Home » October Release for Business Central

October Release for Business Central

by Samantha Summers
8 minutes read

The October release has featured several updates and we want to make sure we cover them all for our clients and followers. With this release Dynamics NAV transitions to Dynamics 365 Business Central, which will be as seamless as any other Dynamics NAV upgrade because they share the same code base. Business Central will have web-based modern efficiency features and user experience to the on-premises and hybrid customers upgrading. All users connecting to the on-premises, hybrid or cloud deployments will benefit from the same updated features. This update will ensure users an easier transition for all on top of the new abilities of cloud and AI-powered insights and data analytics.

The Dynamics 365 Business Central universal app can connect to cloud, on-premises and hybrid deployments of Business Central will be available on:

  • Windows 10 (desktop, tablet, and phone)
  • Android (tablet and phone
  • iOS (tablet and phone)

New Desktop Experience

Business Central will be adding to the features already available for lists, such as showing more columns and personalizing the freeze pane. It now allows you to become more productive with features such as advanced filtering, limit totals, row-based copy and paste and improved keyboard navigation and shortcuts. Grids will now be more responsive and be able to measure more business data resulting in a significant increase in day-to-day productivity for users.

The new updates will improve search for pages and reports, help documentation and actions that assist in productivity along with being able to gain access from anywhere. This accessibility is essential for users to achieve more on a daily basis. Microsoft partners will value the ease of the refreshed desktop because it can now be marketed to new customers. A fresher and more modern experience will make Dynamics 365 Business Central more adaptable for your organization and simplify the learning process.

Now, a more streamlined navigation with the back button displayed in the top left corner, with special dynamic system commands occupying the middle section, will assist users in staying focused on the task at hand.

Several elements related to lists, look up windows and grids have been revived to align with the goal of Business Central to be more modern for cloud and on-premise users.

The new command bar allows users to be more productive with a larger screen devoted to their business data, reducing space for menus ribbons that were previously used. The new features of the user interface are flexible and dynamic, only showing features and options users need while consuming less space on the screen.

Enhanced Power BI embed experience

The current Power Bi embed experience includes an automatic distribution of Power BI reports, default report selection and the ability to manage their Power BI reports without requiring them to leave Business Central. End-users can modify the embedded Power BI as part of their Business Central home page after the first-time sign in.

Permission Sets are Editable

Customers will now be able to make permission sets editable, so they can now add, delete and modify them accordingly. End users can customize the permission settings and give them structure that render to the specific needs of their business. With the new permission sets, users can easily add new and copy an existing permission set, where you can also be notified if the original set changes. Also, you can now import files such as documents provided by a partner or copied from another company or use RapidStart to edit the permission sets.

Intelligent Edge for Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL

With the October release, Business Central will bring an intelligent edge to multiple Dynamics SMB products. With this feature, you can effortlessly and securely replicate your on-premise data to the intelligent cloud with a connection. The intelligent cloud influences solutions with Power BI, PowerApps, Flow and Ai to provide actionable messages allowing businesses to run more effectively.

The initial release will target Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL, with legacy Dynamics NAV following shortly thereafter. Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL will continue to obtain improvements and updates, but when fully cloud-enabled all data will be available in Business Central through migration tools.

Tenant Administration for VARs

Dynamics 365 Business Central VAR’s manage the lifecycle of their customers through administration pages. This portal assists in engagement with the customers, managing health, troubleshooting, notifications and sandboxes of the customer occupants. The administration center provides a centralized view of the customer’s solution and its lifecycle, where VAR can manage customer upgrades and troubleshoot customer issues. The VAR can view errors for the customer, along with enhancements in creating a sandbox of the customer’s environment to troubleshoot any issues experienced. The sandbox will be another good place for the VAR and the customer to test new modifications or ISV add-ons.

Improved Visual Studio Code AL experience

Business Central’s October release will add productivity enhancements to the development experience and support for further extension scenarios. With these enhancements developers can be more productive when developing and troubleshooting solutions, with more options to meet customer’s customization needs.

This release will add the ability to create a cloud sandbox based on a copy of the latest cloud backup of the production data. To eliminate extension cross-talk with integrations set up in the production data, the integrations will be deactivated when the sandbox is created. Admin users can enable or reconfigure these integrations as required, with caution, to support the intended cloud sandbox use.

Event discoverability – A major aspect of creating extensions is subscribing to events, but a familiar challenge is understanding which events are obtainable in a given user flow. To support in the discovery of events and extension points, there is a new event tracer in the client. The user flow can now be recorded to list events that are raised and developed and can have subscriber code generated for easy copy into AL code.

Visual Studio Code AL Extension enhancements – With versioning check and backward compatibility, users will now be able to install the AL language extension from the Visual Studio Code marketplace and use it to advance solutions for several platforms, including cloud sandboxes.  The AL extension will be faster and more receptive when working with larger projects containing many files/extensions.

Debugger Enhancements – Debugger enhancements will allow you to use the common Break on Error and Break on Write, while also going to definition in the base application code and set breakpoints.

IntelliSense Enhancements – IntelliSense enhancements will have a link that redirects you to the related online documentation. The AL language constructed will be auto-generated and used for both online reference documentation and IntelliSense, ensuring users up-to-date information.

Working with Permissions – It will now be possible to export permission sets from the application, using the client and importing them into the Visual Studio Code AL Extension. New permission files for the objects can be created from within the Visual Studio Code AL project.

.NET Interop – While working within Business Central, users will be able to add .NET Interop in AL code when accessing solutions that target on-premise deployments.

Translation Enhancements – Translation enhancements will provide new contextual information that describes which object and element a given string applies to and has been added to the generated XLIFF translation files. This will assist translators in a better overview of where a string is displayed in the UI, therefore improving the translation.

OData-bound actions in AL – It is now possible to declare OData bound actions in AL.

Marketing Business Central available in new markets

Business Central has combined localization strategy inclusive of both Microsoft-led and partner-led models. In addition, with this release Microsoft will deliver a localized version to the following markets:

  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Mexico

Contact us today to find out how we can better assist you with Business Central.

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