Aourix vs Dynamics 365 Business Central for process plants.
Business Central is a complete accounting and operations system sold through Microsoft partners. This page looks at how it handles the things a soap, food or chemical plant needs every week, and where a specialist lead-to-cash system fits instead.
Facts about Dynamics 365 Business Central come from its public documentation and pricing pages, checked on 16 September 2026. Tell us if something has changed.If you want one Microsoft-maintained general ledger with Australian GST and BAS built in, and you have a partner and a few months to configure it, Business Central is a sound choice. If you want formulas, batches, expiry-first picking, a scheduling board and quote-to-invoice working on day one without add-ons, and you would rather keep your current accountant's system, Aourix gets a plant live in weeks and hands the journals across.
Different plants, different answers.
Choose Aourix if
You run a process plant and want the order flow, batches, lots and dispatch paperwork working in weeks, with Genie doing the typing. You already have an accounting system you like, or an accountant who does.
Choose Dynamics 365 Business Central if
You are replacing your accounting system too, you have group consolidation needs across several legal entities, and you have a Microsoft partner to run a multi-month implementation and add process-manufacturing apps.
Thirteen things a process plant actually needs.
Numbered references point to Dynamics 365 Business Central's own documentation, listed at the bottom of the page. The Aourix column describes what is live today.
| What a process plant needs | Aourix | Dynamics 365 Business Central |
|---|---|---|
| Built for process manufacturingFormulas, batches, by-products; not discrete assembly | Only serves process plants: soap and oleochemicals, food and FMCG, chemicals, oil and gas. Industry templates set up products, families and pack sizes on day one. | Production BOM and routing only; no formula or recipe object. Microsoft: there is no dedicated by-product feature, record them as negative consumption. Process layers come from ISVs such as BatchMaster or YAVEON. [1] |
| Lots, expiry and first-expiry-firstLot tracking, shelf life, FEFO picking | Every receipt carries a lot, expiry and retest date. Picking is first-expiry-first by default; semi-finished goods tracked between lines. | Lot, serial and package tracking with expiry and warranty dates. Pick according to FEFO once warehouse tracking and the location setting are on; strict expiration posting keeps expired lots out. [3] [4] |
| QC release with certificate of analysisTest results per batch, release gate, CoA document | QC release per batch with a Certificate of Analysis generated from the results, attached to the dispatch. | First-party Quality Management extension, generally available 1 April 2026: receipt and output checks, test plans, quarantine and a Certificate of Analysis. Before that, QC needed an AppSource app. [5] |
| Live batch scheduling boardDrag a batch onto a line and a day; capacity per line | Drag-and-drop board by line and day, capacity counted in tonnes and batches. Genie places or re-plans a batch on request. | Infinite capacity by default; Microsoft says it provides a rough-cut schedule and does not support detailed shop-floor control. Drag-and-drop Gantt boards come from AppSource (for example Netronic, Premium only). [2] [15] |
| Branded quotes to signed contractQuote PDF, client accept online, contract locks the bill of quantities | Quotation designer produces the branded PDF; the client accepts or rejects online; the signed quote locks the bill of quantities and becomes the contract. | Sales quotes as PDF with a validity date, converted by a salesperson clicking Make Order. No e-signature or online customer acceptance found in Microsoft's documentation. [6] |
| Purchasing with three-way matchRFQ, PO, goods receipt, invoice matched; approved supplier list | Material request to RFQ to purchase order to goods receipt, matched three ways against the supplier invoice. Approved supplier list enforced. | Purchase quote from one vendor converts to a PO; invoices built from receipt lines give a three-way link, and the Payables Agent matches invoices. Multi-vendor RFQ comparison and an approved supplier list were not found natively. [7] [3] [9] |
| Dispatch paperwork from the orderPacking list, gate pass, VGM, certificate of origin | Dispatch wizard records weights and VGM and prints the packing list, gate pass and CoA from the order. | Warehouse shipments and posted shipment documents are native. Packing list, gate pass and verified gross mass documents were not found in Microsoft's documentation. [4] |
| Multi-company and multi-currencyOne login across group companies; quotes and POs in any currency | One login across group companies with the right role in each; quotes, POs and invoices natively multi-currency. | Consolidation across business units with different charts of accounts, fiscal years and currencies, and intercompany transactions. Eliminations are posted manually. [8] |
| AI that does work, with approvalAsk by voice, plan batches, raise requests; a person approves | Genie answers by text or voice with a chart, creates leads and plans, resolves schedule clashes and runs Meeting Mode. Every action waits for approval. | Copilot proposes sales lines, matches bank statements and item substitutes; the Payables Agent handles supplier invoices. Nothing for production scheduling, yield or QC, and Indonesian is not a supported Copilot language. [9] [10] |
