Managing time-off requests efficiently is crucial for maintaining a balanced and productive work environment. Dynamics 365 Contact Center provides an intuitive solution enabling service representatives to request, track, and manage their leave seamlessly. This streamlined process offers representatives clear visibility into their leave status, helping managers balance workforce coverage while accommodating employee preferences. 

Configure time-off types 

Using the time-off request management features in Dynamics 365 Contact Center, organizations can now configure various leave types required for their business, such as Paid Time Off (PTO), Unpaid Leave, Sick Leave, Personal Leave, etc. Organizations can name and categorize these time-off types, providing flexibility in how time away from work is tracked and reported. This ensures consistency in scheduling and helps supervisors manage coverage effectively. 

Submit leave requests with ease 

Service representatives can quickly initiate leave requests directly within their schedule calendar view. Also, they can specify leave types, durations, and additional relevant details. This straightforward time-off submission process reduces administrative burden, allowing representatives to concentrate on their core responsibilities. 

Transparent approval workflow 

The features also include a clear and efficient approval workflow. Managers receive immediate notifications of pending requests. Then, they can review, approve, or decline these requests directly from within Dynamics 365 Contact Center. This transparent process enables managers to swiftly assess staffing implications, maintain optimal workforce coverage, and promptly communicate decisions. 

Real-time status updates and notifications 

Service representatives receive instant communications via email or notifications within the Dynamics 365 app regarding the status of their leave requests—whether approved, pending, or declined. This real-time clarity allows representatives to effectively plan their schedules, manage expectations, and remain informed about their upcoming absences. 

Calendar visibility 

The integrated schedule calendar shows approved time-off requests automatically. This provides both employees and managers with a comprehensive overview of scheduled absences. This integration facilitates proactive planning, helps teams smoothly manage workload adjustments, and ensures consistent service delivery. 

Benefits of time-off request management 

• Improved work-life balance: By providing a straightforward process for requesting time off, Dynamics 365 Contact Center helps service representatives maintain a healthy work-life balance. 

• Enhanced productivity: Efficient management of time off requests ensures that representatives are well-rested and motivated, leading to improved productivity and performance. 

• Operational efficiency: The approval workflow and calendar integration help supervisors manage team schedules effectively, ensuring that service operations run smoothly even during periods of high demand. 

Time-off request management in Dynamics 365 Contact Center provides service representatives with simplified processes, clear approval workflows, and comprehensive calendar visibility. Managers benefit from tools that ensure balanced coverage, maintain operational efficiency, and boost employee engagement. This holistic approach to time-off management significantly contributes to a productive and harmonious workplace. 

Learn more 

To learn more about time-off requests in Dynamics 365 Contact Center, read the documentation: View and take action on time-off requests | Microsoft Learn 

The post Manage time-off requests with Dynamics 365 Contact Center  appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

As a service representative, having clear visibility into your daily schedule is crucial for effectively managing tasks and maintaining productivity. Dynamics 365 Contact Center provides a user-friendly Schedule Calendar for service reps, allowing them to easily view shifts, breaks, training sessions, and other scheduled activities—all from one convenient location. 

Clear visibility into your daily activities 

The Schedule Calendar gives detailed insights into both productive tasks and non-productive shift bookings, ensuring you always know what’s coming next. This helps you plan your day effectively, prepare for upcoming activities, and efficiently manage your workload. 

Key features of the Schedule Calendar for service reps include:  

• Shift schedule bookings: Shows all scheduled activities, including productive tasks like customer support sessions, training or coaching events. Additionally, it includes non-productive periods such as breaks and lunches. 

• Day view: Provides a detailed breakdown of your daily schedule, allowing you to see precise timings for each shift, break, and activity. 

• Weekly view: Offers a clear overview of your entire week, helping you quickly identify commitments and plan your time accordingly. 

• Month view: Delivers a comprehensive monthly view, visually highlighting shifts, training sessions, and approved time-off requests. 

• Agenda view: Presents a concise, list-based summary of upcoming shifts, breaks, training sessions, and scheduled time off. This gives you quick insights into your day-to-day activities. 

• Time off requests: Stay informed about your approved leave and scheduled time off within the same calendar interface. Easily track your absences, ensuring work-life balance and smooth team coordination. 

