Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/ The future of agentic CRM and ERP Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:57:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.5 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/cropped-cropped-microsoft_logo_element.png Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/ 32 32 .cloudblogs .cta-box>.link { font-size: 15px; font-weight: 600; display: inline-block; background: #008272; line-height: 1; text-transform: none; padding: 15px 20px; text-decoration: none; color: white; } .cloudblogs img { height: auto; } .cloudblogs img.alignright { float:right; } .cloudblogs img.alignleft { float:right; } .cloudblogs figcaption { padding: 9px; color: #737373; text-align: left; font-size: 13px; font-size: 1.3rem; } .cloudblogs .cta-box.-center { text-align: center; } .cloudblogs .cta-box.-left { padding: 20px 0; } .cloudblogs .cta-box.-right { padding: 20px 0; text-align:right; } .cloudblogs .cta-box { margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 20px; } .cloudblogs .cta-box.-image { position:relative; } .cloudblogs .cta-box.-image>.link { position: absolute; top: auto; left: 50%; -webkit-transform: translate(-50%,0); transform: translate(-50%,0); bottom: 0; } .cloudblogs table { width: 100%; } .cloudblogs table tr { border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; padding: 8px 0; } ]]> Build a connected foundation for Supplier Engagement and agentic AI with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/20/supplier-engagement-dynamics-365-supply-chain-management/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/20/supplier-engagement-dynamics-365-supply-chain-management/#respond Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:30:00 +0000 Supplier Engagement in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management helps organizations connect supplier experiences, procurement operations, and business data while creating a stronger foundation for AI and agentic business processes.

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Summary Supplier Engagement in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management helps organizations connect supplier experiences, procurement processes, and business data in a single, extensible environment. Built on Microsoft Power Platform, it enables more consistent supplier management while providing the connected business context and governance needed to support AI and agent-driven procurement scenarios.


Giving suppliers better digital experiences shouldn’t require IT teams to create another disconnected system to manage. As organizations introduce AI and agents into business processes, that becomes even more important. Agents need access to business data and context, while organizations need to maintain the security, permissions, policies, and controls that govern how work gets done.

Supplier processes illustrate this challenge. Supplier information and interactions can span registration and qualification, sourcing, purchasing, invoicing, and ongoing supplier management. When those interactions take place across separate portals, email, and disconnected tools, organizations can end up with fragmented supplier information and additional integration and governance requirements.

Supplier Engagement in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is available in public preview and is designed for composability, helping organizations bring supplier interactions into a more connected environment.

Built using Microsoft Power Platform and as part of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Supplier Engagement extends how suppliers and procurement teams interact with strategic and operational source-to-pay processes while keeping those interactions connected to operational data and processes in Dynamics 365.

This approach gives organizations the flexibility to adapt supplier experiences to their business requirements while maintaining the connection to the enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes, data, and controls that support procurement operations.

For CIOs and IT teams, as well as sourcing and procurement teams, this provides a composable approach to supplier engagement today and can help establish the connected data, business context, and governance foundation needed as AI and agents become increasingly integrated into business processes.

Connect supplier experiences to the processes that run your business

Suppliers need accessible ways to register, maintain information, respond to requests for quotation (RFQs), confirm purchase orders, submit invoices, and collaborate with procurement teams. Traditionally, supporting these supplier experiences can mean adding supplier-facing systems and then integrating them with ERP systems.

Supplier Engagement takes a more connected approach. Microsoft Power Platform capabilities, including Dataverse, model-driven Power Apps, and Power Pages, support experiences tailored to suppliers and procurement teams. Suppliers can interact through a supplier portal, while procurement teams can manage supplier information and lifecycle activities through Supplier Engagement. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management remains the foundation for operational procurement processes and legal-entity transactions.

For IT teams, this architecture provides flexibility in how supplier experiences are delivered and extended while maintaining connections to the ERP processes and data that support procurement operations.

High-level logical architecture

Figure 1: Supplier Engagement architecture showing supplier and procurement experiences connected through Microsoft Power Platform to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Create a more consistent view of suppliers across the organization

A connected supplier experience depends on connected supplier information. This can be particularly challenging for organizations operating across multiple legal entities, where the same supplier may do business with different entities and business units of the organization.

Maintaining supplier information separately for each legal entity can contribute to duplicate information, inconsistent records, and additional administrative work. It can also make it more difficult to establish the consistent business context needed for analytics, AI, and agents.

Global vendor management in Supplier Engagement provides a shared supplier profile where information such as contacts, addresses, certifications, capabilities, and organizational details can be maintained centrally. Following the appropriate qualification and approval processes, relevant supplier information can then be released into one or more legal entities in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management for operational transactions.

This approach can help organizations establish a more consistent supplier identity across the business while continuing to support the legal-entity structures required for procurement operations.

The following illustration shows the data flow between the Supplier Engagement app and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management for global vendor records. When you create, update, or delete a global vendor record in the Supplier Engagement application, plugins trigger on the msdyn_globalvendor Dataverse table and synchronize the changes to the mserp_vrmglobalvendorentity entity in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

When you update the entity in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, an OnExternalUpdate plugin triggers and synchronizes the changes back to Dataverse.

Adapt supplier experiences with Microsoft Power Platform

Supplier requirements rarely remain static. Organizations may need to change onboarding processes, capture additional information, adapt experiences for different supplier groups, or extend processes as business requirements evolve.

Supplier Engagement uses Microsoft Power Platform to provide an extensible foundation for these experiences. Dataverse supports the engagement data model, while Power Apps and Power Pages provide experiences for procurement teams and external suppliers. Organizations can build on these capabilities to adapt Supplier Engagement to their requirements while maintaining connections to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

For organizations already using Microsoft Power Platform, this also means Supplier Engagement can become part of a broader approach to application development, extensibility, and governance rather than introducing another technology environment for IT teams to manage.

This composable approach can give organizations greater flexibility to evolve supplier experiences as requirements change while keeping those experiences connected to the ERP processes they support.

Maintain control over data and process boundaries

Composability becomes more valuable when IT teams can maintain clear boundaries around data ownership and operational processes.

Supplier Engagement uses event-driven synchronization and configurable mappings to connect supplier information in Dataverse with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. Virtual entities can make Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management data available through Dataverse without requiring the underlying operational records to be copied into Dataverse, while APIs and OData actions connect supplier interactions with relevant Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management processes.

Administrators can configure mappings for the data that needs to move between Supplier Engagement and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. Dynamics 365 Supplier Engagement uses synchronization capabilities designed for its supplier data and process model, which are distinct from standard dual-write. Organizations should not configure both mechanisms for the same Supplier Engagement entities because doing so can result in duplicate records and make data ownership more difficult to manage.

These capabilities give IT teams tools to define data ownership and synchronization boundaries based on their architecture and business requirements while keeping operational procurement processes anchored in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

Build the business context agents need

As organizations introduce agents into business processes, the quality of the underlying business context becomes increasingly important. Agents need more than access to data. They need to understand the context surrounding that data, including the supplier relationship, where work is within a process, and the permissions, policies, approvals, and business rules that apply.

Disconnected supplier information makes that context more difficult to establish. Bringing supplier information and interactions into a connected environment with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management can help establish a stronger data and process foundation for AI and agents.

