Navigating the complex world of business data in the age of AI presents unique challenges to enterprises. Organizations grapple with harnessing disparate data sources, addressing security and compliance risks while maintaining cost effectiveness. Overwhelming challenges often lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities more than ever. Dynamics 365 and Dataverse are offering a unified platform for managing data effectively and securely at hyperscale, while empowering low code makers and business users of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform.  

Customers in different industries, from finance to retail, have been trusting their data and processes with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform for years. We are excited to announce multiple features for helping IT administrators navigate effectively with rising AI, data, and security challenges. With Microsoft Purview integration, data governance and compliance risks are significantly reduced. Azure Sentinel provides vigilant monitoring against threats, while enhanced logging to the Microsoft 365 unified audit log tackles insider threats head-on. With Dataverse Link to Fabric, administrators can enable simpler data integration for low code makers, without the need to build and govern complex data pipelines. Moreover, the introduction of Dataverse elastic tables and long-term data retention strategies promise a substantial improvement in both hyperscale management and ROI, reinforcing a robust, secure, and cost-efficient data ecosystem.  

Protect your data and assets in the age of AI 

Growing cyber risks and increased corporate liability exposure for breaches have driven an increased focus on security in many organizations. To address this, Dataverse provides a comprehensive platform to secure your data and assets. At Ignite 2023 we are announcing several new security capabilities:  

Govern Dynamics 365 and Power Platform data in Dataverse through Microsoft Purview integration 

Dataverse integration with Microsoft Purview’s Data Map, available shortly in public preview, enables automated data discovery and sensitive data classification. The integration will help your organization to understand and govern their business applications data estate, safeguard that data, and improve their risk and compliance posture. Learn more here: http://aka.ms/DataversePurviewIntegration 

Monitor and react to threats with Sentinel  

Microsoft Sentinel solution for Microsoft Power Platform will be in public preview across regions over the next few weeks. Microsoft Sentinel is also integrated with Dynamics 365, with recently added OOB analytics rules. With Sentinel integration, customers can detect various suspicious activities such as Microsoft Power Apps execution from unauthorized geographies, suspicious data destruction by Power Apps, mass deletion of Power Apps, phishing attacks (via Power Apps), Power Automate flows activity by departing employees, Microsoft Power Platform connectors added to an environment, and the update or removal of Microsoft Power Platform data loss prevention policies. Learn more here: http://aka.ms/DataverseSentinelIntegration  

Manage the risk of insider threats via enhanced logging to the Microsoft 365 Unified Audit Log 

To manage the risk of insider threats, all administrator actions in Power Platform are logged to the Microsoft 365 Unified Admin audit log, enabling security teams that manage compliance and insider risk management teams who act on events the ability to mitigate risks in an organization. Learn more here: http://aka.ms/PowerPlatformAdminAuditLogging 

Seamlessly integrate your Dynamics 365 data with Fabric and Microsoft 365  

Empower your users to do more with Link to Fabric  

We are excited to announce general availability of Link to Fabric, a no-copy, no-ETL direct link between Dataverse and Microsoft Fabric. If your organization uses Dynamics 365 or Power Platform with Power BI, Link to Fabric enables simple data integration, and allows low code makers to securely derive AI driven insights across business apps and data sources and drive action.  

Low code Makers can Link to Microsoft Fabric from the Analyze menu in Power Apps maker portal command bar. The system validates configuration and lets you choose a Fabric workspace without leaving maker portal. When you confirm, the system securely links all your tables into a system generated Synapse Lakehouse in the Fabric workspace you selected. Your data stays in Dataverse while you can work with all Fabric workloads like SQL, Python and PowerBI without making copies or building pipelines. As data gets updated in Dataverse, changes are reflected in Fabric, near real time. 

We are also excited to announce joint partner and ISV solutions with Dynamics 365, Power platform and Microsoft Fabric. Partners and system are leveraging the Dataverse Link to Fabric to provide value added solutions that combine business functionality with insights and built-in actions.  

MECOMS is a top recommended solution for energy and utility companies across the globe enables next generation cities with smart energy and utility solutions that manage consumption from “meter to cash”. MECOMS 365, built on Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Fabric, gathers smart meter data from homes and businesses, processes billing and reconciliation in Dynamics 365 and integrates with Dynamics 365 for customer engagement. Smart cities can not only provide billing and excellent service, but also provide insights to customers on how they can lower consumption and save money.   

