Editor: Denis Conway

Introduction:

Dynamics 365 Commerce is a comprehensive omnichannel solution that empowers retailers to deliver personalized, seamless, and differentiated shopping experiences across physical and digital channels. In the 2024 release Wave 1, Dynamics 365 Commerce continues to innovate and enhance its capabilities to improve store associate productivity and meet the evolving needs of customers and businesses. Here are some of the highlights of the new features coming soon:

Copilot in Site builder is going global and multi-lingual:

Copilot in Site builder is a generative AI assistant that helps users create engaging and relevant content for their e-commerce sites. Copilot uses the product information and the user’s input to generate product enrichment content that is crafted using brand tone and tailored for targeted customer segments.

In the 2024 release wave 1, Copilot in Site builder is expanding its language support to include support for 23 additional locales including German, French, Spanish, and more. This feature demonstrates Microsoft’s commitment to making Copilot accessible globally and empowering users to create multilingual content with ease and efficiency.

Strengthening our dedication to creating a comprehensive B2B solution for Digital Commerce by supporting B2B indirect commerce

Dynamics 365 Commerce supports both B2C and B2B commerce scenarios, enabling retailers to sell directly to consumers and businesses. In the 2024 release wave 1, Dynamics 365 Commerce fortifies its B2B investments by introducing support for B2B indirect commerce, which enables manufacturers selling through a network of distributors to get complete visibility into their sales and inventory.

New distributor capabilities enable manufacturers to provide a self-service platform that simplifies distributor operations and builds meaningful, long-lasting business relationships through efficient and transparent transactions. Distributors can access product catalogs and pricing specific to their partner agreements, manufacturers can place orders on behalf of their customers with specific distributor, and outlets can track order status and history.

Dynamics 365 Commerce also streamlines multi-outlet ordering, enabling business buyers that are associated with more than one outlet organization to buy for all of them. Commerce provides the ability to seamlessly buy for multiple organizations using the same email account, enabling buyers to be more efficient.

Additionally, Dynamics 365 Commerce supports advance ordering, which is a common practice in some businesses to order products in advance to ensure they have adequate stock when needed. This feature enables customers to specify the desired delivery date and include additional order notes.

Also, introducing support for a promotions page on an e-commerce site that serves as a hub to showcase various deals and promotions that shoppers can take advantage of. The promotions page can display active and upcoming promotions.

Adyen Tap to Pay is coming to Store Commerce app on iOS

The Store Commerce app is a mobile point of sale (POS) solution that enables store associates to complete transactions through a mobile device on the sales floor, pop-up store, or remote location. The Store Commerce app supports various payment methods, such as cash, card, gift card, and loyalty points.

In the 2024 release wave 1, Dynamics 365 Commerce is introducing Adyen Tap to Pay capabilities into the Store Commerce app for iOS, so that retailers everywhere can accept payments directly on Apple iPhones. Adyen Tap to Pay enhances the utility and versatility of the Store Commerce app, as it eliminates the need for additional hardware or peripherals to process payments. It also enables retailers to offer a more customer-centric and engaging in-store retail experience, as store associates can interact with customers anywhere in the store and complete transactions on the spot.

Speed up your checkout process with simplified and consistent payment workflows for different payment methods on Store Commerce app

Efficiency and predictability are key to the smooth operation of a point of sale (POS) system, especially when it comes to payment processing. When store associates can process customer payments across a variety of payment types with minimal friction, customers spend less time waiting and more time shopping.

In the 2024 release wave 1, Dynamics 365 Commerce is improving the POS payment processing user experience to create more consistent workflows across payment types. The new user experience simplifies the payment selection and confirmation process, reduces the number of clicks and screens, and provides clear feedback and guidance to the store associate. The new user experience also supports split tendering, which allows customers to pay with multiple payment methods in a single transaction.

The improved POS payment processing user experience will contribute to efficiencies in the checkout process and more satisfied customers. It will also reduce the training time and effort for store associates, as they can easily learn and master the payment workflows.

