Sales Order Agent

An agent that runs as its own Business Central user, is triggered by a scheduled email dispatcher monitoring a configured company mailbox, matches the sender to a contact and customer, finds and prices requested items, checks availability, creates and updates sales quotes, exchanges reviewed emails with the customer, and converts a confirmed quote into a sales order.

Recorded characteristics

Function

Microsoft documents Sales Order Agent as one capability in Dynamics 365 Business Central covering the end-to-end sales order capturing process; earlier naming such as "sales order taker agent" survives only in the FAQ page address and is not a separate capability. A built-in email dispatcher runs as a scheduled task and monitors the mailbox and optional subfolder set in the agent configuration. It processes all messages in that folder received on or after the activation date regardless of read status, marks each imported message with a "Processed by Sales Order Agent" category so it is not reprocessed, and attaches new messages in an existing thread to the existing task. A relevance model filters out messages outside scope, such as offers to sell, discount requests or attempts to access internal data, and a separate check ignores non-sales attachments. The agent analyses the subject, body and PDF or image attachments; identifies the contact by matching the sender address to the E-Mail field on contact cards and then the customer linked to that contact; finds items through exact identifier matching (item number, vendor item number, GTIN, cross-references), semantic attribute matching and a fallback fuzzy search across item, variant, reference, attribute, category, translation, identifier and extended-text data; checks item availability using projected available balance, requested quantity, delivery date and location, optionally using capable-to-promise to calculate the earliest realistic shipment date; creates a sales quote including items, quantities, units of measure, prices, taxes, requested delivery dates and the customer's external document reference; drafts a reply email with the quote rendered as a PDF attachment; updates the existing quote when the customer emails changes; and, when the customer confirms and the configured Business Central reviewer confirms the email, converts the quote into a sales order. Microsoft states the agent always creates a quote first, even when the customer asks for an order, because quotes have no impact on planning, reservations, availability calculations or cash flow. Availability checking is explicitly a read of projected availability; no inventory reservation or allocation is documented. The agent does not create items, contacts or customers, does not post documents, does not modify sales orders after creation, cannot work with other sales documents such as invoices, credit memos or blanket orders, and out-of-scope requests such as delivery-status inquiries, product support, returns and refunds trigger user intervention. It is distinct from Copilot sales-line suggestions in Business Central and from Copilot Studio sales-order agents built on the Finance and Operations connector.

Data access

The agent reads inbound mail through a shared or user mailbox on Microsoft 365 Exchange, which Microsoft states is the only supported method; PDF attachments must be 20 MB or smaller and at most 50 pages. Within Business Central the agent runs under its own user account whose access is defined by the SOA - EDIT permission set and by the assigned profile, covering contacts, customers, items and item-related tables (items, variants, references, attributes, categories, translations, identifiers, extended text), availability data including item ledger entries, scheduled receipts and gross requirements, customer location and responsibility centre data, pricing including customer-specific price and discount calculation, and sales quotes and orders. Once a contact and customer are identified the agent filters to documents belonging to that customer, which Microsoft states prevents one customer's request from touching another's documents. Microsoft states all prompts and responses are stored in Business Central for 20 days as diagnostic data within the same geographic and compliance boundary, accessible only to Microsoft personnel for support requests and subject to Customer Lockbox where implemented, and that Microsoft does not use company data, prompts or responses to train AI models. Usage data is anonymised and excludes prompts, responses, customer data and personal data.

Actions

Can take actions

External actions

Yes

Human confirmation

Conditional

Permission basis

Dedicated agent identity

Administrative control

Administrators enable the capability on the Copilot and agent capabilities page, where Microsoft lists Sales Order Agent under Generally available, then configure and activate an agent instance. Multiple instances per company are supported, each with its own mailbox, folder, signature, processing rules and metrics. Documented controls include the Active toggle; mailbox and folder selection; the "Monitor and process emails" toggle; a daily email limit; a "Mark email as read" setting; review type for incoming messages from registered senders (default: first message in a conversation) and unregistered senders (default: all); "Select only available items" (default on); "Include capable to promise" (default off); "Review quotes when created and updated" (default off); "Send quotes for confirmation" (default on); "Make orders from quotes" (default on); "Review orders when created and updated" (default off); display name and initials; language, region and time zone; a custom email signature; the user access list with a per-user "Can Configure" flag; the agent's profile; and the agent's permission sets. Creating an instance requires the Configure All Agents permission (ID 9665, granted by AGENT - ADMIN, SECURITY or SUPER); working with tasks requires Manage Agent Tasks (ID 9670) plus listing in the access list. Activating or configuring requires Full Access and Send As on the mailbox, and delegated administrators cannot activate the agent. Approval workflows can add a further layer of control, as they do for other users. Administrators inspect tasks, steps, messages and log entries from the Agents page, with the Agent - Diagnostics permission set required only to view the serialized page snapshot. Sandbox environments additionally require the Allow HttpClient Requests toggle on the extension.

