Month: March 2022

As ERP systems mature, organizations have a tough time deciding whether to continue supporting the legacy product or migrate their ERP to the latest version.

If you are using Microsoft Navision, you must be aware that the mainstream support for NAV 2016 will end in June 2022. The obvious next step is to move to the latest and improved Dynamics 365 Business Central. However, it does take time to test out a new ERP software and go through with the implementation. Users need a thorough assessment to decide if it is in the best interests of their organization to migrate to Business Central, and more importantly, when.

We at Intech Systems are committed to providing our customers with the best solutions according to their business requirements. We want to leverage our industry expertise to help our customers make informed decisions. In this article, we will answer some critical questions about the end of life support for Navision.

The product Navision 2016 and all services are covered under a fixed life cycle policy. A fixed life cycle policy is defined as a set support lifecycle period from the time the product is launched. There are several phases to the Fixed Lifecycle Policy-

Mainstream Support

During the mainstream support period, the product will continue to receive the latest features, security, and non-security upgrades. Once the mainstream support ends, you will be eligible for extended support. If your solution still meets your business needs, there is no need to transition. You can rely on extended support.

Extended Support:

Once the product moves past the mainstream support period, it will only receive security updates throughout the extended support cycle. Even with the extended support, there are several limitations, such as:

• Users cannot request warranty support, latest features, or design modifications
• No support offered for consumer software, hardware, or multimedia products
• If you still want to receive benefits for products and services, you need to register for a paid support program.

As discussed, NAV mainstream support will end in June 2022, and the extended support ends in April 2026. The level of risk increases substantially once you reach the end of support. Beyond the end of support, the product won’t receive updates of any kind. It is also challenging to find a partner willing to provide support once the product moves past its expiration date.

Microsoft recently rolled out a new and improved support policy. The modern life cycle policy has transformed how Microsoft handles situations like the end of life cycle support.

What is the Modern Life Cycle Policy?

D365 Business Central and other subsequent updates are covered by the Modern Lifecycle Policy. The Modern Lifecycle Policy provides support and servicing, including bug fixes, new features, and the latest tax upgrades.

The Modern Lifecycle Policy covers products and services serviced and supported continually. However, users must stay current as per the servicing and system provisions issued for the product or service. Users can stay current by taking one of the planned Dynamics BC releases during the year. Those releases typically happen in April and October.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has been making headlines since its launch in April 2019. It has set a successful track record and made a big splash with the limitless functionalities it offers. Many international companies are leveraging this change to drive their business towards growth.

With automatic biannual upgrades, pay-as-you-go scalability option, seamless integration, extensive compliance, and additional security features, transitioning to Business Central is undoubtedly a great choice.

Most users are convinced that migrating to Business Central is the obvious next step for their business with the breadth of extended functionalities that this software offers. However, they take a step back when they realize the nitty-gritty of migrating all their data to a new ERP system. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that hard with the right implementation partner.

We at Intech Systems are committed to providing our customers with the best solutions according to their business requirements. Our firm focuses on implementation, development, and support services for Microsoft Business Applications. Intech is amongst the top Microsoft Dynamics partners in India today and is trusted by 200+ customers globally for its digital transformation solutions. With offices in India and the United States, Intech has over four decades of experience in delivering top-notch technology solutions for Microsoft Dynamics 365, F&O, Business Central, CRM, Power BI, Power Apps, Microsoft Azure Cloud, AI, loT, and other custom-developed applications.

We are on a mission to help businesses like yours get ready to embrace and leverage these technological changes to position themselves better for the future. We are here to help you evaluate the best way forward for your business now that the NAV 2016 support has ended. Email us at sales@intech-systems.com to get started today. We are also offering a FREE Migration Assessment to some early birds. It is time to switch gears and get into action now.

Hurry!!! Limited slots open

Intech recently won the Gavriella Schuster IAMCP D&I Partner of the Year Award.

The International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) organizes this award ceremony every year to recognize how organizations within the Microsoft ecosystem are implementing diversity and inclusion practices in their workplace.

We were selected for the “Enterprise Award” from across the APAC region, and we are proud to announce that this is the third consecutive year that we have won this award.

We at Intech believe that promoting a diverse and inclusive work environment enhances creativity and encourages different perspectives, leading to better decision-making and driving breakthrough innovations.

From recognizing and encouraging contributions from everyone regardless of their gender to implementing the necessary practices to facilitate the same, we are taking solid steps to work on the gender divide. As a result of the same, the percentage of women leaders at Intech has been consistently increasing over the last two years. We have witnessed substantial year-on-year growth, with a more than 100 percent increase in the number of women and an 85 percent organizational growth in the FY 2021-22.

