Quick answer: Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 (version 28) became generally available on April 1, 2026, and has since been refined through cumulative updates 28.1-28.4. The wave delivers 50+ features across 11 product areas, headlined by a production-grade Payables Agent, multi-line purchase invoice matching, native Quality Management, audit-ready financial reporting, and a cloud migration path from any SQL database. Update 28.4 (August 2026), the current version adds Known Senders processing to the Payables Agent and expands the E-Document framework to support payments.
Whether you’re already using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central or planning an upgrade from an earlier version, understanding what’s new in Release Wave 1 can help you prepare for mandatory feature changes, evaluate Microsoft’s latest AI capabilities, and identify opportunities to improve finance, operations, and compliance processes.
This guide explores every major feature introduced in Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1, highlights what’s new in version 28.4, explains which features are now mandatory, and outlines what you should review before upgrading.
Business Central Version 28 at a Glance
Business Central follows a continuous update model, so most customers receive these features automatically between April and September 2026 without a manual upgrade project. The exception is on-premises deployments, which follow a separate installation path and require planned upgrades.
This approach enables organizations to benefit from the latest AI capabilities, security enhancements, performance improvements, and regulatory updates without waiting for major version releases, helping them stay current with Microsoft’s innovation cycle.
What’s New in Update 28.4 (Current Version)
Update 28.4, released in August 2026, is a refinement update rather than a major feature release. Instead of introducing entirely new capabilities, it enhances existing AI, document processing, and integration features to improve reliability, usability, and day-to-day productivity.
The most significant updates include:
- Known Senders in Payables Agent (General Availability): The Payables Agent now processes invoices faster when they arrive from email senders it has already learned to trust, reducing the review overhead for repeat vendor correspondence.
- Payments in the E-Document Framework (General Availability): Electronic documents can now carry payment data end-to-end, not just invoice data, enabling more complete digital transaction processing.
- Peppol Electronic Invoice Preview (Public Preview): Purchase draft pages can now preview incoming Peppol e-invoices before they’re posted, helping finance teams validate information before processing.
- Field Service Synchronization Fix: Business Central now correctly respects the Dataverse “Convert to Customer Asset” setting when synchronizing service items with Dynamics 365 Field Service, so uncoupled service items no longer create customer assets unless that setting is explicitly enabled.
- Copilot Data Geography Notice: Starting July 1, 2026, Business Central environments running version 28.0 or later in certain countries or regions may process Copilot and AI agent requests in a different Azure geography. Data processing preferences can be managed from the Copilot & Agent Capabilities page.
Everything below covers the complete Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 feature set, introduced across updates 28.0 through 28.4 and now available to organizations running version 28.
1. Copilot and AI Agents: From Assistant to Operator
The defining theme of Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 is the evolution of Microsoft Copilot from an AI assistant into an AI operator. Rather than simply answering questions or generating content, Copilot can now execute multi-step business processes while operating within Business Central’s existing security, approval, and governance framework.
- The Payables Agent reaches production maturity
Why it matters: Organizations processing high volumes of supplier invoices can significantly reduce manual data entry and repetitive AP tasks while maintaining full human oversight. Instead of replacing finance teams, the Payables Agent accelerates invoice processing and allows users to focus on exceptions and approvals.
- Reads and interprets PDF invoice content using AI
- Identifies the correct vendor, or creates a new vendor record when instructed
- Matches line items against purchase history, item references, and G/L account mappings
- Produces a Purchase Document Draft for human review
- Pauses and requests guidance from a supervisor via the Copilot task pane when it can’t confidently identify a vendor
Every action is logged, every draft is reviewable, and every posting still requires human approval, the agent operates inside Business Central’s existing permission and audit model rather than around it. Update 28.4’s Known Senders feature builds directly on this, speeding up processing for vendors the agent has already handled successfully.
