Prerequisites

Before you begin the "Generative AI Essentials" workshop, please ensure you have the following prerequisites met:

1. Business Central Sandbox Environment

   • You need to have access to a Business Central sandbox environment for development and testing purposes.
   • The version of the environment must be 24.0 or newer. This can be:
     • An Online Business Central Sandbox, commonly referred to as SaaS.
     • A local Docker environment.

   Better use Local Docker Environment

   It is recommended to use a local Docker environment for the workshop. Microsoft applies additional AI safety measures to the SaaS environments, which may change the behavior of the AI model. This can be confusing and not ideal for learning purposes.

   If you do not have a Docker environment prepared, please execute the following script in PowerShell using Administrator permissions:

   Get-ExecutionPolicy -List
   Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
   
   Install-Module BcContainerHelper -force
   
   $containerName = 'bc-workshop'
   $username = 'admin'
   $password = ConvertTo-SecureString "Password123456$" -AsPlainText -Force
   $credential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($username, $password)
   $auth = 'UserPassword'
   
   $artifactUrl = Get-BcArtifactUrl -country 'base' -select 'Latest'
   
   New-BcContainer `
       -accept_eula `
       -containerName $containerName `
       -credential $credential `
       -auth $auth `
       -artifactUrl $artifactUrl `
       -imageName 'mybcimage' `
       -memoryLimit 8G `
       -vsixFile (Get-LatestAlLanguageExtensionUrl) `
       -updateHosts
   

2. Visual Studio Code

   • Ensure you have Visual Studio Code installed for writing and testing your AL code.
   • Download it from Visual Studio Code Official Website.
   • Additionally, you should have the AL Language extension installed for Business Central development.
   • Install it from the Visual Studio Marketplace.

3. Azure Subscription

   • An Azure subscription is necessary. You can create one for free at Azure Free Account.

4. Azure OpenAI Resource

   You need an Azure OpenAI resource with next deployed models:

   • gpt-4o
   • text-embedding-ada-002

   See the Resource Deployment Guide for details on model deployment. Name the deployments gpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini, and text-embedding-ada-002 for easy reference.

   Model availability

   The gpt-4o model is available for deployment in different Azure regions. For the complete list, see the Standard deployment model availability.

   This is a video tutorial on how to deploy the Azure OpenAI resource and the models:

   Info

   The UI of the Azure portal could be changed, but the steps to deploy the resource and the models are the same.

   Shared Resource

   If you are experiencing issues with the Azure OpenAI subscription, don't worry, you will be provided with temporary access to the subscription where the Azure OpenAI resource is deployed.

Please have these prerequisites ready before the workshop to ensure a smooth and productive experience.

Congratulations! You are now ready to start the "Generative AI Essentials" workshop.