We understand what it takes to make a happy team – unlimited learning opportunities to grow, a dynamic and inclusive work environment, curious minds ready to help each other, and most importantly, respect, appreciation, and recognition for all regardless of their gender, caste, ethnicity, or religion.

Let’s look at some examples that illustrate what we are doing to promote diversity and inclusion in our workplace:

1. Saheli: We understand that starting a new job is never easy, and for women in tech, it comes with its own set of unique challenges. To tackle this issue, we announced our buddy program, “Saheli,” specially launched to help new female joiners feel more comfortable as they transition into their new role. With this program, women always have a saheli in their corner.
2. Supporting Returning Mothers: Several women find it difficult to land a good job after a prolonged gap in their professional careers post-childbirth. We want to empower returning mothers by offering them a fair opportunity to exhibit their capabilities and resume their careers with Intech. By introducing this policy, we want more mothers to confidently return to work without having to deal with the anxiety of going through never-ending job searches and interview cycles.
3. An Inclusive Work Environment: A good work ethic and a purpose-driven attitude are more important than the number of years on the resume, and we at Intech believe in providing fair opportunities to all, no matter their gender, age, or experience. We are excited to share that because of this practice, more than 70% of our award winners in the R&R ceremony for the current FY were women and freshers.
4. Diverse Knowledge Clubs: We have cross-functional knowledge clubs that encourage different teams with varied skillsets to synergize and bring in fresh perspectives. We believe that a well-balanced and diverse team is more productive, performs better, inspires creativity, and drives innovation.
5. Mentoring to Create Next-Gen Leaders: We offer leadership workshops and intensive training to all entry and associate-level employees to help them nurture their existing skills and learn new skill sets to boost their performance. We also have training sessions for mid to senior-level employees to guide them to be better mentors and work more efficiently with their teams.
6. Floating Holidays: As Intech continues to expand globally, more and more people from different religions, ethnicities, and cultures join us. To show our appreciation and respect for our diverse team here at Intech, we have introduced floating holidays to accommodate various regional and cultural holidays.
7. Flexible Work Model: We have introduced a flexible work model to attract and retain employees of all ages. Many mature workers want to continue working in some capacity but are unable to do so because of rigid work hours and other commitments. We adopt a flexible approach so our employees can choose to stay connected with us well past their retirement age and become lifelong contributors. We have employees with a tenure of 35+ years who continue to be associated with the organization. We believe in providing equitable opportunities to all freshers and tenured employees.

We are fostering a culture that embraces diversity instead of rejecting it. We encourage respectful communication and cooperation between all employees. Any employee found to have exhibited any inappropriate conduct or behavior against others may be subject to disciplinary action.

The first step towards building an inclusive environment is providing a conducive environment where everybody has a fair chance to weigh in and stand for what they believe. These opinions and contributions are not only heard but also valued and integrated into our practices here at Intech.

From maternity and paternity leave to hybrid work models, an open work environment, and work-life balance, we are implementing these policies and practices in our workplace to ensure that everyone has a pleasant experience working at Intech.

Whether you are looking to transform businesses with top-notch technology solutions, be a part of companies’ digital transformation journeys, or work with the best minds to do incredible new things every day, Intech is the place to be.

Interested to know more about the company and what we do? Click here to learn more about Intech.

We are hiring for various roles across multiple departments, and we are looking for talented individuals like you, keen to learn and grow within the organization.

With access to a diverse set of global clients, a team of smart professionals, and a plethora of training materials, you will be up for a new challenge every day.

Apply today!

 

Microsoft has published the latest plans for enhancing Dynamics 365 Business Central. The 2022 release wave 1 plan documents summarize both preview and production-ready updates that Microsoft will drop starting April 2022 through September 2022.

We have already talked about 2022 Release Wave 1 in our previous blog. We’ll now discuss how these new features enhance our existing software. Read below to learn about the top business benefits of these new features:

1. Payment Reconciliation Journal

It is necessary to keep an account of all day-to-day transactions for an accurate forecast of balances and cash flow. With the new release plans, Microsoft has announced the addition of new features in the Payment Reconciliation Journal to make it more effective and precise. With these features, the user can view fields for debits and credits on the footer of journals and preview before posting.

2. Shopify Connector

Dynamics 365 Business Central has partnered with Shopify to create an enhanced shopping experience for their customers. Shopify provides merchants with an easy-to-use e-commerce solution, and Dynamics 365 Business Central offers an extensive business management solution for finance, sales, service, and operations teams, all in a single application. A seamless connection between the two systems will synchronize order, stock, and customer information to ensure that merchants can take care of orders faster and serve their customers better.

3. Synchronize sales quotes and orders in both Business Central and Dynamics 365 Sales

With these new features, the system will update information simultaneously on both D365 Sales and D365 Business Central in real-time. Thus, minimizing errors and assisting in the timely delivery of shipments and smoother functioning of operations.