Supplier Engagement helps connect supplier information and experiences with the operational procurement processes in Dynamics 365. As organizations evaluate agentic scenarios across procurement and supplier management, this foundation can provide agents with access to relevant supplier and process context while helping organizations maintain the permissions and controls established for their ERP environment.

This becomes increasingly important as AI evolves from helping people find and summarize information toward agents that can participate in business processes. The opportunity is not simply to give agents access to more data. It is to provide the business context they need to support work within the processes and controls an organization has established.

Prepare supplier processes for what comes next

The question is no longer simply how to provide another digital experience for suppliers. It is how to extend supplier processes without creating additional fragmentation while preparing the organization’s data and architecture for a future in which people and agents increasingly work across business processes.

Supplier Engagement brings together the operational foundation of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management with the extensibility of Microsoft Power Platform. Organizations can adapt supplier experiences to meet business requirements, connect supplier information across procurement processes, and maintain control over how those experiences interact with ERP data and processes.

As organizations adopt more AI and agentic capabilities, this connected foundation becomes increasingly important. Bringing together supplier information, business context, extensibility, and governance can help organizations prepare supplier processes for an agentic future while continuing to support the procurement requirements they have today.

Explore Supplier Engagement to learn how the public preview can help connect supplier experiences, data, and procurement processes.

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Breaking the Company Boundary: Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment and Advanced Warehouse Support in DOM http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/19/cross-legal-entity-fulfillment-dynamics-365/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/19/cross-legal-entity-fulfillment-dynamics-365/#respond Wed, 19 Aug 2026 15:30:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/19/cross-legal-entity-fulfillment-dynamics-365/ Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment Optimization in Dynamics 365 enables organizations to source inventory across participating legal entities, automate intercompany transactions, and improve fulfillment decisions with Distributed Order Management.

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Private Preview: Dynamics 365 version 10.0.48 

Public Preview: Dynamics 365 version 10.0.49 

Disclaimer: The capabilities described here are in preview. Preview features are provided for evaluation only, are subject to change, and may not be released in their current form. Availability, timing, and functionality of any feature described here, including roadmap items and capabilities not yet generally available, are not guaranteed and should not be relied upon when making purchasing decisions. 

Inventory is often available, just not in the company where demand shows up. A customer may place an order in one legal entity while the best available stock sits in another. When that happens, teams often fall back on manual intercompany coordination, which slows fulfillment and adds operational cost. 

Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment Optimization in Dynamics 365 helps remove that barrier. By combining Distributed Order Management (DOM) with automated intercompany orchestration, the system can evaluate inventory across participating legal entities, help identify a suitable fulfillment location, and create the required transactions automatically. 

In practice, fulfillment decisions can be based on the right business signals, such as inventory availability, distance, cost, and sourcing rules, instead of being limited by company boundaries. 

For example, a retailer with separate legal entities in Germany, France, and Spain may receive an order in Germany when the local entity is out of stock. With this capability, DOM can identify available inventory in France, create the required intercompany flow, and route fulfillment to a suitable location. The customer gets a smooth order experience, while the retailer makes better use of inventory across the enterprise.

What we’re releasing 

Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment Optimization introduces five core capabilities: 

  • Cross-LE fulfillment groups: Define fulfillment groups that include warehouses and stores across multiple legal entities, so DOM can evaluate a broader enterprise network instead of a single company. 
  • Cross-LE inventory visibility for optimization: Allow DOM to evaluate inventory availability from participating legal entities and source from a larger inventory pool. 
  • Enhanced fulfillment profiles and rules: Support multi-entity fulfillment strategies while preserving entity-specific configuration, such as delivery modes and sales order origins. You can define fulfillment logic once and apply it consistently across entities. 
  • Automated intercompany transaction orchestration: When inventory is sourced from another entity, the system creates the required intercompany transaction chain automatically. 
  • Cross-entity fulfillment execution: Orders sourced from another legal entity can be fulfilled through familiar execution experiences while remaining synchronized across participating entities. 

How it works 

Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment Optimization is a headless capability provided by Dynamics 365 Commerce and available in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (HQ). As long as orders are created in, or synchronized to, Finance and Operations, DOM can evaluate fulfillment options across participating legal entities and orchestrate the required fulfillment process. 

The initial release supports retail orders. Support for broader Supply Chain Management sales order scenarios is planned on the roadmap. Roadmap items are subject to change and are not a commitment to deliver. 

When DOM determines that inventory should be sourced from another legal entity, it orchestrates the intercompany transaction flow: the Original Sales Order (OSO), the Intercompany Purchase Order (IC PO), and the Intercompany Sales Order (IC SO). These documents remain synchronized throughout the fulfillment lifecycle. 

Fulfillment teams continue to use standard processes such as picking, packing, shipping, invoicing, and rejection handling. Status updates flow through the chain so each participating entity stays aligned. If a location rejects an order or inventory constraints change, fulfillment can be reassessed and optimized again using current conditions. 

The goal is a flow that feels seamless for operations while still preserving the controls, accounting, and intercompany structures that enterprises require. 

Business benefits 

  • Increase inventory utilization: Make inventory usable across entities and reduce situations where stock exists but cannot satisfy demand. 
  • Optimize fulfillment decisions: Let the engine choose the optimal location based on availability, distance, rules, and constraints, across participating legal entities. 
  • Reduce manual effort: Automate intercompany transaction creation and ongoing synchronization. 
  • Improve the customer experience: Increase fulfillment flexibility and help satisfy demand faster and more consistently. 
  • Create a connected enterprise network: Move from isolated legal entity processes toward a more unified fulfillment strategy. 

Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment Optimization follows Cross-Legal-Entity Inventory Lookup, released in 10.0.47. That earlier capability gave store associates the ability to see inventory across legal entities. Together, the two capabilities create a more complete cross-legal-entity flow, from visibility through fulfillment. 

The progression is simple: see inventory across legal entities, optimize fulfillment across legal entities, and execute fulfillment across legal entities. 

This helps organizations move beyond simply viewing inventory in another entity. They can act on it through intelligent optimization and automated execution, which is an important step toward a more connected fulfillment model across participating legal entities. 

Getting started 

Configuration builds on existing Distributed Order Management capabilities: 

  • Enable Distributed Order Management and Azure Maps. 
  • Establish intercompany trading relationships between participating legal entities. 
  • Configure DOM Intercompany Vendor Mapping. 
  • Define fulfillment groups that span participating legal entities. 
  • Configure fulfillment profiles and rules. 
  • Schedule the DOM processing jobs. 

Full configuration steps, fulfillment scenarios, and troubleshooting guidance are available in the product documentation

Availability 

 Availability 
10.0.48 Private Preview 
10.0.49 Public Preview 

Customers in the 10.0.48 private preview can contact the product team for enablement by creating an ICM with their environment details. Beginning with the 10.0.49 public preview, customers can self-enable the feature through Feature Management. 

Looking ahead 

Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment Optimization is more than a new feature. It is an early step toward more connected fulfillment across participating legal entities. 

Today, the capability supports Commerce sales orders across channels, including POS, e-commerce, call center, and headless orders through Commerce Scale Unit (CSU). We have also heard a clear ask from customers: make this compatible with Supply Chain Management (SCM) sales orders as well, so the same cross-legal-entity fulfillment approach can work for all sales order types. 

Cross-legal-entity inventory visibility for customer-facing e-commerce experiences is another area we are evaluating. Roadmap plans are subject to change and are not a commitment to deliver.

