Multi Entity Management

Field 2000000000 SystemId

Version: August 2026 / Multi Entity Management 8.8.x / Business Central 28.x

1. Preamble

In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, the “System ID” field (field number 2000000000) is a built-in platform field that uniquely identifies each record across the entire database using a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier).

1.1 What it does

• Every record automatically gets a SystemId value when it is inserted.
• The value is a GUID such as: 6f9619ff-8b86-d011-b42d-00cf4fc964ff
• It is immutable after creation. Once assigned, it should never change.
• The field exists on virtually every table, even if it is not shown on pages.

1.2 Why Microsoft introduced it

Historically, Business Central/NAV records were identified only by primary keys. That works, but primary keys can:

• be composite (multiple fields),
• be renamed,
• differ between environments,
• or change during integrations/migrations.

SystemId solves this by giving every record a stable technical identity.

1.3 Main use cases

• APIs and integrations
  • Business Central standard APIs use SystemId heavily.
  • External systems can safely reference records without depending on business keys like “No.” or “Document No.”
• Referential consistency
• Useful during data synchronization, replication, Dataverse integration, etc.

2. Replication of SystemId

Multi Entity Management supports replication of the Business Central SystemId field (Field No. 2000000000) to maintain a consistent technical identifier across environments and companies.

This behavior described below applies to both:

• internal replication,
• external replication.

2.1 Publisher configuration

On the publisher side, the “Transfer at Insert” option can be enabled for the “System ID” field. When enabled, records created on subscriber companies/environments will be inserted with the same SystemId as the source record.

This ensures that newly replicated records share an identical SystemId across all connected environments.

2.2 Existing records on subscriber side

If a publisher is connected to a subscriber that already contains existing records with the same primary key, the records will be matched and connected based on the primary key values.

However, in this scenario the SystemId values may differ between publisher and subscriber because:

• SystemId is automatically assigned when a record is created.
• SystemId cannot be modified after creation in Business Central.

As a result, existing matched records cannot be updated to use the publisher’s SystemId.

3. Recommendation

It is recommended to enable “Transfer at Insert” for the SystemId field to ensure that replicated records maintain the same identifier across environments and companies.

Using a shared SystemId across the company group provides more reliable integration and synchronization scenarios, especially for:

• APIs,
• external integrations,
• CRM integrations,
• centralized master data management.

Example

If a company group uses a shared CRM solution, identical SystemIds across all companies allow the CRM system to reference the same customer, vendor, or item consistently throughout the entire group, regardless of company-specific numbering or local configuration differences.

4. Changing an existing SystemId

In Business Central, the SystemId of a record cannot be modified after the record has been created.

To align the SystemId between publisher and subscriber, the following workarounds can be used:

• Delete the existing subscriber record and allow it to be recreated from the publisher. The new record will then inherit the publisher’s SystemId if “Transfer at Insert” is enabled.
• Rename the existing subscriber record (change the primary key), and then create or replicate a new record from the publisher with the original primary key. The newly created record will receive the publisher’s SystemId.