Ian Bruyninckx, Lead Product Architect, MECOMS, A Ferranti Company 

ERP customers can extend their insights and reduce TCO by upgrading to Synapse Link  

If you are a Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (F&O) customer, we have exciting news to share. Synapse Link for Dataverse service built into Power Apps, the successor to the Export to Data Lake feature in finance and operations apps, is now generally available. By upgrading from Export to data lake feature in F&O to Synapse Link, you can benefit from the improved configuration and enhanced performance which translates to a reduction in the total cost of ownership (TCO).

To learn more about upgrading to Synapse Link, refer to https://aka.ms/TransitiontoSynapseLinkVideos.

Reference Dataverse records with Microsoft 365 Context IQ to efficiently access enterprise data 

One of the most time-consuming tasks, for any person that uses email, is sharing information in your line of business applications with colleagues. You must jump out of your Outlook web experience, open your line of business app, navigate to a record, and then copy and paste the link into your email. This is an incredibly time-consuming set of steps and actions. 

We are excited to announce general availability for Dataverse integration with Microsoft 365 Context IQ a new feature that makes it possible for users to access their most recently used data directly from Outlook Web Client using a simple gesture.   

Please refer to the settings on how to Use /mention to link to records in Outlook web client – Power Platform | Microsoft Learn. 

Efficiently hyper(scale) your business applications  

In the age of AI, customers are challenged with managing data at hyperscale from a plethora of sources. As a polyglot hyperscale data platform for structured relational and unstructured non-relational data, Dataverse can support all your business scenarios with security, governance, and life cycle management, with no storage limitations.  

For very high scale data scenarios, such as for example utilizing third party data for time-sensitive marketing campaigns or driving efficiency with predictive maintenance for your IOT business, Dataverse elastic tables is a powerful addition to standard tables, supporting both relational and non-relational data. You can even optimize large volume data storage with time-defined auto-delete capability. 

Additionally, while Dataverse can support your business growth with no limit on active data, to meet your company’s compliance, regulatory or other organizational policy, you can retain in-active data with Dataverse long term data retention and save 50% or more on storage capacity.  

Click here to learn more about Microsoft Dataverse. 

The post Unlock new value with your Dynamics 365 data in Microsoft 365 and Fabric, while safeguarding your data and assets appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Organizations want to get the best out of their agents by maximizing their utilization, distributing work evenly, and providing enough breaks between calls. Least active routing, formerly known as most-idle routing, is an assignment strategy that can help achieve this. It assigns work to agents based on when they end their last conversation. It gives agents who are working on longer or more complex conversations a chance to take a break, while distributing the new conversations to other agents. Doing so helps improve workforce utilization and engagement. 

How does least active routing help? 

Contoso Health is a multinational healthcare and insurance provider. It has a large customer support organization covering more than 20 product lines, handled by more than 5,000 agents worldwide. Customers call the contact center to get their queries resolved.

In the contact center, an agent can talk to only one customer at a time. Eugenia, the director of customer support at Contoso, observes that some of her agents are being utilized up to 95% in their schedule. Meanwhile, others are occupied only for only 70-75%, and she wants to solve this problem. While doing that, she also wants to make sure not to impact the key metrics like customer satisfaction and SLAs. She comes across the least active routing assignment method and tries it for a queue.  

Kayla and Finn are two agents working in a voice queue. Kayla has a call that comes in at 1:00 PM. Finn takes a call at 1:05 PM. Kayla’s issue is complex and takes her 15 minutes to close. Finn solves his customer’s problem in five minutes. The next call comes in at 1:20 PM. The round robin method would assign the new call to Kayla since it is her turn, and she is available. But with the least active routing, the system considers the idle time of agents and assigns the call to Finn, as his last call ended earlier than Kayla’s. This kind of assignment, considering the idle time, improves the agent utilization.  

The Least active option is available in the Assignment method section of the queue.

The least active routing assignment method is currently available only for voice channel queues and is the default selection for new voice queues. Least active routing can also be used as an Order by condition in the custom assignment methods. 

Build custom reports to monitor an agent’s last capacity release time 

The least active assignment method works based on when the agent ended his or her last call. This data about the agent’s last call end time or last capacity release time, is available in the Dataverse entity ‘msdyn_agentchannelstateentity’. Organizations can use the Model customization feature in Dynamics 365 Customer Service to build a custom report that provides a view of this data.

Learn more

To learn more about least active routing, read the documentation: Assignment methods for queues | Microsoft Learn

The post Enhance agent utilization and engagement with least active routing  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Introduction:

In the ever-evolving landscape of business operations, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management has been a trusted companion for organizations, offering a robust suite of features to streamline processes. However, with its rich functionality, there often comes a learning curve for users. They require guidance to harness the full potential of the software. Enter the innovative in-app help guidance powered by Microsoft Copilot, which is set to transform the user experience.