We are already looking into that direction. If SCM sales order support is important for your business, please reach out. We would like to understand your requirements. 

How to enable and share feedback 

  • Have feedback?: Leave a comment or reach out to me directly. 
  • Want to try it on 10.0.48 private preview? Raise an incident to request flight enablement and include your environment details. In 10.0.49 public preview, you can self-enable through Feature Management, so no incident is needed. 

Also recent release: DOM support for advanced warehouse items (10.0.46) 

DOM now supports advanced warehouse-enabled items, allowing them to participate in sourcing and fulfillment optimization scenarios where they were previously excluded. This expands the inventory DOM can evaluate and helps organizations apply fulfillment optimization more consistently across products managed with advanced warehouse processes. 

DOM is also compatible with advanced warehouse scenarios where inventory availability is correctly calculated with inventory statuses enabled, and where warehouse work, loads, and shipments align with the fulfillment strategy. 

One inventory network. Multiple legal entities. One intelligent fulfillment decision. That is the future we are building toward. 

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Announcing Shift Rotation Policies: automated shift rotations at scale http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/14/shift-rotation-policies-workforce-management/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/14/shift-rotation-policies-workforce-management/#respond Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:30:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=202991 Introducing Shift Rotation Policies in Dynamics 365 Workforce Management, a new capability that automates rotating schedules, improves operational consistency, and reduces manual scheduling effort

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Define your rotation pattern once — Workforce Management runs it automatically and predictably, cycle after cycle.

Managing rotating shift schedules for customer service teams can be complex and time-consuming. Whether you operate a 24×7 support organization, a global business process outsourcing (BPO) operation, or a regional service desk, maintaining consistent shift rotations often requires significant manual effort.

Today, we’re announcing Shift Rotation Policies in Dynamics 365 Workforce Management, a new capability that lets supervisors define a rotation pattern once and let the scheduler run it automatically, cycle after cycle.

The problem: rotation done manually doesn’t scale

Talk to any workforce manager running a 24×7 operation and you’ll hear a version of the same story:

  • A biweekly rotation across morning, evening, and night slots takes 2–4 hours of supervisor time per shift plan, per cycle.
  • Rotation logic lives outside the scheduling system — usually in a spreadsheet — which means every schedule regeneration risks breaking the pattern.
  • Coverage requirements are rarely uniform across the week, so weekday and weekend patterns have to be assembled by hand, shift by shift.
  • Agents have little visibility into the rotation, because they can’t see how the pattern works or when they’ll move to the next slot.
  • New joiners, exits, and long absences quietly desynchronize the rotation, and the supervisor has to correct it manually.

When this issue multiplies across 10, 30, or 50 shift plans, rotation administration becomes a bottleneck. It gets in the way of the work supervisors are actually hired to do: coaching agents and running the operation.

Introducing Shift Rotation Policies

Shift Rotation Policies bring the rotation pattern into Workforce Management. Supervisors build the policy once and attach it to one or more shift plans. From that point on, the auto-scheduler consults the policy every time it generates bookings, drawing agents from the correct rotation cohort based on where each shift plan is in its cadence.

No spreadsheets, manual re-shuffles, or guesswork.

What you can configure

\A cadence and a set of slots makes up a rotation policy. Each slot is one position in the rotation, and each is defined on its own terms:

  • A rotation cadence that matches your business. Set how frequently the rotation advances — weekly, biweekly, monthly, or any multi-week cycle that suits your operation.
  • Between 2 and 24 slots per policy. Model anything from a simple two-way day/night swap to a highly segmented coverage pattern.
  • Start and end times per slot. Each slot carries its own working window, so slots can differ in both timing and length rather than being uniform blocks.
  • Day-of-week validity per slot. Choose the days each slot applies to, so weekday, weekend, and compressed patterns are expressed directly in the policy.
  • Agent cohorts assigned to each slot. Supervisors decide exactly which service representatives sit in each slot, and the whole cohort advances together as the rotation moves.
  • Activation date and time zone. Set when the policy takes effect and the time zone it operates in, so distributed teams stay aligned.
  • Reuse across shift plans. One policy can drive rotations for multiple shift plans, so you don’t rebuild the same pattern for every plan.
  • Pause, resume, or detach at any time. Freeze cohort positions when operations change, then resume — or detach the policy to return to non-rotation scheduling.
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Putting it together

Consider a regional service desk that supports customers seven days a week, with heavier volumes on weekdays and lighter weekend traffic. The workforce team creates a single policy on a four-week cadence with four slots, and assigns one cohort to each:

SlotDaysHoursCohort
EarlyMonday–Friday06:00–14:00Cohort A
LateMonday–Friday14:00–22:00Cohort B
Peak supportTuesday–Friday11:00–19:00Cohort C
WeekendSaturday–Sunday09:00–19:00Cohort D

Every four weeks, each cohort advances one position: Cohort A moves to Late, Cohort B picks up Peak support, Cohort C takes the weekend rota, and Cohort D moves to Early. Weekday mornings and evenings stay fully covered, the mid-week volume peak gets a dedicated overlapping block, and weekend duty circulates across the whole team instead of landing on the same people every month.

The team configures this once. Every subsequent schedule generation applies it, and the pattern in the policy is exactly the pattern that appears on the schedule board.

🌍  At global scale A global BPO running 24×7 support from three centers previously spent close to a full day per fortnight manually reassigning agents across morning, evening, and night windows. With a single biweekly policy linked to their shift plans, that work now happens as part of every schedule generation — freeing the workforce team to focus on forecasting and coverage quality instead of rota mechanics.

Get started–in three steps

  1. Create a rotation policy. In Workforce Management, open the Shift Rotations page and create a policy. Set the name, activation date, time zone, and the cadence at which the rotation advances.
  2. Define your slots and assign agents. Add your slots, set the hours and days each one covers, and assign the service representatives who belong to each slot.
  3. Link the policy to your shift plans. Open a shift plan, select the rotation policy, and save. The next auto-schedule run draws agents from the cohort whose rotation position matches each booking’s window.

What makes this different

Traditional rotation approaches rebuild the schedule from scratch every cycle, or hard-code the rotation into individual agent calendars. Shift Rotation Policies work differently:

  • Reusable by design. One policy drives rotations across as many shift plans as you need.
  • Native to the scheduler. Rotation is not a bolt-on utility. It’s a first-class input to the auto-scheduler, so bookings are always consistent with the rotation cohort.
  • Explicit, not inferred. Supervisors decide exactly who belongs to which slot — no black-box logic reshuffling agents in ways employees can’t anticipate.
  • Built for real coverage patterns. Hours, days, slot count, and cadence are all configurable, so the policy reflects how the operation actually runs rather than forcing it into a uniform template.
  • Fully reversible. Rotation state is managed centrally, so pausing or unwinding a rotation never means rebuilding schedules by hand.

Why this matters

Shift Rotation Policies deliver value on three sides of the operation:

For supervisorsFor agentsFor the business
Hours of manual rotation admin per cycle disappear. That time returns to coaching, quality reviews, and running the floor.Rotations become transparent and predictable. Agents can see the pattern, know which days and hours they work, and know when they move to the next slot.Coverage becomes consistent and easy to scale — whether you run one shift plan or five hundred, rotation is a configuration, not an operational cost.

