It’s amazing how much change we’ve seen across the world in a year.

One year ago, all of us were adapting to a world in lockdown. At today’s Microsoft Business Applications Summit, the worldwide community comes together still dealing with the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even as challenges continue to reverberate across industriesfrom supply chain disruptions to recurring restrictionsmost businesses are taking steps toward recovery. They’re taking stock of vulnerabilities and opportunities across their organizations, markets, and industriesand the steps needed to move forward into the future.

That’s why today’s Microsoft Business Applications Summit is so timely. As global business communities set sights on what’s next, today’s event is an opportunity for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform community to come together, assess what we’ve learned over the past year, and explore ways to proactively reimagine every layer of business.

Building the agile digital business

Everyone joining the Microsoft Business Applications Summit plays an integral part in moving business forward. Today, we are sharing stories of people and teams transforming the way they do business to be more adaptable, innovative, and impactful.

This past year demonstrated that businesses with a strong digital foundation can push the boundaries of what’s possible and achieve more, even when faced with a global crisis. Without digital capabilities, it’s next to impossible to adapt to rapid change.

At Patagonia, a leader in outdoor clothing and gear, the pandemic accelerated a journey to deliver more meaningful customer experiencesin ways no one expected. Before the crisis, the organization was preparing to move its direct-to-consumer business and selling channels onto Dynamics 365. When lockdowns shut down physical locations, from offices and retail stores to call centers and warehouses, the team turned to Microsoft Teams to coordinate the launch and rapidly adapt operations to a new retail model. With retail locations closed to customers, the team leveraged distributed order management capabilities in Dynamics 365 to turn retail locations into mini-warehouses, keeping employees working and online orders fulfilled, followed by curbside pick-up.

Equipped with the right digital capabilities, the teams at Patagonia demonstrated incredible agility in the face of changepivoting complex operations nimbly and quickly to keep customers equipped with the outdoor gear they depend on.

New ways to connect with your community

Patagonia’s story reminds us that, together, as a team, we can accomplish great things. In a year defined by keeping one’s distance, it’s critical to help our community stay connected.

Today, more than775 user groups bring together more than 2.85 million active community members to connect, learn, and engage one another on topics related to Microsoft technologies. The Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 communities connect you directly with Microsoft, your industry peers, and high-value content in a diverse, supportive environment.

Today we are introducing a new user group experience with tools to help you find, join, start, and run local user groups for Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform.

We are supporting the user groups with an administrative team and connection to local Microsoft employees around the world. You can engage with experts to answer questions, learn about the latest innovations, and influence future product roadmaps.

Our goal is to enable a global network of local user groups that are Microsoft-supported and community-led. We invite you to explore the preview of the new experience and get started by creating or joining a local user group.

Helping you move business forward

It’s been a tough year. Every business has had to make difficult decisions, rethink plans, and readjust to conditions few could predict in advance. Moving forward means reshaping the business now to be prepared for future disruptions, large and small. That’s why we are dedicated to continuously providing the technology you need to build agility and resiliency into every layer of your business.

In April, we launched a six-month wave of hundreds of new capabilities, feature updates, and applications across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform. This release wave continues our dedication to empower everyone to make an impact with technology that surfaces insights and guidance to the next best step, across every department. By harnessing the data generated across your business, everyone across the company can break through barriers to perform their best and focus on what’s best for the customer.

One way we are bringing this vision to life is by helping you deliver consistent, personalized customer experiences across every touchpoint, from the first point of awareness of your brand through purchase and service, both from the call center and in the field. Today at the Microsoft Business Applications Summit, we’ll catch you up on the latest marketing technologies that help you engage individual customers at scale.

