TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Odoo & Power BI: Industry-Leading Business Tools
- What makes Odoo a popular choice?
- Why Businesses Combine Odoo with Power BI
- 1. Enhanced data visualisation possibilities
- 2. Streamlined data analysis & reporting
- 3. Improved decision-making with real-time insights
- 4. Increased efficiency with automation
- Common Workflows Of Odoo & Power BI Integration
- 1. Automate Data Synchronisation
- 2. Custom Data Export From Odoo To Power BI
- 3. Import Power BI Workspace Into Odoo
- Assessing Different Odoo & Power Bi Integration Approaches
- 1. Manual data export
- 2. Custom integration with Odoo experts
Business Central Sales: 10+ Ways It Helps Australians Sell Smarter
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Marcie Nguyen
Marcie is a skilled writer at Havi Technology focusing on creating content for marketing, eCommerce, point of sales, and ERP solutions. With over 8 years of experience in the retail, eCommerce and ERP technology sectors, Marcie is dedicated to providing insightful answers to business owners of all scales.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Business Central Sales is the dedicated sales capability within Dynamics 365 Business Central. It allows Australian SMEs to manage the entire quote-to-cash cycle in one platform, removing the need for spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected systems.
Manual entry slows teams, GST compliance adds complexity, and fragmented tools obscure margins. Business Central Sales resolves these challenges by combining sales quotes, orders, invoicing, reporting, and compliance into a single process, aligned to Australian requirements like GST and ABN.
This article outlines over 10 practical ways Business Central Sales helps Australians sell smarter and concludes with a comparison to Dynamics 365 Sales, clarifying when each solution is the right fit.
1. Register and Manage Customers with Ease
Business Central Sales helps Australian SMEs register and manage customers easily by centralising records that capture ABN, GST, and compliance data required by the ATO. This ensures onboarding is fast, accurate, and reliable, without relying on scattered spreadsheets or disconnected systems. See the following screenshot for the customer card registration within Business Central:
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In a market where rising costs and strict reporting pressure businesses, Business Central Sales gives leaders confidence that every transaction starts with complete and trustworthy data. Accurate records set the stage for creating precise, compliant sales quotes.
2. Create and Manage Sales Quotes
Business Central Sales enables Australian SMEs to create and manage quotes quickly by standardising pricing, tax, and discount details within a single system, reducing errors and accelerating approvals. Each quote can be generated professionally, with GST already calculated, and converted into an order without duplicate data entry. A sales quote document inside Business Central is presented in the following image:
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By removing manual bottlenecks and ensuring quotes flow seamlessly into orders, Business Central Sales strengthens both compliance and competitiveness for growing SMEs. Accepted quotes naturally flow into orders and invoices, forming the backbone of the quote-to-cash process.
3. Turn Quotes into Orders and Invoices Seamlessly
Business Central Sales helps Australian SMEs turn quotes into orders and invoices seamlessly by automating the entire conversion cycle, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and speed without manual re-entry. Every accepted quote flows into a sales order, retaining pricing, customer details, and item specifics. From there, invoices are generated instantly through standardised templates built for GST and ATO compliance.
As shown in the image below, the user clicks on the “Make Order’’ button to turn the sales quote into a sales order:
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Case studies such as BlueScope Australia show that consolidating legacy systems into Dynamics 365 has improved quoting accuracy, order visibility, and customer experience (Microsoft News, 2023). Broader research with Australian organisations also found that adopting integrated ERP platforms drives operational efficiency and more informed decision-making (Microsoft, 2016).
For SMEs, this continuity eliminates bottlenecks and frees staff to focus on customer engagement and business growth. After invoicing, fulfilment begins: picking, shipping, and posting sales transactions with warehouse continuity.
4. Pick, Ship, and Post Sales Transactions
Australian SMEs manage fulfilment more effectively with Business Central Sales as it automates picking, shipping, and posting, ensuring every order flows smoothly from warehouse to invoice. The picture below shows how to create inventory/put-away/movement from a sales order in Business Central:
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By streamlining fulfilment end-to-end, Business Central Sales enables SMEs to cut errors, shorten delivery-to-invoice cycles, and improve customer experience. The next section shows how the platform also manages exceptions, partial shipments, returns, and cancellations, reducing disputes and revenue leakage.