Availability

Shift Rotation Policies will be generally available in Dynamics 365 Workforce Management on 15th August. The capability can be configured by supervisors in Customer Service admin center, under Workforce Management → Shift and Scheduling.

Learn more and get started

We built Shift Rotation Policies alongside customers running some of the most complex customer service operations in the world. Does your organization run rotating shifts today? We’d love to hear how you plan to use this. Share your feedback in the comments or reach out to your Microsoft account team.

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Microsoft named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CRM Sales Platforms for the sixteenth consecutive year http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/08/11/microsoft-named-a-leader-in-the-2026-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-crm-sales-platforms-for-the-sixteenth-consecutive-year/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/08/11/microsoft-named-a-leader-in-the-2026-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-crm-sales-platforms-for-the-sixteenth-consecutive-year/#respond Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:30:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=202641 Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CRM Sales Platforms. Learn how AI-powered capabilities in Dynamics 365 are helping sales teams move from systems of record to systems of action.

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Sales teams have access to more information in the flow of work than ever before. Customer conversations, customer relationship management (CRM) data, meetings, emails, service interactions, and market signals can all provide valuable context—but only if sellers can quickly turn that information into meaningful next steps.

For many organizations, that is becoming the real challenge. The issue isn’t a lack of data or activity. It’s helping sellers understand what matters most, prioritize effectively, and confidently take the next step with customers.

That’s why the sales force automation market is evolving. Organizations are increasingly looking beyond traditional CRM capabilities and evaluating how AI can help transform research, decision-making, and execution across the sales process. They’re looking for a system of action, not just a system of record.

We’re excited to share that Microsoft has been recognized as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CRM Sales Platforms, marking the sixteenth consecutive year in the Leaders quadrant.

Microsoft is named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CRM Sales Platforms

Employees walking through a modern office lobby while colleagues gather for a team discussion, representing workplace collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM) sales teams, and business productivity.
2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Sales Platforms showing Microsoft and Salesforce in the Leaders quadrant, with other CRM vendors positioned across the Challengers, Visionaries, and Niche Players quadrants.
Figure 1: Gartner, Magic Quadrant for CRM Sales Platforms*

Dynamics 365 Sales continues to evolve with AI-powered capabilities designed to help sellers work more efficiently and focus on customer engagement. Organizations can use these capabilities to streamline everyday sales activities, surface relevant information, reduce manual work, and support more informed customer interactions while maintaining control over how AI is applied within their sales processes.

Why this matters for sales teams

Sales organizations are under growing pressure to do more with less.

Buyers expect more personalized engagement, faster responses, and better experiences across every interaction. At the same time, sellers must navigate increasing amounts of information spread across multiple systems and touchpoints.

As a result, many teams are spending valuable time researching accounts, gathering context, updating records, and coordinating next steps rather than focusing on customer engagement.

This is where AI is beginning to play a meaningful role.

Rather than simply surfacing information, AI can help sellers synthesize insights from multiple sources, identify possible priorities, recommend actions, and support decision-making throughout the sales cycle. The goal is not to replace sellers; it is to help them move faster with better context and greater confidence—through a system of action that helps guide the next best step.

For sales leaders, these same capabilities can provide improved visibility into pipeline health, potential risks, and areas that require attention, helping organizations make more informed decisions and improve execution across teams.

How Microsoft is helping modernize sales execution with AI

Dynamics 365 Sales is designed to help organizations bring together CRM data, productivity tools, collaboration experiences, and AI-powered assistance into a unified sales experience. Gartner notes that Microsoft helps sales teams improve pipeline visibility and seller productivity through AI-driven research, analytics, and workflow automation. By combining CRM, productivity, and collaboration data with extensible AI agents, organizations can make more informed sales decisions while reducing manual effort.

For example, capabilities such as Sales Research Agent, Data Enrichment Agent, and Sales Agent help keep customer and opportunity data current, while Sales Qualification Agent can help sellers research, engage, and qualify leads more efficiently. Together, these tools help shift CRM from a system for recording sales activity to one that can actively support sellers throughout the sales process.

Microsoft also brings AI directly into the flow of work through Sales Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling context-aware meeting preparation, record summaries, follow-up assistance, and sales insights across Dynamics 365, Outlook, and Teams.

For organizations with unique business requirements, Copilot Studio and Microsoft Power Platform enable the creation of customized AI agents that connect systems, automate workflows, and support specialized sales processes subject to customer configuration, governance, and applicable product capabilities.

Together, these capabilities create a more connected selling experience—helping teams turn insights into action, collaborate more effectively, and execute with greater consistency across the sales cycle.

Hear from our customers

Sales Research Agent helps our sales leaders get from idea to business insight and action much faster. They can ask complex business questions in natural language and get clear, decision-ready insights in minutes. It simplifies disparate data sources into a centralized experience where we can make better planning and performance decisions with far less manual effort.

Karl Phenix VP, Global Microsoft Strategy & GTM at TTEC Digital

Sellers want more control and less manual work. Sales Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot prompts them to update records, assign tasks, and keep data current—without ever opening the CRM.

Keith Mescha, Executive Director, Tech Consulting, EY

AIdriven data enrichment will improve the quality, consistency, and completeness of customer data in Dynamics, reducing administration for every person on the sales teams while improving our ability to action, analyst, and improve customer outcomes.

Nick Segger, Head of Sales & Agency Transformation, NFU Mutual

As selling continues to evolve, Microsoft remains focused on helping organizations apply AI in practical ways that drive business outcomes while empowering sellers to focus on building customer relationships and moving opportunities forward.

Get more from Dynamics 365 Sales

See how AI-powered capabilities in Dynamics 365 Sales can help your team move from systems of record to systems of action—streamlining workflows, reducing manual effort, and enabling more effective customer engagement.


1 Gartner, Magic Quadrant for CRM Sales Platforms, Adnan Zijadic, Guy Wood, Wendy Butler-Mafuz, August 6, 2026 

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates.

All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 

*This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Microsoft.  

**Microsoft Dynamic CRM has been recognized as a Leader since 2011 and Microsoft Dynamics CMR Online has been recognized in the report since 2011. In 2017, Gartner combined all feedback for both products into a single Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales evaluation. 

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Microsoft enhances the Implementation Portal for Dynamics 365 with business process visualization http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/11/dynamics-365-implementation-portal-business-process-visualization/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/11/dynamics-365-implementation-portal-business-process-visualization/#respond Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:30:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=202953 Access Microsoft Business Process Catalog diagrams directly in the Dynamics 365 Implementation Portal to align stakeholders and improve implementation planning.

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Microsoft is enhancing the Implementation Portal for Dynamics 365 with business process visualization. This gives customers and partners access to the Microsoft Business Process Catalog directly within the project profiling experience.

Powered by Mavim, this new visualization capability helps implementation teams explore standard business processes, align on project scope, and make more informed implementation decisions earlier in the implementation lifecycle.

Successful implementations begin with a shared understanding of business processes. Before solution design, configuration, or deployment, project teams must agree on which business processes are in scope. They also agree on where standard capabilities meet business requirements and where unique business needs may require additional planning. The Implementation Portal now surfaces Microsoft Business Process Catalog context at the start of implementation planning.

Bringing business process context into project profiling

The Implementation Portal helps customers and implementation partners define the scope of a Dynamics 365 project. During project profiling, teams identify the products, capabilities, and business processes that will shape the implementation.

