Basic Analysis with Columns
- Adding Sorting and Multiple Iterations
- Filtering and Semantic Understanding
- Grouping, Renaming, and Tab Management
- Data Privacy Discussion
- Real-World Customer Analysis Example and Copilot Mechanics
- Availability and Deployment Requirements
- Responsible AI and Data Safety Principles
- How to Access and Troubleshoot Copilot Features
- Feedback Collection and Other Copilot Capabilities
- Closing Remarks and Call to Action
Overview
The video introduces Analysis Assist, a Copilot capability in preview that lets users describe the analysis they want in a sentence instead of clicking through columns, filters, sorting and grouping by hand. The demo uses an Analyze action at the top of a list, shows draft tabs that can be iterated with back and forward arrows, and shows Copilot mapping the word “replacement” to a “substitution” field. A Prompt Guide lists example prompts.
It also covers availability and safety. Copilot is for Business Central Online, version 24.0 or later, English only, and not in Canada. Only the schema is sent to Copilot, not customer data. Admins manage features on the Copilot and AI capabilities page. Other 2024 wave 1 Copilot items are briefly mentioned: sales line entry, chat, electronic invoice matching, and Excel reports.
Key points
- Analysis Assist is in preview. It works only on lists that already support analyzing data, on list pages and worksheets, using fields visible on the page.
- It does not join data across tables. Copilot may add columns or features that were not requested, for example when pivoting.
- Requires Business Central Online, version 24.0 or later, English language, and the user’s permission to analyze. Not available in Canada. No extra cost with the license.
- Generated tabs start as drafts with a dotted line. The tab is saved only when the user confirms it.
- Only the schema (column descriptions) is sent to Copilot, not customer data. Customer data is not used to train models.
- Where Azure OpenAI is not available in the region, customers must opt in to data movement outside the geographic boundary. Admins control features on the Copilot and AI capabilities page.
- Review Copilot output before saving, because AI is sometimes incorrect.
Features
| Feature | Status | At | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analysis Assist | preview, demoed | 2:19 | “that’s why we’re excited to announce the public preview of analysis assist” (2:19) |
| Analyze List Action | preview, demoed | 3:59 | “co-pilot at this stage in preview will only work with fields that are shown on the page” (15:01) |
| Draft Tab Management | preview, demoed | 5:20 | “co-pilot at this stage in preview will only work with fields that are shown on the page” (15:01) |
| Semantic Understanding for Filters | preview, demoed | 6:58 | “co-pilot at this stage in preview will only work with fields that are shown on the page” (15:01) |
| Prompt Guide | preview, demoed | 8:22 | “co-pilot at this stage in preview will only work with fields that are shown on the page” (15:01) |
| Grouping and Pivoting | preview, demoed | 8:42 | “co-pilot at this stage in preview will only work with fields that are shown on the page” (15:01) |
| Data Privacy in Analysis Assist | status not stated | 10:52 | |
| Copilot availability and deployment | preview | 16:01 | “it’s also available in preview in English language only so you’ll need to make sure” (16:22) |
| Responsible AI and data safety | status not stated | 17:00 | |
| Copilot feature enablement and troubleshooting | status not stated | 18:21 | |
| Copilot for sales document entry | status not stated | 20:49 | |
| Copilot chat for data discovery and learning | status not stated | 20:49 | |
| Copilot for electronic invoice matching | status not stated | 21:09 | |
| Excel reports for finance and sales | status not stated | 21:30 |
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.
- table 27 “Item” at 3:59
- table “Customer Ledger” at 11:33
Not found in BC28-30: table “Customer Ledger”.
Quotes
- 2:19 “that’s why we’re excited to announce the public preview of analysis assist”
- 2:39 “with this new capability helps uh reduce the time it takes to get to identifying Trends uh anomalies in your business data uh simply”
- 2:59 “by describing in a simple sentence how you want to structure your data uh you quickly get to insights instead of spending the time”
- 3:19 “more people across the organization can uh make datadriven decisions themselves”
- 10:52 “we don’t send any of your data to co-pilot because that’s not what’s needed the only thing we actually send to co-pilot is the”
- 12:02 “we just in a natural language sentence told copile what we wanted and uh now it comes back wow with an analysis with the”
- 14:21 “I kind of like the idea that co-pilot helped me get started with my analysis but in the end I was in control”
- 15:01 “co-pilot at this stage in preview will only work with fields that are shown on the page on the list page itself”
- 15:21 “co-pilot here and the ability to analyze that list is available on all virtually all list pages and I believe worksheets as well in”
- 16:22 “this has been released with 2024 release Wave 1 so you’ll need to upgrade to version 24.0 or later”
- 16:42 “at this stage co-pilot is available uh with your business Central license at no additional cost”
- 17:00 “our promise to our customers is that their data is their data we do not use that data to train the AI models”
- 18:01 “ai is sometimes incorrect and that’s why we always give our users the opportunity to review what co pilot has generated before”
- 19:33 “because Azure open AI service is only available in uh certain regions but not all some of our customers on some environments will need”
Disclaimers in the video
- 2:19 preview: the public preview of analysis assist
- 15:01 preview: co-pilot at this stage in preview will only work with fields that are shown on the page
- 16:22 not-in-this-release: it’s also being rolled out for uh all environment localizations with the exception of Canada for regulatory reasons
- 16:22 preview: it’s also available in preview in English language only
Presenters (as heard): Mike Borj Cardon, Thomas Jensen, Kenny Paban.