New cloud-ready application templates for accelerating your development

New cloud-ready application templates for accelerating your development

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

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New extensible blueprint templates are available to help accelerate your app development. Each of these templates is fully working and ready to deploy reusable infrastructure and proof-of-concept code through Azure Developer CLI to GitHub Codespaces or VSCode. 


 



 


Explore the entire template library: browse for fully working, cloud-ready applications to deploy with Azure


 


If you are using app advisor, the self-guided experience that surfaces the latest resources and recommendations based on your current development stage, you will also be presented with templates that are relevant to your current stage of development.


 


*Note that this list of templates is subject to change as new templates become available.


 

Grow your Business with Copilot for Microsoft 365 – August 2024

Grow your Business with Copilot for Microsoft 365 – August 2024

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

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Welcome back to Grow Your Business with Copilot for Microsoft 365, a monthly series designed to empower small and midsized businesses to harness the power of AI at work. 


 


My team works with a wide range of small and midsized businesses. And while each is unique in their own way, we’ve found that regardless of size, industry, or market, they basically want the same thing: to grow. To attract more customers. To boost revenue. To scale efficiently. 


 


Make sure to also check out our weekly Copilot productivity series that just launched, as well as the new Copilot Success Kit, your one-stop shop for getting ready and implementing Copilot.


 


PKSHA Technology – Embracing AI


Staying on the cutting edge – PKSHA Technology is doing just that by using the power Copilot for Microsoft 365 to grow their business and evangelize AI to their customers so they can do the same.  


 


PKSHA Technology is a midsized company based in Tokyo, Japan. PKSHA develops algorithmic solutions and AI technologies that help companies become more efficient and improve their processes – they believe algorithms can solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. With effective roll out techniques, PKSHA leveraged Copilot to create new hire shortcuts, improve their customer management, and shorten the process from product roadmap to feature enhancements.


An image of PKSHA's business signAn image of PKSHA’s business sign


Onboarding Shortcuts with AI 


As PKSHA experienced rapid growth and hired new employees, and like most businesses, they found pain points in the onboarding process. It was difficult to ensure new hires had access or could find the information they needed. Onboarding new employees and getting them up to speed can also be a very demanding process for your current employees.  
 
With the help of Copilot, PKSHA employees task Copilot to search for the information they need. This ultimately shortens the time for new hires between their first day on the job to making a true impact! It also frees up time for those tasked with onboarding them into role, taking advantage of the fact that much of the company internal intel is now at their fingertips with Copilot.  
 
There are many ways that Copilot can help accelerate onboarding. For example, while attending a team meeting, using Copilot to ask clarifying questions. The “personal chat” with Copilot allows you ask questions about the meeting while not interrupting the flow of the meeting. As a new hire, creating documents, proposals, or paper can be hard as you are still learning the tone, voice, and preferred format of your new company. Using Copilot in Word, you can reference other documents to get to your first draft faster. Managers are also able to use Copilot to create onboarding documents and processes much faster to help employees orientate themselves to their new organization.


A screenshot of Copilot in Teams Meeting personal chatA screenshot of Copilot in Teams Meeting personal chat


 


Customer Management 


Hightouch customer service can be a very time-consuming task that requires thorough preparation and detailed followup communications. Prior to Copilot, PKSHA Customer Success specialist, Ms. Takeuchi, would spend hours preparing information prior to calls and afterwards transcribing notes and documenting follow-up actions. Now, she uses Copilot to quickly assemble materials in advance, organizes to-dos and shares action tasks with customers immediately after the meetings. With her administrative workload considerably reduced with Copilot in Teams, Ms. Takeuchi is able to dedicate more time focusing on her customers and activities that matter the most, maximizing care, attention, and service quality.


A screenshot of Copilot in TeamsA screenshot of Copilot in Teams


 


Product Development 


A streamlined customer feedback loop that feeds into an issues list and ultimately product enhancements… sounds like an operational dream. With Copilot, PKSHA is making that dream closer to a reality. The PKSHA team leverages Copilot in Teams and Excel for gathering customer intel and feedback. By using Copilot in Teams to summarize and organize product feedback they receive to easily surface product needs and create a centralized log of possible product improvements. This process creates a shared knowledge base that team members across their product groups can reference, instead of disparate information silos, resulting in greater coordination and faster delivery of product enhancements. In parallel, the customer success team also uses Copilot in Excel to identify trends in the customer data. These trends help the team create meaningful recommendations for their customers. With Copilot, the team overall saves up to 4 hours of time spent on data analysis.


