Nikoo Samadi
Performance is more than just speed, it’s about reliability, efficiency, and making your work smoother every day. Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions, especially Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC), continue to evolve with significant behind-the-scenes improvements that help your business run faster and more reliably.
In this blog, we’ll explore the latest business central performance enhancements, highlight the tools Microsoft provides to monitor and optimize dynamics erp performance, and compare BC with its predecessor, Dynamics NAV 14, to show just how far the system has come.
Why Performance Matters in Business Central
In today’s fast-paced business environment, every second counts. A slow or unresponsive system doesn’t just frustrate users, it can slow down entire workflows, delay decision-making, and impact customer satisfaction. That’s why Microsoft has focused on improving business central performance, ensuring pages load quickly, reports run faster, and integrations work smoothly.
Good Dynamics ERP performance gives your team confidence in the system, reduces errors, and frees up time to focus on growing your business. It also helps reduce resource consumption, lowering infrastructure costs whether you’re running BC on-premises or in the cloud as part of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
Business Central v26 Outperforms Dynamics NAV 14: A Detailed Look
Microsoft has made huge strides since Dynamics NAV 14, with Dynamics 365 Business Central version 26 showing clear improvements in many key areas:
Now pages and reports load noticeably faster, large transaction batches post quicker, and the system uses memory more efficiently. While the first load after a restart can take longer due to some known issues, overall user experience is smoother and more responsive.
In addition, Microsoft’s increase in performance hotfix frequency shows a proactive approach to keep dynamics 365 performance at its best, addressing issues faster than ever before.
New Performance Monitoring Tools in Business Central
Understanding what slows down your system is the first step to fixing it. Microsoft has introduced powerful tools that make business central performance monitoring accessible to a wider audience:
In-Client Performance Profiler
Traditionally, performance profiling required developer tools like Visual Studio Code. Now, Dynamics 365 Business Central includes an In-Client Performance Profiler right inside the web interface. This opens up performance troubleshooting to consultants, administrators, and even power users.
Easy access: Open it from the “Help & Support” menu or search for “Performance Profiler.”
Capture slow flows: Record any scenario that feels slow and see what’s causing it.
Sampling-based insights: Results may vary slightly with each recording, but the profiler still highlights patterns and problem areas.
Detailed breakdowns:
See which apps, extensions, or specific objects take the most time.
Time spent is shown per app, without including time spent calling other apps.
Group apps by publisher and name for a clear view.
Call tree view: Trace the full execution path to pinpoint when the slowdown begins, like right after a page opens.
Export data: Download the profile as a .alcpuprofile file and open it in Visual Studio Code. You can also share it via OneDrive.
Privacy compliant: It respects GDPR, no sensitive data is monitored or transmitted.
This built-in tool brings performance profiling out of the developer’s world and into the hands of anyone managing dynamics erp environments. It helps teams fix issues faster, with less guesswork.
Business Central Performance Toolkit (BCPT)
The Business Central Performance Toolkit Extension (BCPT) is a must-have for developers and consultants who want to ensure their dynamics 365 business central environment stays fast and reliable. It enables proactive performance testing and regression detection, especially valuable when you’re working with custom extensions or applying updates.
Why Use BCPT?
Performance Testing: BCPT allows you to test how changes in your environment—like new code, extensions, or upgrades—affect overall business central performance. You can simulate real-world workloads to understand how your system behaves under pressure.
Regression Detection: It’s especially useful for spotting regressions introduced by custom PTEs, third-party add-ons, or Microsoft updates. This means you can catch performance issues early—before they affect your users.
Key Features
User Load Simulation: Configure tests with specific numbers of concurrent sessions and run them for defined durations to mimic real-world usage.
Version Comparison: Run tests across multiple dynamics erp versions to identify problems before upgrading.
Infrastructure Stress Tests: Analyze the performance of database operations (read, write, delete) and web service calls under load.
Setup & Configuration
Install BCPT via the Extension Marketplace in Visual Studio Code. Create a new test project using the BCPT: Setup new Business Central Performance Toolkit project command. Define your test logic in codeunits (ideally using SubType = Test) and configure BCPT Suites to control test scope, concurrency, and duration.
System-Level Optimizations in Business Central
Behind every user-facing improvement in business central performance is a set of deeper system-level upgrades that help the entire platform run faster, smoother, and more efficiently. Microsoft continues to invest in performance at the core level, focusing on how the system handles data, memory usage, and responsiveness across devices. Here are three recent system-level enhancements worth knowing about:
Faster Data Stack (Released: October 2022 – BC 2022 Wave 2)
This update focuses on resolving a key performance bottleneck related to table extensions on base tables—something that often caused slower queries in earlier versions.