5. Handle Partial Shipments, Returns, and Cancellations
Australian SMEs minimise disputes and protect revenue with Business Central Sales by managing partial shipments, returns, and cancellations through structured, automated workflows. In the following image, the user can see the sales and receivables setup page with options for returning a receipt on a credit memo:
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This capability is critical in Australia’s e-commerce market, where returns are rising. Recent research shows that 66% of Australian shoppers report unsatisfactory returns, and 51% are unlikely to repurchase after a poor experience (PR Newswire, 2023).
By systemising these flows, Business Central Sales protects cash flow and preserves long-term customer relationships. Beyond exceptions, the system also supports special orders and drop shipments for flexible supply chains.
6. Streamline Special Orders and Drop Shipments
Business Central Sales enables Australian SMEs to streamline special orders and drop shipments by linking sales directly to purchase orders or suppliers, reducing delays and avoiding excess stock. See the image below for the drop shipment setup for a sales order:
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Local context highlights the urgency: 80% of Australian manufacturers are localising supply chains to build resilience and control against global disruptions (Abundance Global, 2024). Features like special orders and drop shipments directly support this shift, helping SMEs stay responsive while maintaining compliance and customer trust. The following section explores how recurring sales lines and blanket orders give SMEs stability in long-term contracts and repeat customer transactions.
7. Manage Recurring Sales Lines and Blanket Orders
Business Central Sales helps Australian SMEs manage recurring sales lines and blanket orders by automating repeat billing and supporting long-term contracts with clear audit trails. User can edit blanket sales orders in Business Central, as illustrated in the following screenshot:
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This approach benefits industries from wholesale and maintenance to IT services by providing revenue stability and stronger customer retention.
Automation of these workflows improves predictability in both cash flow and operations. In Australia’s competitive SME environment, where efficiency and trust are critical, structured recurring and blanket order processes give leaders confidence that obligations are met consistently. From contracts, we move to shipment consolidation and delivery date calculations that sharpen logistics performance.
8. Combine Shipments and Calculate Promising Dates
Business Central Sales enables Australian SMEs to combine multiple shipments into one invoice and calculate realistic delivery dates automatically, improving both efficiency and customer trust. The picture below reveals the order promising setup card inside Business Central:
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Reliability is crucial. In 2024, suburbs like Truganina, VIC (58.8% late orders) and Broadway, NSW (31%) reported significant delays, while half of customers said they would not return after a poor delivery experience (Brennan, 2024). Accurate fulfilment planning is therefore essential to safeguard loyalty.
The next section shows how built-in sales reports provide visibility into performance—helping SMEs track customers, orders, and revenue with precision.
9. Analyse Sales Performance with Built-In Reports
Business Central Sales helps Australian SMEs analyse sales performance with built-in reports that track customers, orders, and revenue in formats ready for print or Excel. See the sales and marketing reports in the user centre in the following screenshot:
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This integrated approach gives SMEs the confidence to replace spreadsheets and disconnected tools with dashboards that are both faster and more reliable. Businesses migrating to ERP platforms consistently highlight better visibility and quicker decision-making, demonstrating the value of embedded reporting. Next, analytics and Power BI expand reporting into trends, customer behaviour, and performance KPIs.
10. Unlock Sales Insights with Analytics and Power BI
Business Central Sales empowers Australian SMEs to unlock sales insights by combining built-in analytics with Power BI dashboards that track customers, items, salespeople, and key performance indicators. Sales analytics are built in, while the Power BI Sales App is available as an add-on integration that connects seamlessly with Business Central.
See the example of the Sales by Items report in the Power BI Sales app below:
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By integrating ERP-grade data with intuitive visualisation, Business Central Sales supports timely, fact-based decisions and greater accountability. In a competitive landscape where data-driven agility is essential, this capability strengthens both growth and resilience. The next section explores how the AI-powered Sales Order Agent further accelerates sales processes by automating routine order tasks.
11. Empower Sales Teams with the Sales Order Agent
Business Central Sales empowers Australian SMEs with the Sales Order Agent, an AI-driven assistant that accelerates order processing by automating routine tasks and reducing manual input. The Sales Order Agent is a Copilot feature built into Business Central, but must be enabled and configured by administrators before use.
The image below illustrates the task view with the steps of the Sales Order Agent in Business Central:
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According to Microsoft’s From Hype to Habit report, 51% of organisations in Australia and New Zealand report saving over an hour per day with generative AI, while 71% have seen customer satisfaction improve since adopting these tools (Microsoft News, 2024).