| Works with your accounting systemOwn ledger vs hand-off to Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, SAP | No general ledger by design. Map your chart of accounts once and export journals as a file your accountant imports into Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks or SAP. | It is the general ledger. Australia is Microsoft-localised with GST, BAS, ABN and ABA banking. Indonesia runs the international app with a partner localisation for PPN, PPh and e-Faktur. [12] [11] |
| Time to go liveFrom signed order to first real order in the system | Most plants are live in 4 to 8 weeks: industry template, products and stock loaded, one real order walked through before switch-over. | Implemented by partners. Published partner estimates run three to six months, with smaller firms at two to four months. [16] |
| Pricing modelPublished or quoted; per user, per module, per site | Quoted per plant after a conversation: Quick Start, Multi-Plant or Bespoke. No public price list yet. | Published per user per month, paid yearly: Essentials US$80 or A$119.70, Premium (needed for manufacturing) US$110 or A$164.60, Team Members US$8 or A$12, excluding GST. No Indonesian rupiah list price. [13] [14] |
| Presence in Australia and IndonesiaLocal support hours, currency, tax localisation | Melbourne-based, customers in Indonesia and Australia, support in AEST business hours. | Australia: Microsoft localisation and an Australian Azure region. Indonesia: partner-localised only, hosted in the Asia Pacific region, with partner-quoted pricing. [11] |
- A complete statutory general ledger with Australian GST, BAS, ABN and ABA banking maintained by Microsoft, so there is no separate accounting system to hand off to.
- Group consolidation across legal entities with different charts of accounts, fiscal years and currencies, plus native intercompany transactions.
- Full MRP with pegging, reorder policies, order modifiers and available-to-promise across every BOM level.
- Warehouse depth: bins, directed put-away and pick, movement worksheets and barcode scanning from the mobile app.
- Production costing with WIP accounting, standard, FIFO or average costing and work-centre overhead rates.
- An AppSource ecosystem and a large partner channel that can fill the process-manufacturing, scheduling and RFQ gaps and support them locally.
- Built for process plants from the start: formulas, batches, semi-finished goods, expiry and retest dates without an add-on.
- A drag-and-drop scheduling board with capacity per line in tonnes and batches, and Genie to place or re-plan a batch on request.
- Quote to signed contract in one flow: branded PDF, online acceptance, and a locked bill of quantities that the invoice must match.
- Approved supplier list, RFQs to several suppliers and three-way match as standard purchasing, not a configuration project.
- Dispatch paperwork from the order: packing list, gate pass, verified gross mass and the CoA together.
- Genie works in your plant's language of stock and batches, by voice, and every action waits for a person to approve it. Live in four to eight weeks rather than months.
Running both
Plenty of plants keep Business Central, or another ledger, as the accounting system and run the order, batch and dispatch flow in Aourix. Aourix never writes into your ledger; it exports journals with your chart of accounts mapped once.
What plants ask when comparing Aourix and Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Its manufacturing is built on production BOMs and routings. Microsoft documents that there is no dedicated by-product feature and no formula object; process manufacturers typically add an AppSource app such as BatchMaster or YAVEON ProBatch. Lot tracking, expiry dates and FEFO picking are native.
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/production-about-production-orders
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/production-how-to-set-up-work-and-machine-centers
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/inventory-how-work-item-tracking
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/warehouse-picking-by-fefo
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/release-plan/2025wave2/smb/dynamics365-business-central/evaluate-quality-incoming-goods-materials
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/sales-how-make-offers
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/purchasing-how-request-quotes
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/finance-consolidated-company-reporting
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/ai-in-bc
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/copilot-agents-region-language-availability
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/compliance/apptest-countries-and-translations
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/localfunctionality/australia/australia-local-functionality
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/products/business-central/pricing
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/dynamics-365/products/business-central/pricing
- https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/dynamics-365-business-central/PUBID.netronic%7CAID.visual-production-scheduler%7CPAPPID.5716c909-a743-461e-ac12-d99759152986
- https://www.randgroup.com/insights/microsoft/dynamics-365/business-central/your-business-central-implementation-guide/
Dynamics 365 Business Central and its logo are trademarks of their owner. Aourix is not affiliated with Dynamics 365 Business Central. See other comparisons on the compare page.
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