In our keynote presentation, we will demonstrate how the Los Angeles Clippers are able to make game night more personalized by engaging fans with the experiences they prefer. They can now use Dynamics 365 Customer Insightsthe Microsoft customer data platform (CDP)to connect data from a variety of sources to gain a comprehensive view of fans’ preferences and use Dynamics 365 Marketing to orchestrate customer-led journeys in real-time to deliver hyper-personalized experiences for fans on game night. With the combined power of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Dynamics 365 Marketing, organizations can deeply understand customer behavior and intent and leverage real-time insights to personalize journeys at scale, unlocking new ways to attract, engage, and delight customers with a more human and empathetic approach.

With the new integration between Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Microsoft Advertising, advertisers can now create and export limitless set of customer segments from Dynamics 365 Customer Insights into the Microsoft Advertising platform to target on the Microsoft Search Network and Microsoft Audience Network using Customer Match targeting. These segments can be also used on third-party destinations including Google Ads, Marketo, MailChimp, dotdigital, SendGrid, and Autopilot.

Learn more by joining sessions focusing on Dynamics 365 Marketing and Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, including the featured session, “Customer engagement transformed: hyper-personalize experiences to drive better business results.”

Microsoft Power Platform: Making your business more flexible

Innovation and problem solving doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Everyone in the business can play a role in moving the business forward with the right set of digital tools. Our vision for Microsoft Power Platform is to empower every creator in your company to build business solutions, increase collaboration between business and IT teams, and inject more flexibility into your business.

Humana, a U.S.-based healthcare innovation and community wellness company, is helping to bring this vision to life. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Humana used Microsoft Power Platform to rapidly build solutions catering to the needs of their millions of Medicare and specialty members and vulnerable communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In our keynote presentation, we will demonstrate one of the solutionsa vaccine scheduler and community tracking applications to help members book vaccination appointments with local providers.

As part of this demo, we will also spotlight goals in Power BI, launching in preview today. Goals enables teams to easily curate business metrics that matter most and aggregate them in a unified view. From there, teams can measure progress against their goals, proactively share updates with their teammates, and dive deeper into their data when something needs further analysis. Attend today’s sessions on the Power BI roadmap and new features announcement, and read this overview to learn more.

With Microsoft Power Platform, anyone can solve business challenges with low-code apps, or automate common processesat scale, across departments, or on one’s desktop. Barriers that have blocked innovation and productivity for years are removed.

Join the conversation at Microsoft Business Applications Summit

There’s much more to explore at the Microsoft Business Applications Summit. In addition to the sessions above, we invite you to explore the full catalog of learning sessions and product roundtables. We also invite you to connect, learn, and share with peers and experts to ask questions, engage in discussions, and view content in the Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 communities.

For more details about what’s new for Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform, explore recent product updates and the 2021 release wave 1 plans.

The post Live from Microsoft Business Applications Summit 2021: Moving forward faster, together appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Even with 195 countries across the globe, today, our world can feel like a small place. We live in a time when you can instantaneously communicate with people who are on the other side of the planet. The digitalization of commerce means that we can quickly buy goods from all over the world. And with teleconferencing, we can even purchase services globally without the additional cost of travel. As consumers, the web has drastically changed our expectations of how and where we can transact business. Whereas global expansion used to be for big multinational brands who had the resources to address the complexities of serving local markets, the internet has made globalization a must for companies of all sizes.

While global expansion has many strategic advantages, such as a broader reach, new suppliers, and more revenue streams, it also introduces significant complexity. Trying to compete online in foreign markets or open offices in new countries can make you quickly realize the vastness of our world. With different languages, currencies, date formats, time zones, regulations, laws, taxes, banking requirements, and cultural differencesyou need the right adaptation strategies to seize the opportunities provided by effective global operations. Learn what’s new in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Globalization in our product updates.

Simplify global operations

At Microsoft, we are helping companies by making it easier for businesses to manage complex global operations, expand more efficiently, and operate more effectively around the world. The Microsoft operations apps include built-in localization and regulatory support for 43 countries and regions and are translated into 48 languages, with partners worldwide providing additional localization solutions (over 50 plus localization extensions have been published on Microsoft AppSource). And with the 2021 release wave 1, we are doing even more to help organizations manage their global operations with global expansion support, new electronic invoicing, and tax calculation services.

