Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central AI agents like the Sales Order Agent and Payables Agent can help reduce repetitive work across sales and finance by supporting two common process areas: sales order handling and payables processing.
For businesses that receive regular customer order enquiries, quote requests and repeat orders, or for finance teams handling high volumes of supplier invoices, these agents can help improve speed and support more consistent document handling. They are designed to help teams work more efficiently while keeping control over approvals, exceptions, usage and cost.
You can see the video of our recent webinar on AI Agents in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central below, with a background on AI Agents from Joy Usifo from Microsoft, followed by a live demo of the Sales Order Agent and Payables Agent in Business Central.
Quick Overview
|
Agent |
Primary Use |
Best Fit |
|
Sales Order Agent |
Automates the capture of sales quote and sales order requests received by email. |
Businesses that receive regular customer order enquiries, quote requests, repeat orders, or email-based sales instructions. |
|
Payables Agent |
Automates vendor invoice intake and creates draft purchase documents for review. |
Finance teams with high volumes of supplier invoices, manual AP processing, or bottlenecks in invoice entry and coding. |
Sales Order Agent and Payables Agent Q&As
What is the Sales Order Agent?
The Sales Order Agent is an AI-powered feature within Business Central that monitors a shared mailbox and reviews customer requests received by email. It identifies the customer and items involved, checks availability, prepares a sales quote, and can also help turn an approved quote into a sales order. Its purpose is to reduce manual order entry and help businesses respond to customers more quickly.
What is the Payables Agent?
The Payables Agent is an AI-powered feature within Business Central that helps manage supplier invoice processing from a designated payables mailbox. It reviews vendor invoice attachments, extracts invoice information, matches suppliers, suggests coding, and creates draft purchase invoices for review. It does not post invoices automatically or make irreversible financial changes without human approval.
What are the main use cases?
- Sales order processing: turning customer email requests into quotes or orders with less manual rekeying.
- Quote turnaround: Helping businesses respond more quickly to repeat or routine customer enquiries.
- Order clarification: Identifying missing details and supporting follow-up communication where customer instructions are incomplete.
- Invoice capture: Reading supplier invoice PDFs received by email and extracting the required information.
- Accounts payable efficiency: Reducing manual data entry, improving coding consistency and creating draft purchase invoices for finance review.
- Exception handling: Highlighting where a human supervisor needs to review or approve information before completion.
How Business Central AI Agents use Copilot credits
Selected Business Central agent capabilities use consumption-based billing, with usage measured in Copilot Credits. Credits are used when the agent carries out AI interactions or actions, and the amount consumed depends on the task involved. This can include analysing an email, processing an attachment, checking availability, creating or updating documents, or generating a response.
How Sales Order Agent Copilot credit consumption works in Business Central
The Sales Order Agent in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central uses consumption-based billing, with usage measured in Copilot Credits.
The number of Copilot Credits used depends on the action the agent performs as it processes customer emails, checks availability, creates or updates sales documents, and generates responses.
|
Sales Order Agent Activity |
Typical Credit Consumption |
|
Analyse incoming email |
2 Copilot Credits |
|
Process attachment where no sales data is detected |
2 Copilot Credits per supported attachment |
|
Process attachment where sales data is detected |
5 Copilot Credits per supported attachment |
|
Check item availability |
5 Copilot Credits |
|
Create or update sales quote |
5 Copilot Credits |
|
Create or update sales order |
5 Copilot Credits |
|
Generate response email |
2 Copilot Credits |
A typical Sales Order Agent workflow may include analysing a customer email, checking item availability, creating or updating a sales quote or sales order, and generating a response email.
Attachments can increase Copilot Credit consumption, particularly where usable sales data is detected.
For more detail on consumption-based billing in Business Central, see Microsoft Learn.
How Payables Agent Copilot credit consumption works in Business Central
The Payables Agent also uses Copilot Credits as it processes supplier invoices within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Credits are consumed as the agent monitors emails, processes PDF invoice attachments, extracts information, matches vendors, classifies invoice lines, and prepares draft purchase documents for review.
The amount of credit consumption will vary depending on invoice complexity, attachment quality, the level of matching required, and how much AI assistance is needed before the document is ready for review.
How are Business Central AI Agent costs managed?
- Business Central AI agent costs are managed through Copilot Credits, with billing typically handled through either prepaid capacity or pay-as-you-go billing.
- Pre-paid is 20% cheaper and can be used for predictable usage.
- Usage should be monitored, particularly during pilot phases or where mailbox volumes are high.
- If available capacity is exhausted, agent capability may become unavailable until more capacity is added or billing is enabled.
What should sales teams qualify before recommending Business Central AI Agents?
Before positioning the Sales Order Agent or Payables Agent in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, sales teams should qualify a few practical points. This includes:
- How many relevant emails or invoices are received each month?
- Are requests and invoices standardised, or do they vary significantly?
- Are customer, item, vendor, and price records clean and up to date in Business Central?
- Who will act as the supervisor to review exceptions and draft documents?
Short FAQs
Do I need Premium to use Agents?
No. Essentials is fine.
How many credits does an Agent use?
This varies by task complexity. Usage appears in Azure once deployed.
Do all users need licences?
No. Agents run at the environment level.
Can you estimate monthly cost?
Monthly cost = credits consumed × credit price.
Want More Information on AI Agents for Business Central?
We are here to help you set up the correct guardrails, so the agent works for you, and you can stay in control of costs.
If you would like to understand where AI agents could fit within your Business Central setup, get in touch with the Synergy Technology team.
For more information on how Synergy Technology can help your business grow, call us on 0345456 0050 or send us a message through our contact page.
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