Supply chain - Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/industry/supply-chain/ The future of agentic CRM and ERP Tue, 22 Sep 2026 22:49:12 +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 Supply chain - Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/industry/supply-chain/ 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 the future of agentic ERP with new Microsoft Dynamics 365 capabilities http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/09/23/build-the-future-of-agentic-erp-with-new-microsoft-dynamics-365-capabilities/ Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=203154 Discover what’s next for Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP, from new capabilities across Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, and more to the foundation for agentic ERP. Explore how AI, agents, and connected business processes are helping organizations prepare for the next generation of ERP.

The post Build the future of agentic ERP with new Microsoft Dynamics 365 capabilities appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

AI is transforming not only what ERP can do, but how work gets done. In Dynamics 365, we’re advancing the financial and operational capabilities organizations depend on today while building the next generation of agentic ERP, where people and AI collaborate to accelerate decisions, orchestrate work, and drive outcomes across the business.

Our vision for agentic ERP helps organizations work across traditional application boundaries so organizational leaders can redesign how work gets done. This week, with our Dynamics 365 partners at the inaugural Directions for Enterprise in Copenhagen, the city where our ERP portfolio’s roots began over 30 years ago, we’re sharing our latest innovations across the Dynamics 365 ERP portfolio.

We are also moving beyond release waves with the AI at Work roadmap, giving customers and partners a more current view of innovation with an always-on roadmap. Complementing the AI at Work roadmap, this update shares a snapshot of highlights that are new and coming soon through March of 2027, helping organizations make faster decisions, prepare for change, and capture value from new Dynamics 365 ERP capabilities sooner.

Dynamics 365 Finance

Finance teams need to close the books accurately, plan with current information, and keep pace with regulatory changes. Our investments in Dynamics 365 Finance strengthen those core processes while expanding what AI can do across them.

The financial journals experience is being re-engineered to support higher transaction volumes and to manage cross-legal-entity complexity. Teams will be able to view intercompany transactions, create accruals, and preview allocations before posting. The Account Reconciliation Agent is also evolving to resolve exceptions in bulk, enabled by legal entity and module, addition of limits and notifications, and expanded agent suggestion summaries. Accounts payable (AP) automation is also improving, with AI recognition to capture invoices and AI suggestions to complete the finance entries, resulting in more touchless automation.

Finance Agent is bringing skills for reconciliation, data preparation, variance analysis, collections, and business intelligence across Microsoft 365 surfaces, such as Copilot, Excel, Outlook, and Teams, with native Dynamics 365 Finance connectivity and connectors to other systems to support more end-to-end business processes.

We’re also investing in planning, globalization, and compliance. The Business Performance Planning demo data and starter kit is generally available, bringing revenue, workforce, operating expense (OPEX), capital expenditure (CAPEX), and allocation scenarios together to make getting started easily. France e-invoicing and e-reporting support is also generally available, with support for the next phase of Brazil’s tax reform on the roadmap.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Supply chain teams need to anticipate and understand how change will impact operations and respond quickly. New capabilities in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management expand visibility and decision support across procurement, planning, supplier engagement, and warehouse operations.

Procurement agent impact analysis, now in public preview, traces supplier-proposed purchase order changes to affected sales, production, transfer orders, and projected inventory. In demand planning, generative insights for seasonality, trends, and signal correlations have been generally available since August, along with external signals such as inflation, pricing, and weather. AI-generated explanations of forecast drivers will follow.

Supplier Engagement is now in public preview, bringing onboarding, requests for quotation, purchase orders, and invoicing into a workspace and supplier portal across legal entities. We continue to invest in strengthening warehouse management system (WMS) capabilities to support complex warehouse operations and large-scale warehouse automations. For warehouse operations, dynamic item placement is coming next, adding more control over where inventory is stored and how storage policies apply.

Rental business models are becoming increasingly more important for asset-driven organizations, requiring availability, reservations, contracts, billing, and maintenance to work as a more connected process. Rental management capabilities are coming to public preview, designed to connect the rental lifecycle from quote and contract through inspection, return, and billing.

Dynamics 365 Project Operations

Project-based businesses need to manage changing scope and commercial terms while keeping project financials, billing, and resources aligned. New capabilities in Dynamics 365 Project Operations expand how organizations manage these areas as projects evolve.

Change order management, coming to public preview, provides a structured, auditable process for incorporating contract changes into billing schedules. Also up next, subscription billing will add recurring billing schedules, invoice generation, and flexible and tiered pricing.

For project financials, organizations can recognize project revenue against the original cost estimate rather than a changing estimate at completion when that accounting approach is appropriate. A new time-phased staffing view brings task assignments, project bookings, and available capacity into one timeline to support project staffing and utilization decisions.

Dynamics 365 Commerce

B2B buyers purchase for multiple locations, work across legal entities and fulfillment channels, and buy on organizational credit. Our investments in this release will reflect that. B2B self-service buyers will get one sign-in to shop, order, and track purchases across multiple outlets, with on-account and credit validation.

We are bringing B2B into the store enabling Trade POS. For wholesalers and distributors, the counter is where the business gets done, and the orders written there are deep, bulky, and rarely sourced from one place. We’re shipping order capture optimized for bulk ordering; contacts on orders and quotations in point of sale (POS), which matters when the buyer at the counter isn’t the account; order release from POS straight to the warehouse; and streamlined pickup workflows. In addition, we continue to enhance our retail store footprint with Tap To Pay on Android, label printing, and faster checkout.

Commerce is also extending into agentic experiences with Dynamics 365 Commerce Model Context Protocol (MCP) server in public preview. As our MCP server evolves, we plan to expand the set of tools and extensibility support to help customers and partners develop their own scenarios alongside ours. Through March 2027, the roadmap will include continued enhancements to core experiences with AI.

Dynamics 365 Field Service

Scheduling field service means continuously balancing technicians, skills, locations, priorities, and time windows. The Scheduling Operations Agent, in public preview, helps dispatchers optimize multiple resources against defined objectives and review proposed changes before applying them. Recurring scheduled optimizations will be coming, allowing optimizations to run on a defined schedule.

Organizations often manage field execution, project planning, and financials across different systems, which can require manual reconciliation and make visibility more difficult. Connected workflows across Field Service, Project Operations, and Finance are helping complex service organizations plan, execute, cost, and bill work. Now generally available, you can create work orders directly from or link directly to project tasks, connecting field execution with project scope and task-based billing. Also, mobile-first notes experience, generally available, allows technicians to capture text, images, and video directly in the work order.

Dynamics 365 Human Resources

Dynamics 365 Human Resources is evolving across hire to retire, strengthening foundational HR while introducing new agentic capabilities for workforce operations. HR teams need to attract and hire talent, onboard people effectively, develop and retain critical skills, and deliver responsive employee services while managing increasing process and compliance complexity. Our investments strengthen the HR capabilities organizations rely on today while expanding how AI and agents can support work across the employee lifecycle.

Starting with how organizations attract and bring people into the workforce, we will have new capabilities for talent pools and referrals that help teams identify candidates, while digital offers and preboarding will support the transition from candidate to employee. Once people are in the organization, investments in learning, succession, and performance will help teams develop and retain talent. New capabilities for benefits, leave, HR-aware time entry, and HR reporting will support the ongoing work of managing and supporting the workforce.