Expand globally with more out-of-the-box localizations

We extended support to five new countries and regions in October 2020, and we will be adding support for Egypt in May. We will continue to expand our support for country localizations, targeting regulatory requirements and languages based on demand and market opportunities.

Go paperless with electronic invoicing

Many governments now require electronic invoicing as it reduces tax fraud and accelerates the invoicing process. Businesses are also moving to electronic invoicing as it lowers costs and reduces manual data entry while also improving traceability and reducing end-to-end processing time.

Electronic invoicing also allows companies to quickly adapt systems and processes to what can often be an ever-changing regulatory environment. As a means of digitizing tax and minimizing tax evasion and fraud, governments are increasingly implementing mandatory e-invoicing, forcing buyers and sellers to register invoices with tax authorities electronically when a transaction occurs. Whether you are entering new markets or evolving software to meet new government regulations, e-invoicing provides substantial benefits to your business.

The updated electronic invoicing will roll out for Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations with other applications to follow in subsequent releases. The new hyper-scalable multitenant service enables configurable formats, processing of electronic invoice documents, and configurable document exchange. The new service allows companies to:

• Provide a consistent experience in electronic invoice processing and exchange across different geographies.
• Quickly and cost-effectively configure and exchange electronic invoices in the required local formats for business-to-business and business-to-government transactions.
• Accelerate invoice delivery by going paperless, speeding up processes, and improving traceability with configurable electronic invoice documents and exchanges.
• Simplify adherence to the latest electronic invoicing standards in different countries and regions.

Learn more about how electronic invoicing expands capabilities for Dynamics 365 business applications, or visit our electronic invoicing overview.

Improve compliance with tax calculation

The digitalization of tax and the steady stream of indirect tax regulations that global businesses encounter, such as VAT and GST, have further complicated existing processes by introducing new industry and compliance risks that challenge leaders in every global enterprise.

Tax calculation allows you to improve compliance with associated local regulations. The new configurable microservice (preview) enhances the tax determination and calculation capabilities in Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. Tax calculation is fully integrated out-of-the-box and enables you to:

• Automate and standardize tax determinations and calculations across countries or regions.
• Utilize a configurable tax determination matrix and flexible calculation designer to configure and execute complex tax determination rules and calculations using formulae and conditions.
• Simplify compliance maintenance for local tax regulations.

Learn more about the tax calculation features in our tax calculation overview.

Meet changing global and local requirements

In addition to the e-invoicing and tax calculation requirements mentioned above, a multinational company must meet other country-specific laws and business rules in the areas of tax reporting, banking, business document formats, etc. Some of these are legally required, while others are adopted based on local business practices. Legal requirements are frequently changed by tax authorities, often with very tight law enforcement dates. The existing configurable Electronic Reporting and Business Document Management capabilities in the Dynamics 365 operations apps make it easy for companies to handle these types of requirements on a global scale. And because document and report template configurations for both inbound and outbound transactions are no-code or low-code, users can create customizations based on the industry-standard data models and adapt to changing legal or other local requirements quickly.

Easily support custom configurations

In the 2021 release wave 1, we also enhanced the Regulatory Configuration Service (RCS), our configuration authoring and lifecycle management service. This no-code or low-code service extends Electronic Reporting authoring and lifecycle management capabilities so that users can now:

• Create custom configurations for the new electronic invoicing and tax calculation microservices.
• More simply configure, set up, and manage multi-component globalization features.
• Publish, store, and share custom configurations in the global repository to simplify configuration management without requiring the use of the Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS).

Better manage global operations and expansion

With expanded out-of-the-box global coverage and no-code or low-code globalization services within Dynamics 365 operations apps, businesses can manage the challenges of global operations and expansion more effectively. This enhanced flexibility allows you to quickly adapt to the unique needs of different markets at scale. Our customers and partners are using these services and capabilities to extend the standard functionality and have already created several thousand configurations for over 100 countries and regions.

