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Microsoft has published the 2024 release wave 2 plan for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform products. Naturally, the plan also includes a product targeted at the SMB segment from the Dynamics 365 family, namely Dynamics 365 Business Central, which will receive the major version number 25 with the 2024 release wave 2.
Directions for 2024 release wave 2
Long before the release plan was published, Microsoft presented the following infographic with investment areas for Business Central 2024 release wave 2, to show the direction in which the product will be developed during this cycle. It was a preview of the changes that await us.
The investment areas for Business Central in the 2024 release wave 2 have been divided into 2 main segments, which highlighted the development directions Microsoft followed when designing new and planned changes ↓ for this release.
AI powered business
In the area of Finance within the core functionality, improvements in collections and legislative requirements have been announced. In the area of Supply Chain functionality, optimizations in the Projects and Service Management areas, as well as the anticipated integration of Dynamics 365 Field Service with the Service Management area.
In the area of generative AI, there’s an extensive list of announced new features, including: creating orders with Chat with Copilot, summaries of Pages (sounds interesting), further development of payment reconciliation features using Copilot, more languages for Copilot features, a new predictive model for forecasting late payments (wow!), external knowledge bases (sounds quite enigmatic), and more to come… literally :).
What pleased me the most, however, when I first saw the above roadmap, was definitely the focus on reporting. Microsoft confirmed here that it intends to continue its commitment started with previous versions to the overhaul of the reporting system in Business Central, both within the application itself and on the Power BI side.
World class service
The increasing availability of Business Central in more countries and regions. UX improvements regarding permission errors and the transmission of error details using Power Automate, which will also receive new workflow templates. These will be made possible by new data and business events.
Further investments in performance, scalability, reliability, and high availability of the Business Central online service. Notably, there is a point about easier performance measurement.
For AL developers, improvements in application dependency testing. Let’s hope we get a little more.
Changes in managing application updates from the Business Central admin center. Further development of BC auditing from Microsoft Purview.
How were these development directions taken into account in the release plan that has just been published?
List of changes in 2024 release wave 2
The complete and up-to-date list of changes for Business Central published for the 2024 release wave 2 can be found in the documentation: What’s new and planned for Dynamics 365 Business Central ↗.
Changes come in waves
I deliberately do not write above that this is a list of changes for Business Central version 25, but for Business Central in the 2024 release wave 2, because the release plan for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform products is introduced as wave releases, every six months – the first wave in April (release wave 1) and the second in October (release wave 2) of the given year.
This means that changes published for a given wave may be delivered immediately (i.e., with availability from October 1 in BC version 25), but they may also be delivered later (in minor versions: 25.1, 25.2, 25.3, 25.4, 25.5) or even arrive with the next wave of BC version 26 or BC 26.x…
Availability of changes and planned dates
Fortunately, in the release plan documentation (link above), each feature includes information on the availability of that change for users (whether it is available automatically or needs to be activated in Feature Management) and what the planned release dates for the Public preview and General availability versions are.
However, the planned dates may change, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the official documentation pages for each change that particularly interests us – they are updated on an ongoing basis.
Below are few (or little more than a few) of the highlighted changes from the 2024 release wave 2 plan for BC that, in my opinion, are worth noting.
Global availability
With the 2024 release wave 2, Business Central will become available in additional countries/regions, bringing the total to over 180 countries and regions supported by Business Central (link ↗). It’s always worth mentioning how significant an advantage such broad, global availability of the ERP system is, especially for international companies or those looking to expand beyond the local market.
Copilot
Developers will be able to create automated tests for extensions using Copilot’s features (link ↗). Tests will be able to automatically populate the Copilot prompt window; test data sets can be organized by purpose and prompt variant; automated result verifications can be implemented depending on the use case of the solution; tests can be run either fully or semi-automatically.
The Chat with Copilot feature will be able to explain to users how to use the applications installed in BC. Users can ask Copilot to explain how functionalities work, not only those included in the BC standard but also those in additional installed applications (link ↗). Copilot’s responses will be based on the documentation provided by the application.
We will receive functions that allow us to fill in product information faster with the help of Copilot (link ↗). Copilot will complete: Variants, Units of Measure, Substitutes, and Default Dimensions for the specified item card based on similar items.
