What's New in Business Central 2026 Release Wave 1 (v28)

The latest update to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, version 28, will be available from April 2026. This release promises to be an important one, with significant additions to features such as AI‑powered agents, supply chain, quality, and insight. Here are the details. 

The release notes for this update can be read here: What's New in Business Central v28.0 

AI‑powered agents and Copilot‑like experiences 

A major focus of this release is the expansion of AI‑powered agents inside Business Central. These agents operate directly within the application to help automate repetitive tasks such as interpreting documents, categorizing expenses, and guiding approvals for payables and expenses. By reducing manual intervention, organizations can improve productivity while keeping control and compliance front‑and‑center. 

Microsoft also continues to weave Copilot and role‑based AI across Dynamics 365 and the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, so Business Central users can expect smoother hand‑offs and contextual assistance in day‑to‑day workflows. 

Stronger finance, operations, and supply chain 

The 2026 wave delivers meaningful improvements in finance and reporting, including more intelligent financial workflows, clearer visibility into business performance, and better‑structured reporting tools that help decision‑makers gain insights from day one. 

With version 28 of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft is introducing structured control over supply chain operations, which has been something many operations teams have been looking forward to. The approval workflow is now formally integrated into key areas like item journals, physical inventory journals, output journals, and consumption journals, which is expected to bring greater accountability to operations. 

Moreover, requisition and planning worksheets now support batch-level approvals. Once the approval request is initiated, changes to the planning lines are restricted, ensuring integrity in the data being used throughout the approval workflow. The approver, however, has the freedom to either accept, reject, or even delegate the request. 

Coming to the data management side, handling items is now more efficient with the addition of variant-level attributes. Users now have the option to manage attributes from the item variants list, while the new synchronization option allows users to apply the same attributes from the parent item to all the item variants, which is expected to bring greater efficiency in operations by reducing the need to manually update the same information across all the variants. 

Strengthens quality management with built‑in end‑to‑end quality checks across the manufacturing and supply‑chain processes. 

The 2026 Release Wave 1 brings a stronger focus on quality by introducing built-in, end-to-end quality checks across manufacturing and supply chain processes. These capabilities allow teams to define quality standards, track inspections, and manage non-conformities directly within the system, reducing reliance on manual processes. 

By integrating quality control into everyday workflows, businesses can identify issues earlier, simplify compliance efforts, and ensure more consistent product outcomes—ultimately leading to improved operational efficiency and higher customer satisfaction. 

The Shopify connector is also refined to ensure smoother data flow and richer operational visibility for retail and distribution teams. 

Mandatory Changes in v28: What You Should Prepare For 

With version 28 of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, several features that were previously optional are now becoming mandatory, making it important for businesses to review their current setup in advance.  Key areas affected include the new sales pricing experience, G/L currency revaluation, and the enhanced “Tell Me” Functionality. 

If your organization is still relying on older configurations in any of these areas, this update may directly impact your workflows and customizations. Preparing early allows you to assess changes, avoid disruptions, and ensure a smoother transition. Working closely with your implementation partner can help you understand the specific impact and plan the necessary adjustments effectively. 

If you're unsure how these changes might affect your current setup, this is usually the right time to take a closer look. Connect with Everware, we often work with teams to evaluate upgrade impact and identify what needs attention—before it becomes a challenge during implementation. 

Improved governance, security, and environment management 

For IT and administrators, the 2026 wave boosts governance, compliance, and security with: 

• Partner‑managed environment access: partners can now be assigned permissions to specific environments, simplifying control and audit trails. 

• Customer‑managed encryption keys, which help organizations meet stricter privacy and data‑protection standards. 

• Extended update windows and a unified interface for managing per‑tenant extensions (PTEs) and AppSource apps, streamlining deployments across multiple environments. 

  
  

How to plan your Business Central 2026 wave‑1 rollout 

• Start by reviewing the official Dynamics 365 2026 release wave 1 plan, which lists all new features and timelines across Dynamics 365 apps, including Business Central: 2026 release wave 1 plan – Microsoft Learn 

• For BC‑specific details, see the Business Central 2026 release wave 1 overview: Business Central 2026 release wave 1 – Microsoft Learn 

• Technical partners and developers can explore the Update 28.0 public preview notes and the Early Access Preview: New Features page inside Business Central to test and provide feedback on upcoming capabilities: Update 28.0 public preview – Microsoft Learn Early Access Preview: New Features (BC28) – community summary 
  

If you’re responsible for Business Central in your organization, now is the time to review the feature list, run a quick impact assessment, and align your upgrade and training roadmap with Microsoft’s April–September 2026 rollout window. 

Release Timeline at a Glance 

To better understand how and when these features become available, here is a simplified view of the release plan: 

Phase	Timeline	What It Means for You
Early Access	February 2026	Opportunity to explore and test new features in a sandbox environment
Public Preview	March 2026	Broader access to features for validation and feedback
General Availability	April 2026	Official rollout begins for production environments
Regional Rollout	April – September 2026	Features are gradually enabled across regions and tenants

This phased rollout is designed to give businesses enough time to evaluate, test, and adapt before fully committing to the update. 

Waiting until April might be too late to react—this is the window to get ahead. Start testing now, while you still have the flexibility to adapt, refine, and roll out changes on your terms.