Learn more about what’s new in Dynamics 365 Finance and Globalization in our product updates.

The post Reduce complexity across global operations with Dynamics 365 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Later this year, Microsoft will launch a new Publisher program to modernize our Dynamics 365 Business Central ISV approach to support a cloud-first strategy. This new approach will ensure all future customers can choose Dynamics 365 Business Central online, while also finding the right apps on Microsoft AppSource to meet their unique requirements. This change will require ISVs to have a cloud-first strategy by the end of 2022 for their solutions listed as Microsoft AppSource apps.

The new Publisher program replaces the Registered Solution Program (RSP) and the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CfMD) program, which will be deprecated after being in place for more than a decade.

We’ll share details about the new Publisher program closer to launch. In the meantime, the following guidance will ensure that you are ready to transition:

• Publishers with a cloud-first strategy in place are set up for success.
  ISVs who have modernized their existing C/AL solutions by converting them into AL and full extensions, and published those Apps to Microsoft AppSource, will be more competitive. These publishers will be able to adapt faster and can focus more on their prospects and customers, instead of writing code.

The Publisher program will reward partners with a cloud-first strategy by freeing them from program fees or additional test efforts, outside of what is required for publishing to Microsoft AppSource.

This policy doesn’t mean publishers are required to have a cloud-only approach. If partners comply with the cloud-first approach, they’ll be able to easily implement Business Central online, on-premises, and partner-hosted apps.

• Better serve your customers by bringing existing Dynamics NAV or Dynamics 365 Business Central code-customized solutions into Microsoft AppSource.
  As of April 2021, Microsoft AppSource hosts almost 1,500 apps specifically built for Dynamics 365 Business Central. Over the past few years, hundreds of our partners have embraced this transition and incorporated a cloud-first strategy. Those who have transitioned to Microsoft AppSource have shared with us how they and their customers benefited from that investment.

To remain competitive, relevant, and provide digital transformation strategies to customers, we are asking all our partners to embark on a modernization journey. If there is a strong business case to continue selling to new customers, then you should avoid further delay and bring your apps to Microsoft AppSource.

From September 2022 onward, we will introduce gradually increasing fees for publishers whose resellers have sold on-premises solutions to new customers without an equivalent cloud-based solution. The fees will only be applied to sales in countries where the Dynamics 365 Business Central online service is available. Solutions registered to existing customer licenses before the program cut-off date will not be impacted by program fees. However, adding new non-AppSource solutions after the cut-off date will be impacted.

Avoid fees by creating a transition plan now. The longer you wait to bring your solutions into Microsoft AppSource, the more fees you will incur.

This change also means that publishers now have a shared responsibility with their resellers to only resell cloud-first solutions to new customers.

Just like the RSP and CfMD programs, the new Publisher program is designed to drive customer-obsession behavior, not revenue, and promote a cloud-first strategy for publishers. Our objective is to ensure customers can choose cloud deployments without exception.

Next steps

Further details about the program will be shared in the coming months. We understand that our partners are in different stages of their modernization journey. We’ve put together learning and coaching resources to support you in your transition journey. Please reach out to your regional operational center if you have any questions or concerns. We’ll connect you with the best resource to further your path forward.

The post New Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Publisher program coming in 2021 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

If you haven’t registered for Microsoft Business Applications Summit, now’s the perfect time to sign up and explore the full line-up of learning sessions, featured speakers, Q&A sessions, and networking opportunities. The packed line-up will stream to you live and on-demand, at no cost, on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, starting at 7:30 AM Pacific Time. Register now for Microsoft Business Applications Summit and read on for what to expect during this year’s digital event.

Why attend Microsoft Business Applications Summit?

