Microsoft Expands Dynamics 365 Capabilities on the Path to Agentic ERP

AI is changing not only what ERP can do, but how work gets done. Microsoft’s latest Dynamics 365 announcement brings new capabilities across core business operations while advancing its vision for agentic ERP, where people and AI work together across business processes.

 

The focus is increasingly on connecting people, data and processes so AI can work with the context of the business, rather than operating separately from it. The announcement also marks a shift toward a more continuously updated roadmap, with a view of new and upcoming Dynamics 365 capabilities through March 2027.

 

What is Changing Across Dynamics 365?

 

The new capabilities cover some of the most important areas of business operations.

 

Finance

 

Dynamics 365 Finance is getting a redesigned financial journals experience aimed at higher transaction volumes and more complex cross-legal-entity scenarios. Account Reconciliation Agent is being expanded to resolve exceptions in bulk, while Accounts Payable (AP) automation gains AI invoice recognition and suggestions for completing finance entries.

 

Finance Agent is also gaining skills for reconciliation, data preparation, variance analysis, collections and business intelligence across Microsoft 365 surfaces including Copilot, Excel, Outlook and Teams, with native Finance connectivity and connectors to other systems.

 

Microsoft is also making its Business Performance Planning demo data and starter kit generally available, alongside France e-invoicing and e-reporting support.

 

Supply Chain Management

 

Supply Chain Management is gaining more decision support across procurement, planning, supplier engagement and warehouse operations.

 

A procurement agent impact analysis capability, now in public preview, can trace a supplier-proposed purchase order change through affected sales orders, production orders, transfer orders and projected inventory. Demand planning now includes generally available generative insights for seasonality, trends and signal correlations, alongside external signals such as inflation, pricing and weather.

 

Supplier Engagement is in public preview, bringing onboarding, RFQs (requests for quotation), purchase orders and invoicing into a connected workspace and supplier portal. Microsoft is continuing to expand warehouse management capabilities, with dynamic item placement coming next. Rental management capabilities are also coming to public preview, connecting quoting, contracts, inspections, returns and billing.

 

Project Operations

 

For project-based businesses, new capabilities focus on keeping scope, financials, billing and resources aligned as projects change.

 

Change order management is coming to public preview, providing a structured and auditable way to incorporate contract changes into billing schedules. Subscription billing is also coming, with recurring billing schedules, invoice generation and flexible and tiered pricing.

 

A new time-phased staffing view brings task assignments, project bookings and available capacity into one timeline. Microsoft is also adding an option to recognize project revenue against the original cost estimate when that accounting approach is appropriate.

 

Commerce

 

Dynamics 365 Commerce is expanding its B2B capabilities, including a single sign-in for buyers managing purchases across multiple outlets, legal entities and fulfilment channels, with on-account and credit validation. Trade POS is also gaining bulk order capture, contacts on orders and quotations, direct order release to the warehouse and streamlined pickup workflows.

 

On the agentic side, the Dynamics 365 Commerce MCP server is now in public preview, providing a foundation for customers and partners to develop their own agentic commerce scenarios.

 

Field Service

 

Field Service is gaining a Scheduling Operations Agent, currently in public preview, which can help dispatchers optimize multiple resources against defined objectives and review proposed changes before applying them. Scheduled optimisation is planned as a next step.

 

Connected workflows across Field Service, Project Operations and Finance are now generally available. Work orders can be created directly from or linked to project tasks, connecting field execution with project scope and task-based billing. A mobile-first notes experience is also generally available, allowing technicians to capture text, images and video directly in work orders.

 

Human Resources

 

Dynamics 365 Human Resources is expanding across the employee lifecycle, from talent pools, referrals, digital offers and preboarding through learning, succession, performance, benefits, leave, HR-aware time entry and reporting.

 

Agentic capabilities are also being introduced into HR. Candidate assessment and onboarding are gaining agentic experiences, while new HR business skills will make more hire-to-retire workflows available through Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Cowork and agents.

 

Sustainability

 

Microsoft is also strengthening Dynamics 365 Sustainability around governance and auditability.

 

New capabilities are designed to provide clearer data trails for sustainability reporting, including source activity data, emission factors, calculation logic and reporting filters. Reporting period controls and governed ESG data collection are also being introduced to support more structured review, evidence and approval processes.

 

A New Way of Following the Dynamics 365 Roadmap

 

There is another important change behind these product updates. Microsoft is moving beyond traditional release waves with its AI at Work roadmap, providing a more continuously updated view of innovation across Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Dataverse.

 

The latest announcement gives a snapshot of new and upcoming Dynamics 365 ERP capabilities through March 2027. For organisations planning their ERP roadmap, this provides a clearer view of what is becoming available and what is coming next.

 

The Foundation Still Matters

 

The most significant part of this announcement may not be any single new feature. As more agents interact with ERP processes, the quality of the underlying ERP environment becomes increasingly important.

 

Reliable data. Connected processes. Clear business logic. Appropriate security. Defined permissions.

 

These are what allow agents to work with business context rather than simply generate information around it. That is the direction Microsoft is describing with agentic ERP: connecting how people work with how the business operates, while keeping Dynamics 365 at the centre of the business process foundation.

Microsoft Introduces Dynamics 365 Activate: What It Means for CRM Migration Projects

Microsoft has introduced Dynamics 365 Activate, an AI-powered tool designed to help organizations move to Dynamics 365 with less manual effort and greater visibility throughout the implementation process.

 

The first capabilities are now available in public preview for organizations migrating from Salesforce to Dynamics 365. Microsoft says Activate can analyze an existing Salesforce environment, identify data, business processes, customizations and dependencies, and use that information to support migration planning and execution.

 

For organizations considering a CRM migration, the announcement raises a more practical question: what does AI-assisted migration actually change for the project?

 

Why CRM Migrations Are More than Moving Data

 

A CRM migration rarely starts with a clean system.

 

Years of customization can leave organizations with complex data structures, workflows, integrations, business rules and processes that are difficult to map from one platform to another. Data quality can vary across departments, while some customizations may no longer reflect how the business operates today.

 

There is also a business side to the migration. Employees need to adapt to new processes and ways of working, making adoption and change management part of the project from the beginning.

 

This makes discovery one of the most important stages of a migration project.

 

Before deciding what to migrate, teams need to understand what they already have and, equally importantly, what they actually need going forward.

 

How Dynamics 365 Activate Aims to Help

 

Activate is designed to bring AI into this part of the implementation process.

 

According to Microsoft, the Salesforce migration capabilities can analyze the existing CRM environment, profile data and entities, identify relationships and dependencies, and surface customizations that require attention. The resulting context can help teams assess migration scope and identify potential issues earlier.

 

The objective is not simply to reproduce the existing Salesforce environment inside Dynamics 365.

 

The information gathered during discovery can help customers and implementation teams decide what to preserve, what to simplify and what to redesign before migration begins.

 

That distinction matters. A successful migration should move the business forward, rather than simply recreate years of accumulated complexity in a new system.

 

What Could this Mean for Customers?

 

For organizations already evaluating a Salesforce-to-Dynamics 365 migration, Activate is particularly relevant during the assessment and planning stages.

 

Its potential value is in making the existing environment easier to understand before major migration decisions are made. That can mean less manual discovery work, better visibility into migration scope and earlier identification of dependencies or potential risks.

 

Does that make Salesforce migration easier? Potentially, particularly where the existing environment is complex. But Activate does not remove the decisions involved in determining what the future CRM should look like. The benefit comes from giving teams better information to make those decisions.

 

It is also not limited conceptually to new Dynamics 365 customers. Microsoft’s broader vision for Activate includes existing Dynamics 365 customers that want to expand into new applications, processes, geographies or business units. For these organizations, the goal is to build on existing business context rather than repeat lengthy discovery for every new implementation.

 

The current public preview, however, is specifically focused on Salesforce-to-Dynamics 365 migration. Microsoft has indicated that additional CRM and ERP migration scenarios will follow, with ERP capabilities planned later in 2026.

 

What Happens to the Implementation Partner?

 

AI-assisted migration does not make implementation expertise less relevant. It changes where that expertise can have the greatest impact.

 

If AI can accelerate discovery and analysis, implementation teams can spend less time reconstructing the legacy environment and more time applying business and industry knowledge to the future one.

 

That includes business process design, solution architecture, data strategy, integrations, testing, governance and change management.

 

For customers, this distinction matters. The technology can help answer what exists and identify potential migration considerations. Experienced implementation teams are still needed to determine what should change and how those changes should work in the context of the business.

 

That is ultimately the significance of Dynamics 365 Activate. It is not simply another migration utility. It reflects a broader shift toward AI-assisted implementation, where more of the analysis can be automated while the decisions shaping the future business environment remain collaborative and human-led.