Enabling retailers to effectively monitor and track inventory of Batch-controlled products via Store Commerce app

Batch-controlled products are products that are manufactured in batches and associated with unique identifiers for quality control and traceability. Batch-controlled products are commonly used in food, chemical, and electronics industries, where the quality and safety of the products are critical.

In the 2024 release wave 1, Dynamics 365 Commerce enhances the Store Commerce app to support batch-controlled products. This feature enables store associates to scan or enter the batch number of the products during the sales or return transactions and validate the batch information against the inventory records. This feature also enables store associates to view the batch details of the products, such as the expiration date, manufacture date, and lot number.

With these new features, Dynamics 365 Commerce aims to provide you with the best tools and solutions to grow your business and delight your customers. Whether you want to create engaging and relevant content for your e-commerce site, automate and integrate your order management workflows, expand your B2B commerce opportunities, or improve your payment processing and inventory management, Dynamics 365 Commerce has something new for you.

To learn more about Dynamics 365 Commerce:

Learn more about additional investments and timeline for these investments here in release plans.

Visit our website on commerce today.

The post Empowering Business innovation for modernizing Retailers and manufacturers with Copilot: Unleashing Dynamics 365 Commerce investments for 2024 Wave 1 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Learn how the upcoming 2024 release wave 1 will enable you to track and report your greenhouse gas emissions with ease and accuracy.

Sustainability is more than a buzzword. It’s a global imperative that demands urgent action from all sectors of society, including the business world. As regulations and expectations around environmental reporting evolve, organizations need reliable and efficient tools to measure and manage their impact on the planet.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that Dynamics 365 Business Central will soon offer new sustainability features that will help you comply with the latest standards and best practices, as well as drive positive changes for your business and the environment. Starting from the 2024 release wave 1, you’ll be able to track and report your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across three scopes defined by the ESG standard, using sustainability journals and built-in calculation methods. You’ll also be able to leverage the new Chart of Sustainability Accounts to organize and analyze your emission data with ease and transparency.

The new functionality is designed to oversee and regulate an organization’s environmental footprint by tracking various greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, facilitating proper insights. This functionality will be a multi-wave investment and at this first release we delivered basic framework as a foundation for future expanding. The first version focuses on GHG emissions, and related to that the solution is focused on three emission scopes defined by the ESG standard. This feature supports the basic process of collecting emission data via sustainability journals, allowing for manual entry of known data, or utilizing built-in methods for calculating emissions footprints.

Chart of Sustainability Accounts

The Chart of Sustainability Accounts forms the foundational structured list used for recording all emissions data. It functions as a comprehensive framework that categorizes and organizes these accounts based on their attributes, such as scope or other groupings. Each account is typically assigned a unique code or number for easy reference and tracking, following the same structure as a traditional Chart of Accounts but customized specifically for monitoring sustainability-related data and metrics within an organization.

This chart typically encompasses categories such as energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation, and other pertinent sustainability metrics. Users have the flexibility to add Account Categories and Subcategories to define how the system behaves, selecting dedicated emissions for tracking, emission factors, formulas, and similar configurations.

In essence, the Chart of Sustainability Accounts serves as the backbone of the Sustainability feature, facilitating effective tracking, measurement, and management of sustainability-related data and metrics within the organization.

Chart of Sustainability Accounts

Sustainability Journals

Sustainability Journals are designed to track and record sustainability-related activities, and metrics within an organization, using the same user experience as other journals in Business Central. Within the journal, users have the option to input emissions manually if they possess the necessary information. Alternatively, if they lack this data, they can utilize built-in formulas to accurately calculate emissions based on specific known parameters corresponding to various types of sources and accounts.

When posting with a Sustainability Journal, entries are generated on the Sustainability Ledger. Similar to other journal types, users have the flexibility to utilize various templates and batches with specific configurations. They can opt for standard journals or recurring journals to manage sustainability data efficiently.

