Dynamics 365 is New Again

Microsoft is now rolling out version 9.0 of its business productivity suite, Dynamics 365. This is a long-awaited series of updates that change the way we interact with the software and improve usefulness quite a bit. Pieces that are new include a refreshed user interface, the Customer Service Hub, a better Outlook experience, and a new look and feel for the mobile experience. The update also includes a number of features that are either being replaced or going away entirely. 

New Look & Feel (User Interface)

1. Ability to display Business Process in "Floating Mode"
   1. Vertical or Horizontal Layout
   2. Optional Step & Defined Criteria to trigger it
   3. Now available on Site Map

You'll notice above that the business-process flow UI is now dramatically streamlined. You have the option to display as little or as much information as you want. 

 

 

In the screenshot above, you'll notice just how much easier the page is to navigate at a glance. Instead of text floating somewhat randomly on the page, each logical group is now bordered by light grey boxes which make everything a world easier to understand. 

Customer Service Hub

What was formerly known as the Interactive Service Hub is now known as the Customer Service Hub. It introduces a Case Timeline, which enables users to create, update, and manage customer interactions right in the timeline itself. The Activity Feed Timeline gives your service teams:

• Better visibility into the disposition of cases
• What's happened since the last time you accessed a record
• A powerful dashboard to give management at-a-glance access

 

Outlook Experience

For a comprehensive look at the new Outlook experience, click here. But here's what we found to be the most pertinent for our users:

1. Pin Favorites & Recently Accessed Records
2. Edit existing record details from the App
3. View Dashboards
4. Insights Compatible
5. Global Search Capability
6. Tracking tasks and appointments is available again

Mobile App

The Dynamics 365 mobile app is now radically different – in a great way. It has a completely different look and feel, yet very intuitive even for a first time user. Navigation now sits out of the way along the bottom and the flyout menus on the left organize things in a way that's easy to use on a mobile device. For a full list of mobile app details visit Microsoft's site. 

Below is the new look:

 

Features Phasing Out in 2018

1.Dialogs

• Dialogs will be replaced by Mobile Task Flows (new functionality) and Business Process Flows

2.Service Scheduling

• Replaced with Unified Resource Scheduling
• Instances will need to implement and migrate to the new solution

3.Parature Knowledgebase

• Phasing out and replaced by Knowledge Management

4.Contracts, Contract Lines, and Contract Templates

• Being replaced by Entitlements

5.Relationship Roles

• Replaced with Connection Roles

6.Mail Merge

• No replacement

7.Announcements

• No replacement

8.Email Router

• Replaced with Server-Side Sync

9.Ready to Use Business Processes

• No longer sitting in the solution but can be loaded from Microsoft’s AppSource as needed

10.Client API's

• 26 APIs that are phasing out will need to be replaced by the new APIs that the solution should be transitioned to
• Many are tied to Dialogs, being phased out, hence the needed change

11.Silverlight

• Most user custom controls created using HTML web resources with HTML5 to create UI components to visualize and interact with data

12.Project Service Finder

• A future release will have a replacement available

 

For more information, contact us at:

E-Mail:  info@magenium.com

Phone:  +1 (630)786-5900