We are excited to announce the Copilot Studio-powered customer feedback survey in Dynamics 365 Contact Center, now in preview. Now, contact center managers can use Copilot Studio Survey in the Contact Center admin center to dynamically respond to customer feedback.  

Traditionally, management can take a long time to act on the feedback that customers provide. Additionally, managers may have to use various tools to capture customer feedback across different channels. In the era of AI, we can reimagine customer feedback management in Dynamics to enable real-time, automated, and personalized feedback loops, helping our customers unlock immense business value. 

With this feature, contact center managers can use the generative AI capabilities of Copilot Studio bots to streamline the survey configuration process across channels. Supervisors get a holistic view of the feedback, all while maintaining flexibility and customization. 

Choose your customer feedback survey

Starting in Dynamics, you can quickly author survey bots using either a blank template or one of three standard survey metrics:

• Customer Satisfaction Score
• Net Promoter Score
• Customer Effort Score.

After creating the survey bot, you can open it in Copilot Studio for bot authoring and customization. Add additional questions, use Power Automate to trigger workflows based on customer responses, and design your bot to meet your business needs. Best of all, once your bot is published, you can use it across voice, live chat, and social channels. The result is a unified, centralized survey configuration process. 

Copilot-powered customer feedback in action

For a real-world example, let’s use Contoso Bank, which places a high value on customer feedback. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) metric is of particular interest, as it helps them measure customer loyalty. To leverage this, they use the new Copilot-powered customer feedback survey feature to quickly create an NPS survey bot from the Dynamics 365 Contact Center admin center and deploy it across all their channels. In Copilot Studio, they customize the bot to trigger a Power Automate flow to create a follow-up case if the score is less than 5. This bot engages with customers at the end of the call or conversation and gathers their feedback. If the NPS score is less than 5, it triggers Power Automate to create a follow-up case. This ensures they promptly attend to any unhappy customers, thereby quickly improving overall customer satisfaction and loyalty for Contoso Bank. 

In today’s world, where customer feedback is crucial, this feature is a game-changer. Businesses can quickly gather and act on feedback, ensuring they stay responsive and attuned to customer needs. The result is customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Learn more

To learn more about enabling and using the Copilot-powered survey, read the documentation.

The post Unlock the Microsoft Copilot Studio-powered customer survey appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

We are thrilled to announce the general availability of spatial annotations in Dynamics 365 Field Service and Microsoft Teams! This milestone marks a significant step forward in enhancing mixed reality collaboration for frontline workers. 

Customers using Dynamics 365 Field Service, Guides, and Remote Assist licenses get the new spatial annotation capabilities automatically enabled in Teams mobile and desktop at no extra cost. 

Before, spatial annotations required a standalone mobile app or a HoloLens 2. Now, frontline workers can benefit from 3D inking and arrow placement directly in the Teams mobile and desktop apps during any 1:1 call, group call, or Teams meeting. 

Mobile mixed reality collaboration platform 

Previously, frontline workers used Teams within the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Guides applications to collaborate with spatial annotations. The Remote Assist mobile app was a popular choice for workers on the go. It allowed fast and easy connections with collaborators on a call, showed the task over video, and allowed annotation together.  
 
Now, this core functionality is available directly in the Teams mobile app. For workers who are on the move, having all their core collaboration capabilities in a single app simplifies their job. It eliminates the need to switch apps, ensuring that all collaboration capabilities from Teams are readily available.  

No more context switching

Using spatial annotations is as straightforward as joining a Teams meeting or making a call. With the front-facing camera, users share their view with remote participants for real-time collaboration while in the flow of work.  Technicians in the field can place 3D arrow and ink annotations by tapping on their video to discuss with remote peers.  

Desktop users can see this video feed and add their own annotations to overlay important information on physical objects. This enhances comprehension and enables workers to fix issues faster. Users can move and change angles without losing track of annotations anchored to their environment. This advanced level of interaction empowers Teams users, sharing insights and reducing miscommunications which could lead to mistakes or rework. 

Streamlined and secure enablement

Accessing spatial annotations directly in Teams mobile means fewer apps for administrators to provision, update, and audit.  Users benefit from end-to-end encryption, data loss prevention, and compliance certifications in Teams mobile. These additional security measures protect against unauthorized access to confidential company information.  
 
Infusing spatial capabilities into apps technicians are already using, on devices already in their pockets, is just one way we’re evolving mixed reality workflows at Microsoft. We’re excited about this step towards democratizing mixed reality and bringing advanced and intuitive solutions to more people across industries. 
 
This integration ensures that frontline workers have all their collaboration tools in one place, simplifying workflows and enhancing productivity. Learn more here.

Please Note: Spatial annotations is now generally available directly in the Teams mobile app. The standalone Remote Assist app on mobile devices is being deprecated. Affected users will be notified about this change. 

