Business Central has its own vocabulary, a mix of accounting, Microsoft and Dynamics NAV history, and a lot of the confusion on projects comes from two people using the same word for different things. This is the glossary we give to every project team and every new user, in plain English, in alphabetical order. The searchable version lives on its own page.
A
- Agent: An AI worker in Business Central that carries out a process with human approval points, such as the Payables Agent (supplier invoices) and the Sales Order Agent (quotes and orders from email).
- AL: The programming language used to build Business Central extensions, written in Visual Studio Code. It replaced C/AL from NAV.
- Analysis mode: A way of turning any list page into an on-screen pivot: group, filter, total and chart data without leaving Business Central or exporting to Excel.
- API: Application programming interface. Business Central exposes standard REST APIs (and lets you build custom API pages) so other systems can read and write data securely.
- App (extension): A packaged unit of customisation or add-on functionality installed into Business Central. Microsoft's own apps, partner apps from AppSource and your own extensions are all apps.
- AppSource: Microsoft's marketplace for Business Central apps built by partners and ISVs, such as EDI, payroll or document capture add-ons.
- Assembly: A light form of manufacturing: combining components into a kit either to order or to stock, without routings or capacity planning. Part of Essentials.
- Assisted setup: Guided wizards in Business Central for configuring areas such as email, bank feeds, VAT and Copilot.
B
- Bank reconciliation: Matching bank statement lines (imported or via a bank feed) to the bank ledger entries in Business Central so the book balance and bank balance agree.
- BC: Shorthand for Dynamics 365 Business Central.
- Bill of materials (BOM): The list of components and quantities needed to make a finished item. Production BOMs are used in manufacturing, assembly BOMs in assembly.
C
- C/AL and C/SIDE: The language and development environment used in Dynamics NAV. Customisations written in C/AL have to be rewritten as AL extensions when moving to Business Central.
- Capacity planning: Scheduling production against the available time on work centres and machine centres. A Premium feature.
- Chart of accounts: The list of general ledger accounts a company posts to. Business Central also supports account categories and schedules for reporting.
- Cloud Solution Provider (CSP): A Microsoft partner licensed to sell and bill Business Central subscriptions. Business Boxed is not a CSP; we partner with CSPs for licensing.
- Company: A legal entity within a Business Central environment with its own ledger, customers, suppliers and setup. One environment can hold many companies.
- Configuration package: A set of Excel-based templates (via RapidStart) for loading master data and setup into a company, used heavily during implementations and migrations.
- Copilot: Microsoft's AI assistant built into Business Central: drafting marketing text, analysing data in natural language, matching bank transactions, suggesting sales lines and more.
D
- Dataverse: Microsoft's shared data platform used by Dynamics 365 Sales, Power Apps and Power Automate. Business Central synchronises customers, contacts and more with it.
- Deferral: Spreading an invoice amount over several accounting periods, for example a 12-month subscription recognised monthly.
- Dimensions: Tags you attach to transactions (department, project, region, cost centre) so you can analyse the ledger without creating extra G/L accounts.
- Document attachment: Files such as supplier invoices or contracts stored against a record in Business Central.
- Drop shipment: A sales order fulfilled by having the supplier ship directly to the customer, with Business Central creating the linked purchase order.
E
- E-Documents: Business Central's framework for electronic invoicing and document exchange, including Peppol and country specific e-invoicing formats.
- EDI: Electronic data interchange: structured messages (orders, despatch advices, invoices) exchanged with customers and suppliers, usually via a VAN or EDI provider connected to Business Central.
- Environment: A single instance of Business Central online, either production or sandbox, managed from the admin centre.
- Essentials and Premium: The two main licence plans. Premium adds manufacturing and service management. All full users in a tenant are on the same plan.
- Event subscriber: AL code that reacts to an event in standard Business Central (for example, after a sales order is posted) without modifying Microsoft's code.
- Extension: The modern way to customise Business Central: code packaged separately from Microsoft's so updates do not break it. Built in AL.
F
- FactBox: The side panel on a Business Central page showing related information, such as customer statistics or attachments.
- FastTab: A collapsible section on a Business Central page, such as General, Lines or Shipping on a sales order.
- Feature Management: A page where administrators turn optional new features on before they become mandatory in a later version.
- Financial reports: Configurable reports built from row and column definitions (formerly account schedules) for P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and KPIs.
