Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a powerful business management solution that helps small and medium-sized businesses streamline their operations.

In the 2023 release wave 2, Microsoft introduces several exciting new features and improvements to make this versatile tool even more efficient and user-friendly. Here are my top 5 favourites from the release.

1. Generate a customer statement only with open entries

This will finally resolve one of our biggest headaches. Customers often ask for customer statements that only show outstanding entries. Our answer was always that a customisation was needed, because Business Central (BC) couldn’t support it. This new option will resolve the issue and will save us time and money.

In the statement filter, we will now find a style field with two options:

  • Balance:
    • Get an overview of outstanding amounts.
  • Open Items:
    • Only show open entries within the selected date range.
    • Show a balance for open entries before the start date.
    • Ignore any entries with a posting date that’s after the end date.

2. Easier navigation between order, receipt, and invoice documents

This feature will allow us to easily explain to customers how to navigate from sales/purchase orders to shipments and invoices and vice versa. We will now be able to drill down from a sales/purchase order to the shipments or the invoices from the quantity received and quantity invoiced:

Additionally, the Order No. field on posted sales and purchase invoices and the Pre-Assigned No. field on posted sales and purchase credit memos will be populated if all lines are from the same order. Previously, this always needed some code when customers requested it, mainly when using the 3 ways purchase invoicing.

3. Complete bank account reconciliation faster with Copilot

This is the first taste of what Copilot can do in Business Central and is a great improvement to the bank reconciliation process. Improvements include:

  • AI-powered transaction matching that further improves automation and reduces the remaining unmatched transactions that require human oversight.
  • AI-generated explanations for how remaining transactions could be matched, making it easier for bookkeepers to complete the account reconciliation task by simply reviewing and approving matches.

4. Analyse, group, and pivot data on list pages using multiple tabs

No need to export to Excel from a list page to make calculations or running reports! This new feature provides us with a more efficient and organised way to manipulate and interpret data within BC. By allowing multiple tabs for data analysis, we can view data from different perspectives and gain deeper insights, improving our overall experience and productivity within the system.

When a page is in analysis mode, it’s split into two areas:

  • The main data area (including a tabs pane)
  • The field modifier area.

We will then be able to modify the way the data is displayed in a similar manner to a pivot table (pivot mode) in Excel, grouping field types and summing values.

5. Distinguish between browser tabs when multitasking

This might not seem a major feature, but it will be great for improving productivity. I often find myself with multiple browser tabs and windows open at the same time, jumping from one to another and then getting confused about which page I should look at. This update will help to distinguish one open window from the next, making it easier to switch context. Some name examples will be “Items”, “Item Card – 1896 ∙ ATHENS Desk” and “Sales and Inventory Forecast Setup”.

The 2023 Release Wave 2 update for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central brings a host of exciting new features and improvements. Microsoft’s website shares the full list of new tools and additional information. Whether you’re looking for a more user-friendly interface, enhanced reporting, or improved security, this update aims to make our business management tasks more efficient and accessible. This list might not be everyone’s top new features, but from my experience as a Functional Consultant, they resolve important issues and improve the way I do my day job!

Find out more about Dynamics 365 Marketing here, or check out this Microsoft 2023 release wave 2 for Dynamics Customer Service.