"We have Dynamics 365" can mean three different things at a distributor: Business Central as the ERP, Finance and Supply Chain Management as the ERP for larger companies, or Dynamics 365 Sales as the CRM. For the question of how orders and quotes get into the system automatically, this makes a big difference. A Dynamics 365 interface only accepts structured data in every case. Someone has to read and match customers' emails, PDFs and Excel lists beforehand, and that is exactly where AI comes in.

Key takeaways

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a product family. Orders are created in Business Central or in Supply Chain Management, while opportunities and quotes are often kept in Dynamics 365 Sales as well.

• Business Central has a REST API with resources such as salesQuotes and salesOrders. Supply Chain Management works with data entities such as "Sales order headers V2" via OData or the data management framework.

• Both routes expect customer number, item number, quantity and date. Translating customer wording, customer item numbers and Excel columns remains manual work.

• Mercura reads orders and inquiries in any format, matches them to your item master and writes approved documents to Dynamics 365. Prices and calculation stay in the ERP.

• Typical Dynamics users in technical distribution are mid-sized distributors that often run Business Central with an industry solution from a partner.

Which Dynamics 365 do you actually have?

For order entry, what counts is where sales orders are created in your Dynamics landscape: in Business Central or in Supply Chain Management. Dynamics 365 Sales is a CRM. Opportunities and quotes are managed there, but order processing with stock, delivery and invoicing runs in the ERP. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is the ERP system for small and mid-sized companies, Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management are the ERP systems for larger organizations, and Dynamics 365 Sales is the CRM system for sales and marketing. On top of that come apps such as Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Field Service; Business Central is available in the cloud and on premises.

For orders, Business Central documents the resource salesOrder, with line items as salesOrderLines, and for quotes the resource salesQuote. In Supply Chain Management, the counterparts are called Sales order headers V2 and Sales order lines V2. Microsoft describes that the order header is imported first and then the line items.

What can a Dynamics 365 interface do, and where does manual work remain?

A Dynamics 365 interface creates documents when the data is already in the language of the ERP: correct customer number, correct item number, matching unit. It does not decide which item is meant when an electrical contractor writes "NYM 3x1.5 100 m coil" or sends an Excel list with its own columns. For Business Central, that means: the Business Central API accepts sales orders with customer, items and quantities, but no emails and no PDFs.

In the inside sales team of a distributor with Business Central, these tasks typically remain:

• Reading formats. PDF orders from purchasing systems, Excel lists, free-text emails, photos of material lists.

• Resolving customer item numbers. Business Central has item references for this, which match a customer's designation, unit or variant to an item. They are usually maintained only for the most important customers.

• Manufacturer numbers instead of distributor numbers. Many customers order with the manufacturer item number or the EAN, not with your item number.

• Delivery details. Construction site address, requested date, partial delivery allowed or not.

• Surcharges. Freight, minimum order surcharge or packaging as additional lines.

Example: An Excel order becomes a sales order in Business Central

Example (anonymized): An electrical installation company sends an electrical wholesaler an Excel file with its own structure and the request "delivery week 46 to the school center site, hall B".

For a sales order via the Business Central API, this has to become: the installer's customerNumber, externalDocumentNumber from the file name or the email, requestedDeliveryDate from "week 46", a different delivery address and, per line, item and quantity.

• Lines 1 and 2 can be matched via item references if the customer is maintained there. Otherwise someone has to search the item master.

• Line 3 has no number. The text describes an RCBO with characteristic B, 16 A and 30 mA residual current. Which item that is has to be determined from the attributes.

• Line 4 orders "pieces", but the item may be sold in packs. The unit has to be converted or queried.

Mercura takes over this matching: the text is compared against your item master and product data, the unit is checked and an uncertain line such as line 3 is flagged instead of guessed. Inside sales reviews and approves, then the order is created in Business Central.

How does Mercura connect to Microsoft Dynamics 365?

Mercura is connected to Microsoft Dynamics 365 and, depending on the environment, uses a direct API, a file exchange via SFTP or a scheduled API sync. Dynamics 365 remains the leading system, and prices and calculation stay in the ERP. Connections run only via routes your IT approves and controls.