With this release, teams can now explore standard business process diagrams from the Microsoft Business Process Catalog without leaving the Implementation Portal. Teams can review process flows during project scoping, building a shared understanding across stakeholders from day one.

New capabilities include:

  • Opening and navigating standard business process diagrams from the Microsoft Business Process Catalog.
  • Exploring process hierarchies to support discovery and implementation planning.
  • Identifying business processes that are in scope or out of scope for the project.
  • Working with business process content directly within the project profiling experience.

These capabilities provide additional context during one of the most important phases of an implementation: defining what the organization plans to deliver.

A Shared Foundation for Implementation Planning

Project scope influences nearly every aspect of a Dynamics 365 implementation, from solution design and governance to project planning and delivery. Defining scope early helps align stakeholders. That shared understanding reduces ambiguity throughout implementation.

Incorporating the Microsoft Business Process Catalog into the Implementation Portal creates a common starting point for implementation discussions. Teams can reference standard Microsoft business processes during discovery workshops, evaluate which processes align with business requirements, and document implementation scope within a single experience.

This enhancement can help organizations:

  • Align business and technical stakeholders earlier in the implementation lifecycle.
  • Ground implementation discussions in standard Microsoft business process guidance.
  • Improve consistency across implementation teams by using a shared process framework.
  • Maintain traceability between business process decisions and implementation planning.
  • Create a stronger process foundation that supports future solution design activities.

Rather than changing how organizations implement Dynamics 365, this enhancement enriches an existing workflow by making business process guidance available where implementation decisions are made.

Kiwa Builds a Common Process Foundation

Organizations are already using the Microsoft Business Process Catalog to support business transformation initiatives. Kiwa, a global testing, inspection, and certification organization, is using Dynamics 365 and the Microsoft Business Process Catalog to help harmonize service operations across more than 200 legal entities in over 40 countries. By establishing a common process framework, the organization can compare current-state and future-state processes, align stakeholders around a shared operating model, and support implementation decisions across global rollouts.

For organizations implementing Dynamics 365 across multiple business units, regions, or legal entities, a common process foundation can support more consistent planning and governance throughout the implementation lifecycle. Read the Kiwa case study.

Availability

Business process visualization in the Implementation Portal for Dynamics 365 is now generally available as part of the standard project profiling experience.

The Implementation Portal is available to customers with eligible Dynamics 365 products and is the primary channel for completing the required Go Live Readiness workshop for finance and operations projects.

This release is an important step toward creating a more connected implementation experience, bringing business process guidance closer to the decisions that shape successful Dynamics 365 projects.

Learn more

Learn more about the Microsoft Business Process Catalog and the Implementation Portal for Dynamics 365 on Microsoft Learn.

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Supplier Engagement in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is now available in public preview http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/06/supplier-engagement-supply-chain-management/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/06/supplier-engagement-supply-chain-management/#respond Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:21:22 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=202933 Supplier Engagement, now in public preview for Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, helps organizations streamline supplier onboarding, lifecycle management, and collaboration from a centralized workspace. Built on Microsoft Power Platform, it provides trusted supplier data, global vendor management, and self-service supplier experiences while keeping transactions connected to ERP processes.

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Sourcing and procurement processes are being reimagined to strengthen supplier collaboration, improve operational efficiency, and drive greater control across source-to-pay processes.

Sourcing and procurement teams are being asked to onboard suppliers faster, collaborate across global operations, respond to supply disruptions, and meet growing compliance requirements—all while maintaining trusted supplier data across the business.

Managing these activities through disconnected systems, email, and manual processes can make it difficult to maintain supplier information and efficiently collaborate throughout the supplier lifecycle.

 The public preview of Supplier Engagement for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is a centralized workspace that enables organizations to onboard suppliers, manage supplier information across legal entities, and collaborate across sourcing and procurement activities.  Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Supplier Engagement helps organizations streamline supplier collaboration while maintaining a trusted, consistent source of supplier information across procurement, finance, and supply chain operations.

Build a stronger foundation for modern sourcing and procurement

Modern sourcing and procurement require more than efficient transactions. Organizations need trusted supplier information, connected business processes, and more secure collaboration across teams.

Supplier Engagement brings supplier onboarding, supplier information management, supplier collaboration, and operational processes together in a cohesive experience connected to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. By unifying supplier engagement across Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, organizations can improve operational efficiency, strengthen supplier collaboration, and establish a stronger foundation for future innovation.

Simplify supplier onboarding and lifecycle management

Supplier Engagement extends Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management with capabilities that support the complete supplier lifecycle—from supplier registration and onboarding through qualification, approval, and ongoing supplier management.

Procurement professionals like buyers or supplier relationship managers can register prospective suppliers, guide them through structured onboarding, evaluate qualifications, manage approvals, maintain supplier certifications and capabilities, capture supplier feedback, and manage supplier relationships from a centralized workspace.

The solution supports both supplier self-registration and buyer-initiated onboarding.

Manage global suppliers with greater consistency

Many organizations work with the same suppliers across multiple legal entities. Maintaining separate supplier records for each legal entity can result in duplicate information, inconsistent records, and unnecessary administrative effort.

Supplier Engagement introduces Global Vendor management, enabling organizations to maintain a shared supplier record across multiple legal entities. Supplier information, including contacts, addresses, certifications, and organizational details, is maintained centrally and shared where appropriate. Once qualified, suppliers can be released into one or more legal entities within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management for operational transactions while maintaining a single global supplier profile.

This approach provides sourcing and procurement teams with greater visibility across supplier relationships while helping establish a trusted, consistent source of supplier information across the organization.

During private preview, customers cited the unified supplier data management experience as a key advantage, sharing that it could help address the data mismatches and duplicate supplier information their buyers experience today.

Keep supplier collaboration connected to your business processes

Suppliers now can use a dedicated self-service portal to maintain their information and participate directly in sourcing and procurement processes, helping reduce manual effort while improving data quality.

Through the supplier engagement portal, Supplier professionals like sales managers, selling executives can:

  • Register and onboard their organizations
  • Respond to requests for quotation (RFQs)
  • Review and confirm purchase orders
  • Propose changes to quantities or delivery dates
  • Submit invoices
  • Create Category requests
  • Monitor consignment inventory
  • Maintain contact information, certifications, and organizational details

Adapt supplier engagement to your business

Supplier Engagement is built on Microsoft Power Platform using Microsoft Dataverse, model-driven Power Apps, and Power Pages.

This architecture gives organizations the flexibility to tailor Supplier Engagement to their business requirements. Organizations can customize onboarding experiences, extend questionnaires, configure workflows, automate notifications, and adapt supplier processes while remaining connected to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

By combining the extensibility of Microsoft Power Platform with the operational capabilities of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, organizations can evolve supplier engagement processes without modifying core ERP functionality

Supplier engagement is also available for Agents

Global supplier management gives agents something most AI initiatives lack: a trusted, non-duplicated source of supplier truth to reason over. Agent access respects the same security roles, approval workflows, and data boundaries as human users, while operational transactions remain anchored in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

This means instead of building custom integrations for every scenario, organizations use one standard interface and agents built in Microsoft Copilot Studio, or any MCP-compatible host, can reason over supplier data and act within the permissions and business rules already defined in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management and Dataverse.