 

For organizations considering a move to Dynamics 365, the question is becoming less about how much of the old system can be moved, and more about what is worth taking forward.

Microsoft Introduces a New AI-Powered Operating Model for Customer Experience in Dynamics 365

Microsoft has announced a new AI-powered operating model for customer experience in Dynamics 365, bringing together customer service, contact center operations, workforce engagement management (WEM), and AI capabilities within a unified platform.

 

The announcement reflects a shift in how organizations deliver customer service as AI becomes more integrated into business operations. Customer service leaders are increasingly responsible not only for managing human teams, but also for overseeing AI agents that participate in service delivery. This creates new requirements for visibility, coordination, and performance management across both human and digital workers.

 

A New Operating Model for Customer Experience

 

According to Microsoft’s 2026 Work Trend Index, organizations are entering a new phase of AI adoption in which AI agents become part of the workforce and contribute to business processes alongside employees.

 

To support this transition, Microsoft is expanding Dynamics 365 with capabilities that help organizations coordinate people and AI within a single operating model. At the core is a unified platform built on a single data model that connects Customer Service, Contact Center, Workforce Engagement Management, and AI capabilities. This provides a consistent view of customer interactions, workforce performance, and operational data across the service lifecycle.

 

The approach is designed to reduce fragmentation across customer service operations and support more informed decision-making using real-time operational insights.

 

Workforce Engagement Management in Dynamics 365

 

Microsoft is embedding Workforce Engagement Management directly into Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Contact Center, reducing reliance on separate tools and enabling a more unified approach to service operations.

 

The integrated WEM capabilities include demand forecasting, scheduling, adherence monitoring, intraday shift swapping, shift bidding, and time recording. These capabilities allow organizations to manage workforce operations directly within Dynamics 365 while maintaining a unified operational view.

 

Microsoft also notes that organizations can continue using existing third-party workforce management solutions through supported integrations, enabling a phased modernization approach.

 

Three Key Capability Areas

 

The announcement is structured around three main capability areas:

 

1. Embedded Workforce Engagement Management

 

Workforce Engagement Management is now integrated into Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Dynamics 365 Contact Center, enabling workforce planning and execution within the same environment as customer service operations.

 

2. AI Coaching and Operational Insights

 

AI-powered coaching provides real-time recommendations and performance insights to support employee development and help improve service quality. It also enables supervisors to identify operational issues based on live data.

 

3. Real-Time Wallboards

 

Microsoft is introducing real-time wallboards in Dynamics 365 Contact Center, providing supervisors with live visibility into service levels, backlog, and operational performance to support real-time operational awareness.

 

Together, these capabilities support connected planning, execution, and monitoring across customer service operations.

 

Managing Human Agents and AI Agents Together

 

A key element of the new operating model is the ability to manage both human service representatives and AI agents within the same environment.

 

As AI agents take on defined service tasks, human agents are able to focus on more complex customer interactions. Supervisors gain a consolidated view of performance across both human and AI contributors, supported by operational data and AI-driven insights.

 

Microsoft emphasizes that supervisors remain in control of how AI is applied within customer service workflows, using defined rules and operational guidance to shape system behavior.

 

Supporting Customer Service Operations

 

With these updates, Microsoft is positioning Dynamics 365 as a connected platform for customer service operations, bringing together customer service, contact center, workforce engagement management, and AI capabilities in a single environment.

 

By unifying these capabilities, organizations can reduce fragmentation across tools and processes and improve visibility across workforce planning, service execution, and operational performance.

 

The announcement represents another step in Microsoft’s broader strategy to embed AI across Dynamics 365 and support organizations as customer service operations continue to evolve.

Why Operational Maturity Will Define the Winners of the Next Decade

The Competitive Advantage Nobody Talks About

 

For much of the past twenty years, competitive advantage was often linked to technology adoption.

 

Organizations invested in new platforms, modernized infrastructure, digitized processes, and expanded access to data. Those able to move faster frequently established meaningful advantages over their peers.

 

Today, that dynamic is changing.

 

Technology continues to evolve at an extraordinary pace, but access to innovation is becoming increasingly democratized. Capabilities that were once available only to a select group of organizations can now be deployed broadly and at scale.

 

As a result, technology alone is becoming a less reliable source of differentiation. The question facing business leaders is no longer whether innovation is available. It is whether their organizations are capable of translating innovation into measurable outcomes.

 

 

The New Constraint on Growth

 

Many organizations possess the technologies required to improve performance, increase efficiency, and create new value.

 

Yet the results achieved across businesses remain remarkably uneven.

 

The difference is rarely explained by technology itself. More often, it is explained by execution. Disconnected processes, fragmented data, inconsistent governance, and competing priorities create friction that limits the impact of even the most advanced capabilities.

 

In many cases, organizations do not struggle because they lack innovation. They struggle because their operating environment prevents innovation from scaling.

 

Maturity Creates Momentum

 

Operational maturity is often misunderstood as standardization for its own sake.

 

In reality, maturity creates the conditions for adaptability. Organizations with well-defined processes, trusted data, and aligned operating models can absorb change more effectively than those operating through fragmentation and exception management.

 

They can introduce new capabilities more quickly.

They can make decisions with greater confidence.

They can respond to market shifts with less disruption.

 

Most importantly, they can scale successful initiatives beyond isolated teams or departments.

 

This ability to consistently translate change into results is becoming a defining characteristic of high-performing organizations.

 

The Strategic Value of Foundations

 

Business leaders are often drawn to visible transformation initiatives. New technologies generate attention. New capabilities generate excitement.

 

Yet the organizations that sustain long-term performance typically invest as much effort in foundations as they do in innovation.

 

Modern business applications, integrated data environments, and standardized operating processes may not attract headlines, but they create the infrastructure through which transformation becomes possible. Organizations that have invested in connected business platforms are often better positioned to absorb change, scale innovation, and adapt to new market realities.

 

Without these foundations, change remains episodic.

 

With them, change becomes repeatable.

 

This distinction is increasingly important as the pace of technological advancement accelerates.

 

A Different Perspective on Transformation

 

Transformation is frequently discussed as a destination, a future state reached through a major initiative or implementation.

 

Today, the challenge is different. Markets evolve faster, customer expectations shift more rapidly, and new technologies continue to reshape competitive landscapes.

 

Success increasingly depends not on an organization’s ability to transform once, but on its ability to adapt continuously. That capability is built on operational maturity.

 

Looking Ahead

 

Technology will continue to advance, and access to new capabilities will continue to widen across the market.

 

As innovation becomes more accessible, organizational capability becomes more valuable. The organizations that invest in strong operational foundations today will be better positioned to adopt emerging technologies, respond to change, and sustain competitive advantage in the years ahead.

 

Copilot Cowork: When AI Stops Assisting and Starts Executing

Artificial intelligence has already transformed how we work, helping us quickly find answers, draft emails, and surface insights. But the next evolution of AI is even more ambitious: finishing the work. That is exactly what Copilot Cowork is designed to do.

 

Copilot Cowork takes Microsoft 365 Copilot beyond a conversational assistant and turns it into a true work partner. Instead of prompting for content, you simply describe the outcome you want. Cowork handles the execution.

 

Turning Intent into Action

 

At the core of Copilot Cowork is a simple principle: outcomes matter more than prompts. When you delegate a task, Cowork builds a plan, draws on your actual work context, and begins executing across Microsoft 365 apps. Emails, meetings, files, and data all inform how the work gets done.

 

This intelligence comes from Work IQ, which uses signals from Outlook, Teams, Excel, and the broader Microsoft 365 environment. The result is AI that understands your workflow and context just as you do.

 

More importantly, control never leaves your hands. Cowork pauses at key moments with clear checkpoints, asks for clarification when needed, and shows recommended actions before applying them. Multiple tasks can progress in parallel while you stay focused on what matters most.

 

How Cowork Fits into Real Workdays

 

Microsoft highlights four practical scenarios that show Copilot Cowork in action:

 

This intelligence comes from Work IQ, which uses signals from Outlook, Teams, Excel, and the broader Microsoft 365 environment. The result is AI that understands your workflow and context just as you do.

 

1. Calendar Optimization

 

Cowork can review your Outlook schedule, identify conflicts or low-priority meetings, and propose changes. With approval, it reschedules meetings, declines where appropriate, and protects focus time. The result: you gain back control of your week.

 

2. End-to-End Meeting Preparation

 

Instead of juggling documents and deadlines, Cowork gathers inputs from emails and files, schedules prep time, and creates a connected set of deliverables: briefing document, supporting analysis, and a client-ready deck. Follow-ups are drafted, decisions are captured, and everything is organized and ready to share.