Microsoft Business Applications Summit is unlike any other event we host each year. Here are three great reasons to attend this year’s Summit:

• Explore the tech that will move your business forward: We’re spotlighting innovation across Microsoft business applications that help you unify your data, adapt your business to new market conditions, and empower everyone in your organization to solve tough challenges.
• Fine-tune your skills: Expand your knowledge base and turn your expertise into greater outcomes for your business. Learn and explore many of the new capabilities across Microsoft Power Platform.
• Connect with the community: Even in a digital format, the event offers you great opportunities to engage with a community of power users and technical architects like you. Plus, you’ll hear first-hand from engineers tips, tricks, and best practices to make the most of the digital tools you and your team use every day.

What to expect

The day kicks off with pre-show content at 7:30 AM Pacific Time. Be sure to attend these featured presentations.

8:15 AM to 9:15 AM Pacific Time

Opening key segments with James Phillips and Alysa Taylor

James Phillips, President, Digital Transformation Platform, and Alysa Taylor, Corporate Vice President, Business Applications and Global Industry Marketing, will catch you up on the latest product strategy, highlights from the latest release wave for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform, and real-world stories from global brands.

10:45 AM to 11:15 AM Pacific Time and 1:45 PM to 2:15 PM Pacific Time

Microsoft Power BI vision, roadmap, and special announcement

Join Arun Ulag, Corporate Vice President for Power BI, and others from the Power BI team to get an insider look at the Power BI strategy and roadmap, and get a first-hand look at capabilities heading your way from 10:45 AM to 11:15 AM Pacific Time. At 1:45 PM Pacific Time, tune in for a special Power BI announcement that you won’t want to miss.

9:45 AM to 10:15 AM Pacific Time

Empower every dev to go faster with Microsoft Power Apps

Catch up on new low-code capabilities for Power Apps that empower everyone to create apps. Charles Lamanna, who leads the Engineering team for the Low Code Application Platform, will demo a variety of capabilities and scenarios, share customer success stories, and provide a roadmap of new features heading to Power Apps this year.

10:45 AM to 11:15 AM Pacific Time

Elevating end-to-end experiences and building deeper relationships

Join Muhammad Alam, Corporate Vice President for Dynamics 365, for an engaging look at digital tools to break down boundaries to empower everyone in the organization to create new value through customer obsession.

Live sessions with Q&A (9:45 AM to 3:15 PM Pacific Time)

Attend virtual sessions that will grow your expertise and lead to greater business outcomes from industry leaders and moderators who will help field your questions live throughout the presentations. After the event, you’ll be able to watch the sessions and even more content on-demand. Choose from a variety of sessions, including:

• Explore ways to close the skills gap and invest in employee learning with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides (9:45 AM to 10:15 AM Pacific Time).
• ISV Connect: Driving partner innovation and success with Business Applications. If you’re a Microsoft Partner, hear how independent software vendors (ISVs) are driving innovation with their customers building solutions on the Business Application platform using the platform, marketing, and co-sell benefits of the ISV Connect Program (9:45 AM to 10:15 AM Pacific Time).
• Learn how to streamline a myriad of your business processes with digital and robotic process automation (11:45 AM to 12:15 PM Pacific Time).
• Explore the latest innovation and best practices to deliver next-level customer personalization with responsible AI and insights (12:45 PM to 1:15 PM Pacific Time).
• Learn how Power Platform governance and security capabilities can help you strike the proper balance between faster solution delivery and safeguarding company data (12:45 PM to 1:15 PM Pacific Time).
• Learn howorchestrating real-time journeys and delivering relevant contentcan help you revolutionize how you create meaningful experiences for your audiences (1:45 PM to 2:15 PM Pacific Time).

This is just a sample of the day’s line-up of featured sessionsexplore the full session catalog to plan your day.