Dynamics 365 Contact Center’s Schedule Calendar gives service representatives the clarity and organization needed for peak performance. With easy access to shift details and intuitive calendar views, you can improve planning, manage workloads more efficiently, and consistently deliver exceptional customer support. 

Learn more 

To learn more about the Schedule Calendar for service reps in Dynamics 365 Contact Center, read the documentation: Use the Schedule Calendar | Microsoft Learn

The post Stay organized with the Schedule Calendar in Contact Center appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

It’s not hyperbolic to say that today’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions have entered a new era: one where organizations are reimagining systems that are AI-operated but human led. This blended approach will take time to mature but with 81% of leaders expecting agents to be moderately or extensively integrated into their company’s AI strategy¹, the time to act is now. In Microsoft Dynamics 365, these agents are redefining how finance, supply chain, and operations teams get their work done and how business operations run: intelligently, cost-effectively, and at scale. Building on the initial wave of agents announced, like the Financial Reconciliation Agent and Sales Order Agent, Microsoft is excited to announce that several new ERP agents are available and ready to start using today.

The rise of autonomous agents

How are agents different from AI-powered assistants? Building on the value of AI acting as an assistant, agents join teams as “digital colleagues”, or agents that take on specific tasks. AI-powered autonomous agents transform how business processes are orchestrated and executed—moving away from human-dependent tasks to intelligent, scalable automation. In Dynamics 365, these agents work on behalf of individuals, teams, and entire functions to streamline processes like lead generation, order management, and account reconciliation and close.

ERP systems in particular are rich with high-volume, rules-based activities that are ripe for transformation. By introducing agents into core ERP scenarios, organizations can reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and accelerate decision-making across finance, supply chain, and project operations. This shift marks a meaningful departure towards AI-first operations and the below agents, available today in Dynamics 365, are just a preview of what’s to come.

New agents for ERP entering production-ready public preview

Agents for ERP are designed to facilitate complex business processes, like source-to-pay and project-to-profit, to ultimately reduce manual effort, enhance your efficiency, and improve business performance. Some agents fully automate entire workflows, while others support specific steps, but all are built to augment how people work. Today, new ERP agents in Dynamics 365 are now available in public preview.

Account Reconciliation Agent

Reconciling ledger entries is a time-consuming, detailed task that countless professionals spend hours on. With the Account Reconciliation Agent, users can deliver timely, compliant financial statements with fewer manual fixes. The agent accelerates the period-end close by matching ledger entries, flagging discrepancies, and recommending resolution steps. With an agent managing the reconciliation process, users can reduce operational expenses and overall time spent manually reviewing and analyzing results.

Microsoft customer Lifetime Products deployed the Account Reconciliation Agent to automate the matching and clearing of transactions between subledgers and the general ledger and saw immediate process improvements.

“Using AI and autonomous agents are just the next level for us when it comes to realizing the full benefit of our Dynamics 365 environment.“

Ted Esplin, Lifetime Products, COO

Read more about Lifetime’s success here.

Supplier Communications Agent

If the past few years have shown us anything it’s that modern supply chains operate under relentless change—and staying ahead of supplier deliveries is critical to operational performance. The Supplier Communications Agent takes charge of supplier interactions, acting instantly on supplier emails, chasing missing order confirmations and delayed shipments. By closing the loop on every critical supplier touchpoint, the agent slashes rush charges, prevents costly disruptions, and protects your margins. Procurement specialists avoid last minute firefights and can focus on managing supplier relationships, driving resilience and efficiency across your entire source to pay process.

Expense Agent

Catching up with emails after a work trip is challenging enough; providing expense details adds another item on your to-do list. With the Expense Agent, users can streamline expense reporting with accuracy and policy compliance. The Expense Agent uses AI to extract key details from receipts—such as vendor, amount, date, and category—and intelligently suggests classifications aligned with company travel and expense policies. It helps ensure accurate, compliant submissions from the start, reducing manual errors, out-of-policy spending, and the need for rework. By improving data quality at the source, organizations can accelerate reimbursement, maintain policy compliance, and reduce the administrative burden on employees, managers, and finance teams alike. This allows more reliable cost tracking and enhances overall financial visibility into spend.

