April 2021 has arrived and we are looking forward to the next wave of features Microsoft will be releasing for Dynamics 365 Business Central. This is the place to top up on the planned releases Microsoft will be delivering - click through on any of the features to read more about what they'll do!
This blog lists features that are planned to release from April 2021 through September 2021. Because there are features listed that may not have been released yet, certain items may not be released as scheduled due to unforeseen circumstances on Microsoft's behalf.
- For our blog on the releases we enjoyed in October 2020, see the 2020 release wave 2 release plan.
Some highlights from this wave include:
Report extensibility: a mic drop moment!
Dimension corrections (for G/L Entries): unlike any other business management software you'll now easily be able to correct mistakes/change dimensions.
Look up BC contacts from within Teams: a lot of people love Teams. Now, unlike any other business management software, you'll be able to look contacts up directly.
Enablement of Word merge in BC: finally!
Support Cloud printing using Microsoft Universal Print: unlike any other Cloud printing software you now get licenses together with your Microsoft 365 Business subscription and other Microsoft subscriptions.
Enable Power BI connector to work with BC APIs, instead of with web services only: SO MUCH faster!
Virtual tables for Microsoft Dataverse: unlock a whole world of building apps using BC virtual entities.
In the 'General availability' column, the feature will be delivered within the month listed. The delivery date can be any day within that month. Released features show the full date, including the day of release.
Description of Enabled for column values:
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Users, automatically: These features include changes to the user experience and are enabled automatically.
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Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically: These features are meant to be used by administrators, makers, marketers, or business analysts and are enabled automatically.
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Users by admins, makers, or analysts: These features must be enabled or configured by the administrators, makers, or business analysts to be available for their users.
Administration
Business Central 2021 release wave 1 delivers a set of features designed to simplify and improve the way partners administer tenants, and the way administrators manage licensing and permissions.
| Feature | Enabled for | Public preview | General availability |
| Improve the reliability of the database export operation for larger databases with more companies | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Improvements for the Delegated Administrators | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Reassign an environment from one Azure Active Directory organization to another (through Microsoft Support) | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
Application
With Business Central 2021 release wave 1, Microsoft will deliver features for some of the most requested areas for improvement, such as banking, payments, and continued improvements to performance.
| Feature | Enabled for | Public preview | General availability |
| Assisted setup helps move the task of adjusting item costs to the background | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Automatic creation of lot and serial number information cards | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Bank reconciliation improvements | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Changes in synchronization between contact and customer | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Define lot sizes for various stages of production | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Dimension corrections (for G/L entries) | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| More control over settings for default dimensions | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Payment reconciliation journal improvements | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Simplified bank statement file import | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
Better with Microsoft 365
In Business Central 2021 release wave 1, collaborative business processes in Microsoft Teams are more efficient, Microsoft add support for Universal Print, and harden the Excel and Outlook add-ins.
| Feature | Enabled for | Public preview | General availability |
| Look up Business Central contacts from within Microsoft Teams | Users, automatically | Feb 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Enablement of Word merge in Business Central | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Support cloud printing using Microsoft Universal Print | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
Country and Regional
The 2021 release wave 1 brings Dynamics 365 Business Central to more countries with release in India, Greece, Romania, and Turkey.
| Feature | Enabled for | Public preview | General availability |
| Country and regional expansion – Greece | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Country and regional expansion – India | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Country and regional expansion – Romania | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Country and regional expansion – Turkey | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
Microsoft Power Platform
With Business Central 2021 release wave 1, Microsoft improve integration with Microsoft Dataverse and Microsoft Power Platform.
| Feature | Enabled for | Public preview | General availability |
| Virtual tables for Microsoft Dataverse | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
Apr 2021 | - |
| Synchronize item availability from Business Central to Dynamics 365 Sales | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Enable Power BI connector to work with Business Central APIs, instead of with web services only | Users, automatically | Apr 2021 | May 2021 |
Modern Clients
Business Central 2021 release wave 1 brings improvements to performance, usability, and printing.
| Feature | Enabled for | Public preview | General availability |
| Report API allows passing the layout needed for report execution | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
- | Apr 2021 |
| Reports run in the background | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
- | Apr 2021 |
| Client performance improvements | Users, automatically | Feb 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Usability enhancements for the Business Central web client | Users, automatically | Feb 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Enable cloud printing on mobile app (phone and tablet) and from Microsoft Teams app | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Users can change the assigned printer before printing a report | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
Modern Development Tools
As Microsoft have moved entirely to Visual Studio Code, they continue to invest in areas that enhance productivity for developers.
| Feature | Enabled for | Public preview | General availability |
| Partners can add keys (indexes) to base tables and table extension tables | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
- | Apr 2021 |
| Extension validation on upgrade | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
Feb 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Interface – obsolete support | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
Feb 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Report extensibility | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
Feb 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Return record link instead of name when using lookups | Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically |
Feb 2021 | Apr 2021 |
Onboarding
With the 2021 release wave 1, customers can get to productive usage faster.
| Feature | Enabled for | Public preview | General availability |
| Getting started checklists for guided and faster initial setup | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Improve the experience of getting started with Power BI | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| Improved company setup experience | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
| In-app contextual help improvements | Users, automatically | Mar 2021 | Apr 2021 |
For future release plans and Business Central-related information, make sure to watch this space and feel free to contact us here with any questions you may have.
Interested in learning more about the journey of Dynamics 365 Business Central, including what came before it and the latest updates? Get caught up by reading our Timeline.
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