Unleashing the Power of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management:

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management provides a wide array of tools to support diverse business processes. Yet, mastering this complexity often necessitates training and hands-on experience. Traditionally, users relied on experts, partners, or Microsoft support for guidance. But now, a revolutionary solution is at hand.

Introducing Copilot’s capability for In-App Help Guidance:

Copilot brings AI-driven capabilities into Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. One powerful capability delivers contextual help and guidance right into the application. This capability has arrived in public preview.
Here’s a closer look at how it functions:

Harnessing Public Documentation

The Copilot capability for help and guidance is grounded on the extensive repository of public documentation on Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management features. It employs generative AI to craft precise responses to user queries based on the understanding of the documentation it has been grounded on.

Contextual Assistance

Users can seamlessly and conversationally engage through Copilot within the application. They can pose questions related to their current context, and the Copilot, armed with a wealth of documentation, provides tailored and context-aware guidance.
In the future, it will facilitate direct navigation to specific pages within the application and suggest relevant actions to complete users’ tasks.

Real-World Applications:

The Copilot’s in-app help and guidance proves invaluable in various scenarios. For instance:

1. Onboarding New Users: As new business users join, they often require assistance in understanding the application’s functionality and workflows. Copilot can answer questions like, “How do I navigate the procurement process?” or “What steps are involved in inventory management?“
2. Immediate Problem Solving: Users can seek instant solutions to challenges they encounter while using Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. Whether it’s configuring settings or troubleshooting issues, Copilot is there to help.
3. Reducing Training Costs: Small and medium-sized enterprises often invest heavily in training their workforce on new ERP systems. The in-app help guidance feature minimizes training expenses by enabling users to rapidly familiarize themselves with the software.

Step-by-Step Experience:

Let’s take a journey with Alice, a Purchaser who is new to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. Alice is eager to initiate the creation of a purchase agreement with a vendor but is feeling uncertain about the process. Fortunately, Copilot is here to assist her every step of the way, thanks to its generative help feature.

Step 1: Access Copilot

To begin her journey, Alice simply looks for the Copilot icon at the top of the screen. Clicking on it opens the conversational sidecar experience.

Copilot introduces itself warmly and encourages users, like Alice, to ask any questions they may have.

Step 2: Pose Your Question

In this for her uncommon task of creating a purchase agreement, Alice can simply type her question into the Copilot chat experience.

Step 3: Instant Guidance

Like a trusted companion, Copilot responds promptly, providing Alice with clear, step-by-step guidance. With Copilot’s help, Alice navigates through the process seamlessly, ensuring she doesn’t miss a single detail.

Watch the demonstration videos below to see Copilot in action:

In this animation, Alice as a novice user experiences Copilot with its in-app help and guidance feature and Copilot helps her to get started with the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management application.

In the second example you see a Copilot interaction where a more experienced user is empowered by Copilot to efficiently tackle complex tasks with confidence and ease.

The Benefits Unveiled

The advantages of Copilot’s in-app help guidance are numerous:

• Cost-Efficiency: By reducing the need for extensive training, organizations can save significantly on training costs.
• Enhanced User Experience: Users gain immediate access to accurate information, enhancing their overall experience with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.
• Improved Productivity: With real-time answers to questions, users can work more efficiently and effectively.

Responsible AI

We are committed to responsible AI practices. Here’s how Copilot ensures responsible AI usage:

• Data Privacy: Copilot follows strict data encryption and secure storage protocols to protect user data.
• Content Moderation: Messages generated by Copilot undergo a series of checks to ensure relevance and prevent harmful content.
• Responsible AI Principles: Our work is guided by principles such as fairness, reliability, privacy, transparency, and accountability.

The future of Copilot in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

This section provides a glimpse into the expanding capabilities of Copilot, where it becomes a valuable partner for users, offering guidance, insights, and seamless navigation within the application.

• Copilot will go beyond providing answers, it will assist users in navigating within our product, making it an indispensable tool for efficiency.
• Users can inquire about data, processes, and status, and even act directly from the Copilot conversation.
• Copilot, in generative help and guidance, will provide the next best action suggestions on what users should likely do next.