Live experiences in the Connection Zone (9:45 AM to 3:15 PM Pacific Time)

Join us for live experiences in the Connection Zone where you can connect with Microsoft and other attendees in a variety of ways, including:

• Ask the Experts: Microsoft subject matter experts will answer your questions in real-time about content you consumed in the Featured Sessions.
• Learn Live: Guided online experiences with a subject matter expert who will walk and talk through Microsoft Learn modules.
• Humans of IT: Discover the intersection between humanity and tech through inspirational stories.
• Cloud Skills Challenge: Participate in interactive learning modules and hone your skills in Business Applications focused challenges.
• Table Talks: Share insights with other attendees in an ongoing live chat. Then, listen to community leads highlight what’s been discussed.
• Product Roundtables: Participate in two-way discussions with the product teams where they’ll listen to your feedback and help shape the future of Microsoft products.

Explore the full line-up of Connection Zone experiences.

Get ready to go digital

Don’t forget to register for Microsoft Business Applications Summit and invite your team to join us for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform-focused content on turning data into action, opportunities to hone their skills, the chance to connect with experts, and engage with the community. We hope you’ll join us!

The post Your guide to Microsoft Business Applications Summit 2021 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

If small and midsized businesses (SMBs) have one thing in common, it is that they are all unique. Differentiate or fail is especially true when it comes to small and midsized business strategy. The secret sauce is what helps leaders of these companies blaze new trails and disrupt industries with innovative products and services. However, disrupting industries requires more than passion and great ideas; SMBs also need the ability to quickly adapt business and operating models to deliver on their vision and brand promises. And the level of business agility required for success takes an ecosystem to deliver.

Adapt faster with Dynamics 365 Business Central

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides a connected cloud business management solution for growing SMBs. Connected means you can bring together your finance, sales, services, and operations teams within a single application to get the insights needed to drive your business forward and be prepared for what’s next. While the out-of-the-box capabilities meet the needs for standard business operations, Dynamics 365 Business Central offers operational flexibility to help SMBs adapt faster to changing market conditions and customer expectations.

Our customers use Microsoft Power Platform, connected to Dynamics 365 Business Central, Office 365, Microsoft Azure, and hundreds of other apps, to further analyze data, build solutions, automate processes, and create virtual agents. Microsoft Power Apps turns ideas into organizational solutions by enabling everyone to build custom apps that solve unique business challenges.

We also work closely with our partners to support unique business processes, workflows, and operational models at scale. Our partners build a solution based on industry best practices, so you don’t have to recreate the wheel. You can find over 1,400 apps on Microsoft AppSource to easily tailor and extend Dynamics 365 Business Central to meet unique business or industry-specific needs. Filter for Dynamics 365 Business Central on AppSource and you will find apps for everything from A to Z allocations, banking, and construction to warehousing, XML, yield, and zoning.

At our Directions North America partner conference on April 26, 2021, we will introduce some new applications that will be coming soon to Microsoft AppSource, including:

• Bill.com streamlines accounts payables and receivables automation workflows and payments: Announced earlier this month, Bill.com will integrate with Dynamics 365 Business Central and Microsoft Dynamics GP. Bill.com is a leading provider of cloud-based software that automates complex back-office financial operations for SMBs. Mutual customers will now be able to take control of their financial processes, save time, and scale with confidence through the power of the integrations’ accounts payables (AP) and accounts receivables (AR) intelligent automation workflows and payments. The Bill.com and Microsoft Dynamics 365 automatic sync is now live. Find out more information on the Bill.com Sync with Microsoft Dynamics 365.
• Square lets you accept payments quickly, easily, and securely: Make accepting card payments fast, painless, and secure so that you don’t miss a sale. Whether you’re selling in person, online, or on the go, Square helps you get paid fast, every time. Using the Square Payments app from AppSource will automatically sync with Dynamics 365 Business Central so you can keep track of all of your payments in one place.
• ODP Corporation (parent company of Office Depot) digital procurement platform: As announced on February 22, 2021, the ODP Corporation is partnering with Microsoft to transform how businesses buy and sell. ODP is working to bring the power of their new digital procurement technology platform to Dynamics 365 Business Central customers to help them realize immediate purchase savings and procurement automation. This exciting integration will be coming later in 2021.

