Business Central 2026 release wave 2 (BC29): The Most Important New Features

The Business Central 2026 release wave 2, or Business Central 29 (BC29), focuses on deeper integration of artificial intelligence capabilities, the automation of financial reporting, improved auditability, and further enhancements to manufacturing and logistics processes. Microsoft is also introducing a number of user-facing and technical improvements designed to speed up everyday work.

It is important to note that, as of September 16, 2026, BC29 is still available as a public preview. This version is available exclusively for Business Central online sandbox environments and is not yet intended for production or on-premises environments. Microsoft plans to make version 29.0 generally available in early October 2026.

In this overview, we focus primarily on the new features that may be relevant to Hungarian business leaders, finance executives, IT managers, and Business Central users. Country-specific localization developments for markets such as Czechia or Italy are not covered.

Table of contents

1. What is Business Central 29?
2. What are the most important new features in BC29?
3. What changes does BC29 bring to Copilot and AI agents?
4. What is changing in financial reporting?
5. How is electronic document management evolving?
6. What does the Expense Agent bring?
7. What Shopify improvements are coming?
8. What is changing in manufacturing and supply chain management?
9. What sustainability features are coming to BC29?
10. What user experience and administration improvements are coming?
11. What does BC29 mean for IT and development teams?
12. How should companies prepare for BC29?
13. What is changing in Microsoft’s Release Plans?
14. Frequently asked questions

1. What is Business Central 29?

What does Business Central 29, or BC29, mean?

Business Central 29, or BC29, is the main release of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2026 release wave 2. The public preview of version 29.0 became available in sandbox environments in September 2026, while general availability is planned for early October 2026.

Major Business Central releases regularly introduce new business capabilities, platform improvements, enhancements to the user experience, and new development options.

BC29 also marks an important change in how Microsoft communicates its product development plans. Starting in September 2026, Microsoft is discontinuing the publication of new, twice-yearly Release Plans and will instead publish new capabilities continuously on the AI at Work roadmap.

This means that following Business Central developments will increasingly become a continuous process rather than a matter of reviewing a feature list twice a year.

2. What are the most important new features in BC29?

What should business decision-makers look at first?

The most important business changes in BC29 can be grouped into four main areas: Copilot and AI agents, financial reporting and auditability, operational automation, and performance and usability. Electronic data interchange, Shopify integration, manufacturing, quality management, and sustainability data management are also receiving significant improvements.

Area	Key BC29 change	Who is it most relevant to?
Copilot and AI agents	Unified Microsoft Copilot experience, enhanced Payables Agent, MCP data queries	Executives, finance, IT
Financial reporting	Report packs, single PDF output, automatic change logging	Finance directors, controllers, accountants
Governance and administration	Telemetry for Excel exports, SIFT index management	IT managers, administrators
Electronic documents	EDI and structured document exchange based on Peppol BIS 3	Finance, procurement, IT
Expense Agent	AI-based checks, duplicate detection, approval workflows	Finance, HR
Shopify	B2B processes, pricing, returns, and enhanced synchronization	Commerce, ecommerce
Supply chain and manufacturing	Direct transfers, subcontracting, quality inspections, production planning	Manufacturing, logistics
Sustainability	CO₂e data, fixed assets, and purchasing emission calculations	ESG, finance, procurement
User experience	Image previews, recent searches and records	All users
Platform and development	Faster table extensions and enhanced AL and AI development tools	IT, developers

From Loginform’s perspective, the changes in finance and reporting deserve particular attention. The value of a new ERP feature is not determined simply by whether a new option appears in the system, but by how it can be integrated into a company’s financial, accounting, and control processes.

3. What changes does BC29 bring to Copilot and AI agents?

What is new about the unified Copilot experience in Business Central?

In BC29, the Business Central Copilot experience moves closer to the unified Microsoft 365 Copilot experience: users can work with Business Central data, web results, and general knowledge through a modern conversational interface. The feature is available with a Business Central license, while some additional capabilities are associated with a Microsoft Copilot license.

This is more than a simple user interface update.

Business Central Copilot was already capable of finding and analyzing business data and answering questions about how to use the system. In BC29, this experience is more closely aligned with the broader Microsoft Copilot ecosystem.

Business significance: artificial intelligence is becoming less of a standalone Business Central feature and increasingly a working layer connecting Microsoft applications and enterprise data.

