How MCP works in Business Online
You have a leadership meeting in an hour and need an overview of all active projects with progress below 50 percent. Before, that meant clicking through the project list and pasting numbers into a spreadsheet. With MCP in Business Online, you simply ask Copilot, Claude, or ChatGPT the question and get the answer before the coffee has even cooled down.
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, an open standard that allows AI tools like Microsoft Copilot, Claude, and ChatGPT to talk directly to the data in Business Online, without anyone having to first write code between them. The company uses the tool of its choice. MCP is available as an add-on service in Business Online.
For operational managers and growth companies, this means that the answers that are already contained in CRM, projects, and deviations become available in a simple conversation. You don't need to know API or code. You just need to know what you're wondering about.
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, and is supported by major AI providers such as Microsoft and OpenAI. MCP is therefore not a Business Online-specific technology, but a industry standard that is growing rapidly.
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 MCP, the AI client (Copilot, Claude, or ChatGPT) has access to the same data areas found in the Standard API. See the table below.
| 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 like Business Online and use the data that resides there. The protocol was developed by Anthropic, the company behind Claude, and is an open standard.
Business Online MCP is an additional service to the Business Online subscription that provides AI clients such as Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot with access to the data via the MCP protocol.
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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