- Sales Order Agent and multi-agent task pane
The Sales Order Agent continues to mature alongside the Payables Agent. A new centralized task pane consolidates work across all agents, Sales Order Agent, Payables Agent, and any custom agents – into a single operational view, so supervisors aren’t checking multiple screens to see what AI has done.
- Governance features that ship alongside autonomy
These governance capabilities are particularly important for organizations operating in regulated industries or with strict internal controls, as they provide transparency into AI-generated actions while maintaining auditability and accountability.
- “Created by” / “Modified by” AI indicators – instant visibility into whether a human or an agent touched a record
- Inline agent reasoning – review why an agent coded a line to a specific G/L account, directly on the page
- Stop all active tasks for a selected agent – a kill switch supervisors can use to halt unintended automation immediately
- Discover processed emails – supervisors can see which mailbox items an agent has already handled, avoiding duplicate work
- Custom agents via AI resources (public preview)
Partners and in-house developers can now build custom agents on Microsoft-managed AI infrastructure instead of provisioning their own Azure OpenAI deployment, lowering the barrier to building agents for niche workflows like bank reconciliation exceptions or vendor onboarding.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) support
MCP standardizes how Business Central connects to Copilot Studio and external AI tooling. In 28.4, MCP Server access is enabled for all users by default (the Feature Management toggle for it no longer has any effect and will be removed in a future update). MCP now also extends to the Admin Center in preview, letting AI agents orchestrate admin tasks like provisioning sandboxes or scheduling updates.
- Copilot cost model
Agent usage is billed through consumption-based Copilot Credits (published at $0.01 per credit under pay-as-you-go pricing). As an illustrative benchmark, a Sales Order Agent processing 100 emails a month runs roughly $16 -17. While this introduces a usage-based pricing model, most organizations processing moderate to high transaction volumes are likely to realize a positive return through reduced manual effort, faster document processing, and improved operational efficiency. Before enabling AI agents at scale, it’s still worth estimating expected Copilot Credit consumption based on your document volumes and business processes.
Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 marks Microsoft’s transition from AI-assisted productivity to AI-driven business process automation. Rather than introducing standalone AI features, Microsoft has focused on embedding intelligent agents into everyday finance and operational workflows while ensuring organizations retain complete control through approvals, permissions, and audit trails.
- Other Copilot upgrades
- Item insights with KPIs – natural-language summaries of inventory turnover, margin, and performance without building a Power BI report
- Improved Trial Balance Excel report performance
2. Accounts Payable: The Long-Overdue Overhaul
Accounts Payable receives some of the most practical enhancements in Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1. From more flexible invoice matching to stronger approval controls and improved drop shipment processing, these updates reduce manual effort while giving finance teams greater accuracy and operational efficiency.
- Match one invoice to multiple orders and receipts
Why it matters: This enhancement simplifies invoice processing for organizations working with multiple deliveries or purchase orders from the same supplier. It reduces manual consolidation, minimizes reconciliation effort, and helps finance teams process invoices faster without compromising three-way matching controls.
Previously, a vendor invoice spanning multiple purchase orders forced you into multiple purchase invoices or manual workarounds. Version 28 introduces a Get Order Lines action that pulls lines from multiple orders and multiple posted receipts into a single invoice, tracked at line level through new Matched Invoice Lines and Matched Order Lines fields. Three-way matching is preserved, just far less rigid.
Note: this doesn’t currently apply to orders with prepayments, item charge lines, project- linked orders, subcontracting, blanket orders, or intercompany transactions.
- Approval workflows for requisition and item journals
For organizations with formal procurement processes or compliance requirements, extending approval workflows to requisition worksheets and item journals strengthens internal controls while improving accountability across purchasing and inventory operations.
Requisition worksheets, planning worksheets, and item journals can now be routed through formal approval workflows – bringing them in line with the approval governance already available for purchase orders, sales documents, and journals. This closes a real segregation- of-duties gap for organizations preparing for ISO 27001 or SOC 2 audits.
- Drop shipment improvements
These improvements provide greater flexibility for businesses managing complex fulfillment processes, helping purchasing and sales teams work independently without unnecessary invoicing dependencies.