As we look into the future, we are excited to share a demo video that offers first hand experience of Copilot’s evolving capabilities in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Copilot with its its In-app help guidance in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management represents a significant step in enhancing user experience. It bridges the gap between complexity and ease of use, enabling users to unlock the full potential of our product. While we acknowledge that we are in the early stages of this journey with basic capabilities, we are committed to continuous improvement.  As organizations embrace this feature, they begin to reduce training costs and empower their workforce. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management users can look forward to a more streamlined experience.  Copilot In-app help and guidance simplifies tasks and provides instant assistance, helping users make the most of their Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management experience. We are dedicated to enhancing these capabilities further, ensuring that users can navigate our product more efficiently.

Learn More

Interested in learning more about Copilot’s in-app help guidance? Here are your next steps:

Read the Copilot Product Documentation:

For comprehensive and detailed information about Copilot’s capabilities and functionalities, be sure to check out our product documentation. You’ll find in-depth insights into how Copilot can enhance your experience with Dynamics365 Supply Chain Management –

Read the Responsible AI FAQ for Copilot and its capability of generative help and guidance.

Experience Copilot in action (For Existing Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Customers):

 If you’re already using Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, you can enable and experience Copilot’s capabilities to streamline your operations. Here’s how:

• Step 1: Enable Copilot Feature: Follow our documentation for existing customers to learn how to enable this feature. Once enabled, you’ll have access to Copilot’s powerful in-app help guidance within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.
• Step 2: Access Copilot – Locate the Copilot icon at the top of your screen within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, then click on it to open the conversational sidecar experience. Copilot will introduce itself and encourage you to ask questions.
• Step 3: Pose Your Question – In any uncommon or challenging task within the application, simply ask Copilot for guidance. For better results, especially when seeking documentation-related in-app help, consider starting your questions with ‘How.’
• Step 4: Instant Guidance – Copilot will provide you with step-by-step guidance; all responses are grounded by our public documentation.

Please note that Copilot’s capabilities are exclusively available to existing Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management customers. If you’re one of them, don’t miss out on the opportunity to enhance your user experience and streamline your operations with Copilot.

Join Copilot for finance and operations apps – Yammer

Stay informed about the most recent Copilot by becoming a member of our Copilot for finance and operations Yammer Group  . Share your Feedback and be the first to know about the latest enhancements.

The post Microsoft Copilot brings generative help and guidance into Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

We are committed to continuous innovation to reimagine business applications in this era of AI. Today we are excited to announce the preview of Project “Sophia”, which you can try at: Http://aka.ms/projectsophia. Project “Sophia” is an AI powered business research canvas designed to help all business users solve complex, cross-domain business problems. It enables users to discover, visualize, and interact with data in new ways, to optimize business processes, and answer strategic questions that drive better outcomes.  

Research Journeys to explore cross-functional data and insights to find innovative solutions  

As an AI Powered Business Research canvas. you can ask Project “Sophia” any business question across every business domain in your organization. You start by uploading data you want help exploring or you can simply ask a question, and Project “Sophia” will start a research journey for you. With Project “Sophia”, you have access to your own ‘digital analyst’ as well as access to the power of rich domain expertise across departments. You can scale with a focus and intelligence around your core business processes to effortlessly research where optimizations can be created in these journeys in a matter of minutes or hours vs. days or months.   

Magically generate rich user experiences and provide actionable recommendations

Project “Sophia” automatically generates what we call blueprints, which are information rich building blocks, designed to help provide structure to your AI powered research making it easier to navigate. Every blueprint contains a textual overview, visual representations of insights and a range of suggested next actions. Using the AI cursor, a new innovative, fully contextual chat experience, you can dive deeper into any areas of the research journey, triggering a conversation with “Sophia” who will now assist with further explorations and suggestions. Blueprints, insights, next steps and AI Cursor interactions are all generated using the power of large language models. 

Achieve specific outcomes for high value business tasks using Business Process Guides

Business Process Guides are experiences where Project “Sophia” guides you through the process of achieving a predefined outcome for a specific high value business task. The first Business Process Guide that is supported in this Preview release is Account Planning or Sales Territory Planning.  

When you upload data about accounts, sales reps, pipeline and other account relevant information Project “Sophia” naturally detects relationships between these different data points – even if it exists across different files – and creates a comprehensive AI generated account plan for you.  This serves as a starting point with the idea to indicate and suggest other data that can help you make an account plan that is even more comprehensive and actionable. 

Try “Sophia” today

We will continue to innovate and add more capabilities to Project “Sophia” based on customer feedback during this preview phase. 

To learn more and get started with the preview, visit http://aka.ms/ProjectSophia. There, you can watch an overview session, see a demo of the AI in action and even try the preview for yourself.  We would love to hear from you and learn more about your thoughts. 

The post Introducing Project “Sophia”, a new generation AI-first business application appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.