Default state

Disabled

Availability

Microsoft lists Sales Order Agent under Generally available on the Copilot and agent capabilities page and states the Copilot feature is available in all supported Business Central countries and regions. Because it uses Azure OpenAI Service, which is available for Business Central in some geographies only, administrators in other regions must allow data to move across geographies. The related Item Availability page used when "Select only available items" is on is separately documented as a production-ready preview feature. Validated and supported languages are Danish, English (including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States variants), French, French (Canada), German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish; other languages can be used but may not function as intended.

Licensing

The agent uses Copilot Credits for AI interactions, charged based on interaction complexity, and a billing model must be configured for the Business Central environment in the admin centre before use. When credits are depleted the agent stops retrieving and processing new emails but stays active, continues its scheduled task and sends already-prepared replies; when credits return it automatically resumes and processes the accumulated backlog, which Microsoft warns can consume a large portion of renewed credits. A daily email limit is provided as a consumption control.

External model or provider

Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service

Limitations and uncertainty

Microsoft names Azure OpenAI Service as the underlying service but does not name a specific model. Availability checking reads projected availability only; inventory reservation, allocation, shipment, posting, invoicing and payment are explicitly outside the agent (Microsoft states quotes have no impact on planning, reservations, availability calculations or cash flow, and that the agent does not post documents). Customer confirmation of a quote is an external customer action by email, not an internal approval; the internal control is the Business Central reviewer who must confirm outgoing messages. Whether a created sales order is released is not established; the agent cannot change sales orders after creation. It cannot create items, contacts or customers, supports only sales lines of type Item, supports up to 15 item lines per document, leaves Variant Code empty, and quantity errors can occur with non-base units of measure. Documented reliability caveats include reduced accuracy when a user substantially edits the drafted availability email before sending, item attributes not being shown on the availability page, partial-word matching failures and consumable searches returning the main product in some local versions. Contact matching is strictly by the E-Mail field, so forwarded mail resolves to the forwarder. Task history, timelines, step logs, reasoning and citations and the KPI summary are documented as transparency and diagnostic features; Microsoft does not describe them as an immutable audit trail. Partners currently cannot extend the capability, although its prompt instructions are published in the Sales Order Agent source code on GitHub and extensions can add custom fields and actions the agent may interact with if added to its profile and permissions. Runtime behaviour for blocked customers, overdue balances and credit limits appears only as evaluation test categories, so specific runtime handling is not established and no credit-decision authority is claimed. This record excludes Business Central Payables Agent, Expense Agent, Copilot sales-line suggestions and Copilot Studio agents built on the Finance and Operations connector.

Evidence

• Sales Order Agent overview

  Supports: Function · Actions · Data access · Human confirmation · Permission basis · Limitations · Licensing · Primary source

  States the agent analyses customer email requests, locates the customer, runs multiturn email clarification, checks inventory and follows up with a sales quote or order as a PDF including items, quantities, units of measure, prices, taxes, requested delivery dates and external document reference.

  Documents the full process flow: picking up the email, creating a task, finding the contact and items, verifying availability, creating the quote, generating the reply, converting the quote to an order and sending the order confirmation.

  Describes contact matching strictly on the E-Mail field of contact cards, filtering to documents belonging to that customer, the item tables and fields searched, and capable-to-promise use of production capacity, procurement timelines, work date, order promising offset, safety lead time and item lead time.

  States the agent always involves designated Business Central users to review and approve all outgoing messages before it sends them to customers.

  States the agent operates within the permissions and profile assigned to it, with permissions defining table access and the profile defining the pages and actions it can engage with.

  States the agent always creates a quote first because quotes have no impact on planning, reservations, availability calculations or cash flow forecasts.

  States the agent uses Copilot Credits charged by interaction complexity, that a billing model must be set up first, and what happens when credits run out.