A screenshot of Copilot in ExcelA screenshot of Copilot in Excel


 


Creating AI Champions 


When introducing any new technology tools in the workplace, it’s crucial to have the right adoption plan in place. Often a pilot group is part of any successful roll out plan.  The pilot approach is baked into PKSHA’s vision for their company. PKSHA utilizes new AI solutions internally first to better evaluate how they can solve client needs with those AI solutions. In order to both test and drive the internal adoption of AI, PKSHA created their Future Work Black Belt Team. Creating an AI leadership team is a best practice that Microsoft has witnessed across its Copilot customer base. Read more details about how to stand up your own AI Council here 


A quote from Mr. Kensuke Yamamoto, Executive Office & Head of Development at PKSHA Technology: “Copilot is a tool that supports our main mission of defining and shaping the software of the future. Copilot is part of our own future way of working so we can lead our customers to the right future workplace.”


 


Accelerating AI innovation with Copilot 


The productivity and collaboration benefits of Copilot enable the team at PKSHA to focus more on their core mission of creating better AI solutions and technologies. Just like PKSHA is all about harnessing the power of algorithms to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, Copilot gives them the power to fuel their innovation, creativity and efficiency amidst their AI development. 


 


We are so excited to see PKSHA and other small and medium companies harness the power of Copilot to grow! Tune in next month for another example of how Copilot helps unlock more value and opportunity. If your company has used Copilot for Microsoft 365 to grow and you’d like to share your story, we’d love to feature you! Comment below to let us know you’re interested and a member from our team will get in touch!


 


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Want to try out some of the ways PKSHA used Copilot for Microsoft 365? Check out the following resources: 





  • Check out the new SMB Success Kit and accelerate your Copilot adoption today 



For adoption content visit Microsoft 365 Adoption – Get Started 


For the latest SMB AI insights follow Microsoft 365 blog 


 


Angela Byers


Microsoft


Senior Director, Copilot & Growth Marketing for SMB


An image of the SMB Copilot team at Microsoft, with Angela Byers, Elif Algedik, Kayla Patterson, Briana Taylor, and Gabe HoAn image of the SMB Copilot team at Microsoft, with Angela Byers, Elif Algedik, Kayla Patterson, Briana Taylor, and Gabe Ho


Meet the team 


The monthly series, Grow Your Business with Copilot for Microsoft 365, is brought to you by the SMB Copilot marketing team at Microsoft. From entrepreneurs to coffee connoisseurs, they work passionately behind the scenes, sharing the magic of Copilot products with small and medium businesses everywhere. Always ready with a smile, a helping hand, and a clever campaign, they’re passionate about helping YOUR business grow!  


 

Enhancing Supply Chain Integrity: introducing quality control for goods in-transit orders in Dynamics 365 SCM 

Enhancing Supply Chain Integrity: introducing quality control for goods in-transit orders in Dynamics 365 SCM 

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Introduction 

In fast-paced, complex supply chain environments, ensuring product quality throughout the journey from supplier to customer is more critical than ever. We’re excited to address this with a powerful new feature in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Landed Cost module, enabling quality control for goods in-transit orders. 

Addressing a Critical Gap in Supply Chain Management 

Traditionally, quality control measures in supply chain management focus on initial stages of production and receipt of purchase orders at their final destination. We see a growing need for more comprehensive quality assurance processes covering all phases, including the in-transit phase. Now, businesses can conduct quality checks on goods while they are in transit. This new feature ensures product integrity throughout the entire supply chain journey. 

How it works 

The quality control for goods in-transit feature is seamlessly integrated into the Dynamics 365 SCM framework. Here’s how it enhances the supply chain process: 

Setup of Goods in transit order in Quality associations: Businesses can now define goods in-transit order as a new quality association type with pre-defined event blocking approach.  This proactive measure ensures any potential quality issues can be identified and addressed before the goods reach their final destination.
View of Quality Control menu in Dynamics 365

Automatic Quality order creation: During the Goods in-transit order registration/receive operation, depends on the previous step’s configuration, the corresponding quality order will automatically create to reflect the quality control.

Order control and release: Depending on the configuration, the quality order completeness will block the downstream business operation if it’s not passed. This control makes it easy for businesses to adopt and implement without significant changes to their current quality control processes for Goods in-transit order.

Benefits of Quality Control for Goods In-Transit

While the enhanced return receiving process in Dynamics 365 SCM represents a significant leap forward, transparency is key. We have multiple planned backlogs coming soon, such as:

Implementing quality control for goods in-transit offers several significant advantages:

  • Enhanced Supply Chain Reliability: By ensuring quality at every stage, businesses can significantly reduce the risk of receiving defective or non-compliant goods.
  • Cost Efficiency: Early detection of quality issues minimizes the need for costly rework or returns, leading to substantial cost savings.
  • Regulatory Compliance: The feature supports compliance with various regulatory standards, ensuring that products meet all necessary legal requirements.
  • Improved Customer Satisfaction: Delivering high-quality products consistently enhances customer trust and satisfaction, ultimately driving business growth.
Conclusion

The introduction of quality control for goods in-transit orders in Microsoft Dynamics 365 SCM represents a significant advancement in supply chain management. It empowers businesses to ensure product quality at every stage of the supply chain, from production to final delivery. By adopting this feature, companies can enhance their supply chain integrity, reduce costs, comply with regulatory standards, and deliver superior products to their customers.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to innovate and expand the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 SCM to meet the evolving needs of the global supply chain.

