Data administration in Business Central

New in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: Data Administration. This gives you even more control over all data in your ERP system. But what exactly is it, how does it work and why is this new feature so important to you as a Business Central user?

Grip on your data in Business Central

With data administration, you can view all the records in all companies in a database and archive or delete obsolete data or compress old entries. These tasks can even be automated. This will help keep the database small and therefore faster.

Microsoft has significantly improved the Data Administration:

  • Enhancements in analyzing the data
  • Improvements in how to handle and compress data
  • Archiving data
  • Instructions how to implement Data Administration

How it works

The Data Administration page is the central place for data management in Business Central. A wizard guides the user through the process of managing the data. All functionalities for cleaning and compressing data are easily to access on this page. You can also manage all companies in the database here.

When you navigate to the Data Administration page in Business Central, you immediately get an overview of the tables that take up the most space, in which companies these tables are located, how many records are in the table and how much space they take up. You can also see the amount of data for each company in the database.

Via 'Data Cleanup' and 'Data Compression' you can take very simple and targeted actions to reduce the amount of data. You select which data you want to delete or compress and you immediately see the result of your action. You also have the option to automate certain actions and perform them periodically.

It is also possible to archive data that you delete or compress and to export it to Excel and archive the data from there.

"It is important for the performance of the system to keep a grip on the data storage."

Why data management is important

It is important for the performance of the system to keep a grip on the data storage. By limiting the amount of data storage, the system continues to function quickly and pleasantly. Data management has never been easier and more accessible than with these new features in Business Central. The cleaning, compression and archiving of data can be done quickly, hands-on and automatically. Continuous data management keeps the data in order, which is very useful for day-to-day business, but also for reporting and analysis, for financial processes and for system upgrades and updates.

Want to know more?

Curious about the details? Here's everything you need to know about data management in Business Central:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/admin-manage-documents