Sustainability Journal

Sustainability Entries

The Sustainability Ledger organizes all emission data according to the Chart of Sustainability Accounts. When a user posts the Sustainability Journal, all crucial data is recorded within the Sustainability Entries. Posting to these entries can be regulated by specific rules configured in the Sustainability Setup, and users can use dimensions in a manner consistent with other entries throughout Business Central. All reports are generated based on Sustainability Entries. Presently, there are several existing reports available for analyzing and tracking emissions. However, in future releases, Business Central will introduce additional reports for printing or submission to relevant authorities.

Future Development

As mentioned in the introduction, Microsoft will continue to enhance this feature by adding more horizontal capabilities and improving its connection with other features in Business Central, without focusing on industry-specific aspects. The development of new features will depend on research of the key elements for such solutions, compliance with regulatory requirements, and useful feedback from partners. Also, it is expected that ISV partners will use this basic framework to create industry-specific sustainability solutions.

The post Sustainability in Dynamics 365 Business Central: A New Way to Measure and Manage Your Environmental Impact appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Last year, we released a revolutionary set of Copilot capabilities within Dynamics 365 Customer Service. With Copilot, agents can get quick answers, draft emails, and summarize cases and conversations using information that already exists in Dynamics 365, as well as your preferred data sources.  

Now there’s Copilot for Service, which lets you connect all your data sources without replacing your existing CRM. Just like Copilot in Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Copilot for Service enables agents to easily manage customer inquiries, track service requests, and provide personalized support. It integrates Microsoft 365 experiences with external systems, such as Salesforce, Zendesk, and ServiceNow. 

Why Copilot for Service is the right solution 

Today, it is possible to build your own copilots using Copilot Studio, formerly known as Power Virtual Agents. With Copilot Studio, you can create a bot that addresses a specific topic (for example, “get order status”) or you can use plugins to leverage copilots and bots you have already built. Plugins let you connect to external data sources, and you can use them across Copilots to ensure agents have a consistent experience anywhere they ask a service-related question. Agents don’t have to move between systems to find answers, which reduces the time to resolution. 

Customers can use Copilot Studio within Copilot for Service to customize and publish plugins for Copilot for Microsoft 365. For example, you can use Copilot Studio to add proprietary knowledge bases for the copilot’s real-time responses or set up authentication to ensure only authorized agents can use Copilot. Building and publishing standalone Copilot experiences for any internal or external channel requires a standalone Copilot Studio license. 

Copilot for Service removes the development overhead and will build specific copilot experiences tailored to your organization’s needs. Additionally, if you’re already using Copilot for Microsoft 365, it’s easy to extend it with role-based capabilities for agents through prebuilt connectors to other CRMs. 

Try Copilot for Service features 

This month, we’re releasing four new features in preview: 

• Draft an email response in Outlook: Agents can select from the predefined intents for the email to be drafted and provide their own custom intent. Copilot uses the context of the email conversation and case details to produce personalized and contextual emails. 
• Email summary in Outlook: Copilot provides an email summary capturing all the important information for agents to understand the context of the case they’re working on. Agents can save the generated summary to the connected CRM system. 
• Case summary in Outlook: Agents can access case summaries as they work on emails from customers. They can also save the case summary to the CRM system. 
• Meeting recap in Teams: Copilot provides a meeting summary and action items that integrate with the Teams recap, providing all the relevant follow-up items. Agents can also create CRM tasks right from the Teams recap section.

Get started with Copilot for Service 

First, create a copilot instance in your environment by navigating to https://servicecopilot.microsoft.com/ and following the prompts. You need to give it a name, a description, and a target system that you want to connect to. For example, you can create a copilot named Microsoft that can access information from Salesforce. The portal will then guide you through creating the connection and deploying the copilot. 

The second step is to test your copilot in the demo agent desktop that is automatically generated for you. You can ask your copilot questions related to the target system, such as “What products does Microsoft sell?” or “How do I create a case in Salesforce?” 