As these core processes evolve, agentic capabilities create new ways for HR teams to get work done. Candidate assessment and onboarding bring agentic experiences into the hiring journey, while new HR business skills make more hire to retire workflows available to Microsoft Copilot, Copilot Cowork, and agents. An HR professional could, for example, initiate a workforce process directly from Copilot Cowork using natural language, with business skills carrying out the underlying actions in Dynamics 365 Human Resources. Together, our roadmap connects HR processes, workforce knowledge, and agents to help streamline HR workflows and better coordinate workforce activities, giving HR teams and managers more time to focus on the employee experience.

Dynamics 365 Sustainability

Accurate sustainability reporting requires strong governance, traceability, and auditability across the reporting lifecycle. The next release strengthens this foundation with capabilities that help organizations govern reported data, support audit and assurance processes, and improve confidence in sustainability disclosures. Snapshot-based data trails capture the source activity data, emission factors, global warming potential versions, filters, and calculation logic used to derive reported results, with an Excel-based output that supports audit review and validation. Reporting period controls allow organizations to lock data at the reporting year and entity level, helping maintain consistency while preparing disclosures and after reports are finalized. Governed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data collection further brings structured requests, due dates, reminders, supporting evidence, reviews, and approvals into the reporting process, improving accountability, data quality, and audit readiness.

Building the foundation for agentic ERP

With agentic ERP, business processes are less constrained by the boundaries between applications and tools. Copilot, Copilot Cowork, and agents can work across Dynamics 365, email, documents, and collaboration tools to reason over business context, coordinate work, and help complete business processes from start to finish. Dynamics 365 provides the business process foundation, grounding these experiences in enterprise data, business logic, skills, and security controls.

The Dynamics 365 ERP plugin for Copilot Cowork and the Dynamics 365 ERP MCP server, both generally available, allow agents to reason over and work with ERP data, actions, and attachments. Citations and deep links from Copilot responses connect users back to the underlying ERP records.

This agentic foundation will further expand to include business skills giving organizations a more centralized and governed way to define how work gets done. Organizations can define processes and procedures as reusable context and instructions for ERP agents, with access managed through Dynamics 365 security roles. Microsoft will also provide business skills for agentic business processes such as procure-to-pay, helping organizations adopt agent-driven experiences using reusable business context and actions.

Security and trust are fundamental to agent deployment. New capabilities in role-based access controls will allow organizations to define additional restrictions when a user is operating through Copilot Cowork or agents, enabling tighter control on what agents are allowed to do. Together, these capabilities connect the experience layer of Copilot and agents with the business process foundation in Dynamics 365—connecting how people work with how the business operates.

Adopt agentic ERP at the pace of your business

Every organization will take a different path to agentic ERP based on its priorities, existing processes, and business needs. Continuous roadmap publishing gives customers visibility into the Dynamics 365 capabilities available today and what is coming next, so they can adopt new capabilities when they are right for their business. As ERP becomes increasingly agentic, that visibility can help organizations plan with more confidence, take advantage of innovation as it becomes available, and evolve at a pace that aligns with their business priorities.

Explore the AI at Work roadmap to see the latest capabilities across Dynamics 365 ERP and share your feedback in the community forums via Dynamics 365.

See what’s next for Dynamics 365 ERP

Explore the AI at Work roadmap to discover the latest Dynamics 365 ERP capabilities across finance, supply chain, commerce, and more, and see how AI and agents are helping shape the path toward agentic ERP.

The post Build the future of agentic ERP with new Microsoft Dynamics 365 capabilities appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
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/ 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.

The post Build a connected foundation for Supplier Engagement and agentic AI with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

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.

The post Build a connected foundation for Supplier Engagement and agentic AI with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
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/ 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.

The post Breaking the Company Boundary: Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment and Advanced Warehouse Support in DOM appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

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. 

The post Breaking the Company Boundary: Cross-Legal-Entity Fulfillment and Advanced Warehouse Support in DOM appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
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/ 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.

The post Supplier Engagement in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is now available in public preview appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

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

The post Supplier Engagement in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is now available in public preview appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
Reinventing source-to-pay with agentic ERP http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/06/18/reinventing-source-to-pay-with-agentic-erp/ Thu, 18 Jun 2026 15:00:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/06/18/reinventing-source-to-pay-with-agentic-erp/ Explore how AI agents transform source-to-pay by supporting faster insights, smarter actions, and more resilient procurement operations.

The post Reinventing source-to-pay with agentic ERP appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

Continued supply chain disruptions, geopolitical uncertainty, and rising cost pressures are putting procurement organizations under increasing pressure to move faster and make better decisions. Every supplier delay, sourcing event, contract negotiation, invoice exception, or payment inquiry has the potential to impact costs, inventory availability, customer commitments, and ultimately business performance.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have long served as the operational foundation for managing suppliers, contracts, purchasing, invoicing, and spend. That foundation remains critical. But as business complexity increases, legacy ERP systems and traditional automation are beginning to show their limits. Procurement leaders are being asked to reduce costs, navigate ongoing supply chain disruption, and gain greater visibility into spend and risk. The challenge is no longer simply capturing transactions and tracking compliance—it is identifying what requires attention, evaluating options, and responding quickly enough to stay ahead of disruption.

This is where AI agents can introduce a new opportunity. Rather than focusing solely on automating tasks, agents can monitor business conditions, surface insights, coordinate workflows, and take action across source-to-pay business processes, while keeping people in the loop. When built on the agent-ready ERP foundation of Microsoft Dynamics 365, they have the potential to transform how procurement teams get work done.

How agentic ERP can transform source-to-pay

Agentic ERP can represent the next evolution. Rather than simply recording transactions and executing predefined workflows, as part of agentic ERP, AI agents can monitor business conditions, understand context, reason over data, coordinate actions, and help teams make more informed decisions.

As an example, a supplier communication can trigger an impact analysis. A sourcing event can trigger supplier evaluation and recommendations. A payment inquiry can trigger an invoice automation and communications. Or a supplier risk signal can trigger proactive intervention before operations are affected. These types of actions can help teams move from reacting after the impact is felt toward more proactively managing outcomes.

What makes this possible is the combination of Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft Fabric, and the entire Microsoft Cloud. Together, they provide a common foundation for building, deploying, and governing agents across the enterprise using Microsoft Agent 365 and ERP governance processes. Organizations can leverage Microsoft-built agents, specialized partner-built agents, and custom agents while maintaining a more consistent approach to identity, security, privacy, compliance, and governance.

The Dynamics 365 ERP Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers extend this foundation by providing a standardized way for AI and agents to securely access ERP and business performance analytics data. This enables agents to operate within the context of existing procurement, supply chain, and financial and business performance workflows rather than as disconnected AI tools. Organizations can start with Microsoft agents, extend capabilities through partner innovation, and build custom agents for unique business requirements—all while leveraging the same governance provided in the Microsoft Cloud.

The result is more than process automation. It can result in a more connected, intelligent, and adaptive approach to source-to-pay that can help organizations improve agility, strengthen supplier relationships, reduce risk, and respond faster to change.

Reimagining source-to-pay using Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork

Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork introduces a new way to engage with source-to-pay processes run in Dynamics 365. Using the Dynamics 365 ERP apps plugin for Copilot Cowork, users can interact within the flow of work using natural language prompts. 

