Introducing: Approvals for the Expense Agent (2026 release wave 1)
Approvals for the Expense Agent in Business Central (2026 release wave 1): approvers get email or Copilot chat notifications and can approve, reject or request changes. Covers setup on the Expense Users page, team-based approval, and the licensing requirement for approvers.
- Introduction to Approvals for the Expense Agent
- Design Principles and AI-First Approach
- Approval Process Overview
- Approval Workflow Demo
- Setup and Configuration in Business Central
- Licensing Requirements
- Closing Remarks and Resources
Overview
The video introduces an approval workflow for expense reports submitted through the expense agent. Submitters often work outside Business Central, on mobile devices, and do not need a Business Central license. The design follows a model-first, AI-first approach, where AI suggests whether a receipt follows company policy before the report is submitted for approval.
The demo shows an approver being notified by email or Copilot chat, then approving or rejecting a report. A rejected report goes back to the submitter, who can revise and resubmit. Once approved, the decision is registered in Business Central, including financial consequences such as posting to GL reports. Setup is done on a new Expense Users page. The presenter says the UI is not final and may be tweaked.
Key points
- Approvers receive notifications about pending expense reports by email or Copilot chat, and can approve, reject, or send reports back with a comment.
- Rejected or sent-back reports return to the submitter, who can review the comment and revise the report.
- Before submission, the AI model makes decisions or suggestions on whether receipts follow policy.
- Admins define expense users on the new Expense Users page and mark approvers with a can approve flag, then choose who each approver can approve for.
- Team-based setup is supported: a team manager can approve expenses for the team they manage.
- Users who submit expense reports do not need a Business Central license and are billed through the standard agent billing system; approvers must have a Business Central license.
- The approval is registered in Business Central, and financial consequences such as posting to the GL are handled there.
Features
| Feature | Status | At |
|---|---|---|
| Approvals for the Expense Agent | status not stated, demoed | 0:06 |
| Pre-approval AI Suggestions | status not stated | 2:29 |
| Expense User Configuration | status not stated, demoed | 7:53 |
| Team-based Approval Setup | status not stated | 8:47 |
| Approval Notifications via Email and Copilot Chat | status not stated, demoed | 3:12 |
| Expense Report Rejection and Revision | status not stated, demoed | 3:22 |
| Approval Registration in Business Central | status not stated, demoed | 3:48 |
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
- 1:04 “users of the expense agent are quite often outside of Business Central. They will be working on mobile devices.”
- 1:22 “the whole project has been done in model model first or AI first approach where AI is helping us guide the user and and”
- 8:23 “The UI is not fully final so we might tweak a few things around”
- 9:28 “we don’t require users of the expense agent, users who are submitting expenses, submitting reports to actually have a Business Central license”
- 9:40 “You can just do it outside of Business Central and everything will be billed using our standard agent billing system.”
- 9:56 “when you are approving the report, there is some there are some financial consequences in Business Central data, and that includes also posting data”
- 10:12 “users who are approving expense reports, even if they are doing that from outside of Business Central, just just as you have seen in”
Disclaimers in the video
- 8:23 subject-to-change: The UI is not fully final so we might tweak a few things around
Presenters (as heard): Blazej Kotelko, Enrico Csimitan.