Call to action

Enable the feature: Turn on the Landed cost module and related features for your system – Supply Chain Management | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn

Learning Article:   Quality orders – Supply Chain Management | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn

The post Enhancing Supply Chain Integrity: introducing quality control for goods in-transit orders in Dynamics 365 SCM  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.

Announcing SharePoint Embedded Fall Tour Events and Schedule

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Kick off your journey with SharePoint Embedded. At the SharePoint Embedded for Enterprise Apps events, you’ll explore best practices for your projects, glimpse the future of SharePoint Embedded, and learn to integrate Copilot into document-centric apps. We’re eager for your feedback and experiences; your creations shape ours.


 


The SharePoint Embedded product team is coming to New York City and London in September! Come join us for an all-day event to learn how SharePoint Embedded can deliver Copilot, Collaboration, Compliance, and Core Enterprise Storage for your document centric apps. 

Specifically, you’ll have the opportunity to do the following:



  • Learn about SharePoint Embedded, a new way to build file and document centric apps.

  • Get hands-on coding experience with this new technology and learn how to build your own custom app.

  • Take a deep dive into critical features, like compliance, collaboration and copilot.

  • Hear from others who have implemented SharePoint Embedded solutions.

  • Get insight into the SharePoint Embedded roadmap



New York City, US
Date: Thursday, September 12th, 9AM-7PM (times are approximate, including social hour)
Where: Microsoft Offices NYC Times Square 

London, UK
Date: Thursday, September 26th, 9AM-7PM (times are approximate, including social hour)
Where: Central London, UK (Exact location TBD)

RSVP Details (Please note that this event is only open to certain countries and the following will not be accepted: Russia, Belarus)



  • 21+, free event, no registration fees

  • First come, first served (limited seats)


    • 1 RSVP = 1 person 


  • NDA required (if your company does not have an NDA on record, one will be sent)


    • NDA must be signed to attend event


  • Event will be IN PERSON ONLY and will not be recorded

  • Bring your own device for coding portions (tablets and smartphones will not work)


To register for one or more of these events visit Microsoft SharePoint Embedded for Enterprise Apps (office.com).

Your Board, Your Way – Optimize schedule board navigation patterns in Universal Resource Scheduling

Your Board, Your Way – Optimize schedule board navigation patterns in Universal Resource Scheduling

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Leaving the schedule board today can be cumbersome because you have to re-enter your preferred settings every time you come back. You may also find it frustrating that your admin has the power to override your choices and reset the board to the default settings. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could save your personal preferences and have them ready when you need them? The schedule board now boasts improved navigation patterns to help YOU manage your schedules more efficiently!

Remember my board

The schedule board now works with your computer’s local cache to reload with the last accessed parameters as chosen by you, no configuration necessary! That means you can leave the schedule board to check on your resources, update requirements, or even grab a hot cuppa, all while your board stays the way you left it.

 The cache will save and reload the following parameters automatically: 

  1. Last accessed tab: Save time by not having to reload the tab its relevant resources and bookings 
  1. Map panel open/closed: Map remains in the state that you left it in 
  1. Viewtype: Gantt/list view – Schedule board  
  1. Viewmode: hourly/daily/weekly 
  1. BoardStartDate: Continue with the last accessed date range, resets to today’s date after 15min 
  1. Columnwidth: zoom level of the board stays the way you want it 

Many of our users have told us about their struggles trying to return to today’s date when switching between date ranges. We’ve thus added a new “Today” button next to the date range control, that helps you quickly return to today’s date range, wherever you may be. 

What if you want to share your settings with others or add a bookmark of your settings to your browser? We’ve added a new one-click button that helps you generate a URL link that captures all the following schedule board parameters: 

  1. Last accessed tab 
  1. Map panel open/closed 
  1. Viewtype: Gantt/list view 
  1. Viewmode: hourly/daily/weekly 
  1. Columnwidth: zoom level of the board

Saving and sharing your favorite board setup has never been easier! 

Step 1: Click on the “…” more button at the top right of the schedule board 

Step 2: Click on “Copy link” button 

Step 3: The generated link has been saved to your clipboard.

The use cases are numerous, for example:

  1. Add the copied link to a bookmark in your browser. Whenever you click on this bookmarked link, the browser will launch the board with your preferred parameters 
  1. Share the link with your colleagues/team to share a setup that works for you, and teach them optimize their workflow  

You can also configure Schedule Board URLs manually: Open the schedule board from a URL | Microsoft Learn 

More details on schedule board caching and URL addressability can be found here: Learn more about schedule board

The post Your Board, Your Way – Optimize schedule board navigation patterns in Universal Resource Scheduling appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.