For example, a procurement manager can evaluate supplier bids by combining ERP data accessed through the Dynamics 365 ERP MCP Server with supplier emails and supporting documents, compare vendors, identify tradeoffs, and execute the supplier bid evaluation and award process without switching between systems. By bringing ERP data, business processes, and operational context into Copilot Cowork, organizations can move more quickly from insight to action while remaining grounded in the systems, controls, and governance provided by Dynamics 365 ERP.  

Imagine a future where employees no longer need to be ERP experts to participate in business processes. Instead, they can engage through intent in Copilot Cowork while AI helps navigate the underlying complexity of ERP data, business processes, policies, and workflows. This is an important step toward a future where ERP increasingly adapts to people, rather than requiring people to adapt to ERP. 

Streamline operations further with the Procurement Agent in Dynamics 365

Procurement teams spend a significant amount of time managing supplier communications. Buyers routinely review purchase order confirmations, delivery updates, quantity changes, and supplier responses while evaluating the potential impact on inventory, production schedules, customer commitments, and financial performance.

Now in public preview, Procurement Agent in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management helps orchestrate this process by monitoring supplier communications, detecting changes, and providing impact analysis across inventory, production schedules, and customer orders. Rather than manually reviewing every supplier interaction, procurement teams can focus on the exceptions that matter most and make faster, more informed decisions.

This shift delivers value beyond procurement efficiency. Procurement leaders gain greater visibility into supplier activity, while operations leaders benefit from faster responses to issues that could impact production, fulfillment, or customer commitments.

Farmlands Cooperative brings agentic procurement to life 

This is already transforming how companies work. Farmlands Cooperative, New Zealand’s largest farmer-owned rural supplier, consolidated seven ERP systems onto Dynamics 365. As it shifted to centralized purchasing, it deployed Procurement Agent in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to manage vendor communications at scale. The agent reads incoming supplier emails, summarizes requested changes for staff to approve, and drafts follow-ups on delayed orders to stay ahead of stockouts. Today it automates half of Farmlands’ purchase order email traffic and is expected to save the team about 20 hours a week.

By standardizing on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and thoughtfully applying agentic AI with humans firmly in the loop, we are creating a more efficient, resilient, and scalable operating model.

—Andre Scheepers, Chief Digital Officer, Farmlands Cooperative

Connect procurement decisions to business outcomes with Finance Agent and Business Performance Analytics

Every sourcing decision has downstream implications for costs, margins, cash flow, and business performance. Finance Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot helps leaders explore business performance data using natural language, making it easier to understand the impact of supplier and purchasing decisions. 

Building on the reporting, analytics, and insights available through Business Performance Analytics in Dynamics 365, Finance Agent can help leaders investigate performance trends, answer business questions, and better understand the operational and financial outcomes of source-to-pay decisions. 

Explore partner agents to support the source-to-pay process

While Microsoft agents help address common procurement scenarios, many organizations require additional capabilities tailored to specific organizational processes. This is where the Microsoft partner ecosystem can extend the capabilities of agentic ERP by using the Dynamics 365 agent-ready foundation—including our MCP servers.

Vendor Onboarding Agent from Sonata

Supplier onboarding is often the first bottleneck in the source-to-pay lifecycle. Sonata’s Vendor Onboarding Agent can help organizations accelerate vendor activation by automating supplier data collection, validation, and workflow orchestration across procurement and accounts payable. By focusing on reducing onboarding cycle times and improving compliance, organizations can work to bring suppliers online faster, accelerate sourcing activities, and improve business responsiveness.

Smart Sourcing Agent from MCA Connect

When supply conditions change, procurement teams must quickly identify alternative suppliers and evaluate sourcing options. MCA Connect’s Smart Sourcing Agent can automate request for quote (RFQ) creation and supplier scoring within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, helping organizations evaluate suppliers across cost, lead times, quality, and risk. This can enable faster sourcing decisions, improved supplier selection, and greater resilience when responding to disruptions.

KPMG Supplier Insight Agent

Supplier performance has become a strategic concern for procurement, supply chain, and finance leaders alike. The KPMG Supplier Insight Agent combines Dynamics 365 ERP apps data with external business signals to help organizations proactively monitor supplier performance and identify emerging risks. By surfacing insights and recommended actions, the solution can help organizations strengthen supplier resilience, improve continuity, and maximize value across their supplier ecosystem.

Together, these partner-built agents demonstrate how organizations can apply AI across the source-to-pay lifecycle—from supplier onboarding and sourcing to supplier performance management. More importantly, they show how agentic ERP can help procurement and operations leaders be more resilient, accelerate decision-making, and create more adaptable supplier ecosystems.

Extend source-to-pay with custom agents

No two organizations operate exactly alike. Industry regulations, supplier ecosystems, sourcing strategies, approval structures, and operational priorities often create requirements that extend beyond prebuilt capabilities.

Using Copilot Studio, leaders can build custom agents for those requirements, on the same security, governance, and business data that power Microsoft and partner agents. Procurement leaders can address specialized sourcing needs, supply chain leaders can automate disruption monitoring, and finance teams can streamline exception management and payment processes. Because every agent runs on a common foundation, organizations can work on business process innovation without creating new complexity or disconnected workflows.

Get started with agents for source-to-pay processes

The future of source-to-pay is not simply about processing transactions more efficiently. It’s about helping leaders make better decisions, respond faster to disruption, strengthen supplier relationships, reduce risk, and improve resilience across the business. This is a fundamentally different way to work, one where agents can reason alongside your team, act on their behalf, and give time back for the work that truly moves the business forward.

Are you ready to reinvent source-to-pay?

Reimagine your procurement strategy

See how agentic ERP in Dynamics 365 can transform your source-to-pay operations

Retail store manager working with a customer, showing merchandise and providing customer service on-the-go using a tablet to locate inventory and place orders.

The post Reinventing source-to-pay with agentic ERP appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
Becoming a Frontier Manufacturing Firm: Agentic decisions across the manufacturing value chain http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/04/16/becoming-a-frontier-manufacturing-firm-agentic-decisions-across-the-manufacturing-value-chain/ Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=201935 At Hannover Messe 2026, Microsoft is showcasing how agentic ERP with Copilot, agents and Dynamics 365 helps manufacturers replan faster, make better production tradeoffs, and meet or exceed customer service SLAs.

The post Becoming a Frontier Manufacturing Firm: Agentic decisions across the manufacturing value chain appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

Manufacturing leaders today are under constant pressure: volatile demand, fragile supply networks, inventory risk, and zero tolerance for missed customer commitments. Plants must protect margins and maintain uptime while responding to disruption with incomplete or delayed information. 

To lead in this environment, manufacturers need decision-making that surfaces risk earlier, absorb supply shocks faster, and replans quickly, so production stays aligned to demand and customer commitments. 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is your agentic enterprise resource planning (ERP) foundation

Dynamics 365 gives manufacturers a connected foundation where signals from demand, supply, capacity, and cost can drive action. As part of the Microsoft platform, it brings together data, analytics, automation, and collaboration across the business. 

Imagine a manufacturing stack where every part of the business is connected, where data isn’t fragmented across systems but unified into a shared understanding of operations, and where insights don’t sit in dashboards but show up in context, in the flow of work. Where your teams can build AI agents and adapt processes in real time rather than reengineering them months later. Where every person operates with the full context of the business, demand, supply, capacity, and commitments, every decision drives aligned action across the company. This is what it means to close the gap between knowing and doing. 