 

3. Fast, Trustworthy Company Research

 

Deep research takes time and rigor. With Cowork, you can offload company research across web and work sources. It gathers earnings reports, SEC filings, analyst commentary, and relevant news, then organizes findings with clear citations.

 

Instead of assembling inputs manually, you get an executive summary ready to send, a structured research memo with clear assumptions and supporting analysis, and an Excel workbook with labeled tabs. When work is cross-functional and time-sensitive, Cowork also coordinates the workflow to deliver both the narrative and the plan.

 

4. Product Launch Coordination

 

For fast-moving launches, Cowork takes you from intent to full execution. It builds competitive comparisons in Excel, distills differentiation into a value proposition document, generates a customer pitch deck, and outlines milestones, owners, and next steps. Strategy translates into coordinated action, giving you a coherent story and all supporting files.

 

Your team can distribute, review, and refine the materials as the launch evolves, without stitching together versions across tools.

 

Built for Enterprise Trust

 

Copilot Cowork operates entirely within Microsoft 365’s security and governance framework. Permissions, compliance policies, and auditing apply by default, keeping work safe in a protected cloud environment.

 

Microsoft also takes a multi-model approach, integrating Claude Cowork technology alongside other leading AI models. Copilot selects the best model for the task, ensuring flexibility and ongoing innovation.

 

What This Means for Organizations

 

Adopting Copilot Cowork allows organizations to move from task management to outcome driven work. Teams can coordinate more efficiently, reduce repetitive work, and focus on initiatives that deliver real business impact.

 

Microsoft Brings Copilot Business to Small and Medium Companies

Microsoft just announced a new AI-powered productivity tool for small- and medium-sized businesses. Here comes Microsoft 365 Copilot Business!

 

AI Productivity for Every Small and Medium Business

Since its introduction in 2013, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business has become a must-have AI companion for companies worldwide. But it wasn’t affordable for everyone. Today, Microsoft is taking small- and medium-sized companies into consideration, offering a version tailored to their budget and needs.

 

Starting December 1^st 2025, Copilot Business will be available worldwide, with the same Microsoft 365 Copilot Business capabilities, now offered at more adaptable pricing. The one condition: your organization must have no more than 300 users.

 

What Copilot Business Delivers

 

Copilot Business provides a unified, work-ready AI experience across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, all powered by Work IQ, which learns your role, routines, and organizational context. It handles repetitive tasks, highlights key insights, and works within your existing security and privacy controls, letting you adopt AI confidently with zero extra setup.

 

Designed to help small- and medium-sized businesses compete, it speeds up emails, reports, and proposals so teams can focus on more strategic work. And with Copilot Chat, Search, Pages, Notebooks, and customizable agents built into one interface at no additional cost, you get powerful, enterprise-grade AI that elevates productivity.

 

Select the Plan That Fits Your Business Needs

 

Microsoft has taken it even further to help you choose the best option for your organization out of the few choices:

 

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic + Copilot Business: Essential web and mobile AI-powered apps to help your team work confidently and make faster, smarter decisions.
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard + Copilot Business: Everything in Basic plus the full suite of desktop Office apps for a complete, integrated work experience from any device.
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium + Copilot Business: All the benefits of Standard, along with advanced security and device management to protect your business as you scale.

 

Get started with Copilot Business and see how AI can transform your SMB today.

Microsoft Unveils the New Business Central Logo

Microsoft has officially introduced a refreshed Business Central logo at this year’s Directions EMEA conference in Poznań, Poland, marking the beginning of a new era for one of the most trusted ERP solutions for small and mid-sized businesses.

 

The new visual identity aligns with Microsoft’s broader strategy to unify the product ecosystem under a consistent, contemporary design language across all apps and services.

 

It also reinforces Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central’s position as a modern, AI-enabled platform that connects every part of a business, from finance and operations to sales and supply chain.

 

 

Photo Credits: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central via LinkedIn

 

As a global Microsoft partner, AXM365 welcomes this evolution and the continued innovation behind Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

 

Our mission remains the same: helping organizations modernize their ERP landscape, simplify operations, and unlock value through Microsoft’s latest capabilities.

What’s New in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance

The latest Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance update brings key improvements, including features that are new, changed or enhanced, designed to make financial processes faster, more accurate, and easier to manage. All this will be available on the following schedule:

 

• Preview of release: October 2025
• General availability of release (self-update): December 2025
• General availability of release (auto-update): February 2026

 

New or Changed Features

 

A number of new and changed features have been introduced to simplify finance workflows and enhance overall efficiency.

 

Accounts Receivable

 

• Faster Global Transaction Page— Optimized performance for large datasets, allowing quicker lookups and smoother navigation.
• Structured QR-Bill Addresses (Switzerland)— Supports structured “S-type” addresses for both biller and debtor, improving accuracy and compliance in Swiss billing.

 

Fixed Assets

 

• Stable Acquisition Proposals— Recurring batch jobs for asset acquisitions now continue even if older journals are deleted, preventing interruptions.
• Consistent Asset Naming— Asset names from purchase orders remain intact; new details are added without overwriting existing data.
• Accurate Transaction Timing— Inventory sold transactions now post at the correct time for cleaner and more reliable financial tracking.
• (Preview) Intercompany Asset Transfers— A new data entity streamlines transfers between legal entities, helping organizations automate asset management.

 

Subscription Billing

 

• Optimized Batch Processing— Reduced a significant amount of chattiness in batch process.
• Faster Invoice Posting— Billing schedule invoices now post using multithreaded batch processing, allowing multiple invoices to be processed in parallel for significantly faster execution.
• (Preview) Parallel Deferral Recognition— Enhanced the subscription billing deferral recognition batch process by processing deferral data in parallel, allowing each run to complete more efficiently.

 

Enhanced Features

 

Several improvements have been made to refine existing processes, making daily finance tasks smoother and more reliable.

 

Accounts Receivable

 

• Free Text Invoice— Corrects posted invoice totals to include all line amounts, ensuring consistent reporting.
• Case Management Visibility— Invoice and Invoice line details information now appear on the Associations FastTab on My cases.

 

Credit & Collections

 

• Interest Note Flexibility— Users can now view and select the option for the Due Date and the Terms of Payment when posting a customer interest note.
• Smarter Collection Emails— Email template on the collection process automation uses the variables on the Subject line.
• Faster Interest Note Creation— Uses top-picking optimization when creating customer interest notes, to speed up processing for large transaction volumes.

 

General Ledger

 

• Account Reconciliation Agent (Production Preview)— Now provides suggested actions for In ledger not in subledger and In subledger not in ledger exception types.
• User ID Visibility in Settlements— The Ledger Settlement Inquiry page now shows the user ID that did the settlement for full audit transparency.
• Ledger Settlement Performance— The Ledger settlements page has been updated to improve the performance, although customizations may need to be updated to work with the new page.

 

Subscription Billing

 

• Automatic Discount Groups— Discount group setup in trade agreement for item prices now automatically applies to the billing schedule when created for the corresponding customer record.
• (Preview) Deferral COGS Dashboard— Dashboard monitors for visibility into deferral adjustment errors with rerun capability.
• (Preview) Process Completion Notifications— A notification message is displayed when the asynchronous process finishes so that the user is notified.
• Consistent Credit Note Exchange Rates— At the termination of billing schedule, a credit note is created against the invoices (sales orders) with the same exchange rate used at the time of invoicing.

 

Take the Next Step with AXM365

 

Ready to unlock the full potential of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance?

 

AXM365 helps businesses implement, optimize, and modernize their ERP systems, ensuring finance and operations teams work smarter, not harder.

Updates to License Management in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations

Microsoft is simplifying the way organizations manage licenses for Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations — with enhanced tools that bring greater security, privacy, compliance and transparency to your licensing footprint.

 

Effective license management is essential for maintaining operational control, compliance, and cost efficiency. To ensure a smoother transition to per-user license validation, Microsoft has adjusted the rollout timeline. Validation will now be introduced gradually, aligned with each organization’s contract renewal or anniversary date, supported by new reporting capabilities designed to enhance transparency and simplify license management.

 

Starting in early 2026, new updates will help businesses stay compliant and efficient with less manual effort.

 

 What’s Changing

 

Enhanced Visibility and Reporting

 

Microsoft is enhancing the Power Platform admin center with better license insights. Admins now gain comprehensive visibility into license usage across security roles, enabling smarter, data-driven management of their licensing footprint.

 

Phased Rollout of License Validation

 

Starting January 15, 2026, license validation for Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations applications will begin for customers with contract renewals or anniversaries occurring after that date.