The previously introduced feature of adding sales lines to sales documents with the help of Copilot, will be improved (link ↗). The actions Find product and Find document by reference can be combined in a prompt dialog to first find the document and then select products from the indicated document; finding the document by reference number also supports Blanket Sales Orders; the functions also support Units of Measure in the prompt query. However, the most exciting change in my opinion is the ability to upload a CSV file with the customer’s order! ⭐ Copilot will first try to identify the structure of the file, delimiter characters, headers, etc., and then attempt to map the item and quantity fields. This is an ideal solution for when salespeople frequently receive orders in Excel in various layouts. This is a great addition to the previously introduced feature of pasting text with a customer’s order – perfect for salespeople who receive orders in the body of an e-mail.
Copilot assistant for analysis mode is receiving a set of enhancements and improvements (link ↗). Most importantly: the assistant now understands our prompts in 14 additional languages (including Polish); it can add and include all list fields in the analysis, even those hidden in the list view – I wasn’t even aware of how much I needed this.
Creating numbering series with Copilot will allow for the creation and updating of existing numbering series (link ↗). I am very curious to see how the new feature will handle the cyclical addition of numbering series lines divided into smaller periods, such as months.
Copilot will be able to generate concise text summaries for selected records even from custom tables (link ↗). Additionally, the summary will be interactive, allowing us to quickly access the most relevant fields or related records or use Copilot’s suggestions for the next steps. Developers will be able to enhance the summaries with more detailed data for specific data sets (presumably in the context of a particular Table – just a guess here).
Core functionality
In terms of improvements to the user interface, keyboard shortcut tips for menu items that appear when holding the Alt key will be available regardless of the language selected in My Settings, and the tips will be optimized for more languages (including Polish) (link ↗).
Resizing columns on list-type Pages will now be possible without entering Personalization mode (link ↗). Column widths will be stored in the browser’s memory, so changing them on one device (e.g., a work laptop) will not affect the column width when you launch BC on another device (e.g., a desktop at home). This means you can control column widths individually on each device – and that’s great, because different screen resolutions = different needs! If you need to change the width of a specific column for yourself across all devices, you still are able to enter Personalization mode and adjust the column width there; this will save it in the personalization records for the respective user in the BC database. Additionally, if you need to change the column width for everyone, you still use the Customization mode.
The ability to use the drag & drop method when uploading files to Business Central (e.g., to the Attachments section) has been enhanced to include the ability to drag and drop multiple files at once. Additionally, the list of uploaded files now features a Download action, which downloads all files (link ↗).
From the user interface, let’s move on to the new functional changes. The framework for handling e-documents has received several significant improvements, including:
- Introduction of localized e-document handling functionality for German localization (link ↗),
- Enabling the import of multiple documents in a batch into e-documents in BC and the ability to import from a folder on SharePoint (link ↗),
- The ability to capture documents using Azure AI Document Intelligence, which will be natively integrated with BC (link ↗),
- Extension of the standard list of e-document service providers in the application (link ↗) – despite the growing list of standard service providers, it is still possible to create extensions for the functionality framework to support e-documents, to provide e-document solutions for other countries and regions (I wonder if the integration with the Polish KSeF could be adapted to the BC e-document framework – just thinking out loud).
As part of the sustainability management functionality, we will receive many new features with the 2024 release wave 2:
- The ability to define metrics for sustainability in the company, allowing BC users to track more easily KPIs and add sustainability goals (link ↗),
- From the Purchase Invoice, we will be able to record information about greenhouse gas emissions (link ↗),
- A feature will be added to calculate the internal carbon fee, which can be assigned to Responsibility Centers to motivate organizational units to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (link ↗).
- On the item card, we will be able to assign the carbon footprint value for the item, so when posting a Purchase Invoice, a negative entry will be recorded along with the inventory cost in the Sustainability Ledger Entries (link ↗).
- Reporting on sustainability can now be conducted through the functionality of Financial Reports, which now include new types of records, fields, and source Tables appropriate for this area (link ↗).
- And after all that, we’ll be able to navigate easily from the new role center (and new profile) designed for the sustainability manager (link ↗).