At Hannover Messe 2026, Microsoft is showcasing how agentic ERP with Copilot, agents and Dynamics 365 supports these operational decisions amid constant change, helping manufacturers replan faster, make better production tradeoffs, and meet or exceed customer service SLAs.   

From sensing demand shifts to mitigating supplier delays, production constraints, and equipment downtime, these signals must translate into real-time fulfillment and order promise decisions. Agentic ERP can connect planning, sourcing, production, fulfillment and service commerce to execute these decisions across the manufacturing value chain. 

Agentic demand planning can sense shifts earlier  

Demand planning can help you forecast demand, applying a structured phase in/phase out with external signals to account for market dynamics. Copilot accelerates this data analysis, scenario modeling, and incorporates market intelligence. For structured planning, Demand Planning in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management provides an agentic collaborative demand planning solution, powered by best-in-class forecasting algorithms and models, an immersive user experience with AI, intelligent segmentation and signal analysis, and analytics.  

“Now, we can see the item-level details and the solution populates Dynamics 365 with that information for master planning. That’s a big step forward because now we essentially have a planned budget and we can easily produce the next production cycle’s budget without manually exporting the data.” 

Patrick Keller, Head of ERP, Poloplast | Read more about how Poloplast modernizes manufacturing and streamlines forecasting and planning with Dynamics 365

Agent evaluates supplier disruption impact enabling operational resilience 

A delayed component or supplier exception is not a paperwork problem. It is a production and operational risk. Today, Microsoft announced the Procurement Agent in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is available in public preview. The Procurement Agent helps teams respond faster to supply disruption by decoding supplier communications and identifying which production orders, inventory positions, and customer commitments are at risk, while keeping humans in control. Beyond triaging supplier communications, the Procurement Agent performs impact analysis so teams can assess downstream effects and act before a supplier issue turns into an on time, in full (OTIF) failure.

“Across the team, Dynamics 365 will save us a total of 20 hours weekly. The big benefit in time savings is that the agent has read the email, found the order, found the lines affected, decoded what the vendor is trying to say, and recommended actions.”

Sean Barrett, Inventory and Analytics Manager, Farmlands Cooperative | Read more about Farmlands Cooperative: Sowing the seeds of innovation with autonomous agents in Dynamics 365

Agent mitigates production constraints 

For the shop floor, Copilot, connected to Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management via Dynamics 365 MCP Server (Model Context Protocol), can provide AI-generated insights to schedules, inventory, and orders. Copilot can also surface quality-related alerts and can suggest targeted inspections to prevent recurring recalibration issues enabling supervisors to proactively mitigate resource constraints and shortages before they impact production schedules, triggering downstream inventory repositioning and order promise adjustments across fulfillment and customer commitments. 

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management provides near real-time visibility to the production floor; with agentic experiences, supervisors can spend less time gathering data and more time on proactive exception management. This translates to higher Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), fewer unplanned stops, and better on-time delivery to customers. 

Agent protects production uptime 

Equipment uptime and asset health are critical inputs to manufacturing performance. Unplanned downtime, delayed service, or poorly coordinated technician schedules can quickly cascade into constrained capacity and missed production targets. The Scheduling Operations Agent in Dynamics 365 Field Service can help maintain equipment availability for constrained production schedules by dynamically coordinating technician assignments based on geography, skills, certification requirements, capacity, travel time, and SLA commitments.  

Today, Microsoft announced Researcher in Microsoft 365 Copilot is available in public preview within Dynamics 365 Field Service. With Microsoft 365 Copilot in Dynamics 365 Field Service, manufacturers can use Researcher to quickly view operational information across work orders, asset and service history, and parts availability. Researcher surfaces relevant context from Field Service data and Microsoft 365 signals to help teams understand situations as they arise.

“The field technicians understand that AI can be a benefit for them. It’s really about trying to improve their overall experience as well as the customer’s”

Matthew Hashenberger, Head of Service Excellence, Siemens Smart Infrastructure (U.S.) | Learn how Siemens elevates field service operations with Microsoft Dynamics 365

Agentic warehouse management can fulfill demand faster  

As finished goods hit the warehouse, intelligent inventory on-hand balancing in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management warehouse management updates slotting to align demand with pick zones. When inbound put-away happens, workers are directed to the best locations based on the intelligent inventory balancing, keeping the warehouse organized dynamically. On the outbound side, optimized pick routes shorten travel distance. The combined outcome is higher throughput with the same labor—faster fulfillment, lower picking cost.  

With Dynamics 365, we trust the system. It’s easy to retrieve information and know it’s correct; people can just drive the forklift over. All the considerations we have for our picking, packing, and customer details, the system is doing it for us. 

Niclas Strand, Warehouse Manager, KåKå, Orkla Food | Read more about why Orkla Food Ingredients’ Dynamics 365 transformation is a sweet upgrade

Agentic B2B Commerce aligns customer orders to production reality 

As manufacturers and industrial distributors modernize how they sell, serve, and scale, digital ordering is becoming a core capability of the ERP rather than a standalone channel. Dynamics 365 Commerce enables manufacturers to support complex buying and selling models including business-to-business (B2B), business-to-business-to-business (B2B2B), and multioutlet ordering across direct customers, distributors, and dealer networks. 

Agentic B2B commerce can help automate routine ordering, replenishment, and quote-to-order processes while remaining tightly connected to pricing, inventory, warehousing, and production planning. This can allow manufacturers and distributors to accelerate order cycles, strengthen partner collaboration, and scale indirect growth with accuracy and control. 

Diagram illustrating a B2B2B commerce network, showing relationships between a manufacturer, distributors, a field seller, an outlet, and an end customer, with arrows indicating interactions across planning, sales, distribution, and purchasing roles.

Partner agents to empower manufacturers and solve unmet needs 

Frontier Manufacturing Firms can extend ERP embedded‑operational decisioning using Copilot and agents built with the Dynamics 365 ERP MCP Server. Microsoft’s partners are building agents to solve high friction manufacturing workflows, including engineering change impact analysis, product recalls, and configure-price‑quote‑ processes, enabling manufacturers to execute operational decisions across sourcing, production, and fulfillment within the systems they use to run their business. 

“With the Experlogix CPQ MCP Server and Dynamics 365 ERP manufacturers can turn Copilot into a revenue agent that understands complex configurations, validates engineering rules and constraints, and generates accurate quotes instantly. This accelerates sales cycles, with many customers reducing time to quote by well over 90%.”

Louis-Philippe Perras, CTO, Experlogix 

“Cegeka’s Quality Impact Recall Agent turns disruptive recall events into a controlled, orchestrated process for manufacturers reliant on end-to-end traceability. Running inside Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, companies handling batch- or serial-controlled products can identify affected materials across plants and distribution channels in minutes, trigger automated communication flows, and accelerate quality-investigation cycles. This approach supports manufacturers in maintaining continuity, reducing risk, and protecting both customers and brand reputation.” 

Stijn Geeroms, VP Business Solutions, Cegeka

“The most expensive moment in manufacturing isn’t when something breaks. It’s when an engineering change gets approved without anyone understanding the impact. Manufacturers don’t need another disconnected AI tool to fix that. They need intelligence embedded where they already work. That’s why we built the Staedean ECM+ Impact Agent natively on Copilot inside Dynamics 365 – your rules, your data, your answer – without asking teams to leave the system they run their business in.”