 

This phased approach allows organizations to review user counts and licensing needs ahead of time, make adjustments smoothly with minimal operational impact, and gain clear visibility into the validation timeline, helping administrators plan effectively.

 

Access Restrictions for Unlicensed Users

 

After validation, users without assigned licenses will lose access until licenses are assigned. During this time, they will be prompted to request the appropriate license from their administrator.

 

Preparing for a Smooth Transition

 

To help organizations navigate the upcoming license validation process, it’s important to take proactive steps to ensure a seamless transition.

 

• Understand Licensing Requirements— review how security roles, duties, and privileges map to license types.
• Review User Role & License Mapping— use admin tools to summarize active users and their license requirements.
• Role to License Optimization— identify and remove unnecessary permissions using the License Usage Summary Report.
• Align Licenses in Microsoft 365 Admin Center— ensure user licenses match report mappings and add extra licenses as required.

 

Key Takeaways

 

Preparing for the upcoming license validation doesn’t have to be complex.

 

With the right preparation, organizations can turn this transition into an opportunity to strengthen governance and improve operational efficiency. Our team can help you review your license setup, analyze usage patterns, and optimize your security roles — so you can enter 2026 fully compliant and disruption-free. These steps lay the foundation for smoother administration, clearer visibility, and more effective management of Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations environments.

 

Partner with AXM365

 

Get in touch with AXM365 to schedule a license readiness review and ensure your organization transitions smoothly.

Microsoft 365 Copilot: Role-Based AI Empowering Sales, Service, and Finance Teams

Microsoft takes Copilot to the next level — empowering sales, service, and finance teams with AI built for their roles.

 

The latest Microsoft 365 update introduces role-based Copilot experiences that go far beyond general productivity assistance. Sales reps, service agents, and finance professionals now get context-aware, data-connected tools that work directly within Outlook, Teams, Excel, and Dynamics 365 — transforming how work happens.

 

Sales

 

For sales teams, Copilot integrates seamlessly with leading CRM systems such as Dynamics 365 and Salesforce, providing quick access to opportunity details, customer communications, and company insights.

 

It helps sellers prepare for meetings, track deal status, identify risks, and manage CRM records more efficiently—all within their daily tools like Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and Copilot.

 

Service

 

The AI-powered service solution enables customer service teams to quickly generate case summaries, draft personalized response emails, and update CRM records seamlessly, all while managing rising customer expectations, increasing workloads, and fragmented toolsets.

 

Fewer clicks and faster responses allow teams to resolve issues more efficiently while maintaining high-quality, personalized customer interactions.

 

Finance

 

The AI-powered finance solution helps finance teams work more efficiently on complex tasks, like checking transactions and reviewing financial differences.

 

 

 

By bringing ERP-connected data from tools like Dynamics 365 and SAP directly into Copilot, Excel, and Outlook, teams can quickly draft customer emails with account details, speed up transaction reconciliation, flag discrepancies, prepare reports, and perform variance analysis.

 

It also helps clean, reshape, and structure ERP exports into analysis-ready reports, saving time on manual work. This allows finance professionals to focus on making informed decisions that support business growth and keep operations running smoothly.

 

 

Why It Matters

 

Overall, these role-based AI capabilities enable sales, service, and finance professionals to work smarter and faster with AI-powered insights and automation embedded right where work happens.

 

With these updates, Microsoft positions businesses to move toward what it calls “Frontier Firms” — organizations that embed AI into their core operations. The result? Less time on manual work and more time driving strategic impact.

 

Starting October 2025, these solutions will be available to help organizations scale AI adoption and accelerate productivity across key business operations.

 

Discover How AXM365 Can Support Your Implementation

 

AXM365 guides your Microsoft 365 Copilot implementation. Get in touch to improve workflows, drive productivity, and implement AI solutions designed for your business.

Partner Alert: Microsoft 365 Copilot Licensing Updates

The latest Microsoft 365 Copilot updates bring zero-rating and role-based enhancements, adding value by simplifying licensing. Existing users can now access additional features at no extra cost, with role-based capabilities for Sales, Service, and Finance fully included in Microsoft 365 Copilot.

 

Copilot Studio Value Updates

 

The update began by broadening the range of agents and features covered under the Microsoft 365 license. From now on, all Copilot Studio capabilities—including agent flows, AI tools, and deep reasoning—are available within Microsoft 365 Copilot for agents running under a licensed user’s identity.

Key Updates:

• Included Usage for Internal Scenarios

When Copilot Studio agents are used in business-to-employee (B2E) contexts by a licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot user, the activity is now fully covered under the Microsoft 365 Copilot User Subscription License (USL).

 

• Full Feature Set Coverage

Agent flows, AI tools, and deep reasoning are now part of the license.

 

• Copilot Credits as Payment

In scenarios like B2C, unlicensed Microsoft 365 Copilot users will still be charged through Copilot Credits (formerly known as “messages”).

 

• Streamlined Copilot Studio Positioning

Copilot Studio now distinguishes between two creation paths with simplified naming for the agent-building experiences:

 

• • Lite (formerly known as Agent Builders): built into Microsoft 365 Copilot for information workers;
  • Full: designed for makers and developers.

 

Both sit under Copilot Studio but serve different types of users.

 

Role-based Copilots Update

 

Microsoft 365 licensed users will gain access to role-based solutions for Sales, Service, and Finance, without requiring additional step-up SKUs. These solutions integrate with CRM and ERP systems, delivering relevant insights directly within Microsoft 365 Copilot and core apps like Outlook, Teams, and Excel.

Key Updates:

• Depending on their needs, licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot users can install sales, service, and finance solutions directly from the Agent Store.

 

Sales roles gain a complete view of opportunities, receive insights, and can ask questions—all from a personalized home page to stay prepared for customer meetings.

 

Service teams can enhance the customer experience by integrating CRM data directly with Outlook or Teams.

 

Finance teams can manage tasks, improve data preparation, review account details by accessing ERP-connected information directly within Excel and Outlook.

 

• More Value with Microsoft 365 Copilot

Users can now take full advantage of role-based capabilities in Copilot for Sales, Service, and Finance as part of their existing Copilot license, simplifying access and enhancing efficiency.

 

• Role-based Solutions

 

Microsoft 365 Copilot now includes role-based solutions for Sales, Service, and Finance, enabling customers to purchase a full suite of features that boost efficiency and streamline workflows.

 

Maximize Your Microsoft 365 Investment

 

AXM365 guides you through seamless implementation. Reach out today to transform your workflows and explore tailored solutions for your business.

We Are Microsoft FastTrack Portfolio Partner

AXM365  has been officially recognised as a Microsoft FastTrack Portfolio Partner, joining a select group of global partners acknowledged for their consistent delivery of high-impact Dynamics 365 solutions and alignment with Microsoft’s Success by Design framework.

 

This recognition is awarded to partners who demonstrate excellence in project execution, a strong commitment to customer success, and the ability to scale solutions across industries and geographies. It reflects our strategic focus on cloud-first, AI-enabled business transformation and our ability to deliver measurable outcomes through innovation and collaboration.

 

As a FastTrack Portfolio Partner, AXM365:

 

• Operate with a global Centre of Excellence mindset, ensuring consistency and best practices across engagements
• Collaborate closely with Microsoft engineering and FastTrack teams to accelerate solution delivery
• Support clients in adopting AI-driven and cloud-native technologies with confidence and clarity

 

This recognition strengthens our position as a trusted advisor in the Microsoft ecosystem and reinforces our commitment to helping organisations modernise operations, enhance customer experiences, and unlock new value through technology.

The Future of Smart Manufacturing with Microsoft Technology

The manufacturing industry stands at a pivotal moment. Global competition, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and rising demands for sustainability are pushing manufacturers to rethink how they operate.

 

The answer? Smart manufacturing — and Microsoft is helping lead the charge.

 

Tackling Manufacturing’s Toughest Challenges

 

Smart manufacturing goes beyond automation, it’s about transforming operations to be data-driven, agile, and seamlessly integrated.

 

Microsoft’s technology suite, including Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing — is enabling factories to overcome traditional limitations and step confidently into the future.

 

Operational Efficiency at Scale

 

One of the biggest pain points for manufacturers is inefficiency, whether in machine utilization, production throughput, or maintenance. Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing helps bridge the gap between operational and IT systems, delivering real-time visibility into performance metrics like OEE.

 

This enables faster decision-making, proactive issue resolution, and continuous optimization at scale.

 

Workforce Empowerment

 

As the industry struggles with skills shortages and an aging workforce, Microsoft is enabling a smoother transition.