- Fixed assets: The module for recording assets, depreciation, maintenance and disposals, posted to the fixed asset ledger.
- Flowfield: A calculated field that totals or looks up data on the fly, such as a customer's balance. Powered by SIFT.
G
- General ledger (G/L): The core accounting ledger every transaction ends up in.
I
- Intercompany: Posting transactions between companies in the same group so that the sale in one company creates the purchase in the other.
- Item charge: An extra cost such as freight or duty allocated to items so it is included in inventory cost.
- Item tracking: Lot and serial numbers on inventory, used for traceability, recalls and expiry dates.
J
- Jet Reports: A third-party Excel-based reporting tool widely used with NAV and Business Central.
- Job queue: Business Central's scheduler for running reports and processes in the background at set times.
- Jobs (Projects): The projects module: planning lines, time and expense, WIP, and invoicing by project or task.
- Journal: A worksheet for entering transactions before posting them, such as the general journal, item journal or payment journal.
L
- Location: A warehouse, site or stock room. Locations can be simple or warehouse-enabled with bins, picks and put-aways.
M
- Making Tax Digital (MTD): HMRC's requirement for digital VAT records and submissions. Business Central submits VAT returns to HMRC through the Making Tax Digital app.
- MCP server: Business Central's Model Context Protocol endpoint, which lets AI agents and tools query Business Central data within the user's permissions.
N
- NAV (Navision): Dynamics NAV, the predecessor of Business Central. Versions ran from Navision 3.x through NAV 2018.
- Number series: The configured numbering for documents and records, such as sales invoice numbers.
O
- On-premises: Business Central installed on your own or a hosting provider's servers, rather than Microsoft's cloud.
P
- Page: A screen in Business Central: a card, list, document or role centre.
- Page Scripting: A tool for recording and replaying user actions in the web client for testing, now generally available.
- Permission sets: Groups of permissions assigned to users to control what they can see and do.
- Posting group: Setup that tells Business Central which G/L accounts to post to for a type of customer, supplier, item or transaction.
- Power Automate: Microsoft's workflow tool, used for approvals and automations connected to Business Central.
- Power BI: Microsoft's reporting and dashboard tool, with ready-made Business Central reports and the ability to build your own.
- Production order: The manufacturing document that consumes components and outputs finished items through a routing. Premium.
R
- RapidStart: The toolset for loading setup and data via configuration packages during implementation.
- Release wave: Microsoft's twice-yearly major release: wave 1 in April and wave 2 in October.
- Report layout: The design of a printed or PDF document, built in Word, RDLC or Excel, separate from the report's data.
- Requisition worksheet: A planning tool that suggests purchase orders based on demand, stock levels and reorder settings.
- Role centre: The home page for a user role, with cues, KPIs, activities and shortcuts.
- Routing: The sequence of operations and work centres used to manufacture an item. Premium.
S
- Sales order processing: The quote, order, shipment and invoice cycle for selling goods or services.
- Sandbox: A non-production environment for testing, training and development.
- Service management: The module for service orders, contracts and items under service. Premium.
- Shopify connector: Microsoft's native integration between Business Central and Shopify for products, prices, orders, customers and fulfilment.
- SIFT: SumIndexField Technology: the indexing that makes totals such as customer balances instant. Administrators and developers can turn SIFT indexes on and off.
- Sure Step: Microsoft's implementation methodology: diagnostic, analysis, design, development, deployment and operation.
T
- Table extension: An extension that adds fields to a standard table without changing it.
- Team Member licence: A low-cost licence for people who only need to read data, approve, and make light updates.
- Telemetry: Diagnostic data Business Central sends to Azure Application Insights for monitoring performance, errors and usage.
- Tenant: A customer's Business Central subscription, containing its environments and companies.
- Transfer order: A document that moves stock between locations, with shipment and receipt steps.
U
- Universal Code: Microsoft's requirement that on-premises customisations are built as extensions so they could run in the cloud.
V
- VAT posting setup: The combination of VAT business and product posting groups that determines the VAT rate and accounts on a transaction.
W
- Warehouse management: Bins, picks, put-aways, movements and physical inventory for warehouse-enabled locations.
- Web client: The browser-based user interface for Business Central.
- Work centre: A machine, team or area with capacity used in manufacturing routings.
- Workflow: Approval and notification rules built into Business Central, or extended with Power Automate.
Missing a term? Tell us and we will add it. If the words are new because the system is, our super user and training pieces are the next things to read.
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