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What's new in Business Central 2025 release wave 1 (v26)
Update 26 (2025 release wave 1) is the release where AI moved from “assistant” to “agent.” It is also a quietly large release for developers, with a long list of AL language improvements. Here is what matters and why.
The Sales Order Agent
The flagship feature is the Sales Order Agent: a production-ready preview that automates sales-order processing from customer emails. It identifies the customer, clarifies details over email, checks item availability, creates quotes and orders, and generates PDF documents — and every interaction is tracked in Business Central so a human can step in.
Why it matters: order entry from email is high-volume, repetitive and error-prone — exactly the work that drains a sales-support team. An agent that drafts the order and leaves a human to approve it can reclaim real hours. The honest caveat: it is billed via Copilot Studio messages, so the business case depends on your order volume. We help clients model that cost before switching it on, not after.
Copilot on every card
Two features bring AI into everyday data entry. Autofill with Copilot suggests values for editable fields on cards and documents based on your own data and AI. Summarize with Copilot generates a concise, role-aware summary of a customer, item or order right in the FactBox. There is also Copilot-assisted purchase order line matching.
Why it matters: these are low-risk, high-frequency wins. A summary in the FactBox means a credit controller understands a customer at a glance instead of opening five pages. Autofill reduces keystrokes on every new record. Neither requires process change — they just make the existing screens faster.
Sustainability: Scope 3 value chain tracking
Scope 3 value-chain processing is now embedded in standard ERP processes, calculating the CO₂ equivalent for finished goods so you can report indirect emissions across your upstream and downstream value chain. The release also adds water and waste management and sustainability data on general journals.
Why it matters: CSRD and similar reporting obligations are arriving for mid-sized companies, and Scope 3 is the hardest number to produce. Having it calculated inside the same system that already records your purchases and production — rather than in a separate spreadsheet exercise — is what makes the reporting sustainable in every sense.
A strong release for developers
Update 26 packed in AL improvements that compound over time: the continue keyword for loops, lists and dictionaries of interfaces, a ToText method for simple types, multiline string literals, moving tables and fields with data across extensions as part of refactoring, and using app symbols as context for GitHub Copilot.
foreach Line in SalesLines do begin
if Line.Type <> Line.Type::Item then
continue; // skip non-item lines cleanly — no nested if
ProcessItemLine(Line);
end;Why it matters: these are not cosmetic. Cross-extension data move is the feature that finally lets partners refactor a monolithic extension safely. For clients, that means the custom code you own can be modernised rather than frozen — which keeps your long-term maintenance costs down.
Our take
For most customers the immediate value is Autofill and Summarize — switch them on, they help on day one. The Sales Order Agent is genuinely transformative for the right order profile, but treat it as a costed project, not a free toggle. And if sustainability reporting is on your horizon, start mapping Scope 3 now.
Curious whether the Sales Order Agent fits your order volume, or want your custom extension refactored using the new cross-extension tooling? Tell us your story for an honest, free assessment.