Business Central 2023 Wave 2 Release Recap

AI: Automate Repetitive Tasks

We all aspire to make our operations more efficient. With AI and Copilot technology at the helm of the Wave 2 release, repetitive tasks could soon be a thing of the past.

Microsoft’s latest investment is a significant leap forward in AI innovation, offering tools that help businesses achieve more by doing less. According to recent surveys on business trends, nearly 9 out of 10 workers hope to use AI to reduce repetitive tasks in their jobs.

With Copilot in Business Central, Microsoft are releasing intuitive AI tools to get more done with less effort, without needing to become data scientists.

Here’s two improvements which are planned for release:

• AI-powered transaction matching improves automation and reduces the remaining unmatched transactions that require human oversight.
• AI-generated explanations for how remaining transactions could be matched, making it easier to complete the account reconciliation tasks by simply reviewing and approving matches.

Wave 2 Goes Beyond a Typical Software Update: It’s Providing and Improving Operational Efficiency

The Wave 2 release brings with it significant updates and enhancements. It includes capabilities that ensure faster onboarding of new customers and consolidate warehouse and financial data more effectively.

In addition, it comes with an automated regulatory compliance feature that will help organisations stay focused on their core business activities.

Let’s look at these…

Core Finance

• For intercompany postings, you can perform accounting tasks for multiple companies, which eliminates the need to manage files.
• New approval workflow for intercompany general journals increases control and eliminates errors.
• You can automate the distribution of revenue or cost transactions across different accounts or dimensions. This makes data entry much more efficient and helps reduce errors.

Reporting & Data Analytics

• The Power BI experience has new and improved Power BI reports, and more capabilities for Analysis mode help you do on-the-fly analysis. You’ll be more productive if you don’t have to switch to another app to get the information you need.

Warehousing

• You can access detailed availability information for inventory levels, locations, processing stages, and other factors that affect available quantities.
• You can configure the proper level of warehouse handling independently for inbound, outbound, and internal flows.
• Business Central suggests the most appropriate bin for items in basic warehouse configurations, and you can edit data for item journals and warehouse worksheets in Excel.
• You can receive suggestions about orders that are ready for handling. The suggestions help reduce the risk of partial shipments, help ensure that production or assembly orders don’t get stuck, and improve customer satisfaction.

Productivity Improvements: Working Smarter & More Securely

Business Central already had amazing integration features with the wider Microsoft Office toolset but Microsoft are taking this a step further with integrated flows.

• Respond to inquiries faster by attaching quotes and invoices from Outlook.
• Connect to Exchange to automatically track email interactions or send outgoing mail from Business Central.
• Analyse a snapshot of any list in Excel, or export it to a dynamic worksheet that can be refreshed, edited, and published back to Business Central.
• Start a conversation about a record in Teams or rally the team around key data points.
• View, share, and co-author business documents using OneDrive for Business, even from your browser.
• Author beautiful reports and email templates in Word.

This release wave focuses on security and reliability, especially when bringing your data to Excel.

Please note that the 2023 release wave 2 plan covers all new functionalities planned to be delivered to market from October 2023 to March 2024.