4. New UI for entering demand forecasts to add support for variant code and other improvements

Accurate demand forecasting gives businesses valuable insights into their position in the market, which helps decision-makers shape their strategies for pricing, business growth, and market potential. The ability to include the right level of detail on item variants in demand forecasts unlocks planning capabilities and brings down the lead time of raw materials or semi-finished good for companies that don’t have an inflow of sales orders.

5. Bank Reconciliation

Bank reconciliation is a critical accounting task for most businesses because it ensures that everything is registered and that the cash positions are correct. With these new features, the reporting for the posted bank reconciliations (bank account statements) has improved to allow for more efficient validation and auditing.

As mentioned earlier, the introduction of some features and release dates could be pushed back and there might be additional feature announcements, so keep in touch with us to stay updated on the release plans and never miss an important update. Contact us today to learn more.

We at Intech Systems are committed to providing our customers with the best solutions according to their business requirements. Our firm focuses on implementation, development, and support services for Microsoft Business Applications. Intech is amongst the top Microsoft Dynamics partners in India today and is trusted by 200+ customers globally for its digital transformation solutions. With offices in India and the United States, Intech has over four decades of experience in delivering top-notch technology solutions for Microsoft Dynamics 365, F&O, Business Central, CRM, Power BI, Power Apps, Microsoft Azure Cloud, AI, loT, and other custom-developed applications.

We are on a mission to help businesses like yours get ready to embrace and leverage these technological changes to position themselves better for the future. Whether you want to migrate from Navision to Business Central or from a non-Microsoft ERP system, we are here to provide you with the best possible solution.

Email us at sales@intech-systems.com to start your digital transformation journey today.

Click here to explore the latest features of Dynamics 365 Business Central 2022 Release Wave 1

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a robust, flexible, and scalable solution that connects your finance, sales, service, project, warehousing, and manufacturing teams to help you adapt faster and work smarter, which in turn helps your business to thrive.

Business Central has been making headlines since its launch in April 2021. It has already set a successful track record and made a big splash this year with the limitless functionalities it offers, and it continues to simplify user experiences by upgrading, developing, and introducing new features as suggested by users from across the world.

Microsoft has published its release plans for the next cloud update wave across Dynamics 365. The 2022 Release Wave 1 will span from April 2022 to September 2022, commencing with regional deployments from the 2nd of April 2022. Some features will also be available starting February for early access.

Release Plans

Release plans enable customers and partners to learn about the new capabilities that Microsoft would be rolling out across Dynamics 365 modules in the upcoming cycle (April and September 2022).

This tactical document is designed to capture the vision for each product and to track the timeline for the release of these new features. These timelines are subject to change and may be introduced earlier for a public preview.

Let’s Get Started

All the features listed in this blog are categorized into distinct fields by Microsoft. The glossary for the same is mentioned below:

1. Hybrid Work Models

• Users, automatically: These features include changes to the user experience and are enabled automatically.
• Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically: These features are meant to be used by administrators, makers, marketers, or business analysts and are enabled automatically.
• 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.

2. In the General availability column, the feature would be delivered within the month listed. The delivery date can be any day within that month. Released features show the full date, including the date of the release.

This checkmark (✔️)  indicates features that have been released for public preview and early access.

In this blog, we will cover the following topics:

• Application
• Better with Microsoft 365
• Development
• Governance and administration
• Microsoft Power Platform
• Modern clients
• Onboarding
• Reporting
• Service and platform

 

APPLICATION

In 2022 release wave 1, Microsoft has announced updates based on the most popular requests received from users all over the globe. It has focussed on investing in better reporting and several other improvements in the supply chain area.

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Blocking deletion of G/L accounts	Users, automatically	✔️  Jan 4, 2022	Apr-22
Allow the sell-to and bill-to customers to be different for jobs	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Bank reconciliation	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Change default company bank account on sales and service documents	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Check documents and journals in background	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Consolidate customer and vendor balances	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Fixed Quantity in product bills of materials	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Improved and extensible Adjust Exchange Rates batch job	Users by admins, makers, or analysts	Mar-22	Apr-22
Map to Dataverse option sets such as payment terms, freight terms, and shipping agents without code	Users by admins, makers, or analysts	Mar-22	Apr-22
More control over deferrals posting	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
New UI for entering demand forecasts to add support for variant code and other improvements	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Payment reconciliation journal	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Report selection for projects	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Set default dimensions on locations	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Shopify connector	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Standardizing the bank reconciliation process in North American versions	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Support inventory pick and warehouse pick operations for jobs	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Synchronize sales quotes and orders in both directions between Business Central and Dynamics 365 Sales	Users by admins, makers, or analysts	Mar-22	Apr-22
Use different G/L accounts for payables and receivables transactions	Users by admins, makers, or analysts	Mar-22	Apr-22

Better with Microsoft 365

In 2022 release wave 1, Microsoft has invested in a stronger reporting story, including better integration with Excel. It has also focussed on improving the support for collaborative business processes in Teams to enable the user to bring Business Central pages into a Teams channel.