In summary, Microsoft Copilot for Service is a powerful tool that can help your agents provide better support to your customers. By leveraging the power of AI, it can provide quick and accurate answers to common questions, freeing up your agents to focus on more complex issues. To learn more, be sure to check out the partner workshop and try it out for yourself. 

Learn more

For pricing information, see Microsoft Copilot for Service—Contact Center AI | Microsoft AI  

Extend Copilot for Service with Copilot Studio: Extend your agent-facing copilot | Microsoft Learn 

Overview of Copilot for Microsoft 365: Copilot for Microsoft 365 – Microsoft Adoption 

If you are a Dynamics 365 Customer Service user, you can start using Copilot capabilities right away: Enable Copilot features in Customer Service | Microsoft Learn 

The post Use Microsoft Copilot for Service with your external CRM  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Introduction

The recent unveiling of the D365 Warehouse Mobile App’s latest release, version 2.1.23, represents a significant stride forward in warehouse management technology. This update brings forth a plethora of enhanced features geared towards elevating user experience and streamlining processes. Notably, version 2.1.23 places a strong emphasis on authentication, stability, and user-friendliness, catering to the complex demands encountered by businesses striving to optimize their warehouse management practices. Here’s a closer look at the key enhancements introduced in this release cycle:

Enhanced Authentication

One of the key highlights of this version is the implementation of several authentication improvements. By adding support for username/password authentication and single sign-on (SSO), the app now offers more flexibility and security options for users. This not only simplifies the login process but also ensures that access to sensitive warehouse data is securely managed.

Improved Stability

With increased stability, users can rely on the app to perform consistently even in demanding warehouse environments. This means fewer interruptions and smoother operations, ultimately leading to higher productivity and efficiency.

Automatic Sign-In

The introduction of default mobile device user assignment enables automatic sign-in for workers, streamlining the authentication process further. This feature reduces the time spent on logging in, allowing employees to focus more on their tasks at hand.

Enhanced Support for Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)

By improving support for AD FS, the app now offers better compatibility with Dynamics 365 Finance + Operations (on-premises) environments. This enables seamless authentication using device code flow, username/password, and SSO methods, ensuring compatibility with various IT infrastructures.

Usability Improvements

The update also brings several usability enhancements, including better support for scaling text and improved accessibility features. With text scaling, users can fit more information on the screen, enhancing readability and usability. Additionally, the app now supports the new “back” gesture in Android 13, providing a more intuitive navigation experience.

Business Benefits

Increased Efficiency

With smoother authentication processes and enhanced stability, employees can spend less time dealing with technical issues and more time on productive tasks. This leads to increased efficiency and throughput in warehouse operations.

Improved Security

The addition of authentication methods such as username/password and SSO enhances security, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive warehouse data. This helps mitigate the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access, safeguarding valuable business assets.

Enhanced User Experience

Usability improvements, such as text scaling and accessibility enhancements, contribute to a better overall user experience. Employees can navigate the app more easily and access information more quickly, leading to higher satisfaction and productivity.

Seamless Integration

With improved support for AD FS and Dynamics 365 Finance + Operations environments, the app seamlessly integrates with existing IT infrastructure. This ensures smooth deployment and compatibility, minimizing disruptions and facilitating adoption.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the release of D365 Warehouse Mobile App version 2.1.23 signifies a monumental leap forward in warehouse management technology. By prioritizing enhancements across authentication, stability, usability, and compatibility, this update revolutionizes the way businesses operate their warehouses. With streamlined authentication processes, bolstered stability, and intuitive usability features, users can expect a seamless experience that translates into heightened efficiency and productivity. Moreover, the fortified security measures instil confidence in data integrity, safeguarding valuable assets against potential threats. As businesses embrace these advancements, they pave the way for a future where warehouse operations are not only optimized but also poised for sustained growth and success.

