Earlier this year (January 2024) Microsoft released their plans for updates to all Dynamics 365 applications, including Business Central. They will be coming from April 2024 as part of the 2024 release wave 1 update. Many of these features will be available for public preview in March with general availability in April. However, Microsoft do make it very clear that delivery timelines may change and some projected functionality may be delayed to future releases. This blog explores the new or updated user experience, governance and administration, legislation, and integration with the Power Platform improvements coming to Business Central later this year which we think are most relevant to our customers.
Make sure you take a look out at Part 1 of this blog where we looked at updates coming to Business Central’s application and AI functionality.
We will be holding a webinar in April (click here to book) highlighting the features we think will be the most useful to our customers.
Integration with the Power Platform
Microsoft are continuously investing in a seamless experience for customers who user Business Central together with Power Apps, Power Automate and Power BI.
- Manage work orders in Field Service, invoice them in Business Central – With this update, Microsoft is announcing an integration between Business Central and Field Service. This will allow work orders and consumption to be managed in Field Service and then invoiced and fulfilled in Business Central.
- Use virtual tables to expose more Business Central data in Dataverse – This enhancement allows for the use of virtual tables when synchronising data between Business Central, Dataverse and other Dynamics 365 apps. The aim of this is to erase boundaries between Dynamics 365 apps and make data accessible to users in their preferred app without help from a developer.
- Improve approval processes via Power Automate – With this update, Microsoft has improved the Business Central approval processes powered by Power Automate.
User Experience
- Use drag and drop to attach multiple files – This improvement will allow users to conveniently drag multiple files at the same time to attach them to records in Business Central.
- Use actions to navigate and highlight or fix platform-generated errors – Microsoft have enhanced the user experience by making it easier to understand, go to, and resolve errors that come from the Business Central platform.
- Share error details to get help from another user – This improvement allows users, who are blocked by an error, to quickly and easily share the error details with colleagues, subject matter experts, or other users to get assistance.
Governance and administration
- Use linked environment in Dataverse integration – With this update, administrators can link their Business Central environment to their Dataverse environment. Information from the link will make it easier, and more secure, to integrate Business Central with other Dynamics 365 apps,
- Audit Business Central operations in Microsoft Purview – In 2024 release wave 1, auditable events occurring in Dynamics 365 Business Central environments are emitted to Microsoft Purview, allowing administrators to monitor and audit events across Business Central and other Microsoft services in a single place.
- Encrypt data at-rest with customer-managed encryption key – With the 2024 release wave 1 update, customers will gain the ability to encrypt their environment database using their own encryption key.
- Allow customers to consent to Microsoft Support accessing their data – With this improvement, customers can enable a lockbox policy in the Power Platform admin centre that will apply to their Business Central environment.
- Link Business Central environments to Power Platform environments – This upgrade will link a organisation’s Business Central environment to their Power Platform environment from the admin centre. This will provide a default target environment for integrations and apply Power Platform environment settings to that particular Business Central environment.
Legislation
- See VAT date in posting previews – This update is part of the VAT improvements being made to Business Central. With it, users can view the VAT Date when they post previews in documents and journals.
- Automate country of origin listed for item tracking code in Intrastat reporting – This feature enables users to include the country of origin in item tracking. This enhancement is poised to increase productivity by automatically inheriting the country of origin for items in sales documents from corresponding purchases, eliminating the need for manual intervention. This information will later be used in Intrastat reporting.
- Achieve sustainable compliance with Business Central – This improvement enables businesses to collect and report on their sustainability activities. The solution is the foundation that will be used for compliance with the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and other ESG standards.
TVision is here to help
If you want to know more about Microsoft Business Central and how TVision can help you implement it in your business successfully, please feel free to contact us to arrange a demo to see how it could be the perfect ERP to help you overcome your business challenges.
If you are already a TVision customer and want to know how and when these Business Central 2024 wave 1 updates will affect your business, contact us.