Practically, that opens scenarios such as:

  • Reviewing inbound supplier registrations requests.
  • Flagging incomplete or potentially duplicate onboarding submissions before buyer review.
  • Monitoring global certifications and prompting suppliers ahead of expiration.
  • Performing Risk assessments and recommend corrective actions.
  • Summarizing a RFQ response set so a buyer compares terms instead of assembling them.

Learn more

Supplier Engagement is now available in public preview for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

To learn more about capabilities, deployment prerequisites, and configuration guidance, visit Microsoft Learn.

Supplier Engagement overview (preview) – Supply Chain Management | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn

Install the Supplier Engagement app and supplier portal on Power Platform (preview) – Supply Chain Management | Dynamics 365 | Microsoft Learn

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Governance in the Quality Management agent is now generally available http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/05/governance-customer-service/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/08/05/governance-customer-service/#respond Wed, 05 Aug 2026 18:04:55 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=202940 Governance in Dynamics 365 Customer Service helps organizations evaluate outbound emails and attachments against business-defined policies before delivery, reducing risk and ensuring compliant customer communications.

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As customer service teams scale with AI, ensuring every customer interaction meets business policies, regulatory requirements, and brand standards has never been more critical.

Today, we’re excited to announce the general availability of Governance skill in the Quality Management agent for Dynamics 365 Customer Service—bringing proactive policy enforcement to outbound customer communications.

Build trust into every customer interaction

Governance evaluates outbound emails, whether agents write them or AI generates them, against business-defined policies before sending them. This ensures communications remain compliant, consistent, and aligned with your organization’s standards.

What’s new in GA

📎 Policy checks for email attachments

Governance now extends beyond the email body to text-based attachments. This process evaluates PDFs, Word documents, and text files for policy compliance before they reach customers, helping reduce risk and ensure communication integrity.

⚙️ Flexible policy strictness levels

Not all policies are equal. Organizations can configure Low, Medium, High, or Very High strictness levels to enforce policies with the right balance of sensitivity, accuracy, and business risk for each scenario.

Why it matters

  • Reduce compliance risk by catching issues before emails are sent
  • Ensure consistency across human and AI-generated responses
  • Strengthen quality management with proactive and reactive insights
  • Scale AI confidently with built-in governance controls

Get started today

Administrators can quickly set up governance policies, choose enforcement behaviors (flag or block), include attachment checks, and fine-tune strictness levels to match business needs. Simulation and reporting tools help validate and optimize policies before rolling them out broadly.

With Governance now generally available, Dynamics 365 Customer Service empowers organizations to deliver trusted, compliant, and high-quality customer communications at scale — helping teams move faster with confidence in every interaction.

Built for the Dynamics 365 Ecosystem

Governance and Quality Evaluation are skills within the Quality Management Agent in Dynamics 365 Customer Service. As part of the broader Quality Management suite, Governance works alongside the Quality Evaluation skill, which assesses interactions to uphold quality standards. Together, these skills create a unified framework for quality, compliance, and policy adherence.

Learn More

To explore Governance in action and start defining your own policies, learn more here. We look forward to your feedback as we continue to evolve this feature.

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Bring Dynamics 365 Customer Service to MCP-compatible AI clients: Customer Service MCP Server is now generally available http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/07/30/dynamics-365-customer-service-mcp-server-ga/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/it-professional/2026/07/30/dynamics-365-customer-service-mcp-server-ga/#respond Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=202853 The Dynamics 365 Customer Service MCP Server is now generally available, enabling MCP-compatible AI clients to securely access customer service data, cases, knowledge, and workflows through a standardized connection model. Organizations can extend customer service capabilities across AI experiences while maintaining existing governance and security controls.

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Access customer service data and tools from MCP-compatible AI experiences — while minimizing the need for one-off custom integrations.

Today we’re announcing the general availability of the Dynamics 365 Customer Experience MCP Server for Service. Building on the public preview we released last winter, GA makes the service MCP tools and MCP apps used by Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot available as an independent offering that organizations can connect to a growing ecosystem of MCP-compatible AI clients.

For business decision makers, the opportunity is clear: Agentic Customer Experience brings intelligence directly into the flow of work — helping teams access trusted data, surface relevant context, and support decision-making within existing workflows. With the Dynamics 365 Customer Experience MCP Server for Service, organizations can make Customer Service capabilities available in supported MCP-enabled experiences, so cases, knowledge, and customer context can be accessed within the tools teams already use.

1. What it is, and why “connect any client” matters

The Service MCP Server implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an emerging open standard for connecting AI applications to enterprise tools and data. Rather than developing separate integrations for individual AI experiences, organizations can use MCP to make Customer Service capabilities available to compatible clients through a standardized approach.

Manage connections through the Microsoft-hosted Agent 365 Tooling Gateway, which handles authentication to your Dataverse environment. Access aligns with existing Dataverse roles and permissions, helping organizations maintain established governance and access controls while supporting requirements for visibility, security, and governance.

Because it speaks a standard protocol, the server works with a broad and growing set of hosts, including:

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot, including Service Agent, generally available on June 30th
  • Microsoft Copilot Studio agents
  • Visual Studio Code and GitHub Copilot CLI
  • Other MCP-compatible clients that support HTTP-based MCP connections, including examples such as ChatGPT and Claude Code

The result is greater flexibility in how Customer Service capabilities can be made available across different AI experiences, while reducing the need to rebuild separate integrations for each interface.

Experience in ChatGPT:

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Experience in GitHub Copilot CLI:

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2. What’s available at GA

At general availability, the server ships with more than 90 service-oriented tools spanning many day-to-day workflows in a customer service organization. The capabilities cover common areas of service work, including:

  • Case management — list, open, summarize, update, reassign, and resolve cases; pick the next case from a queue; and track SLA status and suggested next actions.
  • Customer context — pull account and contact details and summaries, and review the activity timeline behind a case.
  • Knowledge — search knowledge articles, draft and harvest new ones, check for knowledge gaps, and publish approved content.
  • Email and activities — draft, generate, and send email; apply and manage templates; log notes and activities; link email to cases; and create a case directly from an email.
  • Intelligence and recommendations — surface next-best-action suggestions, preview responses, and answer knowledge and service questions in context.
  • Data and search — query and update Dataverse entity records and run cross-entity search and lookups.
  • Environment and administration — select and manage MCP tool extensibility, connect to Copilot Studio agents, and customize Dynamics grids and views.

For your teams, that breadth means the server can support real, end-to-end workflows. From answering questions to taking the actions necessary to get work done.  

3. Extensible by design

The capabilities above are the starting point. The Customer Service MCP Server is built to be extended, with admin and maker tools that help organizations shape the experience around their business requirements:

  • Connect your own external MCP servers. Admins can register, test, and manage additional MCP servers, so tools from other line-of-business systems can appear alongside built-in Customer Service capabilities in a governed surface.
  • Bring in Copilot Studio agents. Admins can register and manage Copilot Studio agents and bots, extending the experience with custom agents already built in Copilot Studio.
  • Tailor it to your teams. Maker and admin tools let organizations configure agent profiles, capabilities, and user preferences so the experience can better reflect established processes.

This extensibility is what makes the server a durable foundation rather than a fixed feature set. As your AI strategy evolves and new tools and agents come online, you can bring them into the same governed experience — no rip-and-replace required.