Michiel Toppers, Chief Product Officer, Staedean

These agents extend ERP-embedded decision execution into engineering, quality, and configure-to-order workflows that directly impact production scheduling and customer commitments. 

Become a Frontier Manufacturing Firm 

The manufacturers that lead this next era will be the ones who can respond to demand shifts, supplier delays, and equipment constraints by coordinating planning, production, fulfillment, and customer commitments across the value chain in real time. 

Microsoft is committed to helping manufacturers make that transition, combining a connected Dynamics 365 foundation with Copilot and agents embedded in everyday workflows plus a partner ecosystem that brings manufacturing expertise to the front line. Join us and become Frontier.  

Join us in person at Hannover Messe 2026: 

Register to watch a series of executive conversations recorded at Hannover Messe 2026: Executive Insights: Unlock the Future of Industrial Intelligence 

The post Becoming a Frontier Manufacturing Firm: Agentic decisions across the manufacturing value chain appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
2026 release wave 1 plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Copilot Studio offerings http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/03/18/2026-release-wave-1-plans-for-microsoft-dynamics-365-microsoft-power-platform-and-copilot-studio-offerings/ Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +0000 We’re excited to publish the 2026 release wave 1 plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Role-based agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot.

The post 2026 release wave 1 plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Copilot Studio offerings appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

We’re entering a new era of AI-powered business applications, and today we’re excited to publish the 2026 release wave 1 plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and role-based agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, outlining a broad set of capabilities slated for release between April 2026 and September 2026. These updates reflect our ongoing commitment to making AI an essential partner in how organizations operate, innovate, and grow.

Dynamics 365 leads this wave with AI-powered, agentic innovations across sales, service, finance, supply chain, human resources (HR), and commerce—helping organizations unify data, automate processes, and elevate customer and employee experiences. Microsoft Power Platform continues to expand modern app development, intelligent automation, and enterprise-grade governance to empower makers and developers to innovate with confidence. Role-based agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot further evolve into intelligent daily command centers, helping to deliver richer, data-grounded insights and extensibility that help teams work smarter across every role.

To help you stay current on the most important and innovative capabilities, we’re moving beyond bi-annual launch events to lighter, more frequent business applications updates, featuring expert insights and demonstrations from Microsoft product leaders and engineers.

Be sure to stay updated on the latest features and create your personalized release plan using the release planner.

Highlights from Dynamics 365

2026 release wave 1 updates for Dynamics 365 deliver AI-powered, agentic experiences across sales, service, finance, supply chain, commerce, HR, projects, sustainability, and enterprise resource planning (ERP)—bringing deeper Copilot integration, intelligent automation, unified customer and operational data, and enhanced cross-app capabilities to help organizations drive efficiency, elevate customer and employee experiences, and operate with greater agility and confidence.

Dynamics 365 Sales

Dynamics 365 Sales brings the power of AI to help sellers build their pipeline, enrich opportunities, and accelerate deal closure, while helping sellers easily access accurate, up-to-date information and recommending high-impact actions that sellers can take. Copilot experiences in Dynamics 365 Sales can draw on data spanning customer relationship management (CRM) and Microsoft 365 signals, like email and meeting recaps, to deliver actionable insights across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 experiences.

Dynamics 365 Customer Service

Dynamics 365 Customer Service will continue to enhance agentic capabilities across case management, email, customer intent, quality evaluation, and knowledge management. AI-infused admin and supervisor help to provide more transparency and quicker time-to-value. These investments strengthen end-to-end service orchestration, from helping identify customer intent to driving autonomous workflows that elevate service quality and responsiveness.

Dynamics 365 Contact Center

Dynamics 365 Contact Center advances the agentic contact center in 2026 release wave 1 with new AI-powered capabilities that improve self-service, support accelerate assisted service, and help organizations run contact center operations more intelligently in 2026 release wave 1. It expands to include emerging channels, supervisor insights, and extensibility, giving organizations a unified, AI-powered system to elevate the customer experience.

Dynamics 365 Field Service

Dynamics 365 Field Service strengthens service execution across technician productivity, resource scheduling, and work order management. Investments focus on mobile usability and reliability, intelligent scheduling through the Scheduling Operations Agent, and end‑to‑end execution across assets, projects, and financial operations in this release wave. Together, these updates help organizations manage service complexity and deliver consistent service outcomes.

Dynamics 365 Sustainability

Dynamics 365 Sustainability introduces more intuitive reporting navigation, advanced calculation versioning, and granular data‑locking to reinforce governance and regulatory confidence in this wave. Expanded finance integration, streamlined workflows, and updated templates and factor libraries will further empower organizations to make informed decisions and support progress toward their sustainability goals.

Dynamics 365 Finance

Dynamics 365 Finance delivers continued global scale enhancements that drive greater financial automation, strengthen global regulatory compliance posture, and enhance financial planning and analytics—helping organizations operate more efficiently and achieve their financial and operational goals with confidence.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management’s 2026 wave 1 enhances supply and demand planning with price-demand correlation and capacity-to-promise (CTP) date protection. Supplier communication and engagement are streamlined, while warehousing gains AI-powered picking, inventory rebalancing, and hands-free scanning—driving supply chain efficiency.

Dynamics 365 Project Operations

Dynamics 365 Project Operations brings rich capabilities in 2026 release wave 1—from change order support and smarter project planning to smoother quoting, budgeting, and contract workflows. New enhancements streamline item consumption, mobile expense management, subscription billing, and modern-architecture migration—delivering connected project experience.

Dynamics 365 Commerce

Dynamics 365 Commerce strengthens business-to-business (B2B) with multi-outlet ordering, unified sign-in, outlet-specific catalogs, and built-in credit management to help reduce friction and protect cash flow. It modernizes order management and assisted-selling workflows in retail stores, helping to improve associate productivity, and customer experiences across channels. It also enables cross-legal-entity inventory lookup and flexible, attribute-based pricing to help accelerate mass updates and help drive higher sales.

Dynamics 365 Human Resources

Dynamics 365 Human Resources continues to advance in areas such as recruitment, onboarding, reporting, and integrated workforce management. By merging enhanced user experiences with broader ecosystem integration and expanding regional payroll collaborations, the platform enables organizations to optimize employee engagement, support operational accuracy, and confidently achieve their workforce objectives.

Finance and operations cross-app capabilities

Finance and operations cross-app capabilities will introduce new enhancements that strengthen the foundation for AI experiences across Dynamics 365. These updates include improvements to Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, as well as the general availability of immersive home, which is an AI-powered workspace designed to help users stay focused and prioritize what matters most.

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Data acts as the grounding layer for CRM copilots and AI agents, delivering real‑time, unified customer profiles that help power accurate decisions. With enriched data, teams can act on insights directly in their workflow to deliver timely, personalized experiences that deepen engagement and drive better outcomes. The result is an AI-ready data core that elevates agents and helps deliver more connected, intelligent CRM experiences.

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys empowers end-to-end, agentic customer engagements across sales, marketing, and service, allowing businesses to proactively react to customer behavior using Copilot and AI agents. With smarter orchestration tools, teams can deliver impactful campaigns at scale to drive stronger relationships, higher efficiency, and revenue growth. Part of Dynamics 365, every interaction within your organization benefits from shared data and consistent intelligence across Microsoft CRM applications.

