How MCP works in Business Online
MCP support is available in Business Online through the add-on service Business Online Connector. This allows AI tools like Claude and Microsoft Copilot to talk directly to the data in the system without anyone needing to write code between them first. This article explains what MCP is, what it does in Business Online, and what needs to be in place for it to be useful.
What is MCP?
MCP står for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard that allows AI models to connect to external systems and use the data located there, without having to build a custom integration for each connection.
The protocol was launched by Anthropic, the company behind Claude, in November 2024. During 2025, several major AI providers, including Microsoft and OpenAI, added support in their own clients. Business Online Connector currently supports Claude and Microsoft Copilot. MCP is therefore not a Business Online-specific technology, but a rapidly growing industry standard.
Why MCP is relevant for growth companies
A daily manager who uses Microsoft 365 has the AI client Copilot already open on their screen. What has been missing is something worth asking it about.
MCP solves it. The protocol lets AI clients talk directly to company data such as customer lists, projects, rosters, incidents, and certificates, without the need to build an integration between each AI supplier and each SaaS system.
For Business Online this is a natural extension. The platform is built on Microsoft 365. The data is already structured. Business Online Connector opens them up for AI clients such as Claude and Copilot.
What MCP gives access to in Business Online
With the Med Business Online Connector, the AI client (Claude or Microsoft Copilot) gains access to the same data areas as found in the Standard API:
| Area of interest | Read | Create |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses | Yes | Yes |
| Contacts | Yes | Yes |
| Opportunities (leads) | Yes | Yes |
| Projects | Yes | Yes |
| Timeline | Yes | Yes |
| Quality Control Plans (QCP) | Yes | No |
| NCR (deviation) | Yes | Yes |
| Masterdata | Yes | No |
Unavailable: Personnel, contracts, and deletion operations.
In practice, this means a user can ask questions such as:
- «Show me all active projects with progress under 50 percent.»
- «Which customer contacts are responsible for projects in Stavanger?»
- «How many open sales opportunities do we have over £500,000?»
- «Create a deviation for project 4327.»
The questions are asked in Claude or Microsoft Copilot. The answers are retrieved directly from Business Online.
How to use PSS Securitas MCP
PSS Securitas provides security services to customers across Norway. Operations Manager Christophér Næsheim oversees the duty rosters, certificates, and hours delivered across regions.
Over the Easter holidays, he used Claude for the first time to retrieve data from Business Online. He wrote: «Show me all watch shifts in the Rogaland region where we are short of staff.»
The answer came in seconds.
«I could have found it myself. But now I got the answer within seconds.»
Næsheim highlights a prerequisite that is critical for the functionality to be useful:
«AI kan være så god som den vil, men det er jo »skralt ind, skralt ud".»
PSS Securitas’s duty rosters were already organised within Business Online, linked to projects, regions, staff members and time periods. Once PSS Securitas had established the connection between Business Online and Claude, Næsheim was able to ask questions because there were questions to be asked and because Claude now knew the answers.
What MCP is not
To be clear about what this functionality does and does not do:
- Not a chatbot. It allows the AI to retrieve data and perform actions, but does not engage in conversation in the way a customer service bot would
. - Not an AI model. It does not compete with Claude or Microsoft Copilot. It is the protocol that enables the AI model to communicate with external systems.
- No independent decision-making authority. The AI does what the user asks, but does not suggest making staff redundant, amending contracts or running in the background without being asked to do so.
Safety and access
Business Online Connector adheres to the same security principles as the Standard API in Business Online:
- Authentication API key required for connection.
- Authorisation The AI operates within the user's access rights. A salesperson without access to the rotas will not receive a response when they ask the AI about them.
- Logging All requests are logged.
- No deletion Deletion operations are not available via the Business Online Connector. The AI can read data and create new entries, but cannot remove anything that is already there.
In light of GDPR requirements or for companies with ISO certification, this is an important distinction. The AI does not exceed the access rights it is granted; it operates within those limits.
FAQ
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard that allows AI tools to connect directly to systems such as Business Online and use the data stored there. The protocol was launched by Anthropic in November 2024.
Business Online Connector is an add-on service to the Business Online subscription that gives AI clients like Claude and Microsoft Copilot access to data via the MCP protocol.
Claude (from Anthropic) and Microsoft Copilot. Other MCP-compatible clients may be supported in the future, but are not currently available.
A traditional API requires a developer to write code to retrieve data. An MCP server only requires the end-user to connect their AI client to the server. The AI itself figures out what is available and how to use it.
Yes. The AI operates within the user’s access rights in Business Online. All requests are logged, and delete operations are not available. The AI can read data and create new entries, but cannot delete anything.
Business Online Connector is an add-on service to the Business Online subscription. The price depends on the number of users and your company’s needs. Please contact us for a quote tailored to your company.
Structured data in the system. The AI can only answer what it actually finds. If the data is scattered across spreadsheets and emails, the answers will be incomplete or incorrect. The value of MCP is proportional to how well the company has its data organised.
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