- Create purchase orders directly from drop shipments, integrated with Order Planning and a dedicated Drop Shipment action group
- Post purchase invoices for drop shipments independently of the related sales invoice – previously you couldn’t invoice the vendor until the customer was invoiced, forcing awkward sequencing
- Reverse drop shipments when neither the sales nor purchase document has been invoiced
Technical note: the drop shipment posting logic change removes some checks that previously blocked purchase invoice posting. If you have customizations or extensions hooking into drop shipment events, review them before updating production.
- Filter receipt and shipment lines
The Get Receipt Lines and Get Shipment Lines dialogs now let users filter down to the exact lines they want to invoice-a small usability improvement that can save significant time for finance teams processing large volumes of purchase and sales transactions each day.
What This Means for Businesses
Rather than introducing entirely new Accounts Payable capabilities, Microsoft has focused on removing long-standing process limitations that finance teams encounter every day. The result is a more flexible purchasing experience, stronger governance, and less manual effort across invoice processing and procurement workflows.
3. Financial Reporting and Audit-Ready Governance
Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 significantly strengthens financial governance by introducing better reporting controls, improved audit capabilities, and enhanced visibility into user activity. These updates help organizations improve compliance, simplify audits, and build more reliable financial reporting processes.
- Financial Reporting module maturity
Why it matters: Finance teams can now manage financial reports with greater confidence, knowing report definitions, revisions, and publishing stages are tracked through a controlled lifecycle rather than relying on manually maintained spreadsheets or undocumented changes.
The module that replaced legacy Account Schedules now supports audit logs for report definitions, draft/published lifecycle status, and smarter card-page defaults – turning statutory and management report definitions into versioned, governed artifacts instead of ad- hoc spreadsheets.
- Report layout lifecycle control
Report layouts now carry proper lifecycle states, so admins can manage which layouts are available for selection and retire old versions cleanly.
- Per-company document language
Multi-entity organizations can now set the default document language at the company level – useful for groups with subsidiaries across different linguistic regions.
- New auditor-focused APIs
These APIs reduce the effort involved in compliance reporting by making it easier to demonstrate user permissions, approval processes, and governance controls during internal reviews and external audits.
- API for analyzing user and group permissions across apps – full cross-tenant visibility into who can do what
- API for analyzing approval workflows – programmatic access to workflow definitions, states, and history
These map directly to the evidence auditors request during ISAE 3402 or SOC reporting.
- Native change tracking for UI-driven edits (Feature Update)
Organizations operating in regulated industries or with strict internal controls can use this feature to strengthen audit trails, improve accountability, and support fraud detection without relying on custom extensions.
- Enhanced Subscription Billing Power BI app
Businesses with subscription-based revenue models can gain faster visibility into recurring revenue performance, customer retention, and revenue trends using out-of-the-box analytics instead of building custom reports.
More sophisticated out-of-the-box views for MRR, ARR, churn analysis, and deferred revenue recognition – relevant for any organization running recurring-revenue models.
What This Means for Businesses
These enhancements reinforce Microsoft’s continued investment in governance and compliance. Rather than focusing solely on operational efficiency, Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 provides finance leaders, auditors, and administrators with stronger reporting controls, better visibility, and improved audit readiness – helping organizations meet regulatory requirements while making financial reporting more reliable and easier to manage.
4. Administration, Governance, and Migration
Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 introduces several enhancements for administrators and IT teams, making cloud migration, environment management, security, and performance optimization easier than ever. These updates help organizations reduce administrative overhead while improving governance across Business Central environments.
- Migrate to the cloud from any SQL database (public preview)
Why it matters: This significantly expands Business Central’s migration capabilities, making it easier for organizations running legacy or custom SQL Server-based ERP systems to modernize without relying on complex, custom-built migration tools. It lowers migration costs while simplifying the transition to Business Central in the cloud.
