One data set for the whole firm, on the Microsoft platform your IT team already runs.
MatterX is a legal layer on Dynamics 365 Business Central. Matters, email, documents, time, billing, trust and the general ledger sit in one Microsoft system, in your tenant, so reporting and AI see all of it. Buy the platform. Build your practice on it.
Business Central online has no fixed limit on users. Thousands of customers run more than 100 users, and some run well over 1,000. Microsoft Learn: Service scalability for Business Central online
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- 55,000+
organisations run on it
- 170+
countries
- 2,000+
active Microsoft partners
- No fixed limit on users
thousands of customers over 100 users
- Hosted in Microsoft's ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified cloud
You are buying Microsoft's platform and our legal layer on it. Any Business Central partner can support the platform. DataChef supports the legal layer.
Five things firms your size say they want. In the order they say them.
- 1
One data set.
“The ability to data mine and make decisions from within the one data set is really appealing, rather than having sixteen data sets I need to mash together.”
CIO of a 150-staff firm, during scoping
- 2
Fewer systems, fewer integrations to keep alive.
Every integration can need a staff member or two to look after it. One Microsoft system replaces the practice system, the finance system, the document system and the glue between them.
- 3
Your tenancy, your data, Microsoft's security.
Data residency, Entra ID, Conditional Access, Purview retention and audit are answered by Microsoft. One client's cyber auditors had no further questions once they saw where it ran.
- 4
Real finance underneath.
A general ledger, multiple entities and companies, bank files, dimensions and consolidation, with certified trust accounting.
- 5
Built on what your IT team already runs.
Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps, Copilot and your existing Microsoft partner. No proprietary platform to learn, no vendor queue for changes.
What we build is reusable across the market. What you build is yours.
MatterX ships as an app on Business Central and keeps upgrading. Your extensions sit alongside it, never inside it, so nothing you build blocks an update.
Situation
A capability many firms need
Do this
Buy: wait for MatterX to ship it
Why
Shared R&D, continuous updates, supported
Situation
A capability unique to your practice
Do this
Build: extend with Power Platform
Why
You own your competitive advantage
Situation
You want a different UI on the same data
Do this
Build: a Power App over Business Central
Why
The data model stays standard
Situation
Integration with a system you keep
Do this
Build: Power Automate or the Business Central APIs
Why
MatterX exposes the data, you orchestrate
Situation
Something new and broadly useful
Do this
Co-invest: you fund it, we productise it
Why
Priority access for you, a validated feature for the market
What is underneath
- Multiple legal entities and offices
- Business Central companies per entity, consolidation and intercompany; separate environments where a group wants independent update cadence and access.
- Firm-wide reporting
- Dimensions for practice area, office and fee earner; Power BI on the same data; matter categories and departments.
- General ledger, bank files, month end
- Business Central GL, bank reconciliation and ABA bank files; trust accounting with three-way reconciliation and statutory reporting; Xero optional.
- Identity, access, compliance
- Entra ID single sign-on; your MFA and Conditional Access apply as-is; SharePoint retention and Purview apply to matter documents; Business Central permission sets.
- Security and procurement reviews
- Business Central is a Microsoft product that Microsoft operates, so Microsoft's published certifications cover the application as well as the hosting. Many vendors run their own application on a public cloud, where the cloud provider's certificates stop at the hosting layer. MatterX adds legal features as an extension inside Business Central. Signed reports are available from the Microsoft Service Trust Portal.
- AI governance
- The Intelligence Layer runs as the user under their permissions, with per-connection area controls and an audit log. You choose Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot and can change later.
- Integration without a vendor queue
- Business Central APIs and webhooks, Power Automate connectors, and the MatterX API surface.
- Migration at scale
- A guided migration with rehearsals, live versus history, and reference-data APIs. Paid discovery first, then a fixed scope and price.
- Change control
- An AppSource-published app on a Microsoft-run platform; your extensions upgrade independently.
Discovery first. Then a fixed scope, a fixed price and a partner your size.
- 1
Paid discovery
Your estate, your precedents, your data, your entities. We map what moves, what stays and what gets rebuilt.
- 2
Fixed scope
A statement of work with a price, a timeline (typically three to six months with your IT team involved) and migration rehearsals before cutover.
- 3
Delivered with a Microsoft partner
Where you want an ISO-accredited partner with 100+ staff on the engagement, MatterX is delivered and supported with one. DataChef owns the legal layer and the roadmap.
Platform licence, implementation services and optional managed services. We show the whole Microsoft licence picture on one line, including Business Central, Power BI and any partner services, so there are no hidden costs.