Getting Started with Dynamics 365 Business Central
Business Central partner here.
When you sign up for the Business Central preview you get access to a demonstration company. The demonstration company contains sample data, but you can create your own sales documents, for example, or set up a bank account.
Get to know Business Central
In Business Central partner here.
[!TIP]
You can get back to the Role Center by selecting the company name in the upper left corner.
For some quick, nice-to-know tricks, see:
For more information, see Working with Business Central.
When you are ready to start working and you want to look at some of the business processes that Business Central supports, see Business Functionality. For an overview of current capabilities and what is coming, take a look at our roadmap at roadmap.dynamics.com.
The Role Centers
The Role Center window is based on a role-centric design to give you fast access to the business process and intelligence tools that you need to do your job. For example, an accountant can monitor payments and approvals, and view finance performance charts. Check out the various Role Center by choosing the Settings icon 
in the top right corner, choosing My Settings, and then the Role Center to explore. Sign in again to apply the change. For more information, see Changing Basic Settings.
Each Role Center provides a Setup and Extensions button. Here you have access to a list of assisted setup that can help you get started by setting selected areas up quickly. If an area is not covered by an assisted setup, choose the Manual Setup action to access setup windows where you can fill in setup fields for all areas manually. For more information, see also Setting Up Business Central.
[!NOTE]
The list of setup guides, extensions, and services that are available differ depending on the user experience you choose for your company. The Essential experience gives access to fewer than the Premium experience does. The first time you sign in, you use the Essential experience. For more information, see Changing Which Features are Displayed.
In the Assisted Setup window, you will find the following with the Essential experience:
| Assisted Setup | Description |
|---|---|
| Migrate Business Data | Lets you import your existing company data such as vendors, customers, and items from Excel or Quickbooks. |
| Set Up My Company | Creates a new trial company for you to enter data and try out Business Central. If you went through the Getting Started tour this is probably already Completed. |
| Set Up Cash Flow Forecast | Sets up the Cash Flow Forecast chart, so you can view the predicted movement of cash in and out of your business. The chart is available on the Accountant Role Center. |
| Set Up Approval Workflows | Sets up the ability to automatically notify an approver when a user tries to create or change certain values on documents, journal lines, or cards, such as an amount above a specified limit. |
| Set Up a Customer Approval Workflow | Sets up the ability to automatically notify an approver when a user tries to create or change a customer card. |
| Set Up Email | Gets you ready for sending email messages directly from, for example, sales orders or contacts in Business Central. |
| Set Up Email Logging | Sets up the capability to log email correspondence in Business Central to follow up on interactions. |
| Set Up Outlook for Business Central from Outlook. | |
| Set Up Reporting | Sets up data sets that you can use to build powerful reports using Excel or Power BI, for example. |
| Set Up an Item Approval Workflow | Sets up the ability to send a notification to an approver when a user changes or creates an item. |
| Set Up a Payment Approval Workflow | Sets up the ability to send a notification to an approver when a user sends payment journal lines for approval. |
| Set Up the Business Central Connector | Sets up a connection to Dynamics 365 for Sales, which allows you to synchronize data such as contacts and sales order information. |
| Set Up Sales Tax | Gets you started with default tax groups and assigning tax area codes that you can assign to customers and vendors in order to automatically calculate sales tax in sales or purchase documents. |
Trying things out in your own company
Thinking about subscribing? You can easily change from the demonstration company, and create and work in a company of your own. This is a great way to start toward a subscription. Setups for finances are provided; you just need to create or import your customers, vendors, and the products or services that you sell. After that, you're ready to post invoices and use business intelligence tools to analyze your business. You can use your company for free for a 30-day trial period. If you subscribe to Business Central during that time, you're already up and running. You can continue with the work you did during the trial.
To create a company to try things out, go to the My Settings menu in the top right corner, and change the company to My Company. Sign out of Business Central and then sign in again to apply the change. An assisted setup guide will help you provide basic information about your company. When that's done, explore the Role Center and find the Assisted Setup action.
Alternatively, find a Business Central partner here.
Ready to subscribe?
Each time you sign in during the trial period, a notification in a blue bar at the top displays the time remaining. If you decide to subscribe, find a Business Central Sales team](https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=828707).
Other Dynamics 365 apps
Navigate to content about the other Dynamics 365 apps by choosing the Dynamics 365 link in the blue banner at the top of this page. You can also learn more at the Dynamics 365 Business Central website.
If you are an accountant, you can sign up for Business Central. For more information, see Welcome to Dynamics 365 — Accountant Hub.
See Also
Working with Business Central
Setting Up Business Central
Customizing Business Central Using Extensions
Using Business Central as my Business Inbox in Outlook
Getting Business Central on Your Mobile Device
Dynamics 365 Documentation
Business Central Roadmap
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central