Previously, Business Central’s migration tooling targeted Dynamics GP, NAV, and on- premises BC specifically. Version 28 opens a migration path from any SQL Server-based system – Sage 200, Sage 300, Sage Intacct, or a bespoke SQL-based ERP – without the bespoke ETL work such migrations previously required.
- Audit user and group permissions across apps (general availability)
For IT administrators and compliance teams, having a single view of effective permissions improves security reviews, simplifies access audits, and helps identify excessive or conflicting permissions across the tenant.
A single view of effective permissions across the entire tenant, including permissions granted by installed apps and extensions.
- Manage database index usage and cost per company
Organizations managing multiple companies or large Business Central databases can optimize storage and performance while potentially reducing infrastructure costs by identifying and removing unused indexes.
Admins can see which indexes are actually used, disable unused ones, and reduce database cost – meaningful savings in multi-company environments on higher-tier subscriptions.
- MCP Server access for the Admin Center (preview)
As Microsoft continues expanding AI capabilities across Business Central, MCP support lays the foundation for intelligent administration by enabling AI-assisted environment management, provisioning, and maintenance through the Admin Center.
Extends MCP beyond the application layer into administration – provisioning sandboxes, scheduling updates, and managing environments via AI agents.
What This Means for Businesses
These updates demonstrate Microsoft’s continued focus on simplifying Business Central administration. Whether you’re migrating from a legacy ERP, strengthening governance, or managing multiple environments, Version 28 provides administrators with better visibility, stronger security controls, and more efficient tools to support long-term ERP management.
5. Supply Chain, Quality, and E-Commerce
Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 introduces practical enhancements for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and e-commerce businesses. From native Quality Management to improved product information and purchasing workflows, these updates help organizations improve operational efficiency, product quality, and inventory management.
- Native Quality Management (public preview)
Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 introduces practical enhancements for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and e-commerce businesses. From native Quality Management to improved product information and purchasing workflows, these updates help organizations improve operational efficiency, product quality, and inventory management.
Business Central finally ships native inspection plans, quality tests, and non-conformance handling – removing the need for third-party quality modules or spreadsheet-based tracking for manufacturing and distribution customers.
- Item attributes and images at the variant level
For retailers and e-commerce businesses, managing product information at the variant level improves catalog accuracy, enhances the online shopping experience, and reduces manual maintenance across connected sales channels like Shopify.
Retail and e-commerce customers can now define item attributes and attach images at the variant level, not just the parent item – paired with Shopify connector improvements including attribute-based product options, custom collections, variant image sync, and checkout currency handling.
- Purchase quotes for contacts
This provides purchasing teams with greater flexibility during supplier evaluation, allowing them to compare quotations and negotiate with prospective suppliers before creating a formal vendor record.
Purchase quotes can now be created against a contact rather than requiring a fully set-up vendor first – useful for competitive tenders or sourcing from prospective suppliers.
- Manufacturing usability improvements
Although these are incremental enhancements, they help production teams manage manufacturing operations more efficiently by improving visibility, simplifying routing maintenance, and supporting subcontracted production processes.
Clearer production order status visibility, better subcontracted operation handling, and improved routing maintenance.
What This Means for Businesses
These enhancements strengthen Business Central’s capabilities across manufacturing, distribution, and retail. By introducing native quality management and improving inventory, purchasing, and e-commerce processes, Microsoft continues to reduce the need for third-party solutions while helping organizations operate more efficiently as they scale.
6. Electronic Documents and Regional Compliance
Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 continues Microsoft’s investment in digital document processing and regulatory compliance. These enhancements simplify electronic invoicing, improve payment data exchange, and help organizations meet evolving e-invoicing requirements across global markets.
