Systems map

A common pattern mid-migration: systems meet in a spreadsheet, and someone checks the numbers by hand at month end.

Outside Microsoft
Xero
Acquired business
Livestock
Agent systems
Warehouse
Stock on hand
Paper and PDF
Dockets and forms
The join
Spreadsheets and email
The usual join
  • ~ CSV exports
  • ~ Re-keyed entries
  • ~ Month-end tie-outs
  • ~ final_v3.xlsx
Microsoft
Business Central
Group ledger
BC MCP server
Ships with BC
Power BI
Mixed sources
Who asks
Copilot
Inside Microsoft
Claude
Not connected
Finance team
Checks by hand

Already solved

Configuration. Microsoft ships these.

  • Business Central MCP server
    Turns BC's API pages into tools an assistant can call
  • Copilot
    Works inside Microsoft 365 and Business Central
  • Standard BC APIs
    Customers, invoices, journals, payments
  • Power BI connector
    Reads Business Central directly

Still needs building

Engineering. This is where the work is.

  • Access rules
    By default, MCP gives agents read access to every exposed API page. Someone decides what each role may read and write.
  • Xero and non-Microsoft systems
    Joined into Business Central once, with the mapping written down
  • Reconciliation
    Business Central checked against each source, with every mismatch flagged
  • Custom data
    Added fields and Jobs WIP published as API pages so an agent can see them
  • Paper and PDF
    Read into records, then checked before they post

Which assistant for which job

Copilot

Best when the job lives in Microsoft 365

  • Already open
    Sits in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel, where people work all day
  • Already paid for
    Part of the Microsoft 365 licence
  • Help in the flow of work
    Summarise this thread, draft this reply, tidy this table
Limits
  • Strongest inside Microsoft
    Xero, the warehouse and PDFs sit outside that boundary
  • Tool cap per agent
    Copilot Studio limits how many tools one agent loads. Business Central added a dynamic tool mode to work around it.

Claude

Best when the job crosses systems or needs building

  • Jobs that cross systems
    Xero, Business Central and a folder of PDFs in one conversation
  • Long jobs
    Work through 200 exceptions, or find why two ledgers disagree
  • Builds the fix
    Writes and runs the code, so a one-off answer becomes a check you rerun every month
  • Same front door
    Connects to the same BC MCP server Copilot uses. Microsoft documents non-Microsoft clients.
One set of permissions
What an agent may read or write is set in Business Central, not in the assistant. Adding Claude adds no second security surface.
Open standard
MCP is open. Configure Business Central once, then point any assistant at it, including whatever leads in two years.
Microsoft uses Claude too
Claude models have been inside Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio since September 2025.