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Dynamics 365 Business Central accelerates the move to agentic ERP with enhancements to our AI‑powered agents that automate sales and purchase scenarios in 2026 release wave 1. Alongside new business capabilities, we invest heavily in developer productivity to support extensibility—improving advanced language (AL) testing, debugging, Copilot extensibility, and agent design.

Highlights from Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft Copilot Studio

2026 release wave 1 updates for Microsoft Power Platform deliver modernized app experiences across Power Apps and Power Pages, AI-powered automation and agent innovation in Power Automate and Copilot Studio, enhanced Dataverse intelligence and programmability, and strengthened governance, security, and cost management capabilities to help organizations build, scale, and manage intelligent solutions with confidence.

Power Apps

Power Apps continues to modernize app experiences with a refreshed model-driven user interface (UI), improved mobile and offline capabilities, streamlined search, and expanded AI features. This release brings standardized modern theming to everyone, real-time Dataverse access for offline-first canvas apps, enhanced search in grids and lookups, and broader availability and extensibility of generative pages to help teams build and scale intelligent apps faster.

Power Pages

Power Pages will further empower pro-developers and low-code makers to build intelligent business portals for your employees, customers, citizens, and partners through better integration with market leading AI tools. Additionally, enhanced security agent features will further support low-code makers, pro-developers, and admins with actionable insights and abilities for securing their websites.

Power Automate

Power Automate is Microsoft’s comprehensive automation platform for cloud flows, desktop flows, and process mining. This release introduces AI agent authoring, optimization, and self-healing capabilities for desktop flows, Copilot Studio-powered actions in cloud flows, enhanced maker and collaboration tools across both, general availability of object-centric process mining, and consolidated governance reporting.

Microsoft Copilot Studio

Microsoft Copilot Studiocontinues its journey to make agent and agentic workflows even easier to build and more powerful. Now you can further customize agents built with Agent Builder in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and power your automation with high value AI actions. Deeper governance, multi-agent orchestration, and evaluations enable further scaling. With connections to Microsoft Foundry and Work IQ, your agents can use the latest AI technology in coordination with your organizational data.

Microsoft Dataverse

Microsoft Dataverse continues to invest in enterprise-ready agentic and low-code data platform capabilities. The spotlight is on Work IQ and Copilot integration, delivering organization-specific decisions with adaptive learning and full auditability. We’re also enhancing agent programmability with Dataverse APIs, MCP servers, and Python SDK, plus new storage management tools for enterprise-grade compliance at scale.

Microsoft Power Platform governance and administration

Microsoft Power Platform governance and administrationintroduces admin controls for agent security, real-time risk assessment in Copilot Studio, and AI-powered governance agents that automate tenant monitoring and remediation in this release. Enhanced visibility into usage patterns, granular Copilot credit usage with pay-as-you-go (PAYG) caps, and connector dependencies help you optimize costs, demonstrate return on investment (ROI), and enforce compliance with organizational policies using features within the Power Platform Admin Center. GitHub integration and deploy from Git mature your application lifecycle management (ALM) practices with full audit trails.

Business Applications Update

Power Platform &

Copilot Studio edition

Decorative abstract gradient background.

Updates to role-based agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot

2026 release wave 1 updates for Microsoft role-based agents transform Sales Agent and Finance Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot into intelligent daily command centers, helping to deliver richer, data-grounded insights, enhanced chat and mobile experiences, contextual support across Outlook and Teams, and strengthened governance and extensibility to help organizations drive productivity and scale AI responsibly.

Sales Agent

Sales Agent becomes the seller’s daily command center with richer Sales Chat and Sales Home experiences across desktop and mobile in 2026 release wave 1. Sellers will gain streamlined access to deal and account insights through configurable record summaries, contextual support in Outlook and Teams, and improved email and meeting intelligence. New governance and extensibility controls will also help organizations scale AI responsibly.

Finance Agent

Finance Agent helps finance professionals and their stakeholders interact with financial information from their ERP within the flow of work. In 2026 release wave 1, we continue expanding how this financial assistant supports common finance tasks such as reconciliation, variance analysis, and data preparation in Excel, as well as customer communications in Outlook. By bringing financial insights and assistance directly into familiar productivity tools, the Finance Agent helps teams investigate issues faster, respond to stakeholders more efficiently, and spend less time manually preparing or reconciling data so they can focus more on financial analysis and decision support.

For a complete list of new capabilities, please refer to the Dynamics 365 2026 release wave 1 plan, the Microsoft Power Platform 2026 release wave 1 plan, and role-based agents 2026 release wave 1. We also encourage you to share your feedback in the community forums for Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform.

Business Applications Update

The Business Applications Update offers an early preview of new capabilities coming in the months ahead. This refreshed structure is designed to reflect the reality of our time: innovation does not happen twice a year; it is constant. Whether you are a strategic leader or a hands-on practitioner, this new cadence is built to get you quickly up to speed.

The post 2026 release wave 1 plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Power Platform, and Copilot Studio offerings appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
Forrester studies project more than 100% ROI for enterprises and 16-month payback for midmarket organizations using Dynamics 365 ERP http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/02/26/forrester-studies-project-more-than-100-roi-for-enterprises-and-16-month-payback-for-midmarket-organizations-using-dynamics-365-erp/ Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 Enterprise resource planning decisions will shape how organizations operate, scale, and compete for years to come.

The post Forrester studies project more than 100% ROI for enterprises and 16-month payback for midmarket organizations using Dynamics 365 ERP appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) decisions are among the most consequential investments a business can make; shaping how organizations operate, scale, and compete for years to come. Yet many ERP transformations have historically carried risk: high costs, long timelines, heavy customization, and uncertain returns.

To bring clarity to these decisions, Microsoft commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct two independent Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) studies examining the business value of Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP on enterprises and midmarket organizations.

From fragmentation to integration: Why ERP modernization matters

Across both 2026 studies, Forrester’s projections showed organizations from a similar place: fragmented ERP landscapes, siloed data, manual processes, and highly customized legacy systems that were difficult to upgrade or scale. These environments could limit real-time visibility, slow decision-making, and increased operational risk; particularly as organizations grew, expanded into new markets, or managed increasingly complex supply chains. These constraints didn’t just slow operations; they could limit a leader’s ability to respond to volatility, growth, and supply chain disruption with confidence.

In response, organizations turned to Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP to consolidate finance and supply chain operations with a unified, cloud-based platform. By centralizing data and standardizing processes, organizations can improve operational efficiency and gain timely, actionable insights across the business.

Importantly, this shift reframed ERP from a back-office system of record to a platform for informed, faster decision-making that connects data, people, and processes across the enterprise.

Quantifying business value with Forrester’s TEI methodology

The strength of the TEI studies lies in their focus on quantifiable business impact. Forrester evaluated benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks over a multi‑year period, modeling a composite organization based on real customer interviews and survey responses. This approach allows leaders to evaluate ERP investments using a transparent financial framework rather than vendor claims alone.

Enterprise ERP: Financial impact at scale

In the enterprise TEI study, Forrester modeled a composite organization representing large, complex businesses using Dynamics 365 ERP. The analysis projects that over three years, the organization achieved:

  • 101% return on investment (ROI)
  • Net present value (NPV) of $12.9 million

These results were driven by a combination of operational efficiency gains, productivity improvements, and cost reductions, particularly from consolidating legacy systems and reducing infrastructure and IT operations spend.