Link to the new release notes What’s new or changed in the Warehouse Management mobile app – Supply Chain Management | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn

Learn more

Supply Chain at Microsoft

Take a tour – Supply Chain Management | Microsoft Dynamics 365

Learn more about the latest AI breakthroughs with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot:

Dynamics 365 AI webpage

The post Optimizing Warehouse Management: Unveiling the Power of D365 Warehouse Mobile App Version 2.1.23 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

In the ever-growing world of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, there is always a host of capabilities that could be enabled to support sellers, complemented by monthly releases packed with innovations. In our commitment to empowering admin teams, we’re streamlining the process of discovering and activating these capabilities. Introducing a new overview page, complete with advanced search functionalities and feature notifications, promises to simplify the journey of adopting new features, swiftly placing them at the fingertips of sellers. 

Navigating Dynamics 365 Sales admin settings 

In a world of tight budgets and high sales team expectations on how technology can drive value we want to make sure there is every opportunity to make the most of the asset you have purchased. Frequently, we encounter overlooked opportunities where features could significantly enhance the sales process, often due to administrators being unaware of their existence. The revamped overview page, featuring a robust search function, paves the way for administrators to get started faster. 

The new overview page experience 

Empowering administrators with efficient tools is crucial. With the new overview page experience, administrators can experience the following immediate benefits: 

• The integrated search function enables administrators to quickly locate specific settings, reducing navigation time and enhancing efficiency. 
• The intuitive search functionality eases the learning curve for new administrators, reducing training time and costs. 
• The overview page now includes notifications for new features and settings, ensuring administrators are always aware of the latest updates to fully leverage the platform’s evolving capabilities. 
• This update not only enhances functionality but also improves user satisfaction through a more user-friendly interface and easy access to information, contributing to a more pleasant and productive administrative experience.  

Enabling the new overview page in your custom app

This update can even be applied to custom apps as well as to Sales hub as standard. To enable this new overview page into your custom app, follow these steps: 

1. Sign in to Power Apps portal. 

2. On the left navigation pane, select Apps. 

3. Select the app and then select Edit. 

4. In the custom app edit page, from the Navigation section, hover over the group name for which you want to add the site map entry and then select New page. 

5. In the New page dialog box, select an option according to your requirement. Here, we are adding the site map entry using a URL. 

6. Select Next. 

7. Enter the following URL information and a suitable title: /main.aspx?pagetype=control&controlName=MscrmControls.FieldControls.CCFadminsettings 

8. Select Add. 

9. Save and publish the custom app. 

The site map entry is added to your custom app.

A leap in operational efficiency and productivity 

The introduction of the new overview page in Dynamics 365 Sales marks a significant step forward in administrative efficiency and platform utilization. This update will simplify navigation and make it easier to access various features. It’s a straightforward yet effective change that will improve the day-to-day management of the platform and contribute to smoother operations and more effective use of its capabilities.

Embracing the future of Dynamics 365 Sales administration 

As Dynamics 365 Sales continues to evolve, this update represents a commitment to continuous improvement and user-centric design. By simplifying navigation and enhancing feature discovery, Dynamics 365 Sales is set to become more accessible and powerful than ever before. For administrators, this means a future where managing the platform is less about tackling complexities and more about harnessing potential. 

Next steps

Learn more about the admin settings overview: Admin settings overview | Microsoft Learn 
Learn more about adding custom site maps: Add pages to your app’s site map | Microsoft Learn 

The post Dynamics 365 Sales: Enhanced overview for tracking features & settings  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

To thrive in today’s highly complex global business environment, organizations are increasingly relying upon the technological and strategic prowess of their financial leaders. We’re continually investing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 to enable finance leaders to monitor financial operations in real time, predict outcomes, and drive strategic decision-making that hinges on insight.

We are pleased to announce that Microsoft has been recognized as a Leader in three IDC MarketScape reports—IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Enterprise Finance and Accounting Applications 2023-2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #US51405823, December 2023); IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Midmarket Finance and Accounting Applications 2023-2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #US51405023, December 2023); and IDC MarketScape: Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Small Business Finance and Accounting Applications 2023-2024 Vendor Assessment (doc #US48041222, December 2023).