How is the Payables Agent improving?

BC29 improves purchase order matching in the Payables Agent, which supports vendor invoice processing. The agent can also consider line amounts and expected receipt dates, which can improve its ability to identify the correct purchase order line, particularly for service lines.

Previously, description and quantity played a larger role in matching. For services, however, the quantity is often simply “1”, which by itself provides little information about which purchase order line the invoice belongs to.

In BC29, the agent can also highlight discrepancies in greater detail: warnings may cover not only quantity differences but amount differences as well.

The goal is not to eliminate human financial control. Quite the opposite: the agent performs much of the initial comparison so that finance professionals can focus primarily on genuine discrepancies and exceptions.

What does the introduction of MCP Server mean?

BC29 introduces new MCP tools that allow an MCP-compatible application to define, validate, and execute custom Business Central data queries, including for data where no ready-made API is available.

This is primarily important from an IT and development perspective, but it is also part of a broader trend: Business Central data is becoming easier to connect to AI-powered applications and agents.

At the same time, proper permissions, data security, and corporate AI governance become even more important.

4. What is changing in financial reporting?

Why is financial reporting one of the strongest areas of BC29?

BC29 makes financial reporting more automatable, more auditable, and easier to standardize. Multiple financial reports can be combined into a single PDF, changes to report definitions can be logged automatically, report output automation is improving, and Word-based report layouts are also being enhanced.

For finance leaders, this is one of the most interesting areas of BC29.

How do the new financial report packs work?

BC29 allows multiple financial reports to be combined into a single report pack and then run as one PDF file or scheduled for delivery to the Report Inbox or by email.

A practical example: if management receives an income statement, balance sheet, cost-center analysis, and another management report every month, these previously typically had to be generated or scheduled separately.

In BC29, they can be organized into a single financial report pack.

Each report can have its own filters and reporting period, while the entire pack can be generated and scheduled as one PDF output.

For a finance leader, this may not be the most spectacular innovation, but it can be highly useful: fewer manual report runs, a more consistent management reporting package, and less administration.

Why is automatic logging of financial report changes important?

BC29 automatically records changes made to financial report row definitions, column definitions, and report definitions. This makes it much easier to trace who changed what, and when, in the calculation or presentation logic behind a financial statement.

The importance of this is easy to underestimate.

If someone changes a financial report definition, the issue may only become apparent when the statement starts showing different figures or a different structure than before.

Automatic change logging is therefore particularly valuable for internal control, auditability, and financial data security.

What other reporting improvements are coming?

BC29 includes several enhancements that together can significantly simplify the management of Business Central reports. Report outputs can be automated through new APIs, analysis tabs and list views can be bookmarked on the Role Center, and a consistent appearance can be created for document reports.

Other important changes include:

• the lifecycle of report layouts can be controlled using statuses;
• the Word add-in is being enhanced;
• conditional visibility can be used, for example with HideIf logic;
• reusable header and footer layouts can be applied to document reports;
• corporate branding can be applied more consistently to PDF outputs;
• uncategorized G/L accounts can be identified in financial reports;
• users can trace which financial reports and calculations use a specific G/L account;
• system-maintained audit fields can also be used in analysis mode.

In Microsoft Business Central terminology, the report layout determines how report data is presented—for example, which fields, text elements, and graphical elements appear in the document and how they are arranged.

These tools become particularly valuable when a company is no longer working with just one or two simple statements but operates a controlled management and financial reporting system.

5. How is electronic document management evolving?

What does EDI support bring to electronic documents?

BC29 expands the E-Documents framework with EDI, or electronic data interchange, capabilities. This allows structured business documents to be sent and received using standards including Peppol BIS 3 EDI.

The development further extends Business Central’s existing electronic document management capabilities.

Supported processes include:

• exchange of electronic orders;
• transmission of payment information;
• receipt and further processing of structured documents;
• future extensibility for additional standards and document types.

From a business perspective, one of the main advantages of EDI is not simply that a document becomes electronic. It is that two companies’ systems can exchange structured data directly without manual re-entry.

For Hungarian companies, however, it is always necessary to assess which electronic format and solution are required for the specific partner relationship, document type, and regulatory process.

6. What does the Expense Agent bring?

How is AI support for expense management evolving?

In BC29, the Expense Agent does more than assist with expense processing: it can evaluate approval rules, detect duplicate claims, manage travel requisitions, and support multi-step review processes.