The process in order entry:

1. Orders are read from the shared mailbox, whether email, PDF, scan, photo or Excel.

2. The order is assigned to the right branch or the responsible clerk.

3. Customer wording, customer item numbers and old numbers are mapped to your items.

4. Surcharge line items such as freight or packaging are added according to your rules.

5. Uncertain line items are flagged. Inside sales reviews and approves.

6. The order is booked in Dynamics 365, and the exports are monitored.

For quotes, Mercura reads inquiries and bills of quantities, matches each line item to your catalog, checks the specification, creates price requests to suppliers for items you do not stock and writes the approved quote to the ERP. Open quotes are tracked for follow-up. More under Quotes and tenders.

On security: Mercura is certified to ISO/IEC 27001, GDPR-compliant and hosted in Europe. Each customer has its own tenant, and customer data does not train external AI models.

Isn't an Excel import or Power Automate enough?

A fixed Excel import or a Power Automate flow is enough if a few large customers always order in the same format. Then you build one template per customer and save yourself additional software. As soon as many customers write in changing formats, every new template becomes its own small project.

The article EDI or AI? goes deeper on the comparison with EDI, and OCR or AI? on the comparison with classic text recognition.

When does Mercura not fit your Dynamics landscape?

Mercura does not fit if your orders already arrive almost entirely structured via EDI, web shop or portal. Then the remaining effort is small, and more software hardly pays off. If you only enter a handful of orders per day, you also gain little.

Also keep in mind:

• Partner extensions. Many Business Central installations in wholesale run with an industry solution from a Microsoft partner that brings its own fields or document types. Which of them have to be filled during integration is clarified in the technical test.

• CRM or ERP. If your quotes are created in Dynamics 365 Sales and orders in the ERP, decide beforehand which document Mercura writes to which system.

• Prices. Mercura does not calculate its own prices. If your conditions in the ERP are incomplete, Mercura does not fix that.

What does this deliver in practice?

Customers in technical distribution handle more inquiries in less time with Mercura. At the plumbing and HVAC wholesaler Sanitär-Heinze, the processing time was cut from two days to two hours per quote, and instead of around 70%, 100% of incoming inquiries are now handled. Michael Kania, Vice President Controlling: "What used to take 2 days now takes only 2 hours." (Case study Sanitär-Heinze)

Mercura works with several distributors in electrical wholesale. Across all customers, the average matching rate is 92%, depending on customer and catalog. A technical test on your own data usually runs within two working days, and the first workflows are live in under four weeks. You can find more on distributors under Solutions for distributors.

Test it with a real order

Bring a real order (or a real bill of quantities): in 30 minutes we show you how Mercura handles it in your process and prepares it as a document for Dynamics 365. Book a meeting

Conclusion

With the Business Central API and the data entities in Supply Chain Management, Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers solid routes for creating orders and quotes. These routes presuppose structured data, which customers do not deliver by email, PDF and Excel. Mercura closes this gap: read, match, flag, have it approved and then book. Dynamics 365 remains the leading system with your items and prices.

Further reading

• Integrations: connect Mercura to ERP, CRM and PIM

• ERP Integration: How Mercura Connects to Your ERP, CRM and PIM

• proALPHA Integration: Orders Straight Into the ERP

• Customer story: Sanitär-Heinze (plumbing and HVAC wholesale)

Frequently asked questions

What interface does Dynamics 365 Business Central have for orders?

Business Central offers a REST API (version 2.0) with the resources salesOrders and salesOrderLines for orders and salesQuotes for quotes. Documents can be created through it via POST.

What is the difference between Business Central and Supply Chain Management?

Business Central is aimed at small and mid-sized companies. Supply Chain Management, usually used together with Dynamics 365 Finance, is intended for larger and more complex organizations and is integrated via data entities.

Can Dynamics 365 read PDF orders itself?

The ERP interfaces accept structured data, not PDFs. Reading and matching PDF, Excel and email orders requires an upstream solution or an in-house development.

Are customer item numbers translated automatically?

With Mercura, yes: customer wording, customer item numbers and old numbers are matched to your items. Uncertain matches are flagged and reviewed by inside sales.

Where do prices and calculation stay?

In the ERP. Mercura takes prices from Dynamics 365 and does not calculate its own.

How quickly is a test possible?

A technical test on your own data usually runs within two working days. You can read more about order entry in general in the article Automate order entry.