Read the IDC excerpt

Dive deeper into the IDC MarketScape for Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Enterprise Finance and Accounting Applications excerpt.

Learn more

According to the IDC MarketScape for Enterprise Finance and Accounting Applications, “Consider Microsoft when you are searching for a well-established provider with the resources to innovate quickly and effectively.”

Boost productivity with Copilot for Dynamics 365

As the pace of business accelerates, the role of finance leaders has shifted. They are called to navigate a range of new challenges and responsibilities: reporting on the past, managing the present, and creating the future.

Today, financial leaders are responsible for much more than finance, as they are increasingly accountable for the strategic direction of the company. The scale and pace of decision-making has increased compared to the previous generation, which was called on to help make quarterly decisions. Now, finance leaders make critical financial decisions weekly—and in some cases, daily.

According to the IDC MarketScape for Enterprise Finance and Accounting Applications, “We will see the demand for more analytics, reporting, and data visualization tools. This trend will continue to accelerate and shape buying decisions for financial leaders.”

Our answer to this is to provide simple solutions—focusing on collaboration, productivity, AI, and insights—to help finance leaders make data-driven decisions and drive business agility and growth. According to the IDC MarketScape for Enterprise Finance and Accounting Applications, “Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot brings together Azure OpenAI and ChatGPT. Copilot is embedded in Dynamics 365, working alongside business professionals to help them create ideas and content faster, complete time-consuming tasks, and get insights and next best actions. This enables users of all technical abilities to use AI to boost their productivity and focus on more important tasks.” A great example of this is HB Antwerp, a Belgian company redefining how natural diamonds are sourced, crafted, and sold.

In 2024, the company plans to up the value of diamonds tracked to USD 1 billion. In terms of continuing to use AI like Copilot, it said that 60% of emails are written with AI, suggesting the importance of AI to the future of the company. This enables users of all technical abilities to use AI to boost their productivity and focus on more important tasks.

“There’s an unprecedented level of maturity, collaboration, and relationship to new products like Copilot, which are crucial to growth.”

Shai de-Toledo: Co-founder & Managing Partner, HB Antwerp

Optimize your operational workflow within Microsoft Power Automate

The IDC MarketScape for Enterprise Finance and Accounting Applications also noted, that, “These process mining capabilities simplify how work gets done by discovering workflow bottlenecks and further automation opportunities.” This is something that Microsoft customer, HB Antwerp, experienced firsthand. This Belgian diamond company set out to challenge the age-old opacity of the industry. 

HB Antwerp turned to Microsoft and its Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Operations, and Microsoft Power Apps, using ledger technologies to record immutable data points across the diamond’s journey, ensuring sustainability and visibility every step of the way. Now HB Antwerp can predict its profit more accurately, reduce errors, increase communication, and ensure maximum value for everyone involved. Miners and governments reap the financial benefits and consumers can see how their diamond purchases contribute to transforming Botswana’s economy and the lives of its citizens.

HB Antwerp has embraced the move from being just a diamond company to a data company.

“It’s about how do you mine data and create scalability on it that attracts different humans, companies, and institutions who want to be a part of the story, and that’s how we aim to grow.”

Shai de-Toledo: Co-founder & Managing Partner, HB Antwerp

From mining stones to mining data, Dynamics 365 embeds automation into the flow of work throughout, enabling business process optimization for business decision makers.

Learn more through the IDC excerpt

Curious to dive deeper? Read the IDC MarketScape for Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Enterprise Finance and Accounting Applications excerpt.

Learn more about:

• Dynamics 365 Finance
• Dynamics 365 Project Operations
• Dynamics 365 Human Resources

Contact your Microsoft representative to learn more about the value and return on investments, as well as the latest offers—including Dynamics 365 Finance Premium.

Notes:

* The IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market, and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a three to five-year time frame. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the icons.

The post Microsoft named as a worldwide Leader in IDC MarketScape for Finance and Accounting Applications for Enterprise, Midmarket, and Small Business appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.