 

Using tools like Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and HoloLens, frontline workers can connect with remote experts in real time, eliminating unnecessary travel and improving first-time fix rates.

 

AI-powered copilots simplify complex tasks, making it faster to train new employees and easier to capture and retain valuable knowledge directly on the factory floor.

 

Predictive Maintenance & Quality Control

 

In manufacturing, unexpected equipment failures can disrupt production and lead to significant costs.

 

With Azure AI and IoT, manufacturers can predict issues before they occur, enabling predictive maintenance that minimizes downtime and extends the operational life of critical machinery.

 

On the quality control front, Microsoft’s AI-driven visual inspection systems automatically detect defects in real time, ensuring consistent product quality and compliance with stringent industry standards—critical in sectors like automotive and electronics.

 

Sustainable Manufacturing at the Core

 

By adopting Microsoft’s cloud solutions, manufacturers can transition their operations to Azure. Azure’s powerful tools enable real-time monitoring of energy usage and emissions, helping companies optimize their processes and align with sustainability goals.

 

This shift to the cloud not only enhances operational efficiency but also accelerates the move toward more eco-friendly and resource-conscious manufacturing practices.

 

Industry Collaboration for Innovation

 

To drive innovation in manufacturing, Microsoft’s advanced technologies leverage generative AI to streamline and enhance automation processes. Tools like AI-powered industrial copilots assist engineers in creating and optimizing automation code, significantly reducing development time and increasing productivity across manufacturing operations.

 

By empowering teams with cutting-edge solutions, manufacturers can accelerate their journey toward smarter, more efficient production.

 

The Road Ahead

 

Smart manufacturing is no longer a distant goal, it’s a present reality. Manufacturers who embrace this transformation will be at the forefront of the next wave of industrial excellence.

 

By minimizing waste, enhancing quality, and driving sustainability, Microsoft’s technologies are not just optimizing factory operations; they are reshaping the entire manufacturing industry.

 

 

Location Blocking Causes Policy

Managing warehouse locations efficiently is crucial for smooth warehouse operations. Sometimes, the warehouse managers may decide that some of the locations must be temporarily blocked for inbound or outbound work operations.

 

The reasons can vary, ranging from maintenance and quality issues to utilization of the empty space.

 

In Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365 F&O) versions prior to 10.0.40, there were multiple options for blocking locations, but none were straightforward or easy to use. The process often required a combination of multiple tools.

 

Starting from version 10.0.40, Microsoft introduced changes to the process. With the update, there’s a new policy feature that enhances how blocking causes are applied called Location blocking causes policy.

 

When using the blocking causes fields (Input blocked and Output blocked) on locations, a new Blocking cause policy needs to be assigned, one that determines if the blocking cause will be used when processing warehouse work or not. The policy not only visually informs the workers, but also blocks the location and prevents the system from processing work.

 

 

If the policy is set to Do not use for warehouse work, the locations blocked for this reason will not be blocked during warehouse work processing.

 

This means that the system will be able to assign this location when using the location directives and other rules from the setup.

 

However, if the policy is set to Also use for warehouse work, the associated locations for this blocking cause will also be blocked during warehouse work processing.

 

The second option is useful for preventing the system to create inbound put away work at the assigned location during the inbound receiving process.

 

How Business Central Can Transform Your Business

In today’s fast-paced world, business models are evolving rapidly. Now is the perfect time to move to the cloud and implement a solution that drives greater value for your customers. Companies that have implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are already seeing significant growth.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a powerful digital platform designed to help small and medium-sized businesses streamline their operations and fuel growth.

 

It brings together all your essential business functions such as Finance, Purchase, Sales, Service, Production, Inventory, Warehouse management, Project management, Planning, Human resources, and Fixed assets, into one unified solution.

 

With Business Central, your teams can collaborate more effectively, respond faster to changes, and achieve better results.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Key Benefits

 

Streamlined Business Processes

 

Business Central simplifies your operations by automating and integrating various processes and tasks. This not only boosts efficiency but also frees up your team to focus on more strategic activities.

 

Its cloud-based flexibility means you can manage your business from anywhere, on any device, keeping you competitive in today’s remote work environment. Plus, Business Central grows with you, easily scaling as your business expands.

 

Enhanced Financial Management

 

Gain real-time insights into your financial performance with Business Central’s robust financial tools. From automating financial reports to managing cash flow and handling multi-currency transactions, Business Central helps you maintain accurate financial records and make decisions.

 

Optimized Supply Chain Management

 

Manage your supply chain like never before with advanced tools that track inventory in real-time, automate reordering, and streamline logistics.

 

Business Central helps you ensure timely deliveries, reduce shipping costs, and optimize warehouse storage, all while predicting stock needs and improving overall efficiency.

 

Automated Sales and Service

 

Boost your sales and service operations with features that manage the entire customer lifecycle. From automating sales processes to tracking service contracts and resolving issues quickly, Business Central provides valuable insights to better understand and meet your customers’ needs.

 

Cost-Effective Solution

 

With Business Central, you get the benefits of a powerful cloud ERP without the high costs. The subscription-based model eliminates the need for large upfront investments, and you can avoid the expenses of servers, IT resources, and maintenance.

 

You can start using Business Central right out of the box and be up and running in no time.

 

If you’re ready to see how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central can revolutionize your business, reach out to us for a personalized consultation.

 

2024 Release Wave 2 Plans For Microsoft Dynamics 365 And Power Platform

On July 16, 2024, Microsoft published the 2024 release wave 2 plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform, a compilation of the new capabilities planned to be released between October 2024 to March 2025. This release introduces a wealth of new features designed to enhance customer understanding and improve overall user experience, showcasing Microsoft’s dedication to driving digital transformation for their customers and partners.

 

The new wave is focused on improving user productivity and streamlining processes across various business applications by employing Microsoft Copilot and cutting-edge AI technologies. These enhancements include intelligent automation, AI-powered insights, and immersive user experiences and aim to remove boundaries between data, insights, and individuals.

 

Discover the newest features that enable organisations to run more effectively and adaptably.

 

The new capabilities allow businesses to take proactive measures to address challenges and capitalise on opportunities. Examples of these include predictive analytics in supply chain management, autonomous financial processes, AI-driven sales insights and customer service enhancements.

 

Early Access Period

 

Starting July 29, 2024, customers and partners can validate the latest features in a non-production environment. These updates include user experience enhancements that will be automatically enabled in production environments by October 2024.

 

We have briefly described numerous of the features from the second release wave in this blog post’s contents.

 

Wave Highlights for Microsoft Dynamics 365

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales continues to enhance customer understanding and boost sales through data, intelligence, and user-friendly experiences.

 

In this release, Microsoft are focused on including natural language copilot for summarizing information, creating a new full-screen Copilot Home with curated insights and role-specific actions, and using AI-powered insights to find leads.

 

Microsoft Copilot for Sales

 

Microsoft Copilot for Sales continues to deliver and enhance cutting-edge generative AI capabilities for sellers by enriching Copilot in Microsoft 365 capabilities with sales-specific workflows, data, and actions.

 

Microsoft will focus on using AI-powered insights to create leads, deepen the integration into Copilot in Microsoft 365, and use natural language capabilities to allow sellers to ask data-related questions of their CRM.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service will continue to empower agents to work more efficiently through new copilot capabilities such as proactive prompting, ability to access data from external systems securely with plugins, email enhancements, and AI-infused routing.

 

Microsoft Copilot for Service

 

Microsoft Copilot for Service is now generally available, bringing new capabilities to enhance user experiences. These features will be integrated across Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365 Chat, and Copilot embedded in third-party CRMs.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service enables a shift from reactive to proactive and predictive service, empowering digital transformation and innovative business models.

 

Using Copilot, frontline workers will be able to retrieve critical information and initiate mixed-reality remote assist calls within Teams through Copilot.

 

Managers will be able to create, update, and manage work orders effortlessly across web, Outlook, and Teams interfaces.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance continues its journey of leading in autonomous finance, using AI to transform common end-to-end financial processes.

 

This release focuses on in-app copilot capabilities, immersive persona-based user experiences, expanding country coverage, electronic invoicing enhancements, business performance analytics and planning enhancements, and autonomous reconciliation capabilities.

 

Microsoft Copilot for Finance

 

Microsoft Copilot for Finance is expanding data reconciliation capabilities in Excel with assisted data sanitization and preparation routines. Extending variance analysis capabilities with support from additional data sources and enabling collaboration on findings with stakeholders will also be a focus in the upcoming wave.

 

Additionally, the Teams integration will facilitate collections calls with suggested scripts and automated recording of action items in the financial system.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is advancing along the path of an autonomous supply chain by integrating intelligence, automation, and analytics into every facet of business procedures, thereby improving user productivity and enhancing organizational adaptability.

