Microsoft update
Dynamics 365
Newsletter - July 2019
The Microsoft October release notes are here and the team at Fusion5 have put together a quick summary and key highlights to better help you with any changes that may affect your organisation with their release.
We have also shared some important updates from the Fusion5 business as well as useful links to all of the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics 365 events to keep an eye out for.
The full version of the Microsoft October release notes can be viewed here...
Early access available - August 2, 2019
Objective: Try and validate the new features and capabilities that will be a part of the 2019 release wave 2, October update, before they get enabled automatically for your end users.
General availability - October 1, 2019
Objective: Production deployment for the 2019 release wave 2 begins. Specific deployment dates for each country, region or instance will be communicated in advance.
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
Managing monthly update is about to get a whole lot easier. From April this year, the release of version 10 has created a much more predictable and unified path forward from a platform perspective. However, updating a production environment monthly can be a daunting prospect when thought of through a more traditional update perspective. Microsoft are continuing to improve the experience and limit the disruption and uncertainty.
“With 2019 release wave 2, customers will be added to the zero-downtime update flow for Microsoft monthly service updates. Customers with zero downtime enabled are now able to configure an update window during which the update will happen. Interactive users will not experience any connection loss during the update."
Finance and Operations interoperability with the wider Microsoft stack is taking another leap forward. Users will now be able to trigger a Flow directly from Finance and Operations. This is something that our friends in Customer Engagement have had for some time. This opens up users to a world of possibilities, connecting into an ever growing list of other business applications without the need to write a single line of code.
“An administrator can configure Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations to add buttons in Finance and Operations forms or workspaces that will trigger flows. Users can trigger and monitor the execution of those flows. This complements the flow integration features that were introduced between April and July 2019 that enabled integration of Finance and Operations workflow events, tasks, and approvals with Microsoft Flow. These integration capabilities are an important competitive advantage and reduce the cost of implementation for our partners and customers.”
We are finally going to see Finance and Operations plumbed into CDS. This opens up the door to near real time integration between Finance and Operations and the rest of the Dynamics 365 application suite.
“Get your Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations data in Common Data Service and keep it up to date.
We are making the dual-write setup an out-of-the-box experience. This will allow businesses to exchange near real-time data seamlessly in a synchronous bidirectional fashion, beyond application boundaries. We want to provide users a "One Dynamics 365" experience.”
The demand for mobility continues to grow as mobile devices become fixed companions in our daily lives. Being able to open Finance and Operations directly on a mobile device and have it look and respond in an easy to use way will be a massive boost for users.
“The Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations web client and its form patterns will be responsive on mobile devices, enabling a majority of the application user interfaces to be usable on smaller screens. This will significantly improve the usability of the application on mobile devices, minimising the need to build separate user interfaces for smaller screens. The Finance and Operations client will also be available as an Android or iOS native app.”
Planning Service
WHS Enhancements
Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement
Catch up on the latest from the Dynamics 365 CE and Power Platform world, coming in the October 2019 update and also highlighted at the recent Microsoft Business Applications summit in Atlanta.
Dynamics 365 Field Service is a powerful addition to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 family, bringing amazing benefits for field service management. Read about the 14 most frequently asked questions.
A Unified Interface uses a responsive web design to make Dynamics 365 portable to reflow records whether being viewed on a large screen or a small mobile device.
Take note
This impacts only customers who are using the Voice of the Customer solution for Dynamics 365 apps.
With the release of Microsoft Forms Pro, Microsoft are announcing the deprecation of Voice of the Customer within Dynamics 365. Moving forward, Forms Pro will provide seamless integration for surveys within Microsoft Business Applications, including Dynamics 365 and Office 365.
Existing Dynamics 365 customers with a Voice of the Customer entitlement will maintain the ability to create and distribute new surveys and collect responses from live surveys for a period of 12 months, ending on July 1, 2020. Access to Voice of the Customer – including the ability to create new surveys and collect responses from live surveys – will be unavailable after July 1, 2020. However, existing survey data will continue to remain stored and available in Dynamics 365.