The post Spatial annotations for frontline technicians with Dynamics 365 Field Service & Microsoft Teams appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Microsoft is doing some housekeeping in Dynamics 365 Business Central–and significant changes are coming with the 2025 release Wave 1 clean-up. We want you to know about these changes and how to prepare your applications.

The Dynamics 365 Business Central Release Wave 1 clean-up means that all tables, table extensions, and table fields remaining in the Obsolete::Removed state for more than one major release will be permanently deleted. This sweeping clean-up affects the Base Application as well as all other first-party apps. Already, the removal of over 150 tables has optimized and cleaned up the application code.

With the Release Wave 1 clean-up, Microsoft will adopt a clean-up cycle every fifth release, ensuring a smooth transition.

Why this matters: Benefits of the clean-up

The April 2025 Release Wave 1 clean-up effort isn’t just about reducing database size, it’s part of a broader vision:

• Improved database performance: Removing unused schema elements will optimize performance and reduce technical debt.

• Unified Base Applications: Multiple countries (such as, Sweden, Denmark, Czechia, India, and Iceland) and partner-localized regions will move towards a unified Base Application. The goal is to have all countries based on the same codebase.
• Improved maintainability: By removing more than 10% of tables and table fields, we’ve simplified development and made it easier for developers and product owners to manage changes.
• Streamlined codebase: Cleaner code results in fewer errors and easier maintenance for developers.

Key updates and concepts

Platform support for the clean-up

2025 release wave 1 (v26) introduces platform-level support for dropping tables, table extensions and table fields that have been in the Obsolete::Removed state for more than one major release. This ensures an automated clean-up process, consistent and in alignment with Microsoft’s ongoing breaking changes process and optimization strategy.

Introducing the Step Release

A new concept, Step Release, plays an important role in cloud migration and the upgrade process:

• Mandatory for cloud migration: Customers migrating from earlier versions must upgrade to a Step Release before proceeding to newer versions.
• Purpose: The Step Release ensures all schema elements in the Obsolete::Removed state for more than the defined period are cleared out before transitioning to the latest version.
• Impact on upgrade code: The updated upgrade process excludes objects marked for removal in this release.

Important: The data from deleted tables, table extensions and table fields will also be permanently removed. Tables, table extensions and table fields in the state Obsolete::Pending are not impacted.

How to identify impacted tables, table extensions and table fields

With the Release Wave 1 clean-up, Microsoft has introduced a new preprocessor symbol, CLEANSCHEMA, to help developers identify and handle obsolete schema elements. Here’s how it works:

• The CLEANSCHEMA symbol operates similarly to the existing CLEAN symbol, with a version number showing when a table, table extension or table field was marked as Obsolete::Removed.
• For example:
  • CLEANSCHEMA24: The table, table extension, or table field marked as removed in version 24 and deleted in version 26 (2025 release wave 1).
  • CLEANSCHEMA25 or later: The object remains for at least one more cycle of 5 releases. Deletion happens in future releases- version 31 (2027 release wave 2).

What should developers do?

If your app references objects in the Obsolete::Removed state then you need to:

1. Refactor your code: Replace or remove references to these objects before April 2025.
2. Check upgrade code: Ensure that upgrade code doesn’t rely on removed tables, table extensions or table fields.
3. Monitor preprocessor symbols: Use the CLEANSCHEMA symbol to anticipate removal timelines.

Implications for cloud migration

The cloud migration path will change as part of the clean-up:

1. Customers will first migrate to version 25 (2024 release wave 1).
2. Upgrade code then handles the transition to the latest version after clearing obsolete objects.

This new process emphasizes the importance of preparing early, especially for legacy applications with dependencies on obsolete schema elements.

What if you need data from removed tables?

Microsoft recommends that you use the Point-In-Time Restore (PIT) procedure for data recovery, which is consistent with current best practices. If you anticipate needing data from obsolete tables, table extensions or table fields, ensure you plan for PIT backups before the clean-up.

Preparing for the future after the Release Wave 1 clean-up

With these changes, Microsoft continues its dedication to enhancing the maintainability of Business Central.

Next steps for partners:

1. Inspect your code: Identify any dependencies on Obsolete::Removed schema elements using the CLEANSCHEMA symbol and refactor the code accordingly.
2. Prepare migration plans: Incorporate the Step Release process into your upgrade and cloud migration strategies.

By being proactive, you’ll ensure a smooth transition and take full advantage of the benefits of a cleaner, faster, and more unified Business Central.

Additional resources:

Deleted objects in 2025 release wave

•  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/upgrade/deleted-objects-25w1

Maintaining Apps

• Update Lifecycle for Tenant Customizations – Business Central | Microsoft Learn
• Maintain AppSource apps and per-tenant extensions – Business Central | Microsoft Learn

Microsoft will host two Office Hour calls for partners to join for questions about this process and next steps:

Option 1: February 13, 4:00 – 5:00PM CET. Please register here

Option 2: February 18, 8:00 – 9:00AM CET. Please register here

The post Essential Clean-Up Guide for Partners: 2025 Release Wave 1 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.