As part of VAT processing, support for buyers who have warehouses (locations) in different countries or regions and identify with different VAT registration numbers has been added (link ↗). Therefore, fields for the VAT registration number and posting groups will be added to Ship-to Addresses.
In Service Management, functions for archiving service documents (link ↗) have been added, which we have known from other areas. The documents to be archived include Service Quotes, Service Contract Quotes, and Service Orders.
The native integration of BC with Dynamics 365 Field Service introduced in the previous release enabled integration with the Projects area. With this release, we will receive integration of Field Service documents with documents in the Service Management area in BC (link ↗). Both scenarios will be supported simultaneously. Additionally, Field Service users will have the ability to view Item Availability at selected BC locations (link ↗).
Within the Projects area, a new option will become available to implement project demand-based inventory replenishment (link ↗). This new feature shares the same demand calculation algorithm as the Order Planning function, meaning it does not require complex planning settings to generate replenishment suggestions. The new Create Purchase Orders action from the project will display lines for all item lines from the Project Planning Lines and show available and unavailable quantities (or unavailable quantities only if pressing the Show Unavailable action) along with the quantity to order (editable). From the lines window, it is also possible to enable automatic reservation of future purchase lines for the project. Finally, the function will create one or more Purchase Orders (depending on the number of Vendors assigned to the inventory) according to the entered lines.
Projects will also be enhanced with support for locations with directed put-aways and picks (advanced warehouses) (link ↗). This will introduce a new action called Create Warehouse Pick and support for the Pick Worksheet.
New functional module
Ready for a real functional blast? As part of the 2024 release wave 2, we will receive a new module for managing subscriptions and contracts, which will allow for creating recurring schedules for revenue from the sale of goods and services on a subscription basis (link ↗). ⭐
All sales that should be billed according to the established cyclical schedule can now be handled using the new functionality. Example use cases: equipment maintenance, IT support, cleaning services, rental services, etc.
Mixed sales (of items and services) will be possible within a single contract, which will include all information about items, services, and the subscription schedule. Templates will facilitate the creation of new contracts. It will be possible to manage current prices and plan future price changes. Accruals posting on balance accounts will be automated, with revenues or expenses allocated to the appropriate periods.
The new module will include:
- Contracts (agreements) for which cyclical invoicing for goods and services will take place,
- Billing schedules with flexible parameters that cater to typical use cases for recurring billing,
- Usage-based billing,
- Automated billing,
- Deferrals handling,
- Revenue recognition based on billing schedules,
- Contract updates (parameters and prices),
- Standard reports for contracts, customers, billing schedules, recognized revenue, future billing dates and amounts, and so on. Most reports are available as Power BI reports.
Shopify integration
I didn’t mention the improvements in the integration of Business Central with the e-commerce platform Shopify at the time of publishing the changes for the previous 2024 release wave 1, but this time, in the 2024 release wave 2, the changes seem significant enough that I decided to bring them to your attention.
The ability to export Posted Sales Invoices to Shopify will allow users (buyers) to access all sales invoices after logging into the user panel in Shopify, regardless of whether the invoices were created in Shopify or in Business Central (link ↗).
The ability to import and export BC data contained in so-called Metafields in Shopify using mapping settings for Shopify Products and Shopify Variants or by using an extension (link ↗).
Adding the ability to reconcile payments imported in Shopify Transactions also in cases where external service providers are used for payment processing (link ↗).
Reporting
In this release, Microsoft will provide 63 new, built-in Power BI reports for 6 areas of Business Central (link ↗):
- Finance Management: 14 reports
- Sales: 12 reports
- Purchase: 13 reports
- Inventory Management: 7 reports
- Manufacturing: 11 reports
- Projects: 6 reports
We will also have the ability to embed Power BI metrics to track important KPIs within Business Central. ⭐
Environment administration
The 2024 release wave 2 adds many new features to the administration of the BC online environment. The previous 2024 release wave 1 also brought new functions and capabilities in the areas of administration, integration within Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and Dataverse.