What changed?
In previous versions, when a table extension was applied to a base table (like Customers or Vendors), the system would join extra data even when it wasn’t strictly necessary. This made data retrieval slower, especially when filtering flowfields.
Now, Dynamics 365 Business Central handles this more intelligently:
It avoids joining data from a table extension unless it’s actually needed to calculate a flowfield.
It skips obsolete fields unless upgrade code is actively running in the session.
These changes result in faster query execution, lower memory use, and less strain on the system—especially helpful for companies with heavily customized environments.
This optimization is enabled automatically, so users benefit from the improvement without having to configure anything manually.
Improved Scrolling in Large Lists (Released: January 2023 – BC Update 22.0)
Have you ever tried scrolling through thousands of records in a dynamics erp Business Central list—only for the system to slow down or lag halfway through?
With this update, Microsoft introduced technical optimizations that reduce the memory footprint when large datasets are displayed in the web client. The result? You can now scroll through significantly more records in one go—without hurting performance.
Where it helps:
Long lists like Items, Contacts, or Sales Orders
Pages displayed as rows or tiles
Worksheets, list parts, and list pages
Any form factor—desktop, tablet, or mobile
Of course, the maximum number of records still depends on things like your browser, your device’s available memory, and what else is happening in Business Central. But thanks to the reduced resource load, users can now work faster with large volumes of data—especially helpful for warehouses, retail teams, or finance staff managing high transaction volumes.
Administrators can turn this feature on early via Feature Management, or wait for it to be rolled out by default.
More Frequent Performance Hotfixes
In addition to larger updates, Microsoft is also increasing its pace of smaller fixes focused specifically on dynamics 365 performance. The engineering team now rolls out 5 to 8 hotfixes per year, compared to just 2 to 3 in previous years.
These aren’t full feature updates—but they often address issues like:
Memory leaks
Unexpected slowdowns
Timeouts in high-load environments
This shift signals Microsoft’s commitment to system reliability and responsiveness, especially for companies running mission-critical processes on Business Central.
Cloud Performance Made Simple with Azure SQL Database
Many Microsoft 365 deployments that include Dynamics 365 Business Central run on Azure SQL Database, which offers built-in performance monitoring and tuning:
Automatic monitoring: Azure constantly checks your database’s health and alerts you to potential issues.
Actionable recommendations: It suggests changes to improve query speed and resource use, prioritized by impact.
Query insights: Learn which queries consume the most resources to focus tuning efforts.
Automatic tuning: Azure can adjust indexes and query plans automatically, reducing manual work and keeping your database optimized 24/7.
Think of Azure SQL’s capabilities as a cloud-based database administrator that helps keep your dynamics erp system running smoothly—especially valuable if your team lacks dedicated DBAs or if you want to reduce maintenance overhead.
How Business Central’s Modern Architecture Boosts Performance
The performance gains in business central performance come not only from new features but from a major architectural shift:
Three-tier design: Separates client, server, and database for better scalability and optimization, unlike the older two-tier NAV setup.
Multi-tenant environments: Since BC version 13, multiple customers share resources more efficiently on a single instance, reducing overhead.
Modern clients: Web and mobile clients replace the classic Windows client, requiring new profiling and optimization methods tailored for browser-based use.
New development environment: Moving from C/AL to AL language and Visual Studio Code streamlines development and integrates with new profiling tools, allowing faster detection and resolution of performance issues.
Updated web services: The transition from SOAP to OData and Web API services enables faster, more reliable integrations, reducing system delays.
Together, these architectural changes create a solid foundation for better speed, scalability, and smoother user experiences.
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What This Means for You
Whether you’re a business user who notices faster page loads and quicker reports, a consultant troubleshooting performance issues, or a developer writing custom extensions, these business central performance improvements make your work easier and more efficient.
Users get less waiting time and fewer interruptions.
Admins can monitor performance more easily and get early warnings.
Developers can catch and fix performance issues earlier.
Your system stays stable and scalable as your business grows.
Additionally, the focus on automated and proactive performance management means less firefighting and more time spent innovating and serving customers.
Final Thoughts
Microsoft dynamics erp offerings like Dynamics 365 Business Central have made significant performance enhancements designed to keep your business running smoothly. From faster page loads and smarter background processes to new tools for monitoring and testing business central performance, this update supports every user role and technical skill level. By taking advantage of these improvements and tools, your organization can ensure a more reliable, responsive system that grows with your business needs.
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