Work smarter with Dynamics 365 Business Central

As Dynamics 365 Business Central is part of the Microsoft cloud, our customers also have the ability to extend the solution using Office 365, including Teams, Outlook, Excel, and Word. Don’t let disconnected processes and systems hold your people back. Connecting your business application with productivity tools can help support remote work, improve security, and control costs. Ensure your people can be more collaborative, productive, and impactful by seamlessly connecting Dynamics 365 Business Central with Microsoft 365 apps.

No matter how you choose to manage customer workflows, processes, and unique models, Dynamics 365 Business Central provides the operational foundation and flexibility that is required for success.

Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Business Central partners can learn more at Dynamics 365 Business Central the Directions North America virtual event on April 26-28, 2021.

The post Success for small and midsized businesses requires agility appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

The Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app helps your frontline workers manage and complete their service tasks while onsite at a job. The mobile app enables them to view their daily schedule, complete inspections, bill for products and services, send reports to customers, and submit their time-off requests.

The Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app is built on Microsoft Power Platform. If your organization is using the mobile app built on the Xamarin platform, you’ll need a plan to move workers to the Power Platform mobile app by June 2022.

As you transition your organization to the Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app, follow these best practices and tips for setup and deployment.

Tip 1: Assign the Field Service-Resource security role or equivalent permissions

To make sure that frontline workers have access to the right tables (entities) and columns (fields) on the mobile app, you might need to edit the security role assigned to them.

Assign each frontline worker, or resource, the Field Service-Resource security role and field security profile because many processes check for users with that security role. For more information, check out the frontline worker setup instructions.

For example, the Booking and Work Order form is visible to users with the Field Service-Resource security role by default, but users with other security roles need to be given access explicitly.

Augmenting the Field Service-Resource role

If you want to augment the security privileges of the Field Service-Resource security role, you need to create a new role with the permissions you want to add, and then assign the new security role to users in addition to the Field Service-Resource security role. The same principle applies for field security profiles.

Removing privileges from the Field Service-Resource role

If you intend to remove or lower security privileges, then we recommend that you copy the Field Service-Resource security role, make your changes to the copy, and then assign the copied security role to the frontline worker users. Then, give your newly created copy of the security role access to the Booking and Work Order form included with Dynamics 365 Field Service. This form is used to view scheduled jobs (see the next tip).

Read about Field Service security roles for more information and steps to copy security roles.

Performance considerations

Using the mobile application with a role that has broad access to data, like an admin role, might result in larger data downloads and longer sync times of offline data. Test your application with the security role applicable to end users.

For more information about security roles, check out Install and set up the Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app.

Tip 2: Use forms and controls included with the Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app

It’s important to use the forms that come with Field Service rather than creating new ones, because the default forms and controls are optimized for performance and usability on mobile devices.

For example, use the Booking and Work Order form to show frontline workers their schedules and job information. The Booking and Work Order form has custom code that is purpose-built for field service scenarios. Add your organization’s schedule and job information into the form.

The same is true for controls. Use the controls that are included with Field Service where possible. Examples include the booking map for job locations and the calendar control for schedules.

Here is an example of some of the mobile optimized forms and controls included with the Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app, such as at-a-glance agenda view, customer information with address and maps, and an intuitive experience to track the services performed and parts consumed:

Performance considerations

Surface the most relevant fields and information to technicians up front. Overloading the form with less-used fields and controls will impact app performance, so consider creating new sections or tabs to host custom content. Take feedback from users to determine what content is necessary and what can be removed or hidden from forms.

For more information, go to Edit the sitemap (home screen), forms, and views.

Tip 3: Follow best practices when using offline profiles

Offline profiles control which data is downloaded to the device. We strongly recommend that you use the offline feature, even if your frontline workers always have internet access.

Using downloaded data is much faster than using data on the server that is accessed over the internet, thus improving overall performance. Set up an offline profile, and then add users and teams to the offline profile.