I’ll start discussing the latest updates in this area with a change that, for now, is more of a curiosity. Business Central will receive support for IPv6 in the 2024 release wave 2 (link ↗). The adoption of the IPv6 protocol by the Business Central online service will ensure uninterrupted service and scalability in the future – that’s clear. But do you remember how, with the official launch of IPv6 at the beginning of the last decade (if I remember correctly), we were warned about the dwindling number of available IPv4 addresses? As of now, Google reports the IPv6 adoption rate on the Internet at 41-46%, while other sources say 20-30%. Meanwhile, as large enterprises migrate to the cloud, many IPv4 addresses are being freed up. So will we actually face a situation where IPv4 addresses run out? Well, we’ll see. For now, the most important thing is that BC is secured in that matter.
With this release, we’ll be able to manage PTE extensions from the Business Central admin center similarly to how we currently manage ISV extensions (link ↗).
The administrator will be able to check the compatibility of installed applications with upcoming BC versions directly in the Business Central admin center (link ↗). Until now, information about incompatibility has been sent to notification recipients and resources assigned as Application Insights. Additionally, it will not be possible to schedule updates to a version with which the installed applications are incompatible.
Planning of updates will become somewhat more flexible with the 2024 release wave 2. The period for updating to the next major version will be extended to 5 months, while monthly updates to the next minor version will become optional (link ↗).
New admin center API endpoint that lists all managed BC environments will allow Partners to automate administrative tasks performed on multiple clients’ environments (link ↗). It is possible to build tools to manage all clients’ environments that Partners have access to, thanks to the BC environment access for Partners introduced in the previous 2024 release wave 1 ↗.
By using the Power Automate flow and leveraging the new business events, we will be able to receive notifications about issues with background Job Queue processing, such as when the job queue run fails after a specified number of retries, and when job queue scheduling fails (link↗).
At the end of this section, a small but very valuable update. The tool used for migrating on-premises environments to BC online and replication will automatically migrate all Links and Notes (link ↗). Previously, this data was not migrated and had to be transferred manually (did anyone do this manually?).
Development and AL
The ability to extend existing interfaces while declaring a new interface (link ↗) will allow developers to create more flexible and adaptable extensions for BC, which can evolve over time with changing business needs without the risk of introducing errors in the existing code.
In this version, the operators is and as are introduced, which will allow for casting between interfaces in the AL language (link ↗).
The AL syntax will also allow the use of the ternary operator ? : known from other programming languages, which simplifies the writing of conditional operations (link ↗).
Also known from other programming languages, handling the keyword this for self-references, is being added to all objects (link ↗).
With version 25, if publishing the extension from Visual Studio Code fails, the extension will be automatically restored and published in the previous version (link ↗).
An option to extend user profiles will be added (link ↗). Profile extensions can be used to change the profile name, the Page ID indicating the role center, visibility in Explorer, etc. It’s also possible to make changes to Pages for a specific profile.
New resource packages for extensions available from AL code will be able to include data sets (demonstration, startup, or configuration) intended for a specific extension (link ↗). Until now, if we wanted to populate extension objects with initial data after installing the extension in the environment, the values for fields, templates, or settings had to be included in the extension code itself (via labels, etc.). Now, the values for these data can be separated from the code.
Performance Profiler available directly within the Business Central application has so far offered on-demand performance measurement – you had to start the profiler, repeat the process steps, then stop it and check the results. In this release, Microsoft has expanded the functionality with the ability to rule-based scheduling mode for capturing profiles in the background (link ↗). Additionally, the measurement results are now more detailed and also include browser activity (e.g., page load times). Alongside Telemetry, we will now have another powerful tool for analyzing system performance as well as user activity. ⭐
Summary
Further addition of features based on Microsoft Copilot and refining those previously added are, fortunately, not the only changes brought by the 2024 release wave 2. The team developing Business Central at Microsoft continues to ensure the dynamic growth of the system, both in terms of the core functionality of the application and the platform and environment. Nearly every area has been addressed, and I believe that every user, consultant, and developer will find something particularly interesting in this release. The release not only introduces great new functionalities (see ¶ New functional module) but also enhances those introduced in previous releases (which shows that Microsoft listens to our feedback – it’s worth expressing it on official channels) and consistently follows the previously established directions.
Write in the comments ↓ what you think about the scope of changes in this release and the overall direction of BC development; what are you most looking forward to, what did Microsoft surprise you with, or what do you still miss in Business Central.
Looking forward to October! 😊
