A high-level comparison between Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in terms of offerings and capabilities.
Table of Content
1. About Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft Dynamics 365 represents the next generation of business applications. It is one of the fastest growing products in the Microsoft business application portfolio. The Dynamics 365 family consists of business apps for operations and customer engagement. Under the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product line, there are two apps available, namely Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both are comprehensive end-to-end ERP solutions capable of meeting complex business requirements and operational needs.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
This is Microsoft’s flagship enterprise-tier ERP suite targeting at medium-to-large organizations. A total of eight business apps that can be combined into two different plans i.e. Unified Operations Plan and Dynamics 365 Plan. Particularly, Finance and Operations app comes with the following modules:
Dynamics 365 for | Unified Operations Plan | Dynamics 365 Plan |
Finance & Operations App – Financials & Accounting – Budgeting – Supply Chain Management – Customer Service – Transportation – Project Management – Manufacturing – Engineering – Qualify Control | Yes | Yes |
Retail App | Yes | Yes |
Talent App | Yes | Yes |
Sales App | – | Yes |
Customer Service App | – | Yes |
Project Service Automation App | – | Yes |
Field Service App | – | Yes |
PowerApps | Yes | Yes |
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
This is Microsoft’s flagship mid-market-tier ERP suitable for small-to-medium organizations and branch offices of international enterprises. The all-in-one ERP has two types of offering i.e. Essentials edition and Premium edition. Business Central comes with the following modules:
Functionality | Business Central Essentials | Business Central Premium |
Financial Management | Yes | Yes |
Customer Relationship Management | Yes | Yes |
Supply Chain Management | Yes | Yes |
Basic Human Resource Management | Yes | Yes |
Project Management | Yes | Yes |
Warehouse Management | Yes | Yes |
Service Management | – | Yes |
Manufacturing | – | Yes |
PowerApps | Yes | Yes |
2. Quick Comparison
Since both are Microsoft’s flagship ERP products, what are the differences between the two? The table below shows you a quick comparison.
Product Name | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central |
License Type | Named User Subscription License | Named User Subscription License |
Monthly Fee for Full User License | USD 190 (Unified Operations) USD 210 (Dynamics 365 Plan) | USD 70 (Essentials) USD 100 (Premium) |
Monthly Fee for Team Members License | USD 8 | USD 8 |
Monthly Fee for Device License | USD 75 | USD 40 |
Monthly Fee for Activity User License | USD 50 | – |
External Accountant License | – | 3 |
Minimum Number of License | 20 Full User | 1 Full User |
Tiered Pricing | Yes | – |
Software-as-a-Service Model | Yes | Yes |
Dual Use Right for On-Prem Deployment | Yes | Yes |
Production Instance | 1 | 1 |
Sandbox Instance | 1 | 1 |
Default Database Storage | 10GB (add. 5GB /20 Full User) | 80GB |
Default File Storage Capacity | 100GB | Shared with the above |
Multi-Client Access | Yes | Yes |
Multi-Site | Yes | Yes |
Multi-Currency | Yes | Yes |
Number of Companies | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Country Localisation | 32+ by default; partner localisation available | 21+ by default; partner localisation available |
Service Level Agreement | 99.5% | 99.5% |
3. Key Differences in Capabilities
Though both are complete ERP solutions, the Finance & Operations offers a few more advanced modules than the Business Central apart from the common modules like financials, supply chain management, project management, service management, etc. A simplistic comparison of capabilities between the two products is shown below.
Capability | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central |
Customer Relationship Management | Separate app | Yes |
Human Resource Management | Yes | Basic |
Request for Quotation (RFQ) | Yes | Third party add-on |
Retail Management | Yes | Third party add-on |
Compliance Management | Yes | Third party add-on |
Production Scheduling | Yes | Third party add-on |
Capacity Planning | Yes | Basic |
Quality Management | Yes | Third party add-on |
Transportation Management | Yes | Third party add-on |
4. Which One Is Right for You?
The two ERP systems are designed for different type and structure of business.
Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations has more extensive functionalities that works better for enterprise-tier businesses with multiple lines of business and complex operational requirements. Typically the Finance & Operations requires more effort in the implementation. Thus, the trade-off is longer implementation cycle, higher price tag and greater demands for resources.
Dynamics 365 Business Central has comprehensive functions that would cover common requirements in the trading and distribution, professional services, engineering, light manufacturing and service sectors. Besides that, there are also many ISV add-on modules that can extend functionalities to cover sector-specific requirements. The Business Central may not have deep functionalities as compared to the Finance & Operations, but it has clear advantages over speed of implementation and total costs of ownership.
To determine which solution can best meet your needs, you will need to gather a list of requirements and wish list. Once you have the requirement list, you can then do your compliance checklist, cost analysis, risk assessment and ROI calculation.
Disclaimer:
This article is written based on personal research, knowledge and opinions. It does not reflect Microsoft’s standpoint in any way.