In today’s fast-paced digital environment, Japanese companies are embracing ERP solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to enhance business efficiency, transparency, and scalability. However, no two organizations—or their employees—operate the same way. This is where personalization within Business Central becomes critical. By allowing users to tailor their interface and experience, Business Central not only increases productivity but also supports localization and adaptability, especially within Japan’s unique business context.
At Sysamic KK, we specialize in tailoring Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to fit the specific operational and cultural needs of companies in Japan. This two-part blog series explores how to effectively use Business Central’s personalization features to create an optimized user experience. In this first part, we’ll explore how personalization benefits Japanese businesses, and how users can utilize role centers, page customization, and simple UI changes to align the system with their daily needs.
Why Personalization Matters in Japan
In Japan, precision, efficiency, and structured workflows are vital. Employees often have clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and systems that allow for streamlined, role-specific views of data can greatly improve operational clarity. Additionally, Japanese accounting, warehousing, and procurement processes often follow country-specific norms and documentation requirements. This makes a generic ERP setup insufficient without adjustments.
Personalization in Business Central ensures that each user—whether a warehouse staffer, procurement officer, or finance manager—interacts with a workspace that’s aligned with their tasks, goals, and local regulations. This reduces unnecessary screen clutter, shortens training time, and enhances user adoption across departments.
Role Centers: Tailoring the Landing Page
Role Centers in Business Central act as personalized dashboards that define what a user sees upon login. Each Role Center presents data, tasks, and actions relevant to a specific function—such as Accountant, Sales Order Processor, or Warehouse Worker.
In Japan, where many businesses are structured with clear departmental responsibilities, Role Centers can be customized to reflect exact job functions. For example, a sales coordinator Role Center can focus on “Sales Orders,” “Customers,” and “Posted Invoices,” while removing elements related to inventory or general ledger. This ensures that users engage only with data relevant to their roles.
Admins can assign standard Role Centers, but users can also personalize their own using simple tools. For companies operating in Japan, this flexibility is crucial when accommodating bilingual teams or integrating with country-specific extensions such as Zengin format payments or consumption tax reports.
Customizing Pages for Individual Users
Once the Role Center is set, users can take personalization further by modifying individual pages:
Reordering Fields: Move frequently used fields to the top of a page (e.g., Vendor No. before Address in purchase orders).
Hiding Unused Columns: If Japanese vendors don’t use certain global address formats or payment terms, users can hide those fields.
Freezing Panes: Users can freeze panes in long tables (such as journals or item lists) to keep key information visible during horizontal scrolling.
Adding FactBoxes: Users can add FactBoxes (side panels) that show related data—like payment history or shipment status—useful for Japan’s just-in-time inventory environments.
These changes are user-specific and do not impact other users’ views, allowing for highly individualized control without administrative overhead.
Localization-Specific Adjustments
For Japan, personalization also plays a role in localization. For instance, users may prefer to add shortcuts to the Japanese-specific “Fixed Asset Ledger” or customized reports for Shokibo Kigyo accounting standards. Creating personalized menus or tiles that link directly to these functions simplifies compliance and enhances daily usability.
Furthermore, Business Central’s personalization works well with extensions that support Japanese banking (Zengin) or electronic invoicing (JPKI). Users can drag and drop these features into their home screen, ensuring that Japan-specific tools are as accessible as native features.
Preparing for Advanced Personalization
The customizations described here are only the beginning. In Part 2, we’ll explore more advanced personalization tools available in Business Central, such as creating custom views, saved filters, and using personalization at the development level with AL code. We’ll also look at how Sysamic can help Japanese companies implement these features more strategically for long-term scalability.
Get in touch with Sysamic to begin your Business Central journey in Japan.