- Payments in the E-Document framework (GA, added in 28.4) – e-documents now carry payment data, not just invoice data
- Peppol invoice preview on purchase drafts (preview, added in 28.4) – review incoming Peppol e-invoices before posting
- Default e-document type on vendor templates (GA) – strengthens Peppol/UBL compliance for cross-border e-invoicing
- Link inbound e-documents to purchase invoices – maintains a clean audit trail from digital receipt through to posting
- Service participants set at the company level (preview) – simplifies e-invoicing setup across a group
Why it matters:
By supporting payment information alongside invoice data, organizations can automate more of the procure-to-pay process while improving data consistency and reducing manual processing.
These matter most for organizations trading into jurisdictions where mandatory e-invoicing is expanding, particularly across the EU.
Features Becoming Mandatory in Version 28
Several features that were previously optional become mandatory in Business Central Version 28. Organizations should review these changes, test them in a sandbox environment, and validate any affected business processes, customizations, or integrations before they are enforced in production.
- New sales pricing experience
- G/L currency revaluation
- Advanced Tell Me
- Web service requests to internal/private network addresses are now blocked by default as part of Microsoft’s enhanced security measures. If your integrations rely on local or private network connections, you’ll need to explicitly allowlist trusted internal addresses (on-premises: NavHttpClientAntiSSRFAllowedAddresses; SaaS: use public-facing endpoints or Azure Relay) before upgrading.
Why it matters: Mandatory features cannot be postponed indefinitely. Proactively testing these changes helps reduce upgrade risks, minimize user disruption, and ensure custom extensions and integrations continue to function as expected after the update.
Best Practice Before Upgrading
Before deploying Version 28 to production, validate these mandatory features in a sandbox environment, review any custom extensions or integrations that may be affected, and provide users with appropriate training on updated functionality. A structured testing process helps ensure a smoother upgrade with minimal business disruption.
Upgrade Checklist Before Moving to Version 28.4
- Confirm your starting version. Deployments on version 24 or earlier must upgrade to version 25 first before reaching version 28.
- Audit mandatory-feature impact. Test new sales pricing, G/L currency revaluation, and Advanced Tell Me in sandbox first.
- Review drop shipment customizations. The posting logic change removes checks that previously blocked purchase invoice posting – extensions hooking into drop shipment events need review.
- Allowlist internal network addresses if integrations depend on local/internal endpoints, due to the new default SSRF protection.
- Model Copilot Credit consumption against your actual invoice/order volumes before scaling agent usage.
- Set Copilot data processing preferences on the Copilot & Agent Capabilities page ahead of the July 2026 geography change, if applicable to your region.
- Set up the Payables Agent’s dedicated mailbox and coding conventions in sandbox before enabling in production.
Recommended Next Steps
Before scheduling your production upgrade, complete a full upgrade assessment that includes extension compatibility testing, integration validation, user acceptance testing (UAT), and performance checks. Taking a proactive approach helps identify potential issues early and ensures your organization can take full advantage of the new capabilities introduced in Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some of the most common questions about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 (Version 28.4), including new features, upgrade requirements, licensing, and migration.
What is the latest version of Business Central as of August 2026?
Version 28.4, part of the 2026 Release Wave 1, released in August 2026. It’s a refinement update focused on the Payables Agent and the E-Document framework, built on the major feature set introduced in 28.0.
When did Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 become generally available?
April 1, 2026, as version 28.0. The wave continues rolling out enhancements through cumulative updates (28.1, 28.2, 28.3, 28.4) into October 2026.
What’s new specifically in Business Central 28.4?
General availability of Known Senders processing in the Payables Agent, general availability of payment support in the E-Document framework, public preview of Peppol e-invoice preview on purchase drafts, and a Field Service synchronization fix for customer assets.
Is the Payables Agent free to use?
It’s included with a Business Central license, but agent processing consumes Copilot Credits under a consumption-based billing model – roughly $0.01 per credit, with an illustrative cost of $16-17 per 100 documents processed for the Sales Order Agent.
What is the headline feature of Business Central version 28?
The maturation of AI agents – particularly the Payables Agent – from preview into production-grade automation, alongside multi-line purchase invoice matching and native Quality Management.
Can one purchase invoice now match multiple purchase orders in Business Central?
