Meet the new one – Payables Agent in Business Central

In version 26.3 of Business Central, the Payables Agent overview has been made available as a preliminary feature. This feature is accessible through the Business Central | Microsoft Learn portal.

In many cases, limitations are present. In this instance, a United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), Australian, and New Zealand (NZ) environment is necessary for testing purposes. In the event that the tenant is located elsewhere, it is possible to create a new sandbox (Version 26.3) with one of the aforementioned localizations. This will allow the process to proceed.

Setting up the Agent

In the context of Business Central, few elements are as straightforward to configure as the agents. Upon initiation of the Business Central program, it will become evident that the Sales Order Agent has a new associate in the Role Center.

To access the Payables Agent pane, simply click on the “PA” option. To initiate the process, select the “Activate” option, which will direct you to the Agents Setup interface.

In order to initiate the process, it is necessary to select the “Active” button. This action will result in the activation of the agent. In addition to the activation process, it is necessary to establish a mailbox that the agent will subsequently access.

To proceed, locate the “Monitor incoming information” button and select the desired mailbox. It is strongly recommended that users reserve the mailbox exclusively for agent purposes. Furthermore, the utilization of multiple agents within a single mailbox has been observed to result in complications. Ideally, a different mailbox should be designated for each agent.

On the second page of the wizard, the following information can be found:

• Get sample invoices
  • Sends the agent some demo data for instant testing or let’s you download them for manual sending
• Document creation
  • Configure which additional invoice fields should be auto-filled by the agent

Using the Agent

In the event that a new document is received, it will be immediately visible within the designated role center.

Hooray! Someone wants money from us! Let’s go over the main points:

We’ve already seen this pane from the sales order agent. Each tile represents a process. Click on the tiles that say “Needs attention.”

The sales order agent should still recognize it. We send the agent our email for them to look over. When we click “Confirm,” we tell the agent they can start working on it.

When you click on “Review,” a new document appears: the “Purchase Document Draft.”

After we checked and made changes to the draft, we hit “Confirm,” and the agent continued with the process.

If everything is in order (for example, if the VAT posting setups are in place), we can finish the draft and receive the purchase invoice.

This is a first short, hands-on preview. There is a lot more to explore with this amazing agent. I will talk more about this in a future post on this blog. Stay tuned!