10 Exciting Features in the 2024 Wave 2 Release for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations
Like many other tools in its stack, Microsoft is placing a heavy emphasis on AI and automation with Copilot in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations
Automating routine tasks reduces costs and delivers valuable insights that can empower your finance professionals to focus on making faster, data-driven decisions while navigating complex regulations.
There are many effective enhancements in the 2024 Wave 2 Release for Finance and Operations. Here are 10 we’ve singled out as ones to get excited about:
Navigate and Search Using Copilot
You can now use AI to search for and locate specific pages and data you need when using the application. Instead of searching through your database, you can simply query Copilot and it will point you to the pages and records you need.
Correct Matching Errors with Copilot
Image Source: Microsoft Learn
During the vendor invoice automation process in Dynamics 365 Finance, exceptions may arise that require action from the AP clerk. Copilot, integrated into the pending vendor invoice list and vendor invoice center, simplifies error resolution by eliminating the need for time-consuming navigation between pages. AP clerks can now select a vendor invoice with an error, analyze it, and correct it all in one location.
Receipt matching errors, often caused by unlogged receipts or goods in transit, can be addressed easily. Future releases will expand Copilot's capabilities to help with prepayment and workflow submission errors.
Offline Support for Virtual Tables
Many enterprise mobile applications need to work in environments with inconsistent internet access, requiring offline functionality to prevent disruptions. For mobile Power Apps using Dataverse virtual tables within Dynamics 365 finance and operations apps, offline mode is now supported, allowing users to continue working without an internet connection.
Once back online, any data changes are synced with the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations system, ensuring seamless data management.
Support for Asynchronous Dual Write
This feature introduces asynchronous processing for dual-write functionality. Supporting asynchronous bulk create and update operations, it helps avoid issues like session timeouts and delays caused by synchronous processes. This enhancement ensures smoother, more efficient business processes when working with large data sets.
Record to Report Data Model
Image source: Microsoft Learn
The Record to Report data model in Business Performance Analytics provides businesses with granular financial data, enabling users to generate custom reports and perform dimension-based analysis with ease. By improving the accuracy and timeliness of financial statements and supporting key processes such as:
- General Ledger
- Budgeting
- Financial Dimensions
This model plays a critical role in strategic decision-making, optimizing financial operations, and enhancing period-end reporting. Ultimately, these capabilities contribute to sustainable business growth and a competitive advantage. The enhanced transparency and accountability foster stakeholder confidence while empowering businesses to quickly identify financial anomalies and trends. By streamlining key financial processes, businesses can optimize operations, reduce costs, and drive profitability, strengthening their position in the market.
Analyze Data in Excel
Image Source: Microsoft Learn
The Analyze in Excel feature within Business Performance Analytics enhances data analysis by integrating real-time BPA data directly with Excel, allowing users to utilize Excel's robust tools for creating custom analyses, pivot tables, and charts. This seamless integration leverages Excel's familiar functions, making it easier for users to explore data in-depth and perform detailed analyses. By supporting automatic data refreshes, it ensures that all analyses are current, aiding in real-time decision-making.
This feature significantly boosts user productivity and simplifies the data analysis process by:
- Combining Business Performance Analytics' powerful data capabilities with Excel's flexible analytical tools.
- Reducing the learning curve for Excel users, and fosters a data-driven culture within organizations.
With BPA data available in Excel, users can generate tailored reports, gain deeper insights, and make informed decisions, driving operational excellence and business growth.
Automate Actions with Copilot
Makers in finance and operations apps can now extend and customize Copilot experiences by adding new capabilities through AI plugins. This includes both the in-app Copilot for Finance and Operations, which offers a natural language chat interface and other Microsoft Copilot experiences like Microsoft 365 or custom copilots. These plugins leverage business logic within the apps to respond to prompts or perform actions, without requiring a specific application context or user interface.
This feature enables AI plugins that enhance Copilot's functionality by using finance and operations methods to provide answers or execute tasks directly from the business logic. These "headless" actions are available across various Copilot environments, such as Dynamics 365 or custom copilots, expanding Copilot's use cases and customization options for businesses. With this, organizations can tailor Copilot to meet specific needs, improving efficiency and decision-making across their Copilot ecosystem.
Create Dimensions with Cubes in Copilot
Implementing planning software can take anywhere from days to months, as organizations and consultants sift through old tools or multiple Excel spreadsheets to define their models and implementation strategies. By leveraging existing Excel spreadsheets and integrating Copilot, users benefit from a guided and intuitive experience that provides configuration suggestions for dimensions and cubes, streamlining the entire planning process.
Organizations can now significantly reduce implementation time by pointing to their existing planning spreadsheets. With Copilot's dimension and cube creation feature, the system automatically analyzes the spreadsheets to recommend dimensions, values, cubes, and formulas, simplifying the configuration and ensuring a more efficient planning experience.
Extend Data Models with Fabric
The "Extend to Fabric" feature in Business Performance Analytics (BPA) increases flexibility by integrating BPA data with proprietary datasets. This integration breaks down data silos, enabling customized analytical experiences for specific business needs and supporting better strategic planning.
This feature allows seamless merging of BPA data with additional sources, creating bespoke reports and dashboards tailored to unique business metrics and KPIs. It enables more accurate insights and supports business scalability by incorporating new data sources as needs evolve, fostering innovation and sustainable growth.
Enhancements to Order to Cash Data Model
Image Source: Microsoft Learn
The Order to Cash data model in Business Performance Analytics offers complete financial visibility by optimizing:
- Sales reporting
- Invoicing
- Payment processing
- Accounts receivable
This helps you enhance revenue management and reduce operational costs. With granular data and dimension-based analysis, businesses can create custom reports to gain deeper insights into sales performance and customer behavior. This model streamlines the order-to-cash process, improving operational efficiency, cash flow management, and customer relationships while supporting accurate tax and charge allocation. Ultimately, it drives better financial performance and long-term business growth.
Want to Learn More About the 2024 Wave 2 Release for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations?
Get in touch with the experts at Stoneridge! We can help you set up and use these solutions to improve your business processes to save your team time and cut costs in your organization.
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