It’s that time of the year again, when Microsoft releases its ‘book’ of release notes that details the upcoming features in the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform family of products. This plan is for D365 and Power Platform features releasing April 2021, through September 2021.
The plan is a whopping 347 pages. For perspective’s sake, the 2020 Wave II document was more than 500 pages. We’re not sure if this means there are fewer features this go around, or if Microsoft is getting more careful about what they are signing up to do. Keep in mind that features listed in the release notes might be moved to a later wave, dates may change, or additional features may be added. You can view the change history once the roll-out starts on the Microsoft Docs site.
To get a high-level perspective on where Microsoft is headed with this wave, you can start with the blog from Microsoft executive Mo Osborne. Then, you can either browse the release plan online or download the document as a PDF file.
Key dates for the 2021 Wave 1 Milestone Date
Release plans available: January 27, 2021
Early access available: February 1, 2021
General Availability (Production deployment begins): April 2, 2021
Feature Highlights in 2021 Wave 1
There is a lot of information to unpack in this document, but we’ve highlighted some of the higher profile features you can expect in the 2021 Wave 1 Release. This release also applies to on-premises versions of Finance and Supply Chain Management.
D365 for Finance
Supply Chain Management
Project Operations
Cross-application Capabilities
Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Field Service
The Power Platform
Dynamics Business Central
Dynamics 365 Business Central delivers a set of new features designed to simplify and improve the way partners administer tenants, and the way administrators manage licensing and permissions. Application enhancements expand the integration with Microsoft Teams, add country and regional expansions, and include moves to Visual Studio Code to provide modern development tools, further enhancing the productivity for developers.
Microsoft provides you with the option to work with and validate a select set of upcoming features before they're enabled automatically during the April update. Here are step-by-step instructions about how to opt in to early access updates.
For a complete list of new features, be sure to review the documents: Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. If you have any questions about these features and how they might benefit your organization, reach out to us!