After July 1 ,2020, the Voice of the Customer solution will be officially removed. Until then, the solution will continue to work but there will be no new functionality for the solution.
Fusion5 will be working with all customers to begin using Forms Pro for new surveys implementation, as well as recreate the Voice of the Customer surveys using Forms Pro in advance of Voice of the Customer’s end of life on July 1, 2020.
Forms Pro is available as an entitlement with the following Dynamics 365 Enterprise apps: Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Marketing, Talent, and Project Service Automation.
For questions about Voice of the Customer and guidance on how to move to Forms Pro, please contact your Service Delivery Manager.
As you can appreciate, the Dynamics 365 product is moving at an increasingly fast and inspiring pace, and the sheer volume of changes coming through are simply eye-watering. Our team has identified a discrepancy in Microsoft’s latest release notes that contradicts with where the product is now at. In the latest release notes, the Customer Insights section talks in terms of connecting to Voice of the Customer, while the Marketing section talks of sending out surveys via Forms Pro. Noting the deprecation of VOC, the guidance around sending surveys via Forms Pro is the correct advice. We expect this to be edited in the next wave of release notes and our team have also informed the team at Microsoft so they can ensure this is the case.
Supercharge
Want to save time on testing? Check out Fusion5’s new support model for our Automated Testing package.
New releases
Microsoft has just released Sales Forecast capability in Dynamics 365 and is currently in 'Preview' stage. The Sales Forecast helps organisations to project how much a sales team can sell, or to estimate the revenue of the organisation. The output of the Sales Forecast provides organisations insights on how to effectively manage resources or cashflow.
Salespeople can utilise the forecasting tool to keep on top of their deals, spot risks and track their performance against set targets.
The forecast must start with sales managers creating a forecast definition. The forecast definition will include information on parameters such as the period of the forecast or the data to be included.
Salespeople will define what forecast category an opportunity belongs to. The forecast category determines the different confidence levels of an opportunity as it moves through its lifecycle before finally being converted in to a sale.
Watch as Diego runs through this sales forecasting process.
Upcoming Events
INSIGHT
Join industry experts and thought leaders to discuss important trends, changes and upcoming developments in all things Dynamics 365. Events are ongoing throughout the year.
To see what events are available in your area click here.
INSIGHT
Our last roadmap session focused on the April Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations release. This session covers off which of these features have been released to date, or are close to being available. And we also take a sneak peek at what’s planned for the October release!
Tuesday 30 July | 30-45 min
11:00am AEST | 1:00pm NZST
INSIGHT
We’ve been busy! Join us to find out about the four IP solutions we’ve developed to help you get more value out of Dynamics CRM/365. There’s our invaluable Email Attachment Relocator which transparently stores attachments of sent/received CRM email activities in configurable SharePoint locations; our useful Call Cycle Management which creates a call schedule for Contacts and Accounts; our smart Address Validation which provides suggestions while you are typing an address; and lastly our foolproof Phone Number and Email Address Validation which makes sure you’ve entered data in a valid format.
Wednesday 7 August | 30-45 min
11:00am AEST | 1:00pm NZST
TRAINING
As Dynamics AX enters its twilight years, many companies are starting their journey towards Dynamics 365. However, in the interim we have to ‘keep the lights on’ Dynamics AX. This session looks at key maintenance tasks to help Dynamics AX get to retirement with style and grace.
Tuesday 20 August | 1-2 hours
1:00pm AEST | 3:00pm NZST
TRAINING
Get geared up to confidently prepare your data for reporting in Power BI. Learn all about Power BI data flows and Azure Data Lake Storage, and the value of having a single source of data for your reporting across the business.
Wednesday 21 August | 1-2 hours
11:00am AEST | 1:00pm NZST
Cool Microsoft links
Microsoft re continuously developing new capabilities to enable your digital transformation. The public product roadmap provides a glimpse into what will be made available in the next wave of product updates.
Use Dynamics 365 App for Outlook to tap the power of Customer Engagement while you’re using Outlook on the desktop, web, or phone.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is fundamentally about protecting and enabling the privacy rights of individuals. You can read more about the Microsoft commitment to security at the Microsoft Trust Center.
