Tag: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The sixth of the new functionality in the User experiences section is Peek at summarized data from editable fields.

Peek view offers a quick and easy way to access and understand key information about related records. Peeking records can improve decision-making by providing a clear and concise overview of important information without leaving your current task.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Sep 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023

Feature Details

Until now, the peek control was available only in lists and non-editable forms. You can now use the peek control to access summarized information about related records on every page, which can help you stay focused on the task at hand.

My Opinion

This sounds like it could be good, but I dp really want to see how it is implemented.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The fifth of the new functionality in the User experiences section is manage user expectations with selection context-based actions.

Microsoft have made the experience of using actions on pages easier to understand and more consistent. While you’re working, only the actions that are relevant to your current selections are available. Because only the actions you can use are available, you’ll spend less effort on trying to figure out what you can do with your selections.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Sep 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023

Feature Details

You might want to request approval for multiple documents or send multiple sales order confirmations to customers. However, some actions don’t work for more than one thing at a time. To clarify what you can do when you haven’t selected anything, or you’ve made single or multiple selections, only the actions that you can use are available.

My Opinion

I like this; there has been a few occasions recently where I’ve selected multiple rows and found that when I select an action it was only one row which was impacted. More clarity around this will be really good.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The fourth of the new functionality in the User experiences section is share readable deep links to pages and records.

Like many web applications, Business Central offers deep linking to pages and records, enabling users to copy the current URL and share that with others, or add links to their browser favourites. In this wave, the Business Central web client introduces a simple and consistent naming convention so that pasting a link to any Business Central page or record results in a readable hyperlink that clearly indicates context but hides the full URL, which is often daunting to work with. Not only does this feature enrich hyperlinks pasted into rich text editors such as in Outlook, OneNote or Teams, it also delivers a better experience when you use Business Central with modern browser features, such as collections in Microsoft Edge.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Aug 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023

Feature Details

Business Central uses a simple and consistent naming convention for deep links when you copy the URL in the browser or use the Copy Link action and paste the link into any rich text editor:

• Multicompany: If the company has a badge, the hyperlink includes it.
• Context: The hyperlink for a list, card, or document page reflects the current record, page, or view, no matter how you got to that page.
• Readability: To improve readability, secondary information is trimmed from the hyperlink. For example, the full product branding is no longer included, and the view or edit state of the page is also omitted.

The following table includes examples of deep links pasted in a rich text editor.

Pattern	Example	Hyperlink caption
List page	Items list page	"Items"
List view	"Open" filtered view on Sales Orders list	"Sales Orders – Open"
Single record	Item card showing single record	"Item Card – 1896 ∙ ATHENS Desk"
Setup pages	Sale sand Inventory Forecast Setup page	"Sales and Inventory Forecast Setup"
Draft records	New customer card	"New – Customer card"
Root URL	Business Manager Role Center home page	"Dynamics 365 Business Central"
Profile override	URL includes ?profile=DISPATCHER	"Service Manager – Dynamics 365 Business Central"

When you paste a link into a simple text field or plain text editor, the URL is pasted instead of a readable hyperlink.

My Opinion

This sounds like a good addition; the current links that you can supply to people are not in the slightest friendly.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The third of the new functionality in the User experiences section is distinguish browser tabs when multitasking.

Users work more efficiently in Business Central when they use multiple browser tabs or windows to compare data, even across companies, or deal with new tasks as they appear. But navigating across open windows—for example, by selecting the Alt+Tab keys—quickly becomes challenging when all windows look alike. In this wave, Business Central helps to distinguish one open window from the next, making it easier to switch context.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Aug 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023

Feature Details

Business Central now uses a simple and clear schema for naming browser tabs and windows that’s automatically updated while you navigate within the web client.

• Multicompany: The company badge is included in the tab name, if the company has been assigned a badge.
• Context: The tab name for list, card, and document pages reflects the current record, page or view, no matter how you navigated to that page.
• Readability: To improve readability, the tab name has been trimmed of all secondary information. For example, the full product branding is no longer included, and the view or edit state of the page is also omitted.

The following table includes examples of browser tab naming:

Pattern	Example	Browser tab name
list page	Items list page	"Items"
list view	"Open" filtered view on Sales Orders list	"Sales Orders – Open"
single record	Item card showing single record	"Item Card – 1896 ∙ ATHENS Desk"
setup pages	Sale sand Inventory Forecast Setup page	"Sales and Inventory Forecast Setup"
draft records	New customer card	"New – Customer card"
root URL	Business Manager Role Center home page	"Dynamics 365 Business Central"
profile override	URL includes ?profile=DISPATCHER	"Service Manager – Dynamics 365 Business Central"

My Opinion

Business central doesn’t seem to lend itself especially well to multi-tab use, but maybe I’m missing something. Being able to differentiate tabs sounds like it would be beneficial to multi-tab usage.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The second of the new functionality in the User experiences section is get to data search from anywhere in Business Central.