 

In this update, the spotlight is on improving order-promising capabilities for manufacturers. Demand planning is upgraded to incorporate forecasting with external signals, and the inclusion of Copilot weaves insights and analyses directly into workflows, identifying trends and irregularities, while also allowing for specific data inquiries at the cell level.

 

Additionally, Traceability Copilot keeps track of actual products in production and compiles a comprehensive historical record of related activities.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations is focused on enhancing usability, performance, and scalability in key areas such as project planning, invoicing, time entry, and core transaction processing.

 

The spotlight is on AI-assisted core functionality improvements in estimation, proposal generation, journals, approvals, and contract management, with added mobile capabilities and scale improvements to handle larger projects and invoices at an increased scale.

 

Finance and Operations Cross-app Capabilities

 

Finance and Operations cross-app capabilities will continue to invest in capabilities applying to Finance, Supply Chain Management, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources, and Project Operations.

 

Microsoft is infusing copilot experiences across applications, including natural language chat, embedded AI, and intelligent process automation, and enabling extensibility for copilot scenarios.

 

Microsoft will also bring more value and insights to finance and operations apps data and enhancements to ensure continued enterprise-grade security and compliance at scale.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources continues to build intelligence, develop automation and analytics around the hire-to-separate process, increase user productivity, and empower business agility.

 

Microsoft is enhancing recruiting with AI-driven assessments and offers management, improving experiences for employees and HR business partners in benefits and performance management, and advancing analytics, insights, and planning through business performance planning and analytics capabilities.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce is using the power of AI to empower retailers to streamline their operations and drive increased customer loyalty and conversions. With Copilot, retail managers, sales associates, and merchandisers will gain new AI-powered insights into customer buying patterns and preferences, recommendations for positioning and selling products, and business intelligence on store performance.

 

Improvements to the self-checkout POS make customer checkouts more efficient, and user experience updates to Store Commerce app streamline daily tasks for faster, more efficient sales and service.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is focused on maintaining service reliability performance and security standards. Microsoft will continue enhancing productivity by optimizing core processes with Copilot, expanding to cover more than 170 countries, and offering enhanced reporting with more than 80 Microsoft Power BI reports.

 

Additionally, integration with Field Service will be expanded, along with new financial management features. Microsoft will also enhance development tools and governance, along with improved data privacy and compliance management.

 

Wave Highlights for Microsoft Power Platform

 

Microsoft Power Apps

 

Microsoft Power Apps will continue to transform app experiences with infused intelligence, enabling users to be more productive by using Copilot to work with data, get insights, and improve their apps.

 

Makers will continue to benefit from AI-assisted development, enabling rich and complex applications to be built with monitoring, control, and unmatched governance for admins, ensuring organizations can adopt low-code and AI transformation at scale.

 

Microsoft Power Pages

 

Microsoft Power Pages will expedite site building for a low-code maker or pro developer to build intelligent sites that reimagine the way you interact with your employees, customers, and partners.

 

Microsoft Power Automate

 

Microsoft Power Automate will continue to make it easier to build flows by using natural language and multi-modal generative AI capabilities across cloud flows and desktop flows, troubleshooting runs, and managing your automation estate with an end-to-end view.

 

This, along with improvements in process mining to jumpstart creation of automation through Microsoft 365 integration and ongoing improvements to scaling, means it’ll be easier than ever for new users to get started and scale.

 

Microsoft Copilot Studio

 

Microsoft Copilot Studio is advancing copilot capabilities and IVR support with Customer Service and will expand geographically to the United Arab Emirates and Germany.

 

Additionally, the team is improving software lifecycle management capabilities with topic-level import/export and role-based access control (RBAC), as well as enhancing governance and administration functionalities.

 

Key Dates for the 2024 Release Wave 2

 

You can access additional information regarding the key dates for the 2024 release wave 2 here.

 

If your goals are to improve and optimize your business processes, ensure data security in the cloud, make application usage simpler in the long term and seek assistance in upgrading your Dynamics 365 versions to newer versions, we are excited about the possibility for potential collaboration. Reach out to us here.

Understanding Data Sources: Overview of Different Data Sources that Can Be Connected to Power BI

Power BI, a unified platform for self-service and business intelligence is a group of software services, applications, and connectors that come together to transform your disparate data sources into cohesive, interactive, and visually stunning insights.

 

Your data may be stored in a hybrid data warehouse both on-premises and in the cloud, or it may be an Excel spreadsheet. With Power BI, you can visualize and identify what’s important, connect to your data sources with ease, and share that information with whomever you choose.

 

Starting with these three fundamentals, Power BI is made up of multiple components that function as a whole:

 

• A Windows desktop application called Power BI Desktop;
• An online SaaS service called the Power BI service;
• Mobile applications for Windows, iOS, and Android devices called Power BI Mobile.

 

In addition to those three, Power BI has two more components: Power BI Report Builder and Power BI Report Server for creating and publishing your reports.

 

Comprehending the diverse data sources that may be integrated with Power BI is crucial to fully utilize this tool for data analysis and representation. Power BI allows users to import, convert, and visualize data from many platforms by connecting to a broad range of data sources, both on-premises and in the cloud.

 

An overview of the various kinds of data sources that can be linked to Power BI is provided below.

 

File-based Data Sources

 

• Excel: One of the most used data sources (.xlsx,.xlsm) can be connected to Power BI in order to import named ranges, data tables, and ranges.
• Text and CSV Files: Import information from plain text and comma-separated values (CSV) files.
• XML and JSON Files: For hierarchical data processing, load structured data from XML and JSON files.

 

Database Management Systems (DBMS)

 

• SQL Server: Establish a direct connection to on-premises and cloud-based SQL Server databases (Azure SQL Database).
• MySQL: Data extraction is made easy with the integration with MySQL databases.
• Access data kept in PostgreSQL databases using PostgreSQL.
• Oracle: Use enterprise data by connecting to Oracle databases.
• Import data from Access databases (.accdb,.mdb) using Microsoft Access.

 

Cloud-based Data Sources

 

• Azure Services: Establish a connection with different Azure data services, including Azure Data Lake, Azure SQL Database, and Azure Blob Storage.
• Google BigQuery: Use Google’s scalable big data solution to import data.
• Connect to Amazon’s data warehousing service by utilizing Amazon Redshift.
• Salesforce: For in-depth business insights, import data from Salesforce CRM.

 

Online Services and APIs

 

• SharePoint Online Lists: Access information from libraries and lists on SharePoint Online.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365: Access Dynamics 365 data for business resource planning (ERP) and customer interaction.
• Google Analytics: Use Google Analytics to import analytics data for websites and apps.
• Facebook: Use Facebook data to access social media analytics tools.

 

Big Data and Advanced Analytics

 

• Hadoop/HDFS: For large data analytics, establish a connection to the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).
• Spark: To process data in memory, integrate with Apache Spark.
• R and Python Scripts: For sophisticated analytics and statistical calculations, import and analyse data using R and Python scripts.

 

Business Applications

 

• Power BI Datasets: Utilise the Power BI service to establish connections to pre-existing Power BI datasets.
• SAP HANA and SAP BW: For enterprise data solutions, import data from SAP Business Warehouse and SAP HANA.
• OData Feeds: To access standardized data online, connect to OData feeds.

 

Other Data Sources

 

• Web Pages: Use Power BI’s web connector to import data straight from websites.
• Folder: Allows for the batch processing of related files by importing data from several files into a folder.
• Azure Marketplace: Use the Azure Marketplace to connect to a variety of datasets.

 

A Short Walkthrough into the Amazing Microsoft Fabric World

If you are into Data Analytics you know that the most exciting platform has been GA now – Microsoft Fabric, maybe the most significant one in Microsoft Data Platform space that consolidates Power BI, Azure Synapse, and other applications into one united powerful platform!

 

If you haven’t been inspired yet, now is the time for you to get your free trial license and explore this easy-to-use experience. We have been doing this for almost six months now and are amazed by all the opportunities that this platform can provide for the business.

 

Why Microsoft Fabric is a Great Platform

 

 

It unites the three main Microsoft’s Data Analytics products – Azure Synapse, Azure Data Factory and Power BI.

 

• OneLake as Storage;
• Data Factory as Data integration;
• Synapse as Data engineering, Data warehousing, Data science and Real – time analytics;
• Power BI as Business Intelligence;
• Data Activator as Action platform;
• Purview as Governance.

 

What can be easier than having one place for everything?

