New Business Central features you should know about: 2023 Release Wave 2

 It’s time for Microsoft’s twice-annual updates to Power Platform and Dynamics 365 suite of applications. With each of these updates, new features, improvements, and fixes are rolled out to Power Automate, Dynamics 365 Sales, Marketing, Business Central, and more. Check out the release notes →

Business Central is at the forefront of Microsoft’s ERP development and will be on the receiving end of several great features and improvements. There’s a lot of material to cover, so we’ve broken down a few of the features that we’re most excited to see rolled out in Business Central:

For System Admins:

For companies that might have gotten overzealous with installing lots of extensions that you don’t need anymore, getting rid of those extensions was likely a tedious process. Now, it’ll be easier to delete the data from uninstalled applications once and for all—without having to reinstall the app to delete the data left behind (or even more tedious, open up a Microsoft support request to get this taken care of). The Extension Management page will now let you quickly access and manage the extensions you have installed on your tenant, and from there, you can now opt to delete orphaned extension data.

It’ll also be easier for admins to manage system permissions, with a reduced number of permissions that need to be turned on and off for other users. Effective Permissions will allow admins to gain deeper insight into the permissions granted across system users to quickly manage, allow, or revoke permissions as needed.

Effective Permissions. Courtesy of Microsoft.

Developer Tools:

Visual Studio Code will be used for all development and will continually be improved to enhance the coding experience. Visual Studio Code can be used to pull up a sandbox or production environment to troubleshoot any errors that may pop up in the code at any time, making it easier to find code-related issues on the fly.

Offering a secure system is a high priority for Microsoft, so you can expect continuous improvement as far as strengthened protections go—for those working within system code, SecretText is a new addition that will protect system credentials and other sensitive information and confidential data when accessing code. This is an especially crucial aspect when you’ve integrated Business Central with external apps.

Use Visual Studio Code. Courtesy of Microsoft.

Integrating other apps:

As part of the Microsoft business application suite, a big draw to Business Central is its innate usability with other Microsoft apps. A huge way to extend your investment is by using Power Platform to do a lot of heavy lifting in automating your processes. With this Release Wave, Power Automate flows can now be triggered by and react to business activities within Business Central. Things like released sales orders, posted sales shipments, and purchase payments can trigger flows. Another new aspect of Power Automate’s relationship with Business Central will allow flows to be triggered for any company within a single environment.

Using APIs, a single flow can support multiple companies, allowing you to quickly replicate a process across several different areas of business, while still cutting back on the manual work to get these setup and running. Power Platform Apps, Flows, and Pages can now interact with BC via a Dataverse connection, meaning Dataverse tables are connected to BC tables without needing to duplicate data into Dataverse—they’ll now work with native Business Central tables.

Nice to have for all users:

A major investment area is improving the end-user experience. Usability is a cornerstone in the value that Business Central provides, and you can expect the following updates to make the system easier and better to work with:

With every update, Business Central runs smoother and faster, so you have fewer interruptions in your work day.

Constantly working with lots of tabs? Browser tabs will now display the page name and company, making it easier to determine which tabs you may need to quickly access—especially helpful when using the Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut to quickly jump across open windows.

Quickly navigate through tabs. Courtesy of Microsoft.

Users will notice more improvements to the mobile app experience, and can open worksheet pages using a mobile device, making your on-the-go access to BC more expansive than before. Data can be accessed and edited more readily, allowing you to get more taken care of, no matter how you’re accessing Business Central.

Editing in Excel is a user-favorite feature that allows you to quickly make bulk edits to speed things up. Now, you’ll have the ability to Edit in Excel when working in Journals and Worksheets (including manufacturing-related needs like planning, pick, and warehouse worksheets!). With more places to open and edit data in Excel, you’ll be able to get your data entries taken care of faster.

Have a few features that caught your eye? Wondering if something will fit into your existing processes, or how it can improve your day-to-day routines? Microsoft’s Release Wave planner tool can help you test out and prep for new features that you might want to add. Use the Release Planner to view the updates →

Have questions about Business Central?