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Prepare a client demo

You have a client demo coming up and you want a clean Business Central sandbox on the right version and localisation, at its own web address. Everything here happens in the portal at app.bcdock.io. You don't need Azure, Docker or a terminal.

The day before: create the environment

Create it the day before, not an hour before. A new environment takes about 15 minutes, and that leaves you time to set it up the way the demo needs.

  1. On My Environments, click Create Environment.
  2. Pick the region closest to where you will present from, the country your client works in (the BC localisation), and the BC version.
    • A version tagged on request is not ready to create yet. Request it and we email you when it is. For a demo this week, pick a version without the tag.
  3. Give it a name you will recognise, for example acme-demo. Then click Create.

You can close the page while it builds. When the environment shows Running, open it and click Open Business Central. Sign in with the username shown on the environment's page, and press Reveal there for the password.

On the free trial

The trial includes one environment and 7 hours of running time. A demo day fits comfortably: build the environment, rehearse, and hibernate it in between.

Set it up for the story you will tell

Set up anything specific to your client inside Business Central, the same way you would in any sandbox: the customers, items and flows your story uses, and your extensions.

Then do a full rehearsal on the environment itself. What you see in the rehearsal is what your client will see.

Between the rehearsal and the demo: hibernate

When you finish rehearsing, open the environment's page and click Hibernate, then confirm. Hibernating:

  • keeps everything you set up: data, extensions, users and settings;
  • keeps the same web address;
  • stops the running clock. A hibernated environment does not use active hours.

If you forget, we email you after an environment has had no activity for 2 hours while it is running. The email has links to hibernate or delete it. It does not hibernate anything by itself; that is your call.

On the day: resume early

Click Resume on the environment's page at least 30 minutes before the demo, then confirm.

  • A resume usually takes about 5 minutes.
  • If no server with room is running in your region, one has to start first, and the resume takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

When it shows Running again, open Business Central once to check that everything is where you left it.

What to share with your client, and what not to

  • To present it yourself, share your screen. Nothing needs to leave your hands.
  • To let your client click around after the demo, give them the environment's web address and a Business Central user of their own, created in Business Central under Users. See Microsoft's guide to managing users in on-premises deployments. Give that user the permissions the client needs and no more.
  • Do not share the environment's own sign-in (the username and password on its page). It is the key to the whole environment. Each reveal is recorded.
  • Do not load real client data. BCDock environments are sandboxes: use data you made up or anonymised. See limitations.

After the demo

  • Same client, another meeting soon? Hibernate the environment and resume it before the next meeting. It comes back exactly as you left it, at the same address.
  • Done with it? On the environment's page click Delete and confirm. That removes the environment for good. Its stored backup is deleted 7 days later, and we cannot restore a deleted environment.