Time Entry Agent

Reduce time spent on entering details and tracking updates and spend more time using real-time insights into project performance. The Time Entry Agent helps to ensure timely, accurate capture of project hours by prompting employees to log time with smart reminders and context. This agent enhances billing accuracy, payroll, and visibility into project performance. Capturing time spent with an agent reduces the time spent on manual input and gives project planners better insight into resource utilization.

Activity Approvals Agent

Cut through the noise, reduce approval cycle times, and enforce cost controls with the Activity Approvals Agent. Streamline your work by only surfacing entries that need attention. This agent helps managers act faster, prevents unapproved costs, and speeds up downstream workflows. By automating the activity approvals process, project managers can improve project performance and increase visibility into time spent.

Transformative impact on business processes

ERP systems are often considered complex and dense with information, customizations, and requirements. This same complexity makes these processes ripe for automation and agents. By bringing in agents to automate steps across existing business processes and reduce any manual interventions required, agents help teams to achieve greater efficiency and freedom from processes while delivering optimal business outcomes. From finance and supply chain management to project operations and time tracking, these agents streamline workflows, reduce manual effort, and enhance accuracy. With 82% of leaders confident that they’ll use digital labor to expand capacity in the next 12-18 months², the breadth of what is possible with agents for ERP is vast. Get started using agents for ERP processes in Dynamics 365 today to achieve greater efficiency, cost savings, and improved visibility into your operations.

Review documentation of agents and join the public preview today!

• Time, Expense and Approvals Agent
• Account Reconciliation Agent
• Supplier Communications Agent

Curious about licensing? Learn more about Microsoft Copilot Studio billing rates.

Sources:

^1,2 2025: The Year the Frontier Firm Is Born

The post A new era in business processes: Autonomous agents for ERP appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Managing workforce availability efficiently is essential for delivering consistent and high-quality customer service. A well-structured shift planning and scheduling process ensures service representatives are assigned to the right shifts at the right time. This helps businesses maintain optimal service levels while balancing service representative workload. By defining shift structures, aligning staffing with demand, and ensuring fair scheduling practices, organizations can improve workforce efficiency and enhance service quality. 

Create shift templates with shift planning 

Shift planning forms the backbone of workforce management. It helps businesses organize shift structures, define coverage requirements, and ensure the right service representatives are available. A clear and well-defined shift plan minimizes coverage gaps, reduces scheduling conflicts, and improves operational efficiency. 

Key benefits of a shift plan include: 

• Align staffing with capacity plans: Ensure shift coverage aligns with forecasted service demand by scheduling the right number of service representatives at the right time. 

• Assign the right skills to the right shifts: Match service representatives with the required expertise to ensure optimal performance across different customer interaction channels. 

• Structured shift activities: Organize shift time effectively by incorporating work periods, training sessions, scheduled breaks, and lunch intervals. This structure helps optimize service delivery while ensuring employee well-being. 

• Comprehensive shift calendars: Set operational parameters, including shift days, working hours, and time zones, to ensure alignment with business requirements and global workforce operations. 

Ensuring workforce efficiency with seamless scheduling 

Once shift plans are in place, scheduling ensures service representatives are assigned efficiently to maintain business continuity. An organized scheduling process helps businesses allocate resources effectively, adapt to changing needs, and maintain fairness in workforce management. 

Key benefits include: 

• Automated scheduling for quick assignments: Generate schedules in bulk based on predefined shift plans and workforce requirements, ensuring efficient allocation of resources. 

• Flexible manual scheduling: Assign service representatives to shifts manually, allowing for adjustments based on real-time operational needs and individual preferences. 

• Break distribution for continuous service: Balance workload by strategically distributing breaks across service representatives, preventing service interruptions while maintaining coverage. 

• Adaptability for changing needs: Easily adjust schedules to accommodate last-minute changes, or unexpected fluctuations in service demand. 

By using Dynamics 365 Contact Center’s shift plan and scheduling, businesses can ensure smooth operations, optimize workforce utilization, and provide better service experiences. A well-organized shift structure helps service representatives stay productive and engaged while ensuring that customer support remains uninterrupted. With a strategic approach to planning and scheduling, organizations can balance efficiency with flexibility. Consequently, they foster a more structured and effective service operation. 

Learn more 

To learn more about agent shift planning and scheduling in Dynamics 365 Contact Center, read the documentation: Create and schedule a shift plan | Microsoft Learn

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