Yes. The new Get Order Lines action lets you pull lines from multiple orders and posted receipts into a single invoice, tracked via new Matched Invoice Lines and Matched Order Lines fields. It doesn’t yet support orders with prepayments, item charges, project links, subcontracting, blanket orders, or intercompany transactions.
What do I need to check before upgrading to version 28?
Confirm your current version supports a direct path to 28 (version 24 and earlier must go through 25 first), test the now-mandatory features (new sales pricing, G/L currency revaluation, Advanced Tell Me) in sandbox, review any drop-shipment customizations, and allowlist internal network addresses affected by the new default SSRF protection.
Does Business Central 28 include native Quality Management?
Yes, in public preview. It adds inspection plans, quality tests, and non-conformance handling natively, without requiring a third-party module.
Can I migrate to Business Central from a non-Microsoft ERP in version 28?
Yes. A new public preview migration path supports moving from any SQL Server-based system – including Sage 200, Sage 300, Sage Intacct, and custom SQL-based ERPs – directly to Business Central cloud.
Is Business Central 28.4 a mandatory update?
For Business Central online environments, Microsoft manages platform updates as part of its continuous release model. While cumulative updates are recommended, organizations should regularly test new releases in a sandbox environment to prepare for mandatory platform and feature changes.
Will my Business Central extensions continue to work after upgrading to Version 28?
Most extensions continue to work, but organizations should validate all custom extensions, AppSource apps, and third-party integrations in a sandbox before upgrading to production to ensure compatibility with Version 28.
Who should upgrade to Business Central 28.4?
Organizations looking to adopt Microsoft Copilot, improve accounts payable automation, strengthen financial governance, modernize manufacturing operations, or migrate from legacy ERP systems will benefit most from upgrading to Business Central 28.4.
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Key Takeaways
Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 (Version 28.4) represents one of Microsoft’s most significant updates in recent years, with a strong focus on AI-powered automation, financial governance, operational efficiency, and cloud modernization.
The biggest highlights include:
- AI Agents evolving from assistive tools into governed, production-ready business process automation.
- Significant improvements to Accounts Payable, including multi-order invoice matching and the production-ready Payables Agent.
- Enhanced financial reporting, audit readiness, and governance capabilities for finance and compliance teams.
- Native Quality Management and supply chain improvements for manufacturing and distribution organizations.
- Expanded migration capabilities that simplify moving from legacy SQL Server-based ERP systems to Business Central.
- Continued investment in electronic invoicing, compliance, and AI-driven administration.
Whether you’re planning an upgrade or evaluating Business Central for the first time, Version 28.4 delivers meaningful improvements that can help streamline operations, strengthen governance, and prepare your organization for the next generation of AI-powered ERP.
Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 at a Glance
| General availability | April 1, 2026 |
| Current minor version | 28.4 (released August 2026) |
| Release window | April 2026 – October 2026 |
| Feature count | 50+ new and updated features across 11 product areas |
| Upgrade path | Version 24 or earlier must first upgrade to version 25 before reaching version 28 |
| Cost | Copilot features are included with Business Central; AI agent usage is billed through consumption-based Copilot Credits |
Ready to Upgrade to Business Central 28.4?
Upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is about more than accessing new features – it’s about ensuring your ERP system is optimized for performance, security, compliance, and AI-driven automation.
At Sarakadiya, our Microsoft-certified Business Central consultants help organizations:
- Assess upgrade readiness and compatibility.
- Validate extensions, integrations, and customizations.
- Test mandatory feature changes before deployment.
- Implement Microsoft Copilot and AI Agents.
- Execute seamless Business Central upgrades with minimal business disruption.
Whether you’re planning an upgrade from an earlier Business Central version or migrating from Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV, or another legacy ERP, our team can help you plan, test, and execute a successful transition.
Ready to get started? Contact Sarakadiya today for a personalized Business Central upgrade assessment and discover how Version 28.4 can help modernize your business operations.
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