Office workers spend up to 20 percent of their working time searching for information. Finding specific information in a timely manner across different areas of a business management solution often requires tailored queries within its different parts. Because the volume of data constantly increases, it becomes increasingly important to get relevant content fast. Business Central lets you search across all data that’s relevant for your role, and not just business transactions. The most relevant results show first, which saves valuable time and lets you focus on higher-value tasks.

Enabled for: Users, automatically
Public Preview: Oct 2023
General Availability: –

Feature Details

You can start a search directly from the Tell Me dialog by using the Alt+Q shortcut key combination from anywhere in Business Central. To search for data, enter one or more keywords in Tell Me. Or, when you run Tell Me in the context of an editable page, it will automatically search for the value in the currently selected field.

Continue reading “New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2: Get to Data Search From Anywhere in Business Central”

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The first of the new functionality in the User experiences section is add existing table fields to optimize your pages.

The Microsoft Cloud empowers SMBs to adapt quickly to changing conditions. Each line of business often needs to optimize for data entry and data insights by customizing which fields are displayed and relevant for the organization. Business Central already provides a rich toolbox to hide, show, or move various UI elements. Now, Microsoft are also unlocking table fields so that administrators, department owners, and partner consultants can easily and immediately add them to their pages without having to develop code extensions. By adding existing table fields to a page, customers can self-serve and reduce time to value while cutting implementation costs. Conversely, this frees up time for pro developers to focus on more rewarding implementations.

Enabled for: Users by admins, makers, or analysts
Public Preview: Oct 2023
General Availability: –

Feature Details

From the Business Central web client, you can:

• Customize per role: Role-tailor Business Central by choosing which user profile to customize from the Profiles list page. Roll out minor customizations immediately in production, or start safely in a sandbox environment to get feedback from your users and roll out the change to production at the right time.
• Get access to more fields: Apart from the recommended fields that are already shown or hidden on the page, choose from additional fields that originate from the source table that powers that page, including fields from table extensions. Search, filter, or use tooltips to learn more about each field before displaying it on the page.
• Add to all the right places: Drag and drop fields from the field management pane to a precise location on the page canvas, or click to scroll it into view or show the suggested place where it could be added on any type of page, such as card pages or lists. Adjust the content around them for an optimal experience.
• Start using fields immediately: Changes come into effect immediately once you finish customizing a user profile. Users assigned that profile will be able to view or edit the field value depending on the page context.

This feature is initially in preview and subject to change. This feature isn’t intended for creating new fields on tables and will still require developer support when used to add complex, existing table fields.

My Opinion

It’s not clear how this is different to the current page personalisation which is available?

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The fifth of the new functionality in the Service and platform section is performance gain reducing locks in the database.

Microsoft will minimize the use of database locks when running business logic. This will benefit all usage scenarios, both for web service integrations, background jobs, and interactive sessions.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Sep 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023

Feature Details

In this release, Microsoft will optimize this very central part of the data stack in the Business Central server:

• Change the default locking behavior in AL from SerializedRead to ReadCommitted.

My Opinion

I don’t think I’ve encountered locking issues with Business Central, but this sounds like it can only be a good thing.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The fourth of the new functionality in the Service and platform section is pages load faster in client.

By optimizing the opening of most page types in the client, you’ll find that the Business Central client is swift and responsive.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Sep 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023

Feature Details

In this release, Microsoft optimize two essential areas of the Business Central client:

• Opening a new tab.
• Rendering the navigation bar and action bar on all pages.

My Opinion

This is a feature which will be popular with clients; on a couple of the projects on which I have recently worked, there have been complaints that the system is a lot slower than their old on-premises solution. This is, unfortunately, the nature of a cloud offering, which are never as fast as a well-maintained on-premises solution.

I’ll be interested in seeing the performance improvement offered by this new feature when it comes available and, as log as it lives up to its promise, I’m sure clients will be happier.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The third of the new functionality in the Service and platform section is faster application scenarios.

By optimizing the speed of select scenarios in the application, you experience a Business Central application that’s more swift and responsive.

Enabled for: Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically
Public Preview: Sep 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023

Feature Details

This release includes optimizations for the following scenarios in the Business Central base application:

• Running country-specific (long-running) reports.
• Renumbering General Journal entries.
• Validating the Sales Order Subform field for Tax Group Code.
• Generating report 120 Aged Accounts Receivable for larger datasets.
• Assigning serial numbers and posting reservation entries and item tracking lines.
• Assembly-to-order processes.

My Opinion

Being a web based application means that Business Central is not as fast as an on-premises solution, so anything which can help improve speed is welcome.

This post is part of the New Functionality In Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2 series in which I am taking a look at the new functionality introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 2.

The second of the new functionality in the Service and platform section is data loads faster in the server.

Improving the data loading speed on the server benefits all usage scenarios, including web service integrations, background jobs, and interactive sessions.

Enabled for: Users by admins, makers, or analysts
Public Preview: Sep 2023
General Availability: Oct 2023

Feature Details

This release focuses on optimizing two essential parts of the data stack in the Business Central server:

• The data model for table extensions.
• The use of modern SQL datatypes for Booleans and blobs.