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Privacy & Data Transfer

Transparency is important to us. On this page, you will learn exactly what data merchantCENTRAL sends to the license server, why it is needed, and how it is protected.

Core Principles

  • Encrypted transfer β€” All data is transmitted exclusively via HTTPS (TLS-encrypted)
  • Minimal data β€” Only data necessary for licensing is sent
  • No business data β€” Order contents, item prices, customer data from your BC are never transmitted
  • Secure key storage β€” License Keys and API keys are stored in Business Central's encrypted IsolatedStorage β€” not in the database

1. License Validation (every 24 hours)

The automatic license check sends the following data:

Field Example Purpose
License Key (transmitted encrypted) Identification of your license
Tenant ID 47a2ed66-0ce7-... Assignment to the BC tenant
Environment Name Production Distinguishing environments
Is Production true / false Sandbox detection (sandboxes are always free)
Is Sandbox true / false Sandbox detection

What comes back:

  • License status (Active, Demo, Expired, Suspended)
  • License type (Demo or Production)
  • Demo expiry date (if applicable)
  • List of licensed modules with respective status
  • Interval until the next check (normally 24 hours)

No License Key in plain text

The License Key is written encrypted into the request body via a special method (WriteWithSecretsTo). It is never visible as plain text in memory or logs.

2. Heartbeat (daily)

The daily heartbeat reports anonymized usage data:

Field Example Purpose
License Key (transmitted encrypted) Assignment to the license
Tenant ID 47a2ed66-0ce7-... Assignment to the tenant
Environment Name Production Environment identification
Is Production true / false Sandbox detection
Timestamp 2026-04-02T08:30:00Z Heartbeat timestamp

What is not sent

  • ❌ No order contents, customer names, or order numbers
  • ❌ No item prices, stock levels, or supplier data
  • ❌ No personal user data (usernames, email addresses of BC users)
  • ❌ No financial data (revenues, invoices, accounts)

3. Demo Registration (one-time)

During Demo Registration, company data is transferred once to create your trial license:

Required Data

Field Purpose
Company Name License assignment
Contact Person Contact person for support
Email Confirmation email and support contact
Country Code Regional assignment

Optional Data

Field Purpose
Phone Phone support
Street, Post Code, City Full address for later invoicing
VAT Registration No. Tax assignment
Website Company identification

Technical Data (automatically determined)

Field Purpose
Tenant ID Assignment to the BC tenant
Environment Name Environment identification
Is Production / Is Sandbox Sandbox detection
Installed Modules Which connector apps are installed, to activate them
GDPR Consent Proof of your consent

GDPR consent required

Demo registration requires your explicit consent to data processing. Without consent, no license can be created.

Data Usage

Your data is used exclusively for the following purposes:

Purpose Description
License management Creation, validation, and management of your merchantCENTRAL license
Billing Creation of invoices for production licenses (monthly, day-accurate)
Support Contact in case of technical questions or issues
Product improvement Anonymized, aggregated usage statistics (no individual analysis)

Where Is the Data Stored?

Location What Protection
Your Business Central License Key, cached license status, module list IsolatedStorage (encrypted), DataScope = Company
Azure Table Storage (EU) License data, heartbeats, usage statistics Managed Identity, RBAC, encrypted at rest
Our Business Central Billing data, contact data Standard BC security, DataClassification = CustomerContent

Your Rights

As a customer, you have the following rights under GDPR:

  • Information β€” What data is stored about you
  • Rectification β€” Correction of incorrect data
  • Erasure β€” Deletion of your data (after the end of the contractual relationship)
  • Withdrawal β€” Revocation of consent for the demo registration

Contact: datenschutz@altenbrand.de

Full privacy policy: https://www.merchantcentral.de/privacy