The study highlights that value did not come from isolated features, but from standardizing processes, unifying data across finance and supply chain functions, and reducing reliance on heavily customized, on-premises ERP environments.

Key enterprise findings business leaders should note

For business decision makers evaluating ERP at scale, several findings stand out:

  • Improved operational efficiency and productivity can be enabled through streamlined workflows and better access to real-time insights
  • Reduced infrastructure and IT operations costs can be enabled by retiring multiple legacy systems and shifting to a cloud-based ERP model
  • Faster, more confident decision making enabled by unified financial and supply-chain data

Together, these benefits contributed directly to the projected positive NPV and ROI modeled in the study, reinforcing ERP modernization as a business investment, not just an IT upgrade.

Midmarket ERP: Enterprise-grade value without enterprise complexity

While enterprises face complexity at scale, midmarket organizations often face a different challenge: how to grow without adding disproportionate cost or operational overhead. Forrester’s Total Economic Impact™ study of Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP for midmarket organizations examined how modern ERP can support expansion, improve visibility, and standardize operations without the burden of traditional enterprise‑scale implementations.

In the study, Forrester modeled a composite midmarket organization based on customer interviews and survey data. The analysis projects that the organization would achieve:

  • Payback in 16 months
  • Net present value (NPV) of $3.3 million over three years

These outcomes were driven by streamlined finance and supply chain operations, automation of manual processes, and the replacement of disconnected legacy systems with a single, cloud‑based ERP platform. By consolidating systems and standardizing processes, organizations can reduce operational friction while supporting improved visibility and control across the business.

Key midmarket findings business leaders should note

For midmarket decision-makers, the study highlights several critical outcomes:

  • Enabled faster time-to-value, with measurable financial returns realized in just over a year
  • Enabled improvements to operational efficiency and productivity through streamlined finance and supply chain processes and automation of manual tasks
  • Potentially reduced complexity and IT overhead by replacing disconnected legacy systems with a unified cloud ERP platform

These benefits contributed directly to the projected positive NPV and rapid payback modeled in the study, reinforcing ERP modernization as a financially disciplined investment for midmarket organizations focused on growth and resilience.

Why independent research matters for ERP decisions

ERP investments shape the future of an organization for years—sometimes decades. That’s why independent, third-party validation is critical. The Forrester TEI studies do not ask leaders to accept conclusions at face value; instead, they provide:

  • A transparent financial model
  • Explicit assumptions and risk adjustments
  • Clear linkage between operational improvements and economic outcomes

For executives, CFOs, COOs, and IT leaders, these studies offer a common language for aligning stakeholders and setting realistic expectations for ERP transformation.

Go deeper: Explore the full Forrester TEI studies

This summary only scratches the surface. The full Forrester Total Economic Impact™ studies include detailed benefit breakdowns, cost considerations, and financial modeling that business leaders can adapt to their own organizations.

For organizations considering ERP modernization, these studies provide a data-driven foundation to evaluate options, build a credible business case, and make informed decisions with confidence.

The post Forrester studies project more than 100% ROI for enterprises and 16-month payback for midmarket organizations using Dynamics 365 ERP appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
Agentic AI for inventory to deliver: From procurement to fulfillment http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2026/02/02/agentic-ai-for-inventory-to-deliver-from-procurement-to-fulfillment/ Mon, 02 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=199930 From procurement and production to fulfillment and customer satisfaction, inventory-to-deliver impacts every aspect of the supply chain.

The post Agentic AI for inventory to deliver: From procurement to fulfillment appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

When customers place an order, they expect speed, accuracy, and reliability. Behind the scenes, inventory-to-deliver processes are what makes that promise possible, helping to ensure the right products are available at the right time to meet customer expectations while controlling costs. For operational professionals, inventory isn’t just a number on a spreadsheet, it’s the lifeline of the supply chain. It determines whether you can fulfill demand without delays, avoid costly stockouts, and keep working capital flowing. From procurement and production to fulfillment and customer satisfaction, inventory-to-deliver impacts every aspect of the supply chain.

In today’s fast-paced market, poor inventory visibility can lead to stockouts, excess holding costs, and missed revenue opportunities. Conversely, a well-orchestrated inventory strategy drives efficiency, reduces waste, and strengthens resilience against disruptions. It enables businesses to optimize working capital, improve cash flow, and deliver on promises consistently. So, how can an agent-ready enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform reinvent the inventory-to-deliver process?

Microsoft Cloud and agent platform enables inventory to deliver transformation

Microsoft Dynamics 365 can transform inventory management from a reactive task into a strategic advantage with an agent-ready foundation that spans across finance, supply chain, sales, and operations for a single source of truth that is both scalable and secure.

This same data foundation enables customers to buy, build, and customize agents to infuse across processes. For a refresher on understanding the agent landscape available today, visit Reinventing business process with AI: Agents in record to report where we explore the difference between first party, third party, and custom agents.

An animated pie chart that goes from zero to 75%. Below it reads, "of COOs trust AI for high-stakes work. The image fades to a second slide which reads, "Operations teams are using agents to boost speed and capacity." The stat is from the 2025 Work Trend Index.

Automate vendor communication with a first party agent from Dynamics 365

The Supplier Communications Agent in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is designed to automate routine procurement communications between purchasing teams and vendors. Traditionally, these interactions—such as following up on purchase orders or confirming changes—are manual, repetitive, and often handled via email, even in organizations using electronic data interchange (EDI). The Supplier Communications Agent can streamline these low-complexity tasks by automating vendor outreach and updates, freeing procurement professionals to focus on strategic activities. This not only seeks to improve efficiency but also reduces overall procurement costs by minimizing time spent on administrative work.

Explore partner agents to support the inventory to deliver process

Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers are configurable bridges between the business data within your line-of-business apps and the partner or custom-built agents you want to use. MCP serves as a universal intermediary, unlocking access to a unified platform and app data, modernizing how AI agents are interoperable with your apps. Let’s explore a few partner-built agents that will help you realize value across your supply chain today.

Warehouse Advisor Agent by MCA Connect

The Warehouse Advisor Agent leverages machine learning and predictive analytics to automate and improve key processes such as slotting, inventory consolidation, and cycle counting. By analyzing real-time data and historical trends, the agent delivers actionable insights that help warehouse teams make smarter, faster decisions.

This solution is ideal for warehouse managers, operations leaders, and supply chain professionals in distribution and manufacturing industries who are looking to reduce inefficiencies, improve inventory accuracy, and increase labor productivity. It integrates seamlessly with Dynamics 365’s Warehouse Management System (WMS), enabling users to deploy intelligent automation without disrupting existing workflows.

Inventory Acquisition and Re‑Balancing Agent from RSM

The Inventory Acquisition and Re‑Balancing Agent from RSM enables smarter inventory decisions by analyzing demand signals, supply availability, and stock imbalances in Dynamics 365. The agent can recommend rebalancing and acquisition actions to reduce stockouts, minimize excess inventory, and improve working capital efficiency.