 

Introduction of the Above-mentioned Products

 

OneLake

 

The descriptive name for this product would be – Collaboration. Every Fabric tenant has no zero, no more, but exactly one OneLake from where can access all its data through data items. All tabular data is stored in one single format – Delta Parquet, the format that allows us to use the same data across different analytical engines (Spark, T – SQL, KQL, Analysis Services, etc.).

What does this mean? If SQL developer using T – SQL loads data in a fully transactional data warehouse, and data engineer loads data into lakehouse using Spark, both are contributing to the same data lake.

 

 

Data Factory

 

The superpower of Data Factory is to transfer billions, trillions of rows of data. For this to be done in Fabric we can choose between Dataflow Gen2 (a more improved new generation of dataflows that allows you to choose the preferred destination for each query result and also, to integrate with data pipelines) and of course Data pipeline (to copy or ingest and clean data).

 

 

Synapse

 

This should not be confused with Azure Synapse Analytics as it’s not the same. Truly it is built on top of the existing Synapse technology but with a lot of improvements to its architecture and functionality. It enables users to build, design and maintain systems and infrastructures that are enabling their organizations to collect, store, process and analyze large volumes of data.

 

For this purpose, Microsoft Fabric has a Lakehouse which can store big structured or unstructured data for cleaning, querying, reporting, and sharing in one location. Once the lakehouse is created it automatically creates Semantic model (Dataset) and SQL analytics end point.

 

 

In the Semantic model we can either choose to have all the tables from Lakehouse or only the ones that will serve us for our purposes.

 

In the SQL analytics endpoint, we can analyze/explore our data and even make additional calculations, create views and measures, and of course, model our tables relations. Don’t get worried because if you want to Spark you have that too! All you need to do is switch to Data Engineering, choose Spark Job Definition, and associate it with the preferred lakehouse:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another useful item that needs attention is the Warehouse – an item that provides strategic insights from multiple sources into your entire business. The data is stored into parquet file format and published as Delta Lake Logs, it is also built for any skill level – from citizen developer through to the professional developer, DBA or data engineer.

 

Having an easily consumable, always connected semantic model that is always integrated with Power BI in DirectLake mode ensures a customer’s report always to has the most recent data for analysis and reporting.

 

Power BI

 

Nothing that you already don’t know – the report editor where you design the reports your customers see, with charts, tables, maps, and other visuals. You can either start creating the report in Power BI Desktop and then publish it to the Power BI service, or you can just click on the “New report” button in your already created SQL analytics endpoint or your Warehouse and let the design imagination begin!

 

 

One thing that must be underlined is that the coupling of Power BI and OneLake is more than just another data source – it comes with a new connection type called DirectLake which is for sure faster than DirectQuery.

 

Data Activator

 

Known as a no-code experience for automatically taking actions when patterns or conditions are detected in changing data, it’s a new tool for building a digital nervous system! You can easily automate actions and set query runs when a certain measure’s value in Power BI goes above or below a particular amount.

 

Purview

 

It helps Fabric users to manage, store, analyze and govern their Fabric data estate. It provides insights through reports about sensitive data, but also provides integrated coverage and helps address the recent increases in remote user connectivity.

 

Microsoft Launches Power Automate Process Mining and Next-generation AI

Microsoft recently announced that Power Automate Process Mining has become available as of August 1, 2023. Process intelligence is changing the way businesses optimize their processes, save costs, and discover opportunities to run more efficient business operations.

 

Power Automate Process Mining, infused with next-generation AI, now enables organizations to easily understand what is happening across their business, maximize process insights, use out-of-box recommendations to reduce the complexity of processes, transform operations, and drive continuous process improvement with automation and low-code apps.

 

Power Automate Process Mining

 

The process mining capability in Power Automate works with the existing Microsoft platform and ecosystem to provide end-to-end solutions and enable faster business decisions.

 

Out-of-box templates enable customers to seamlessly drive powerful business process insights from core line-of-business apps like SAP and also from cloud flows in Power Automate, Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents, Azure (DevOps, Logic Apps, Durable Functions, Bot Framework), and other systems of records.

 

Identify Inefficiencies and Gain Insights with Deep Analytics

 

You can get insights for process improvement by capturing rich visual process maps, analyzing end-to-end processes with AI-powered root cause analysis, and unlocking hierarchical views with interactive drill-downs.

 

Use recommended key performance indicators (KPIs) and filter options to uncover inefficiencies and opportunities for automation. Get value faster with out-of-box templates for finance including order-to-cash and peer-to-peer pay, supply chain, and other use cases.

 

 

Optimize Processes and Act with Low-code Automation

 

You can unlock process insights, get guided recommendations, and automate with Power Automate or leverage multiple actions and optimize your processes with Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents, and low-code.

 

Set up notifications in Microsoft Teams or Outlook when KPIs are not met.

 

Monitor Your Processes to Drive Continuous Improvement

 

With Power Automate you can stay on top of the implemented process optimizations through ongoing monitoring, identify process deviations, and define new goals and challenges.

 

Continuously analyze and improve to achieve the most efficient process and drive continuous process improvement.

 

 

With the general availability of Power Automate Process Mining, Microsoft further expands its low-code offering, providing customers with not only the most complete hyper-automation offering in the market, but also the most comprehensive low-code platform including Copilot in Microsoft Power Platform.

 

The following updates went into effect on August 1, 2023.

 

• Customers are able to buy “Power Automate Premium” (the former “Power Automate Attended RPA per user”). This license will continue to include both unlimited cloud flows, known as digital process automation (DPA), and unlimited desktop flows, known as robotic process automation (RPA) in attended mode as well as entitlements to Power Automate Process Mining.

 

• Microsoft introduced a new “Power Automate Process” license that gives customers access to an automation ‘bot’ which can be used for unattended desktop automation (RPA), or to run an organization-wide cloud-flow-based process that needs to be accessed by unlimited users in an organization.

 

• Organizations can get started with Power Automate Process Mining by subscribing to the new Power Automate Premium license.

 

• The “Power Apps per user” license is renamed to “Power Apps P”

 

To find more details, visit the source page.

2023 Release Wave 2 Plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform

On July 18, 2023, Microsoft published the 2023 release wave 2 plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform, a compilation of new capabilities planned to be released between October 2023 and March 2024.

 

The second release wave of the year offers hundreds of new features, including AI capabilities and enhancements, demonstrating Microsoft’s continued investment to power digital transformation for their customers and partners.

 

The new capabilities empower new ways to make informed decisions with AI-guided insights and suggested actions, easier ways to automate tasks and processes, and collaboration seamlessly integrated into the flow of work, plus, new low-code ways for anyone to build solutions.

2023 Release Wave 2 Features Available for Early Access Period

 

Starting July 31, 2023, company users and partners will be able to validate the latest features in a non-production environment. These features include user experience enhancements that will be automatically enabled for users in production environments during October 2023.

 

In the contents of this blog post, we have succinctly outlined a selection of the features from the second release wave.

 

Wave Highlights for Microsoft Dynamics 365

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing will bring enhancements to Copilot features and will bring unprecedented levels of personalization to email content, images, and layouts.

 

Additionally, business-to-business (B2B) dashboards and directly assigning leads to the right sales rep will align marketers and sellers, enabling them to act as a unified team across the buying journey.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service updates will include new capabilities for frontline workers, service managers, and dispatchers. Microsoft will deliver several top requests such as converting quotes to work orders, enhancing inspections, and evolving resource scheduling capabilities.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales will focus on enabling sales organizations to prioritize and manage digital sales processes through enhanced sequence capabilities.

 

Microsoft will allow users to assign and monitor lead assignment status with enhanced lead assignment capabilities by providing recommendations, summarizing data, retrieving information, and performing actions in context and within the flow of work.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service will continue to empower agents to work more efficiently through Copilot capabilities, Join Me On Teams, visual enhancements to the agent workspace, ability to see live chats and voice calls in Inbox and personalizing size of conversational control.

 

Additionally, Microsoft is making enhancements to the voice channel, call dialer improvements, and routing calls to agents with longest idle time.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance is focused on enhancing organizations’ visibility into their data, continued enhancements for accounts payable and bank statement automation, and expanding out-of-the-box country coverage in Latin America.

 

Additionally, the team will deliver further automation of complex tax scenarios and e-invoicing requirements for new countries and provide organizations ability for business model expansion and agility.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management continues to improve and optimize business processes to deliver the agility and resilience needed for businesses to thrive in an increasingly complex business environment. The sales and procurement processes will be further enhanced, manufacturers will enjoy greater flexibility, and warehouse processes related to counting, customer returns, and product receipts will be improved.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations is investing in enhancements to services procurement scenarios and project contracting and new functionalities and scenarios in pricing models will support the evolving patterns in the service-centric economy.