By automating order creation and minimising errors, the Sales Order Agent improves speed, responsiveness, and reliability, helping SMEs deliver consistent customer experiences. Next, we see how Outlook and Teams integration embeds sales tools directly into daily collaboration.
12. Work Smarter with Outlook and Teams Integration
Business Central Sales helps Australian SMEs work smarter by embedding ERP data into Outlook and Teams, enabling staff to manage contacts, sales documents, and collaboration directly within familiar tools. See how to add attachments from an email to records in Business Central in the following screenshot:
Integration with Outlook and Teams is provided through official Microsoft add-ins, which connect Business Central records directly into email and collaboration environments. At Havi Technology, as a Microsoft Partner in Australia, we also provide end-to-end support for configuring and optimising these integrations.
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By bringing ERP functionality into everyday apps, Business Central Sales streamlines communication, improves responsiveness, and strengthens decision-making, all while ensuring compliance and auditability. The next section explores how subscription billing and recurring revenue management support SMEs in building predictable, long-term income streams.
13. Manage Subscriptions and Recurring Revenue
Business Central Sales enables Australian SMEs to manage subscriptions and recurring revenue by automating contracts, renewals, and usage-based billing, ensuring predictable income and compliance. Microsoft shows the subscription billing flow in the picture below:
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This automation reduces errors and keeps cash flow steady, particularly for SMEs relying on recurring service models. Clear audit trails also protect compliance while lowering administrative effort. By systemising recurring revenue, Business Central Sales helps leaders build sustainable growth and stronger customer loyalty.
But how do SMEs know when Business Central Sales is enough, and when Dynamics 365 Sales becomes the better fit?
Business Central Sales vs. Dynamics 365 Sales: Which Do Australian SMEs Really Need?
Australian SMEs need Business Central Sales for core order-to-cash operations, while Dynamics 365 Sales is best for advanced CRM and pipeline management. The choice depends on whether the priority is streamlining compliance and fulfilment or deepening customer relationships and forecasting. This section clarifies the differences through a direct comparison and answers key questions to guide decision-makers.
For SMEs exploring the broader ERP context, our blog on Business Central ERP in Australia examines how BC has developed from NAV into a modern platform that balances compliance, usability, and scalability in the Australian market.
What is the difference between Business Central Sales and Dynamics 365 Sales?
Business Central Sales focuses on ERP-driven order processing and compliance, whereas Dynamics 365 Sales focuses on CRM and customer engagement. Business Central Sales is an ERP-centric solution managing order processing, invoicing, inventory, and financial workflows. Dynamics 365 Sales is a cloud-based CRM focused on managing customer relationships, tracking leads and opportunities, and supporting sales pipelines. The two serve distinct purposes and often complement rather than replace one another.
Which solution suits SMEs with simple versus complex sales cycles?
For simple sales cycles, Business Central Sales is sufficient; for complex, relationship-driven cycles, Dynamics 365 Sales is stronger. SMEs with straightforward workflows, quotes, orders, invoicing, and stock, will find most of their needs met by Business Central Sales. In contrast, organisations operating longer sales cycles, requiring in-depth pipeline visibility and AI-driven opportunity insights, may benefit from adding Dynamics 365 Sales to better support their sales teams.
To understand why this phased approach makes sense, see our overview of Dynamics 365 Business Central for details on how its features and benefits are best fit for SMEs.
Do Australian SMEs typically start with Business Central Sales and later adopt Dynamics 365 Sales?
Yes, most SMEs begin with Business Central Sales and later add Dynamics 365 Sales as sales teams grow and require CRM depth. Australian SMEs adopt Business Central Sales first to standardise invoicing and inventory management. As their sales teams expand and need stronger pipeline tracking, they often add Dynamics 365 Sales to grow into a full lead-to-cash ecosystem.
Can both systems work together seamlessly?
Yes, Business Central and Dynamics 365 Sales work seamlessly together through Dataverse integration, syncing customers, orders, and inventory. This setup allows automatic syncing of customers, quotes, orders, and inventory levels between systems, ensuring data consistency across both platforms.
From Smarter Sales to Smarter Growth
Business Central Sales equips Australian SMEs to sell smarter by streamlining quotes, orders, invoicing, and compliance while delivering insights that support growth. For most, it unifies sales and finance effectively, with Dynamics 365 Sales available for advanced CRM as needs evolve.
As an Official Microsoft Partner in Australia, Havi tailors Business Central Sales for localisation needs among local businesses. Ready to explore the fit for your business? Book a free consultation with our team.
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