Getting started

The Dynamics 365 Customer Experience MCP Server for Service is generally available now. Administrators can connect it to Copilot Studio and supported MCP clients through the Agent 365 Tooling Gateway. Step-by-step setup, supported clients, and authentication details are available in the Microsoft Learn documentation.

Help teams access Dynamics 365 Customer Service capabilities within MCP-compatible tools and experiences.


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Explore migration options for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, and Microsoft Dynamics SL customers http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/07/28/explore-migration-options-for-microsoft-dynamics-nav-microsoft-dynamics-gp-and-microsoft-dynamics-sl-customers/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/07/28/explore-migration-options-for-microsoft-dynamics-nav-microsoft-dynamics-gp-and-microsoft-dynamics-sl-customers/#respond Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/07/28/explore-migration-options-for-microsoft-dynamics-nav-microsoft-dynamics-gp-and-microsoft-dynamics-sl-customers/ Business Central provides a modern cloud ERP foundation that helps organizations streamline operations, improve visibility, support AI-powered productivity, and build on a platform that continues to evolve.

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For many organizations, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP, and Dynamics SL have supported critical business processes for decades. These solutions have helped customers manage finance, operations, projects, inventory, and day-to-day business workflows. 

But business needs are changing. Organizations are looking for ways to improve agility, strengthen security, reduce IT complexity, connect data across systems, and take advantage of continuous innovation in the cloud. For customers running legacy on-premises enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, now is a good time to evaluate the path forward and determine how Dynamics 365 Business Central can support the next stage of growth. 

Business Central provides a modern cloud ERP foundation that helps organizations streamline operations, improve visibility, support AI-powered productivity, and build on a platform that continues to evolve.

Dynamics NAV 

Dynamics NAV has long been a trusted ERP solution for small and midsize businesses. The final version was released in 2017, with extended support ending in January 2028.  

The following changes will take effect on April 30, 2031: 

  • Annual Service Plan (Enhancement Plan and Advantage Plan) coverage ends 
  • Additional perpetual user licenses for existing Dynamics NAV deployments can no longer be purchased 
  • Subscription licenses for Dynamics NAV (via Solution Provider Agreement (SPA)) are no longer renewable 
  • Subscription use of Dynamics NAV through Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) is expected to end. 

After April 30, 2031, customers will no longer be able to renew Service Plans or subscription licenses, or purchase additional perpetual users for existing Dynamics NAV on-premises deployments.

What this means for customers 

Customers running Dynamics NAV should begin evaluating their long-term ERP strategy now. Planning ahead provides greater flexibility to assess migration options, engage with your Microsoft partner, and prepare for future business requirements. 
 

Moving forward with Dynamics 365 Business Central 

For customers running Dynamics NAV, this represents a natural point to evaluate the next phase of your ERP strategy. Dynamics 365 Business Central provides a modern, cloud-based foundation to support growth, streamline operations, and enable connected, intelligent business processes. 

Business Central brings together finance, operations, and data in a single platform—delivering real-time visibility, built-in AI capabilities, and the flexibility to evolve as your business needs change. 

Discover what Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central can do

See how Business Central helps organizations streamline operations, improve visibility, and adapt faster with a comprehensive cloud ERP solution

Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL 

Similar lifecycle updates were announced for Dynamics GP and Dynamics SL. In June 2025, Microsoft shared key milestones for these products— with product availability ending on April 30, 2031 for Dynamics GP and January 15, 2030 for Dynamics SL. For more details, read the explore migrations blog. Like Dynamics NAV, these systems have supported business-critical processes for years. Now, many organizations are evaluating how to modernize their ERP environments—seeking solutions that offer continuous updates, cloud scalability, and deeper integration across their technology stack. Across Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP, and Dynamics SL environments, the common priority is clear: move from maintaining legacy systems to building on a platform designed for today’s future business needs. 

Why migrate to Business Central today? 

Organizations running legacy on-premises ERP solutions should consider migrating to Dynamics 365 Business Central as part of a broader modernization strategy. 

  • Modernize core operations. Business Central is a comprehensive cloud ERP solution spanning finance, operations, inventory, sales, service, manufacturing, and projects. 
  • Leverage AI and automation. Built-in AI capabilities help automate routine tasks, improve customer service, and support more informed decision-making. 
  • Stay current without disruption. Continuous updates help reduce the need for large, costly upgrade cycles while improving performance, security, and functionality over time. 
  • Connect across Microsoft tools. Deep integration with Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, Power Platform, and Azure enables connected workflows and real-time insights. 
  • Reduce IT complexity. Moving to the cloud reduces the burden of managing infrastructure, backups, patches, and upgrades while improving security, scalability, and resilience. 
  • Standardize on a modern ERP platform. For organizations operating across multiple legacy systems or business units, Business Central can help simplify operations and create a more connected foundation for future growth. 

How to migrate to Business Central 

Microsoft provides guidance and tools to help customers transition from on-premises ERP solutions to Business Central. The first step is to work with a Microsoft partner to assess the current environment, including customizations, integrations, data, reporting needs, security requirements, and business processes. 

From there, customers can define the right migration approach, timeline, and implementation strategy based on their current ERP environment and business goals. 

A typical migration includes: 

  • Assess and plan: Evaluate current ERP version, customizations, integrations, reporting, and business requirements. 
  • Prepare the environment: Identify upgrade paths and determine how customizations will be handled. 
  • Move and validate data: Migrate core business data, validate accuracy, and test business processes. 
  • Enable users and optimize: Configure roles, reporting, and integrations while training users. 
  • Go live with confidence: Transition to the cloud environment and establish a foundation for ongoing innovation. 

Transition support 

You may be wondering how the transition to Business Central will impact your workflows, operations, and reporting. Our engineering team is prepared with comprehensive overviews of how each capability functions to help you get started. Here are some resources that show direct companions for common workflows: 

Migrating from Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP, or Dynamics SL to Business Central is an opportunity to move to a modern, cloud-based ERP platform that continues to evolve through ongoing updates, new capabilities, and AI innovation. While every migration requires thoughtful planning and change management, organizations that begin evaluating their options now will have greater flexibility to plan their migration, prepare their users, and transition on their own timeline. Working with a trusted Microsoft partner can help ensure a smooth migration and establish a strong foundation for continued innovation and growth as business needs evolve. 

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Microsoft Dynamics 365: An agent-ready business applications platform http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/07/23/microsoft-dynamics-365-an-agent-ready-business-applications-platform/ http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/07/23/microsoft-dynamics-365-an-agent-ready-business-applications-platform/#respond Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=202870 Instead of integrating AI around enterprise resource planning (ERP), organizations can bring agents into the flow of work, where business decisions and transactions already happen.

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For decades, business applications have been used by organizations as systems of record capturing what already happened. Opportunities were updated after the call. Orders logged after the decision. Journal entries posted after the close. While that model was reliable, it was inherently reactive. 

This is now changing, as intelligence is built into business applications they are becoming systems of action, where AI agents don’t just record work, they help carry it out, with people setting the guardrails. For organizations using Dynamics 365, this is a shift from systems that primarily record business activity to systems that help move work forward under human-defined controls. 

Making this practical takes more than agent reasoning. Agents need a governed way to access business context, connect to transactional systems, and act through the same rules, permissions, and audit trails already built into the application. That is the role Dynamics 365 Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers play.