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Enhancements to Microsoft Teams integration	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Outlook add-in – add email attachments to Business Central records	Users, automatically	Feb-22	Apr-22

Development

Microsoft continues to invest in a rich spectrum of extensibility tooling capabilities for developers, including making the AL language even stronger to improve the developer experience. The features are as mentioned below:

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Isolated events	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	–	Apr-22
New isolated event OnCompanyOpenCompleted	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	–	Apr-22
Auto-deploy dependent projects in workspace	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Demo tool and demo data for manufacturing scenarios	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
In-client performance profiler	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
AL-Go for GitHub – modern DevOps for partners	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22
Telemetry – company name as a custom dimension in AL LogMessage	Users, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22
Users can export report datasets to XML	Users, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22

Governance and Administration

Business Central 2022 release wave 1 delivers a set of admin and governance capabilities to help admins and IT pros set up, secure, manage, govern, and monitor customer environments.

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Customer-managed encryption key for encrypting customer data at-rest	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	–	Apr-22
Customers can consent to Microsoft Support accessing their data through a Lockbox consent flow	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	–	Apr-22
Allow security administrator to define default permission set assignments when user is signing up	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	Feb-22	Apr-22
Updating only licensed users from Microsoft 365 runs faster and more efficiently	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Permission set handling enhancements	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	May-22	Jun-22

Microsoft Power Platform

In 2022 release wave 1, Microsoft improves the integration with Microsoft Dataverse and Microsoft Power Platform.

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Dataverse data change events	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	Apr-22	–
Improvements to the Power Automate and Power Apps connector	Admins, makers, marketers, or analysts, automatically	Apr-22	May-22

Modern Clients

In 2022 release wave 1, Microsoft made improvements for our extensive portfolio of clients with the focus on better usability, accessibility, performance, and stability.

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Copy link from Share menu	Users, automatically	Feb-22	Apr-22
New desktop app delivering full web client experience on desktop is listed in the Microsoft Store	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Usability improvements to the web client	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22

Onboarding

Onboarding is a key focus in every release wave. The aim is to make the onboarding of new customers faster.

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Context-aware links in the Help pane from Microsoft and partners	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Guided tour that helps users find settings and personalization tools	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Support for rich text in teaching tips and tours	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Tour of the Role Explorer and how to filter it	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22

Reporting

Reporting is amongst the highest priorities for most business users, both to get insight into new growth opportunities and to share data as a foundation for business planning discussions. Here are the new release updates:

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
New capabilities for financial reporting with account schedules	Users, automatically	Mar-22	Apr-22
Use Excel to design layouts for reports	Users, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22

Service and Platform

Whether it is a small or medium-sized business (SMB) or a larger one, business users expect a dependable platform & services to run their business smoothly.

Feature	Enabled for	Public preview	General availability
Performance – partners can get database insights through virtual tables and in-client pages	Users, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22
Telemetry – error dialogs are logged to telemetry	Users, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22
Telemetry – the action of enabling detailed telemetry is logged to telemetry	Users, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22
Telemetry – when a database deadlock occurs, it is logged to telemetry	Users, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22
Telemetry – support engineers can now see user IDs in telemetry	Users, automatically	Apr-22	Apr-22

 

Thus, we come to the end of the Wave 1 Release Plans for 2022. As mentioned earlier, the introduction of some features and release dates could be pushed back and there might be additional feature announcements, so keep in touch with us to stay updated on the release plans and never miss an important update. Contact us today to learn more.

We at Intech Systems are committed to providing our customers with the best solutions according to their business requirements. Our firm focuses on implementation, development, and support services for Microsoft Business Applications. Intech is amongst the top Microsoft Dynamics partners in India today and is trusted by 200+ customers globally for its digital transformation solutions. With offices in India and the United States, Intech has over four decades of experience in delivering top-notch technology solutions for Microsoft Dynamics 365, F&O, Business Central, CRM, Power BI, Power Apps, Microsoft Azure Cloud, AI, loT, and other custom-developed applications.

We are on a mission to help businesses like yours get ready to embrace and leverage these technological changes to position themselves better for the future. Whether you want to migrate from Navision to Business Central or from a non-Microsoft ERP system, we are here to provide you with the best possible solution.

Email us at sales@intech-systems.com to start your digital transformation journey today.

Click here to the Business Value you can derive from Dynamics 365 Business Central 2022 Release Wave 1: Business Value