Does a sales order live in your CRM or your ERP?
Summary
Both, at different moments. The CRM holds the order while sales is working it, and the ERP takes over once it has to be fulfilled, invoiced, and booked. In Microsoft's setup, an order submitted in Dynamics 365 Sales moves to Business Central with the status Released, and the posted invoice comes back to Sales marked Billed. Business Central starts at $80 per user per month, paid yearly.
Where the line sits
Oracle describes CRM as software that automates how customers interact with your business, covering front-office work such as marketing, sales, advertising, and customer service. ERP runs the back office: accounting, procurement, project management, supply chain, risk management, and HR.
The relationship isn't symmetrical. In Oracle's words, many ERPs contain CRM features, but CRMs do not contain ERP features or handle transactional data. NetSuite is one example. Its CRM comes with the NetSuite platform, though each CRM user still needs a license. NetSuite charges an annual license made up of the core platform, optional modules, and user count, plus a one-time implementation fee.
What moves between Dynamics 365 Sales and Business Central
On the CRM side, Business Central integrates only with Dynamics 365 Sales, and a new connection has to go through Dataverse. With the standard mapping:
- Customers and contacts sync both ways. A Business Central customer is coupled to a Sales account.
- Items sync both ways as Sales products. Price groups and sales prices flow one way, from Business Central to Sales.
- Sales orders go from Sales to Business Central once they are Submitted, and arrive as Released. A separate toggle makes order sync bidirectional, and it can't be combined with the older one-way option.
- Posted invoices go from Business Central to Sales with the status Billed.
- Item availability is refreshed by a job that runs every 30 minutes.
Microsoft also notes that the sync doesn't guarantee real-time consistency between the two services.
A small team on both
Business Central lists three plans, each priced per user per month and paid yearly: Essentials at $80, Premium at $110 (adding service management and manufacturing), and Team Members at $8 for read access, workflow approvals, and limited edits. Five salespeople on Dynamics 365 Sales Professional at $65 come to $3,900 a year. Two finance staff on Business Central Essentials add $1,920, for $5,820 in total. Microsoft sells Business Central through partners.
Sources
- https://www.oracle.com/erp/erp-vs-crm/
- https://www.netsuite.com/portal/products/crm.shtml
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/admin-prepare-dynamics-365-for-sales-for-integration
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/admin-synchronizing-business-central-and-sales
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/marketing-integrate-dynamicscrm
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/products/business-central/pricing
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/products/sales/pricing
Related on this site
- What does a CRM do that a contact spreadsheet can't?
- What does an enterprise CRM plan give you that a small-business plan doesn't?
- Whatever happened to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and what does the current version cost?
- Can your CRM handle the delivery work after a deal closes?
- Seat cost calculator
Written by Kaz (pen name). Published September 27, 2026. The figures above come from the vendor and review-site pages listed under Sources. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.