Enhancements include:

• adding an interim approver to the expense report process;
• duplicate detection that also includes already-posted documents;
• mileage rates that vary by date range and vehicle type;
• management of travel requisitions;
• support for multiple travelers within a single requisition;
• AI-based corporate policy validation.

The agent can, for example, flag suspicious items or expenses that do not comply with corporate expense policies, while the final decision remains under human control.

This illustrates one of the directions of Microsoft’s AI development: the agent does not necessarily make the decision instead of the employee; rather, it performs much of the checking and highlights cases that require human attention.

BC29 also includes global financial features related to withholding tax. Their applicability in Hungary must always be assessed in the context of the relevant accounting and tax processes; the existence of a standard Business Central feature does not in itself guarantee compliance with Hungarian legislation.

7. What Shopify improvements are coming?

How is the connection between Business Central and Shopify becoming more useful?

BC29 enhances the Shopify Connector in several areas: support is improved for B2B companies and catalogs, price synchronization, processing of edited orders, exchanges and refunds, as well as synchronization of tariff numbers and countries of origin. The connection also moves to Shopify’s July 2026 API version.

A particularly useful change is that the Shopify order number can also be used as the Business Central document number, which can simplify reconciliation between the two systems.

Before creating the sales document associated with a Shopify order in BC29, users can review or modify, among other things:

• the Sell-to Customer;
• the Bill-to Customer;
• the Ship-to Customer;
• and the related contacts.

B2B processes also benefit from improved company and location mapping, catalog-based pricing, and product-data synchronization between Shopify and Business Central.

What if you use a Shoprenter webshop?

Connecting Business Central to an online store is, of course, not limited to Shopify. The Loginform Shoprenter Connector also works with BC29 and provides an automated connection between a Shoprenter webshop and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

With the Loginform Shoprenter Connector, products, prices, inventory, customer data, and orders can remain continuously synchronized. Multiple Shoprenter webshops can be managed from a single Business Central environment, while new orders and order-status changes can be transferred automatically through webhook-based communication.

Loginform Business Central apps—including the Shoprenter Connector—receive regular development updates and version updates aligned with changes in Business Central.

The business benefit of the integration is that duplicate data management and manual entry can be reduced: Business Central can serve as the company’s central data source, while the webshop automatically follows changes in prices, inventory, and master data.

Learn more about the Loginform Shoprenter Connector

8. What is changing in manufacturing and supply chain management?

What are the most important supply chain improvements?

BC29 reduces manual work in several areas of manufacturing, warehousing, and subcontracting. Direct transfer orders, quality inspections, and subcontracting processes are being enhanced, while production documents and capacity calendars become easier to manage.

One practical change is that direct transfer orders can be posted from source locations that require inventory picks or warehouse shipments.

Subcontracting processes are also expanding. Routing comments and attachments can be carried into purchase orders, helping subcontractors receive more precise operation instructions. Companies using basic warehouse configurations can also use inventory put-aways and picks in subcontracting processes.

How is quality inspection changing?

BC29’s quality management enhancements reduce manual data entry related to inspections. When an inspection is completed, the system can automatically populate passed and failed quantities, while a quality inspection that blocks posting can be opened directly from the error message.

This is a typical example of an improvement that does not create an entirely new business process but instead removes manual steps from an existing one.

At high transaction volumes, such changes often make a greater difference in everyday use than a more spectacular but rarely used new feature.

What do manufacturing companies get?

In BC29, Released Production Orders can be created directly from the Planning Worksheet, capacity calendars for Work Centers and Machine Centers become easier to manage, and users can navigate directly from errors to the Production BOMs and Routings causing the issue.

In Business Central manufacturing terminology, these are not merely translation details. A Production BOM defines which components are required to manufacture a product, while a Routing defines the required production operations and their sequence.

BC29 also makes capacity calendars easier to monitor and update. In Business Central, Work Centers and Machine Centers represent the human, machine, and capacity resources available for performing manufacturing operations.

For manufacturing companies, BC29 testing therefore deserves particular attention. It is advisable to test not only standard functionality but also custom manufacturing developments, Routings, Production BOMs, and related integrations.

9. What sustainability features are coming to BC29?

How is carbon footprint management expanding?

