Copilot, Sustainability, Automated Workflows: What are the New Features in the Dynamics 365 Business Central 2024 Release Wave 1

Copilot, Sustainability, Automated Workflows: What are the New Features in the Dynamics 365 Business Central 2024 Release Wave 1

Dynamics 365 Business Central 2024 release wave 1 is officially here! In the beginning of this month, Microsoft introduced the new features included in the first release wave for this year.  

With its robust security measures, adaptability, and advanced functionalities covering all aspects of the business operations, Microsoft's ERP system Dynamics 365 Business Central suits best the needs of small and mid-sized businesses of various industries. To further refine the advantages for Business Central users, Microsoft brings new innovative features for financials, inventory, project management, sustainability, user experience, development, and more.

Here are some of the key features that the Dynamics 365 Business Central 2024 release wave 1 will bring us:  

Business Central and Sustainability

A revolutionary part of the Business Central update are the new sustainability features. This functionality ensures compliance with the European Union’s CSRD – a requirement for companies to report on the sustainability of their activities. Microsoft introduces Sustainability Journals that enable users to record their organization’s sustainability information in diverse collections – groups, subgroups and emissions. Sustainability Entries are also part of the feature as this is where data is entered and used for reporting.  

The Business Central updates enable companies to track their greenhouse gas emissions, make the proper decisions to reduce their carbon footprint and embrace eco-friendlier practices. With the Sustainability Journals, businesses can follow each stage of their sustainability journey and mark the beginning of a greener future. 

Achieve sustainable compliance with Business Central | Microsoft Learn 
 

Correct errors in service invoices

Don't let mistakes become a setback. Business Central now allows you to correct service contracts and invoices. You can fix any errors or make changes to service invoices without losing data. Use the Delete button to delete a service invoice after which a corrective service ledger entry will be posted, and the invoicing date will be restored in the contract so that you would not need to start everything from the beginning. 

Correct errors in service invoices | Microsoft Learn 
 

Enter and approve time sheets for enhanced project management

With the updates in the Project Management functionalities, managers get a clear overview of the project, employees, machinery, resources, and their allocation. Business Central users can now enter time sheets with project tasks and planning lines. The ability to easily approve multiple time sheets at the same time instead of reviewing them one by one optimizes managers’ work and gives them more time to deal with the more critical tasks.  

Be more productive when entering time sheets | Microsoft Learn 

Be more productive when approving time sheets | Microsoft Learn 
 

Invoice to multiple customers

Users can now create projects that can be invoiced to multiple different customers. They also save a lot of time with the new function of invoicing one customer for several different projects. 

Create projects you can invoice to multiple customers | Microsoft Learn 

Invoice a customer for multiple projects | Microsoft Learn 
 

User Experience changes

Microsoft has introduced changes that will bring more convenience and simplicity to Business Central users in the visual interface of the system, such as: 

Shopify connection

The 2024 updates ensure seamless connection between Business Central and Shopify. Users do not have to filter the blocked items as the connector automatically skips them. You may sync products if your shop is configured to import products from Shopify or add items if you manage the products in Business Central.  

Simpler Shopify connection | Microsoft Learn 

You can also synchronize your Shopify B2B data with Business Central and gain visibility into pricing, customers, order histories, status, billing, and payments. When you have established a connection between your online stores and business operations, you are more flexible with product pricing, stock, and the processing of customer orders. The automatic synchronization results in improved efficiency, faster decision making and minimized chances of mistakes. What is more, at the end of the accounting period, Business Central assists with financial and tax reporting in compliance with legal requirements. 

Connect Business Central with Shopify B2B | Microsoft Learn 
 

More Excel layout reports

Eight new Excel report layouts for finance, sales and purchases have been added to Business Central. The reports can be used in various ways: to get insights about your business, to create pivot tables for data analysis, or create your own Excel templates for the same data. Business Central gives you a clear view of your performance with report layouts that visualize your data in a comprehensible manner.  

Use new Excel layouts for 35 selected reports | Microsoft Learn 
 

Copilot in Business Central 

Chat with Copilot is an AI-powered chat that gives you access to all your data as it quickly finds everything you need. You just have to use simple conversational language to describe what you are looking for – for example, “Show me the latest sales orders for NavTech Group” or “How many of the white collared shirts for 50€ do we have in stock?” You can now easily interact with your data in Business Central as Copilot will visualize it for you in a comprehensible manner.  

Watch Microsoft's video introducing Chat with Copilot >> Work smarter with Copilot in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (youtube.com) 
 

 

 

You can also take advantage of the integration of Copilot in Microsoft Power Platform. Copilot lets you create Power Automate flows with your Business Central data just by using natural language. Based on your input, Copilot provides the necessary information and changes the structure of the flow. 

Start creating Power Automate flows with Copilot | Microsoft Learn 
 

After the new 2024 update of Business Central, you can create sales lines on sales documents like Sales Quote, Sales Order and Sales Invoice with Copilot. The assistance of Copilot reduces the time you spent dealing with repetitive tasks and manual data entering. Copilot suggests and assists in creating sales using various input methods or simple language. Moreover, the sales lines suggestions are based on previous information about sales recency and frequency of the respective customer.  

Create sales lines easily with Copilot | Microsoft Learn 
 

Now Copilot can also help users create product information faster. Copilot swiftly generates item-related information based on other similar items: variants, units of measure, substitutions, dimensions. Instead investing too much time in manual entering of data for each product and its different characteristics, Copilot assists you in creating meaningful item information. 

Create product information faster with Copilot | Microsoft Learn
 

With Copilot in Business Central, the process of mapping and matching e-documents with purchase order lines is much faster. Copilot identifies the purchase order corresponding to each vendor invoice. This additionally provided matching intelligence enhances your efficiency as it eliminates the need for wasting time in manual data search. 

Map e-documents to purchase order lines with Copilot | Microsoft Learn 
 

As your personal AI assistant, Copilot in Business Central provides simple structured analysis of your data and quick access to insights that can be crucial for your business development. Describe the analysis in a simple sentence and Copilot will do the rest for you – it uses AI to understand your desired layout and generate it for you with the keywords provided.  

Get to insights fast with Copilot-created analysis tabs | Microsoft Learn 
 

Later this year Microsoft is also planning on expanding the functionalities by adding: 

  • The feature of adjusting the generated analysis tab by changing the prompt you give using simple language. 
  • A summary of the data insights in a sentence so that you can share the key information with your coworkers. 
 

Check out the rest of the newly introduced features of Business Central 2024 release wave 1 on the Microsoft Learn platform and gain insights into the general availability dates >> New and planned features for Dynamics 365 Business Central, 2024 release wave 1 | Microsoft Learn 

*Note that some of these features are not yet available in Bulgaria.
 

Dynamics 365 Business Central 2024 release wave 1 has introduced diverse functionalities that automate our daily work tasks. Now with the introduction of Copilot, even those time-consuming and often repetitive tasks are easily manageable, which is a game-changer for our work efficiency. The frequent updates Microsoft introduces help us achieve more in less time without compromising on the quality. Stay tuned for all the Business Central updates that will be generally available later this year.   
 

Source: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central documentation - Business Central | Microsoft Learn 

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