Here are a few more pro tips for using offline profiles:

• Use the offline profile included with Field Service – The Field Service Mobile Offline Profile provides an ideal starting point for offline configuration, with defaults for out-of-the-box entities and sync intervals. Use this profile and build upon it by including your custom entities. By working within the provided profile, default entities can still receive updates over time.
• Avoid removing default entities from the offline profile – These default entities are purposefully added to ensure the right data is available to the frontline worker. Focus on adding the entities you need to the offline profile rather than removing ones you do not need.
• Avoid using “All records” as an offline filter – The offline profile is the gate that controls the amount of data downloaded to the frontline workers’ devices. To keep sync times fast and efficient, avoid including “All records” as an entity filter and avoid wide date ranges. As an example, rather than downloading all customer asset records, download only the records related to scheduled work orders. This will reduce the number of customer asset records without impacting work that needs to be done.
• Use offline JavaScript Organizations often need to run workflows on mobile devices to execute business processes. However, Power Automate flows only run when the device is connected to the internet or on the next sync. Use offline JavaScript to run workflows on the device quickly and without internet access. For more information, go to Workflows and scripts for the Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app.
• Understand how the app works offline. Lastly, it is important to know that once you set up an offline profile, the mobile app prioritizes offline operations. This means the app will use downloaded data when there is no internet access, and even when there is internet access. The only difference is that, when there is internet access, data will be synced back to the server every few minutes or when the frontline worker manually syncs the app. When there is no Internet access, the sync runs later, when a connection is restored.

Performance considerations

By using offline profiles, data will be downloaded to the device. With offline data, in-app performance such as displaying forms will be much better. Limiting the amount of data in the offline profile to what is needed by the user will improve sync performance.

For more information, go to Configure offline data and sync filters for the Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app.

Tip 4: Use up-to-date devices that meet recommended requirements

Many organizations follow a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy where frontline workers use their personal phones or other devices for business. The Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app works on many devices running iOS or Android software, and support for Windows 10 devices is planned.

For the best performance, make sure your team has newer devices that run the latest operating system versions. Review the supported mobile platforms for recommendations about operating system versions, RAM, and storage.

Tip 5: Take advantage of Microsoft Power Platform

The Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app is built on Microsoft Power Platform, so the mobile app can take advantage of several capabilities of Microsoft Power Platform.

Here are just two common examples:

• Use Power Automate to send push notifications to frontline worker devices based on predefined triggers and events. For more information, go to Enable push notifications.

• Use Power Apps component framework to create new controls for the Field Service mobile app. For more information, go to Power Apps component framework overview.

Planning for your deployment

In addition to these Field Service best practices, here are a few more planning tips that can be helpful for your project:

• Do user acceptance training. Ensure buy-in across your organization by bringing the people who will be using the application into the release process early. Select a diverse set of users across geographies or business units. Set up feedback channels to understand pain points and address problems before going live.
• Do a phased roll out. Reduce risk by segmenting your release over phases; commonly this is done by geography, or by business group. Take feedback from users and expand the deployment once stable.
• Pilot the mobile apps side-by-side. If you are a current customer of Field Service, you can pilot the new Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app alongside the Field Service Mobile (Xamarin) app, as well as other Field Service apps your organization might be using. This will help you assess how your frontline workers are currently using the apps: what data is most important and what information is most commonly viewed and edited. In this way, you will better understand what functionality to include in the new Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile app.
• Measure performance. How the mobile app performs is a big factor in how much frontline workers enjoy using the app. Add performance measures to the deployment plan and test how editing forms, the mobile offline profile, and workflows affect app performance. Take feedback from users to determine what is necessary and what can be removed or hidden from forms.

Next steps

We’ve put together some resources to help you before and during your mobile deployment.

• Field Service mobile adoption playbook – Get guidance on how to plan for and adopt Field Service (Dynamics 365) mobile, along with information on how to manage migration from the previous mobile app.
• Dynamics 365 Field Service docs Find details to set up and use every feature of the mobile app, along with configuration considerations and FAQs.
• Field Service videos Watch step-by-step video tutorials to set up and use the mobile app.

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