The global configure-price-quote (CPQ) software market reaches USD 3.9 billion in 2026, according to Grand View Research, with manufacturing accounting for the largest share of industry revenue in 2025 due to the sector’s need to manage complex product configurations and pricing structures. As more manufacturers evaluate CPQ tools to speed up quoting and reduce configuration errors, Insight Works is highlighting a detail that recent CPQ buyer’s guides have been more candid about than in past years: implementation timelines for standalone platforms can run from a few months for a focused product catalog to twelve to eighteen months for complex, engineer-to-order environments with deep ERP integration requirements.
For manufacturers already running Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, that timeline and integration overhead may not be necessary. Insight Works’ Product Configurator, an add-on for Business Central, brings configuration, BOM generation, and routing automation directly into the sales quote and order screens manufacturers already use, without a separate platform, a separate login, or a middleware layer to keep in sync with the ERP.
“Manufacturers considering CPQ are usually trying to solve two problems at once: faster, more accurate quotes, and BOMs and routings that don’t require manual rebuilding for every order,” said Mark Hamblin, Senior Solutions Advisor, at Insight Works. “For a lot of Business Central customers, standing up a second system is a bigger project than the quoting problem itself. Product Configurator was built on the idea that this logic should live where the item master, the routing, and the sales order already live.”
How Product Configurator Works
Set up inside Business Central, Product Configurator organizes configurable products into item categories, options, and option choices. Sales and customer service representatives select from those options directly on a sales quote or order; production planners and engineers maintain the underlying BOM and routing logic centrally rather than across scattered spreadsheets or one-off item records.
Key capabilities include:
- Automatic generation of assembly or production BOMs and routings based on selected options
- An Advanced Rule Builder that prevents incompatible configurations, enforces required components, and calculates quantities using formulas
- Quoting items, which let sales teams quote high volumes of configurations against a single base item number, generating a full item record only when a quote converts to an order
- Native integration with standard Business Central MPS and MRP, so configured items plan the same way any other item does
- Support for sub-configurations, allowing a single component, such as a wheel assembly, to have its own nested configuration
Setup Still Takes Real Work, and Insight Works Says So
Insight Works is careful to note that moving configuration logic into any system, including its own, takes genuine setup effort, particularly for manufacturers migrating years of accumulated logic out of spreadsheets. The company offers a 30-day trial through Microsoft Marketplace so prospective customers can scope that effort before committing, and provides services to train customers on setup, the Rule Builder, and formula design.
Availability
Product Configurator is available now on Microsoft Marketplace as a subscription add-on for Dynamics 365 Business Central, licensed per company with no per-user limits. It works with Business Central Essentials licensing for assembly-based configurations and with Business Central’s manufacturing capabilities for production BOMs and routings. More information is available at CPQforDynamics.com.
About Insight Works
Insight Works is a leading Independent Software Vendor (ISV) dedicated to creating apps exclusively for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. The company specializes in the manufacturing and distribution industries, providing innovative solutions that streamline operations and enhance productivity for businesses worldwide. With a vast reseller network comprising over 800 global Microsoft Partners, Insight Works ensures its apps are accessible and supported wherever businesses operate. Headquartered in Canada, Insight Works also maintains a regional office in the Netherlands, strengthening its global reach and commitment to localized support. Learn more at dmsiworks.com.