BC29 extends Business Central sustainability data management into additional business areas: CO₂e data can be associated with fixed assets, item journals, item reclassification journals, service processes, and purchase documents. More accurate carbon footprint calculations can also be used for items tracked by serial or lot number.

Formula-based emission calculations are also being introduced for purchase documents.

Based on input data and emission factors, the system can manage data required for calculating:

• CO₂ emissions;
• CH₄ emissions;
• N₂O emissions.

Sustainability accounts and CO₂e values can also be recorded for fixed asset transactions, while item journals can track both per-unit and total emission values.

For Hungarian companies dealing with supplier, ESG, or other sustainability reporting requirements, these capabilities may make the Business Central sustainability functionality increasingly relevant.

10. What user experience and administration improvements are coming?

What everyday changes will users notice?

BC29 speeds up everyday navigation with several smaller improvements: images can be previewed directly in the web client, Tell Me remembers recent searches, and lookup fields can suggest recently used records. Individually, these are small changes, but across repetitive tasks they can deliver noticeable time savings.

Image preview, for example, means that users do not necessarily need to download an attached supported image and open it in another application just to view it.

Suggestions based on recently used records can also speed up frequently repeated data-entry tasks.

What do administrators get?

In the area of Governance and administration, one important BC29 enhancement is that administrators can turn SIFT indexes on or off directly in Business Central. In addition, Open in Excel actions can be logged as telemetry events, making it easier to monitor when business data is exported to Excel.

SIFT, or SumIndexField Technology, is a Business Central technology that supports the performance of aggregations and FlowField calculations.

Changing indexes is, of course, not something that should be done at random. Performance measurement and professional analysis should come first.

Telemetry for Excel exports, however, is particularly interesting from a data security and compliance perspective. When sensitive business data is involved, exporting it to Excel can itself be an event that a company may want to audit later.

11. What does BC29 mean for IT and development teams?

Which platform change may matter most for performance?

BC29 changes the data model behind table extensions: fields belonging to an AL table can be stored in the same database table, which Microsoft says can improve the performance of database operations involving table extensions. This may be particularly relevant in Business Central environments with many custom fields and applications.

The change also allows developers to define indexes that include fields from both the base table and its table extensions.

The actual performance improvement, however, should always be measured using the company’s own dataset, extensions, and workload.

What development improvements does BC29 introduce?

On the development side, BC29 moves strongly toward automated development, testing, AI assistance, and CI/CD. New capabilities include AI-agent-assisted debugging and performance analysis, AL tests that can be run from the command line, structured compiler diagnostics, and a standalone AL language server.

Other important changes include:

• parameterized, data-driven AL tests;
• dynamic management of AL MCP workspaces;
• analysis of AL call graphs;
• allocation of free AL object IDs by agents;
• migration of Integer fields to BigInteger;
• default implementations in AL interfaces;
• indexes that use fields from both base tables and table extensions;
• simpler Visual Studio Code authentication and environment setup;
• ALTool tests that can be run from CI/CD workflows;
• structured compiler logs for automated builds.

For IT managers, one of the most important conclusions is that pre-upgrade testing is no longer purely a functional question. The quality of custom developments, their automated testability, and the structure of the development process increasingly affect the long-term upgradeability of Business Central.

12. How should companies prepare for BC29?

What should be done before version 29.0 goes live?

Preparation for BC29 should not begin by upgrading the production system. It should start with a test environment, validation of custom developments, and selection of the new features that are genuinely relevant to the business. Microsoft allows companies to create a new 29.0 preview sandbox or upgrade an existing sandbox environment to the preview version.

A practical testing sequence is:

1. Create or upgrade a BC29 test environment.
   Do not test preview features in production.
2. Install and test custom applications.
   APIs, table extensions, reports, and integrations should all be checked.
3. Select the new features that are relevant to the business.
   For a finance team, for example, report packs and change logging may be more important than an MCP-related developer feature.
4. Run through critical business processes.
   For example: purchasing → receipt → invoice → posting → financial reporting.
5. Review permissions and AI capabilities.
   This is particularly important when using Copilot, agents, and external data queries.
6. Compare performance.
   This is especially important for systems with large datasets or extensive customization.
7. Prepare users.
   Changes affecting everyday work can be adopted more quickly with short training sessions or internal communication.

At Loginform, this is why we do not regard a version upgrade as an isolated technical event. A Business Central upgrade creates real value when technological changes are translated into the company’s financial, accounting, and operational processes.

