Business Central 27.4: New AI Features, Sandbox Control, and What You Must Have in 28.0

Microsoft continues to improve Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central forward at a rapid pace. Business Central 27.4 delivers meaningful changes across AI extensibility, administrative control, and platform readiness. Several of these features are set to become mandatory in release wave 28.0.

For financial teams, IT leaders, and operational stakeholders, this release is worth understanding now rather than at upgrade time.

This is your chance to make Business Central Cloud work better.
This release shows how swiftly the cloud platform is moving forward whether you are using NAV or Business Central on-prem.

By the way, if you are still on NAV or Business Central on-prem, this is a good time to review your migration options.

Learn more on our NAV to Business Central page.

Ok, let's get to the bottom of what matters most.

Here is what Business Central 27.4 covers and what to expect in 28.0.

• Business Central 27.4 adds early AI agent capabilities.
• Sandbox database export improves testing and readiness.
• Release wave 28.0 will make several features mandatory.
• Testing features early reduces upgrade disruption risk.
• Cloud innovation is moving faster than on-prem.

1. Imagine and Make a Prototype of Custom AI Agents

Agent Designer is one of the most forward-looking new features in Business Central 27.4. It lets you imagine and create unique AI agents.

This improvement helps:

• Creating AI agents in Business Central that are specific to a task
• Looking into AI-driven automation for finance and operations
• Making testing better without a lot of custom development

This is what embedded ERP intelligence is built on.

Companies may start implementing AI-driven workflows from inside the Microsoft ecosystem instead of using separate automation technologies.

This implications for financial leaders:

• Reconciliations that go faster
• Handling transactions more intelligently
• Less work done by hand

For leaders in IT:

• Control over AI testing
• Integration that is structured within Business Central
• Less reliance on automation platforms from other companies

The AI elements of Business Central are no longer just ideas. They are becoming an element of how ERP works.

2. Export Databases from the Sandbox Environment

The ability to export sandbox environment databases is another major new feature in Business Central 27.4.

This may sound technical, but it has big effects on how to manage systems and get them ready for upgrades.

Some of the main benefits are:

• Better control of tests before changes are made to production
• Easier to copy the environment
• Better troubleshooting and validation
• Better governance of development

For businesses that have extensions, integrations, or adaptations for their industry, the ability to export to a sandbox makes things more flexible while keeping the platform stable.

This supports one of the main benefits of Business Central Cloud: the ability to innovate without having to deal with disruptive update cycles.

3. Features That Will Be Required in Business Central 28.0

Business Central 27.4 also tells you what you will need to do soon.

In release wave 28.0, several features that are currently optional will become mandatory. When that happens, old settings or extensions that aren't supported can cause problems.

Updates that you will have to do soon include:

• Allow G/L currency revaluation to be used
• New experience with pricing for sales
• New texts for reminder phrases for communication
• Advanced Tell Me (sneak peek)
• Count only FlowFields that are visible
• Allow access to the MCP Server
• Look at semantic similarity search on metadata
• Lists with optimized text search

Companies who proactively enable and test these features on the Feature Management page will greatly lower their risk.

People who wait may have to deal with:

• Conflicts with extensions
• Changes in how the system works that aren't expected
• Efforts to fix things in an emergency

This is one of the most essential parts of the Business Central 2025 release wave for strategy.

What Business Central 27.4 Means for the Future

Business Central 27.4 strengthens three main directions for the platform:

• AI built into ERP
• Better search intelligence and usability
• Cloud deployment leads to ongoing innovation

This is important for businesses who are thinking about modernizing.

AI improvements don't happen at the same rate in on-prem systems.
They don't get anything out of quick upgrades to the sandbox.
They don't move at the same speed as Microsoft's forward roadmap.

With each new version, the distance between legacy ERP and cloud ERP grows.

What You Should Do Before 28.0 Is Out

To keep ahead of problems, businesses should:

• Check the settings for Audit Feature Management right away
• Look at all of the custom integrations and extensions
• Use the sandbox to test the new functionality for changing prices and currencies
• Look into how AI agents can be used in finance or operations
• Check to see if your environment is ready for the changes that are coming up

Business Central 27.4 isn't only an update to the features. It means that ERP is getting smarter, more AI-friendly, and better all the time.

The question is not if change is coming. It's about how ready your company is for it.

Last thought

Business Central is more than just a record-keeping system now. It is turning into a system that runs on AI and constant new ideas.

The organizations that benefit most are the ones that stay ahead of the release cycle rather than react to it.

Make Business Central run the business, not just track it. Start optimizing today.