• Process sales quotes and orders with Sales Order Agent

  Supports: Function · Actions · Human confirmation · Admin controls · Limitations · Availability · Primary source

  Describes the operational runtime: mailbox monitoring, task creation per request, the Tasks pane timeline, review and assist steps and conversion of quotes into orders.

  States the agent processes all emails in the configured folder from the activation date regardless of read status, applies a Processed by Sales Order Agent category and skips already categorised messages, and documents the KPI summary covering quotes and orders created and time saved.

  Lists the interventions required: confirming incoming email requests, confirming quotes and orders where configured, reviewing outgoing emails and unblocking the agent with missing data.

  Documents Review, Confirm, Discard step, resume options and Stop and Stop all tasks, including that stopped tasks cannot be restarted and a created quote remains stored as open.

  Documents reliability caveats: non-base unit of measure quantities, degraded accuracy after heavy edits to the availability email, attributes not shown on the availability page, partial-word matching and consumable search failures in some local versions.

  States the feature is validated and supported in specific languages only and links to Copilot country/region availability and supported languages.

• Set up Sales Order Agent

  Supports: Default state · Availability · Admin controls · Permission basis · Actions · Licensing · Limitations · Primary source

  States the capability must be turned on from the Copilot and agent capabilities page and that the agent must then be configured and the Active toggle turned on before it processes anything.

  States Sales Order Agent is listed under Generally available on the Copilot and agent capabilities page, and lists the validated languages: Danish, English and its regional variants, French, French (Canada), German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish.

  Lists the configuration cards and their defaults (incoming-message review types, Select only available items, Include capable to promise, Review quotes, Send quotes for confirmation, Make orders from quotes, Review orders, daily email limit, mark as read, signature, user access with Can Configure) and the administrator permissions required: Configure All Agents (9665), Manage Agent Tasks (9670), mailbox Full Access and Send As, with delegated administrators unable to activate the agent.

  States the agent has its own user account named SALES ORDER AGENT - [COMPANY] with the SOA - EDIT permission set by default, that it does not inherit permissions from the person reviewing the task, and that the profile defines its available UI.

  States a scheduled task periodically monitors the configured mailbox folder, imports unprocessed messages and either attaches them to an existing thread task or creates a new task.

  Describes Copilot Credit depletion behaviour, automatic resumption and the daily email limit as a consumption control.

  States the agent runs under its own account and that extensions may require additional permission sets before the agent can continue a task.

• FAQ for Sales Order Agent

  Supports: Function · Permission basis · Actions · Limitations · External actions · External model · Availability · Data access · Admin controls · Primary source

  States the agent manages the entire sales order capturing process from receiving the email through locating the customer, checking availability, preparing a quote, following up on changes, receiving quote approval and converting it to a sales order.

  States the agent runs as its own user in Business Central, granted access only to necessary parts of the product through predefined permission sets and a UI role, and that all actions carry the agent's user ID.

  States the agent is invoked by a built-in email dispatcher that runs as a scheduled task monitoring the configured company mailbox.

  States the agent works only with sales quotes and orders, does not create items, contacts or customers, does not post documents, cannot change sales orders after creation, supports only Item sales lines, supports up to 15 lines, leaves Variant Code empty, that partners currently cannot extend the capability while its prompt instructions are published on GitHub, and that out-of-scope requests such as delivery status, product support, returns and refunds trigger user intervention.

  States the agent reads inbound mail only through a shared Microsoft Exchange inbox, processes PDF and image attachments within size limits, and that every outbound message is designed to be reviewed and edited by a human.

  States the feature uses Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service without naming a specific model.

  States the feature is available in all supported Business Central countries and regions, and that administrators must allow data movement across geographies where Azure OpenAI Service is unavailable.

  States prompts and responses are stored in Business Central for 20 days within the same geographic and compliance boundary, subject to Customer Lockbox, and that Microsoft does not use company data, prompts or responses to train AI models.

  States approval workflows can add a further layer of control over agent actions, and describes role-centre notifications, task timelines, reasoning and citations.

• Item availability in Sales Order Agent (preview)

  Supports: Data access · Availability · Human confirmation · Primary source

  Documents how the agent resolves the location filter from the customer card, responsibility centre or company information and calculates projected available balance from ledger entries, scheduled receipts and gross requirements.

  Marks the Item Availability page used for availability checking as a production-ready preview feature.

  States that when an item is unavailable a Request Assistance step notifies the reviewer, who cannot change items or quantities but decides whether to stop the task or let the agent proceed.