 

Additionally, improvements to intelligent resource recommendations will provide suggestions based on experience, cost, and utilization across employees and subcontractors.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources will be improving recruiting experiences that target recruiters, candidates, and hiring managers. Microsoft will expand the human capital management ecosystem to include learning management system integration through public APIs using Microsoft Dataverse along with expanding our payroll partner network.

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce

 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce uses the power of AI to enable the effortless creation of engaging product content for digital commerce sites. New B2B investments allow distributors to view, accept, and reject orders from a centralized dashboard that enables B2B sellers, distributors, and buyers to all work in the same place.

 

Wave Highlights for Power Platform

 

Microsoft Power Apps

 

Microsoft Power Apps is expanding the use of Copilot to bring AI-assisted experiences to increase developer productivity, bring natural language to all users, and give insights to admins. Microsoft will bring modern controls and rich collaborative experiences to users, as well as improved deployment and governance support to ensure low-code can be enabled organization wide.

 

Microsoft Power Pages

 

Microsoft Power Pages continues to make strides in the Copilot maker experience to enable building a site. Managed environments will include Power Pages capabilities for maker usage and onboarding. For data, you will be able to connect easily to data where it exists today. Low-code makers can collaborate and detect co-presence.

 

Microsoft Power Automate

 

Microsoft Power Automate will continue to make it easier to get started building new flows by using natural language across cloud flows and desktop flows, and by improving process mining to jumpstart creation of automation and authoring experiences. Additionally, Microsoft is making it easier to manage work at scale by introducing unified activity view and deeper notifications on capabilities across the product.

 

Microsoft Power Virtual Agents

 

Microsoft Power Virtual Agents will bring general availability for capabilities including Multi-Lingual bot support, Generative Answers and Actions, Standalone interactive voice response (IVR) and IVR integration with Dynamics 365 Customer Service, and integration with the Conversational Language Understanding service. Additionally, Microsoft will offer their customers new Enterprise Trust capabilities.

 

Key Dates for the 2023 Release Wave 2

 

Here you can access additional information regarding the key dates for the 2023 release wave 2.

 

If your aim is to enhance and optimize your business processes, simplify application usage for long-term convenience, ensure data security in the cloud, and seek assistance in upgrading your Dynamics 365 systems to newer versions, we welcome the opportunity for potential collaboration. Reach out to us here.

Running X++ Scripts and Jobs in an Environment with 0 Downtime

This post is about exploring the new Microsoft feature that allows you to run X++ jobs on PROD and non-PROD environments without release and with 0 downtime.

 

In 10.0.25 you can run simple X++ scripts on a production environment without any downtime. This feature lets you run custom X++ scripts without having to go through Dynamics LCS or suspend your system. Therefore, you can correct minor data inconsistencies without causing any disruptive downtime.

 

 

To be able to use this feature you need to create a deployable package with only one runnable class in it.

 

To do this, you can create a new model and reference the models which object you will use in the X++ script. Then create the runnable class and generate a deployable package from Visual Studio only with your new model that has only one runnable X++ class.

 

 

After generating the deployable package you can go to System Administration – Periodic tasks – Database – Custom scripts. Here you can upload your deployable package.

 

 

If your deployable package has not consisted of only one runnable job you won’t be able to upload it and a warning message will be displayed. After successfully uploading the deployable package, another user (different from the one who uploaded it) must Approve the script in the process workflow.

 

After the approval, you should follow the workflow and Run a test.

 

 

If the test log is okay and is without any errors, you need to Accept the test log and then you will be able to Run the script.

 

 

After the execution of the script is completed, the log will be updated and you need to end the workflow by confirming that the purpose is resolved, the purpose is unresolved, or abandon.

 

 

This is a helpful feature by Microsoft if you need to do some small data corrections or delete dates from certain tables. This way you don’t have to raise a Microsoft ticket to do small data corrections on PROD DB or connect to the ACC or other T2 environments databases.

Also, runnable classes with dialogs can be imported here not just simple data correction scripts.

 

But please be careful with running scripts like this!

 

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We hope that this blog post is helpful! If you are interested to join our team, check out our careers page, we have open positions for Microsoft Dynamics enthusiasts in every field. 

Microsoft Introduced Dataflex Pro as the New Rebranded Common Data Service

Microsoft rebranded the Common Data Service which represents the data storage and management foundation of Power Platform.

 

This change is part of Microsoft’s plan to connect Power Apps with Microsoft Teams, enabling easy and simple usage empowered with more functionalities to its users.

 

CDS is very popular and well-known in the Microsoft Dynamics Community as well. It is widely used at our clients and we are exited to see the new capabilities with Dataflex.

 

Microsoft Dataflex Pro delivers a built-in, low-code data platform for Teams, and provides relational data storage, rich data types, enterprise grade governance, and one-click solution deployment.

 

Microsoft Dataflex enables everyone to easily build and deploy apps and intelligent chatbots in Teams with Microsoft Power Apps and Microsoft Power Virtual Agents. – said Charles Lamanna CVP Microsoft 

 

Dataflex Pro enables people and organization to create and run thousands of applications, flows and intelligent agents with smart, secure, and scalable low-code data platform. Representing all the Common Data Services capabilities available for using in Microsoft Teams, Dataflex Pro enables more productive and collaborative working environment.

 

 

Microsoft Teams and Power Platform is shaping the future of work with low-code application to streamline the business processes in the organization. This new functionality enables users to easily build applications and bots directly within Teams, empowering business users to rapidly respond to changing business needs and create custom solutions.

 

With the addition of Microsoft Dataflex Pro, Teams users now have key business data at their fingertips to build new apps that address real business problems — all without ever leaving Teams.

 

With Dataflex, Microsoft expands the possibilities of using Microsoft Teams as a central application for serving an organization’s operational requirements both with custom-built applications and chat bots. This means a step further into the digital transformation empowering organizations to:

 

• Deliver services with agility – adding business value with an extensible data platform that use open ecosystem enabled with Common Data model;

 

• Increase scale and efficiency – boost productivity, decrease the risk, reduce costs and increase agility by quickly developing applications;

 

• Make data work smarter – getting more accurate insights by adding low-code AI tools to the process automation;

 

• Rely on the security of a trusted platform – protect the company data with a robust security management infrastructure.

 

Microsoft Dataflex can offer a streamlined experience for Teams users to configure data models and manage security. Functionally, the Teams-focused Dataflex offer possibility for its users who need access to entities and data for creating apps and bots but should not touch the more complex tools and systems that IT controls like security, data loss prevention, and database architecture.

Microsoft Will End the Mainstream Support to AX 2009 in April 2018

Microsoft ends its mainstream support to AX 2009 at 10^th of April 2018. As it is already known, Microsoft has an obligation to provide support availability guidelines for its products, so the information about product lifecycle and support are transparent and available for the vendors and the end users.

 

Every product from the Microsoft family has a lifecycle which begins when the product is released, and ends when it’s no longer supported.  Microsoft ERP products usually are supported for 10 years from the release date. The companies need to know the key dates in the product lifecycle, in order to be informed and prepared about making decisions on when to upgrade the software to its newer and improved version.

 

What Does It Mean?

 

Ending mainstream support for a Microsoft’s product means that Microsoft won’t be enhancing that product. When in mainstream support, requests to change product designs and features are considered and implemented up until this date, in this case until April 2018.

 

Furthermore, security updates and non-security hotfixes will no longer be supplied, the warranty claims will end too and most importantly the consulting resources will become almost impossible to find.

 

How To Prepare?

 

In the ever changing technology world, the companies must meet the market’s requirements in order to sustain their company’s growth.  Even if we are a year and two months away the end of the mainstream support, the reality is that there is not enough time, and the end users of AX 2009 should start thinking how they will answer to this challenge.

 

One of the most common dilemmas between the end users this Microsoft Dynamics AX product is to choose between upgrade to newer version, or to face the situation where they can’t count on Microsoft anymore regarding the fixing issues, the resources and the security.

 

The Reality

 

Regardless all of that, the reality is different. Most of the companies are not enough flexible or liquid to make the migration to newer Dynamics AX version. After following the discussions in the ERP community on this topic, we came to this conclusion – the benefit vs the cost didn’t add up to the companies which work with AX 2009. Some of them, regardless they are informed, they are planning to continue their work with ax 2009 at least for 2 years.

 

In any case, the companies will never be on their own when it comes of dealing with the problems while working with AX 2009.  We as company specializing in Dynamics AX support will keep supporting AX 2009 version and the older versions like AX4 or AX3.

 

If you are ready to answer to this change, we are eager to help you. Our experts can ease your transition with our flexibility and ability to react quickly to your changing business needs.