What Dynamics 365 MCP servers change for your business 

Dynamics 365 MCP servers make the business applications platform agent-ready. Agent-ready means agents can connect to and operate inside the transaction layer of the business application, using the same data models, rules, permissions, security guardrails and audit trails as any user of the system.  

Instead of integrating AI around enterprise resource planning (ERP), organizations can bring agents into the flow of work, where business decisions and transactions already happen: 

  • Faster cycle times, by moving approvals, forecasts, and transactions forward with Dynamics 365. 
  • Lower integration overhead, by using the application layer customers already govern instead of building custom connections for every process. 
  • Reduced manual effort, as agents clear routine steps while people stay in control of thresholds and approvals. 
  • Better-informed planning, as agents work from trusted operational data and planning context. 

Today, Dynamics 365 exposes over 650,000 MCP actions across sales, finance, supply chain, human resources, field service, customer service, and project operations. That is the same depth of capability users rely on inside the application, now available to agents.  

When an agent qualifies a lead, adjusts a forecast, or processes a transaction, it runs within the Dynamics 365 transaction layer, using the same data, rules, permissions, and audit trails already in place.  That reduces the need to build separate APIs or bolt-on governance layers for every scenario. 

And given Dynamics 365 is MCP compliant, it can connect to compatible agents across supported platforms, enabling multi-agent interoperability, and customer choice, not lock-in. 

Use Model Context Protocol for finance and operations apps

How partners use MCP to build AI agents with Dynamics 365

Partners are at the front edge of this shift. They have industry expertise, domain knowledge, and customer relationships to turn platform capability into real-world outcomes.  

Cegeka: AI in high-stakes, regulated workflows 

In manufacturing and life sciences, Cegeka operates in environments where precision is not optional, it is regulated. Their Quality Impact Recall Agent is designed for manufacturing focused organizations managing quality incidents that propagate in two directions: backward through batch genealogy to determine what was produced and forward through customer commitments to identify who received it. When performed manually, this process can take hours or even days, according to Cegeka. 

How do you introduce AI into a business process where 99% accuracy is considered a failure? In the rigid, transactional world of ERP, processes like product recalls leave no room for hallucinations or best guesses.  

Thomas Van Dorpe, AI ERP Architect at Cegeka 

Cegeka’s approach anchors the agent in ERP data, with a Traceability Add-in that maps batch and lot relationships across the supply chain. The agent can trace from a defect signal back to affected batches and forward to affected customers. Microsoft Copilot Studio orchestrates the agent logic, and MCP connects Dynamics 365 to Microsoft 365, where supplier communications, corrective workflows, and regulatory documentation get initiated.

Across Cegeka’s broader portfolio, their Tender Agent built on Microsoft Power Apps, Copilot Studio, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations helps procurement teams collect and compare supplier quotes, manage request for proposal (RFP) processes, and convert approved tenders into structured work. A Configuration Comparison Agent monitors compliance-relevant drift, while a Regression Testing Agent automates test creation for periodic release validation. The use cases differ; the architectural approach does not.

proMX: Scaling agents across project-based operations 

A different pattern emerges with proMX, a partner with deep roots in Dynamics 365 Project Operations. Rather than building a single, monolithic agent, they are assembling a portfolio of capabilities aligned to how project-based organizations operate, including change orders, approvals, time and expense, project management office (PMO) support, and lessons-learned retrieval. Their focus is concrete: energy, utilities, construction, and consulting firms that manage delivery projects, track time at granular levels, and execute financial adjustments on a scale. 

proMX is also using its own environment as the proving ground, serving as a customer zero for the Dynamics 365 Project Operations Activity Approvals Agent. They started with time-entry approvals where high volumes of short-duration entries were stalling billing prep and slowing month-end close. 

The agent went from preview to full internal rollout in a matter of weeks, reaching 50% adoption across proMX’s internal PMO. Approvers stay in the loop, rules and thresholds are defined up front, and approvers see what the agent recommends before anything posts, while the repetitive work of clearing routine entries gets handled automatically. proMX reports that approval cycles shortened, billing prep accelerated, and month-end close becomes smoother. 

For us, this was never about building an AI demo. Reaching 50% internal adoption shows that the Approval Agent is not just technically possible, it brings enough benefits for people to try and stick with it. 

Sebastian Sieber, Global Director Technology, proMX

Their flagship in-market offering is the Change Order Agent. It handles a class of cross-record adjustments that typically break lighter-weight automation: reallocating budgets across projects, splitting labor and non-labor components, and preserving alignment between cost and sales. The agent interprets the request, maintains the integrity of underlying values, generates the required change-order records, and triggers the downstream system processes. 

The architecture extends the Dynamics 365 stack. Copilot Studio orchestrates the agent logic, Microsoft Dataverse and Power Apps handle execution. And MCP connects the pieces, with proMX building targeted MCP servers only where gaps exist in the standard surface. For more complex, multiagent scenarios, Microsoft Foundry provides the scaling path. It’s a win on both sides: their unique value stays protected, and their solution keeps working as Dynamics 365 evolves.

TrueGradient: Expanding the ecosystem with AI-native companies 

TrueGradient is an AI native company offering an integrated business planning platform spanning demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and price and promotion planning. It represents a growing wave of AI native companies building on Dynamics 365 and MCP, forming a new cohort within an evolving partner ecosystem. 

Forecast Enrichment Agent handles the analytical heavy lifting, selecting an appropriate forecasting model for a given scenario, while a companion agent turns those forecasts into planning decisions. MCP serves as the connective layer into Dynamics 365 and the other ERP, data, and commerce systems customers already run. 

Anchor customers such as Angelcare, Anand Sweets and more are live on Microsoft ERP and expanding in contract value. At Angelcare, a consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturer with baby and pet care brands sold in more than 50 countries, Angelcare reports a 12% improvement in demand forecast accuracy, with engagement targets that include 10–20% gains in trade promotion efficiency and roughly 10% reductions in working capital and logistics costs.

Our vision is to integrate AI-driven tools into our operations, and we selected TrueGradient for its cutting-edge Self-Serve AI platform and deep expertise in CPG and retail. We are seeing promising results.

Stephane Huot, VP Supply Chain & Logistics, Angelcare Group

The broader signal matters as much as the metrics. Companies built around AI, like TrueGradient, are choosing Dynamics 365 and MCP as the trusted place where their insights turn into real business actions at scale. That’s a sign the ecosystem isn’t just longtime partners updating what they offer, it’s growing in new directions.

Bring AI agents into the workflows your business already runs

The agent model is not theoretical, it is beginning to deliver impact across business processes and industries within our partner ecosystem. We are seeing agents move from experimentation to execution, with early results in real-world scenarios.

This is what agent-ready looks like in practice: agents connected to business data, governed by business rules, and trusted to take on real work. Not just assisting but acting in the system where work already happens. 

Customers can gain faster time to value while operating within existing Dynamics 365 controls, the same permissions, security guardrails, and audit trails as any user. Partners benefit from a shorter path from idea to repeatable, AI-driven outcomes. And across the ecosystem, MCP serves as the connective tissue that makes agents interoperable, auditable, and production‑ready.  

Start with the process that matters most

Explore partner-built agents already running on Dynamics 365 or identify the first manual process your organization can convert into an agent-driven workflow using Copilot Studio, Microsoft Foundry, and Microsoft Marketplace

The post Microsoft Dynamics 365: An agent-ready business applications platform appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

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