13. What is changing in Microsoft’s Release Plans?

What is the AI at Work roadmap, and why is it replacing Release Plans?

Starting in September 2026, Microsoft no longer publishes new Release Plans. New capabilities for Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Microsoft Dataverse are published continuously on the AI at Work roadmap, while existing release plans remain available as historical references.

The essence of Microsoft’s announcement is:

Starting in September 2026, Microsoft stops publishing new Release Plans. New Business Central capabilities will be published to the AI at Work roadmap. Existing release plans remain available for historical reference until further notice.

The change reflects an important shift in approach. Instead of publishing “wave” packages twice a year, Microsoft is moving toward continuous disclosure. New capabilities appear on the roadmap once Microsoft’s plans are concrete enough for public communication. Their status can be followed through the “In Development”, “Rolling Out”, and “Launched” stages.

Importantly, this does not mean that Business Central’s release and update cadence is being discontinued. Microsoft explicitly states that the change primarily affects how planned developments are communicated; established product release schedules remain in place.

The AI at Work roadmap is available here

What does Business Central 29 mean overall?

Business Central 29 is more than a long list of new features. BC29 clearly shows the direction in which Business Central is moving: AI agents are getting closer to real business processes, financial reporting is becoming more automatable and auditable, integrations are becoming more standardized, and unnecessary manual steps are gradually disappearing from everyday work.

For finance leaders, financial report packs, automatic logging of report-definition changes, and AI-assisted expense control are particularly worth reviewing.

For IT managers, Copilot and MCP integrations, telemetry, the new table-extension data model, and AL development enhancements may be the most relevant changes.

For manufacturing and trading companies, improvements in supply chain management, Shopify and Shoprenter integrations, electronic document exchange, and quality management can provide direct operational benefits.

The key question is therefore not “What else can BC29 do?”, but rather which new capability can genuinely save time, reduce manual work, or reduce the risk of errors in your organization.

This is where a Business Central partner can make a real difference: not only by understanding the system and custom development, but also by understanding the financial and accounting processes behind it.

14. Frequently asked questions about Business Central 29

Can Business Central 29 already be used in production?

No. As of September 16, 2026, Business Central 29.0 is available as a public preview and can only be used in Business Central online sandbox environments. Microsoft plans general availability for early October 2026.

When will BC29 be released?

The Business Central 29.0 public preview became available in September 2026. According to Microsoft’s documentation, the generally available version is expected in early October 2026.

What are the most important financial improvements in BC29?

Key improvements include financial report packs and automatic change logging for report definitions. Multiple financial reports can be combined into a single PDF output and scheduled, while changes to the underlying report definitions can be tracked automatically.

Is there a new Copilot experience in Business Central 29?

Yes. BC29 introduces a more unified Microsoft Copilot experience that can use Business Central data, web search results, and general knowledge within the same conversational interface.

Is the Business Central release wave system being discontinued?

Microsoft is discontinuing the twice-yearly publication of release wave-based product plans, but this does not mean the established Business Central release cadence is being discontinued. Starting in September 2026, new capabilities are published continuously on the AI at Work roadmap.

Should custom developments be tested before upgrading?

Yes. Particularly in customized Business Central environments, applications, reports, integrations, permissions, and critical business processes should be tested in a BC29 sandbox before the production upgrade. Microsoft specifically allows existing sandbox environments to be upgraded to the 29.0 preview together with installed applications.

Does the Loginform Shoprenter Connector work with BC29?

Yes. The Loginform Shoprenter Connector works with BC29, and Loginform Business Central apps receive regular development updates and version updates aligned with changes in Business Central. The Connector automatically connects a Shoprenter webshop with Business Central and supports synchronization of products, prices, inventory, customer data, and orders, among other information.

Sources

Microsoft Learn – Business Central 29.0 public preview
Update 29.0 public preview for Business Central 2026 release wave 2

Microsoft Learn – Detailed BC29 feature descriptions
Feature details for Business Central 2026 release wave 2 public preview

Microsoft – Transition to the AI at Work roadmap
Moving beyond release waves with the AI at Work roadmap

AI at Work roadmap
Open the AI at Work roadmap

Loginform Shoprenter Connector
Loginform Shoprenter Connector – Webshop and ERP in perfect sync

Dynamics 365 Lab / Yzhums – Business Central hands-on tests
Dynamics 365 Lab – Yzhums