Minimum requirements for using Continia Expense Management (online)
This article describes the minimum requirements and recommendations for using Expense Management in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central online. There's a significant difference between running Expense Management in the on-premises version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and using it online in the cloud version. For information about the on-premises requirements, see Minimum requirements for using Continia Expense Management (on-premises).
Important
As Expense Management is an integrated part of Business Central, the minimum requirements for Business Central also apply to Expense Management.
Browsers
We recommend using one of the following web browsers with the latest updates applied:
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Apple Safari
- Microsoft Edge
Using Internet Explorer can cause errors and rendering issues. If Internet Explorer is the only option, you must update it to the latest version.
Screen resolution
The screen resolution must be at least 1440 × 900, as lower resolutions make it difficult to use the Expense Management document viewer properly. We recommend using a screen resolution of 1680 × 1050 or higher.
Note
Zooming in your browser or changing your display’s scale and layout settings may disturb your viewing experience, as this isn’t fully supported.
Mobile devices
Expense Management covers several applications that you can access via web browsers or as mobile apps, see Become familiar with Expense Management. It is also used differently depending on user role and device:
- The Continia Expense App (mobile app) — used by expense users
- The Continia Expense Portal (web portal) — used by expense users
- The Continia Web Approval Portal (web portal) — used by approvers
- Business Central (web client and mobile app) — used by approvers and admins
The Expense App — is a dedicated mobile app that's fully supported on mobile devices.
The Expense Portal — you can access it on mobile devices. However, we do not recommend this as it's not optimized for mobile.
Tip
When you use mobile devices to submit expenses, we recommend using the dedicated mobile Expense App instead.
The Web Approval Portal — is a dedicated Continia client, so the use of this lies outside of Business Central. It is fully supported on mobile devices.
Business Central — is generally optimized for mobile and easily accessible on mobile devices, but the look and feel is different from when you use it on a computer. Most Expense Management features in Business Central work on mobile devices. However, this isn’t officially supported, which means that not all functionality is available in the mobile version of Business Central.
Continia Expense App
The Expense App is compatible with any Android or iOS device that meets the following software requirements:
Android
Versions supported: 9.0 or later. Install the app on your device.
iPhone
Versions supported: iOS 14 or later. Install the app on your device.
Continia Web Approval Portal
You can approve documents using the Business Central web client or the Continia Web Approval Portal.
The Web Approval Portal is built on the standard approval functionality used in Business Central. However, it’s a separate service that you can access as a licensed user from any supported web browser. Use the web browsers recommended under the section, "Browsers", above.
Note
Security filters are currently not supported in the Web Approval Portal.
The Web Approval Portal can be hosted either by Continia (continiaonline.com) or on a local server. You access both hosting types via web browsers, so the difference only lies in how they’re hosted.
Note
You can't use the locally hosted version of the Web Approval Portal if you’re using Business Central online — only the Continia-hosted version of the Web Approval Portal can be used in conjunction with Business Central online.
To access the Web Approval Portal, you must be an authenticated Business Central user and have a named user license for Business Central. A “named user license” is a separate user subscription license (SL) that’s specific to each user and can’t be shared with others (unlike concurrent user licensing. User SLs are the primary type of licenses for Business Central.
Only users with a Full/Essential/Premium license can change allocations on documents.
For approval users that only approve documents, Team Member licenses should be sufficient, subject to Microsoft licensing conditions (see below). In all other cases, Continia only supports users with Essential or Premium licenses.
Microsoft licensing conditions
Always consult the Microsoft licensing terms for the actual legal requirements, regardless of how these are interpreted in Continia Docs or in any other Continia documentation. In particular, check the Team Members license and how add-ons may affect its usability in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central licensing guide in Business Central (downloadable).
From version 1.16.0, the Web Approval Portal can connect with multiple NAV/Business Central databases at the same time, enabling users from different databases to sign in simultaneously.
Warning
Versions prior to 1.16.0 of the Web Approval Portal do not support simultaneous signing in of users from different databases. Therefore, if your organization has more than one database in Business Central, and exports users from one of these databases to the Web Approval Portal, only the newly exported users can sign in to the Web Approval Portal — all existing users that were previously exported from another database will be deleted from the Web Approval Portal and unable to sign in.