Microsoft is continuously enhancing its user experience- and with that, has released a plethora of business application updates that provide its client base with new features and capabilities, enabling a significant revolution of a business.

These enhancements and features are part of the Microsoft Dynamics GP Release 2, available starting October 2018.

Because there are 250+ pages of release notes, we’re summing up the Top 8 major changes and key themes to expect in the new October ‘18 R2.

1) General Enhancements

Users can expect hundreds of enhancements to existing features, will provide new capabilities across Business Central, Finance and Operations, Hub, Portals, Sales and Marketing, Customer Service, Project Service and more There will also be new reality experiences using Microsoft Layout and Microsoft Remote Assist.

2) Intelligent Edge and Cloud

This may be one of the major changes for Microsoft- as they announced that they are the First Microsoft ERP to include Intelligent Edge.

Intelligent Edge allows companies with on-premise ERP systems to start using cloud technology, PowerBI, Microsoft Flow, PowerApps, and machine learning – all while maintaining their software on-premise.

“The Intelligent Edge connects Dynamics GP on-premise to a cloud instance of Business Central. System data is replicated in the Intelligent Cloud and pushed back into Dynamics GP where users can access a dashboard with business insights, reports, and actionable data from the application within the cloud.”

3) Data Integration

There’s a variety of different integration updates available, including:

Microsoft Teams Integration: Dynamics 365 records can now be pinned to an associate Team and will be accessible to all members within that team UI, regardless if they are a Dynamics user. This integration will help optimize sales because it gives sellers access to Dynamics 365 for Sales within Teams for both enhanced collaboration and self-service.

Web Portal Integration: Document libraries can now be shared with users within the Portal UI, with controls to manage uploads and other permissions.

Other integration capabilities allow for intelligent experiences, providing built-in connectivity to the Power platform. The new release will also offer a deeper integration with other Microsoft products, like Outlook, Bing, Sharepoint, Azure, and LinkedIn- where you can embed LinkedIn insights within process flows.

4) Unique AI applications

You wouldn’t think that artificial intelligence makes humans more proactive, but in the case of this October R2, the abilities of AI are impressive.

Microsoft offers a new class of AI applications, including Dynamics 365 AI for Sales, where artificial intelligence is used to guide the decision-making process and enable teams to make proactive business actions.

For Sales, AI is helping salespeople focus on deals that matter most, provide answers to the most common questions regarding sales performance,  offer a detailed analysis of the sales pipeline, and surface insights that enable smarter coaching of sales teams. (Cloudblogs.microsoft.com)

5) Consolidated Interface

With a unified interface, performance and usability improvements will allow users to close the gaps of their legacy interface. This is important because administrators will now be able to add controls to the UI for merge and share records, advanced find, bulk edits, and on-demand workflows.

The good thing about the new release is that administrators will have the choice to enable the new unified interface or they can still use the classic web UI.

6) Flexible Resource Scheduling

If you’re using the Field and Project Service apps, the new release will offer more flexibility when it comes to work orders assigned to resource groups. You’ll be able to group people together for a specific time prerioud, split the schedule board, mix and match pools/crews, and much more.

7) Finance and Operations

Businesses and Dynamics users will now have real-time visibility (across multiple departments) to all global financials. There are also enhancements on enterprise credit management, recognizing revenue, and dual accounting currency.

8) Power Platform Updates

Flow, PowerApps, and CDS will be unified in the same interface to help administrators more easily trade app activity and usage in the new release.

Massey Consulting proudly offers ERP solutions, such as Dynamics 365, Dynamics GP, and Sage Intacct to its customer base. This October Release is a major enhancement to Microsoft features and is expected to provide Microsoft clients with transformative business capabilities.

If you have any questions about these updates or are looking into a new ERP, contact us!