Inbound Load Agent from Fellowmind

Fellowmind’s Inbound Load Agent can streamline inbound logistics by intelligently composing and optimizing loads based on demand, capacity, and operational constraints within Dynamics 365. The agent seeks to help logistics teams reduce transportation costs, improve warehouse utilization, and simplify complex inbound planning decisions.

Get started with agents for inventory-to-deliver processes

The Microsoft platform brings together secure, scalable cloud services with Dynamics 365’s unified ERP capabilities to streamline the entire inventory-to-delivery process. By leveraging real-time data and intelligent workflows, businesses gain supply chain agility to better meet customer expectations with precision. Partner-built agents, powered by MCP, amplify this value, enabling autonomous actions and predictive insights that transform operations from reactive to proactive. Together, these innovations create a resilient, future-ready foundation for delivering efficiency and growth at scale.

The post Agentic AI for inventory to deliver: From procurement to fulfillment appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>
The era of agentic business applications arrives at Convergence 2025 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/business-leader/2025/12/09/the-era-of-agentic-business-applications-arrives-at-convergence-2025/ Tue, 09 Dec 2025 16:00:00 +0000 http://approjects.co.za/?big=en-us/dynamics-365/blog/?p=197006 At Convergence 2025, December 9–12, we’ll explore how organizations can build an AI-first autonomous enterprise powered by data, copilots, and agents working together across Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Microsoft Cloud.

The post The era of agentic business applications arrives at Convergence 2025 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>

The way we work is transforming. Generative AI and agentic business applications are catalysts for a profound shift in how we create, collaborate, and make decisions. What once took hours now happens in moments. Ideas move faster, insights surface sooner, and the boundaries between human creativity and machine capability are blurring. This isn’t the future—it’s unfolding now, and it’s changing the very fabric of how businesses operate.

It’s a move from systems of record to systems of action. In this new era, AI agents go beyond support—they help interpret signals, uncover patterns, and initiate actions and continuously optimize processes on your behalf. At Convergence 2025, December 9–12, we’ll explore how organizations can build an AI-first autonomous enterprise powered by data, copilots, and agents working together across Microsoft Dynamics 365 and the Microsoft Cloud.

From automation to autonomy: The AI-first organization

Businesses have long pursued automation to streamline operations. The next leap is autonomy—systems that interpret signals across the business, adapt workflows in real time, and anticipate decisions. Autonomous enterprises go beyond efficiency—they are driven, adaptive, and human-centered, with intelligent systems that understand context, collaborate across processes, and deliver measurable outcomes.

We believe the recognition of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Leader placement in Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ and IDC MarketScape reports reinforces our ability to connect front-end and back-end operations into one intelligent ecosystem. Our leadership is grounded in the breadth of the Microsoft Cloud, the depth of our data estate, and our ability to bring AI, analytics, and business applications together as a unified platform to accelerate end-to-end AI transformation.

Agentic business applications are built on three connected pillars: data, Copilot, and agents—working together to change how work gets done.

1. Data: The foundation of agent autonomy

Most business processes begin with data. Finance close, order-to-cash, customer insights, case resolution, supply chain planning, field service, HR workflows—each depends on complete, connected, trusted information. When this data is fragmented across systems, agents can’t act with autonomy, and AI can only answer questions instead of accelerating outcomes.

Dynamics 365 spans both front-office and back-office operations—customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP)—providing a continuous, end-to-end view of customers, employees, finances, supply chain, and operations. This structured, governed, and auditable data is the backbone of business processes—how work flows, how controls are enforced, and how organizations maintain compliance at scale.

As business model innovation becomes even more important, we continue to invest deeply in these core applications. We’re expanding capabilities across ERP and CRM, investing in bringing Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and Microsoft Power Platform closer to Dynamics 365 than ever before. From connected frontlines to adaptive supply chains, business applications are becoming composable, intelligent, and outcome-driven—helping customers innovate more quickly while maintaining trust, security, and governance, adapt faster, redesign workflows, and build the operational integrity required for agent-powered processes. At Convergence 2025, you’ll see how Dynamics 365 continues to evolve as the operational engine of AI-first organizations.

At Microsoft Ignite 2025, we announced major advances in how agents connect with ERP systems. The Dynamics 365 ERP Model Context Protocol (MCP) server is evolving from static actions to a dynamic, configurable framework that adapts as business needs evolve. A new analytics MCP server extends this capability to structured metrics and insights, supporting agents to reason over governed operational and financial data—not snapshots or exports, but live business signals. Together, these updates unify data, logic, and actions into a common protocol that can simplify integration and accelerate automation.

And with MCP designed for massive scale—including support of millions of ERP actions—organizations gain the performance and extensibility required for agent-powered business processes at enterprise scale.

People collaborating in an office setting.

The entire Microsoft data and application stack—Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM, Dataverse, Fabric, and more—forms the operational engine of agentic transformation. It provides the structure, governance, and adaptability required to support AI-powered business models and next-generation workflows.

2. Microsoft 365 Copilot: Your strategic productivity partner

microsoft 365 copilot: built for work

Get started ↗

Copilot continues to help transform productivity across many roles. It helps sales teams move deals forward, finance teams accelerate reconciliation, and service teams resolve issues before they escalate. But Copilot is more than an assistant—it’s the connective layer that links people, data, and systems, understanding intent, orchestrating workflows, and guiding decisions across Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Microsoft 365.

3. Agents: Plan, decide, and act

We expect AI agents will be core to how businesses operate—planning, deciding, and acting across systems to accelerate outcomes. These agents will interpret signals, identify patterns, and initiate actions to keep the business in motion.

Microsoft’s strategy spans the full agent ecosystem: first-party embedded agents inside Dynamics 365, agents for specialized industries that can be customized and extended by partners, specific partner-built agents, and custom agents created by organizations through Microsoft Copilot Studio. All share the same security, governance, and identity foundation.

For small to mid-sized businesses, Dynamics 365 Business Central brings agents directly into everyday finance and operations. The Sales Order Agent creates, validates, and updates sales orders which can help improve accuracy and speed by reducing manual entry and exception management. The Payables Agent automates vendor invoices and reconciliations, improving control while freeing finance teams from repetitive tasks. Together, these agents help Business Central customers modernize core processes with governed, AI-powered actions that keep work flowing across purchasing, sales, and accounting.

Across Dynamics 365 finance and operations, embedded agents are transforming core processes—from time and expense entry in Project Operations, to supplier outreach in Supply Chain Management, to reconciliations in Finance and technician scheduling in Field Service. These agents help reduce manual effort and bring greater precision and autonomy to everyday operations.

At Convergence 2025, we’re also thrilled to announce the public preview of the Product Change Management Agent Template—an AI-powered solution that transforms how manufacturers manage the process of change across equipment, products, and processes changes. Built on Copilot Studio, the agent automates workflows and connects critical systems, helping teams cut approval times from weeks to days, reduce errors, and bring innovations to market, faster. Learn how customers like Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) are using this agent template to optimize their manufacturing operations.

Partner-built agents that extend industry workflows

Partners are building agents that extend domain workflows and connect directly to Dynamics 365 through the MCP. These solutions show how agent-to-agent coordination and cross-system reasoning will define the next era of enterprise automation.

Shop Floor by RSM helps manufacturers gain real-time visibility across production by bringing job details, quality checks, and operational signals into one experience. It can surface issues as they occur and support teams in resolving them quickly, helping to reduce disruptions and maintain consistent output. By connecting workers, data, and actions on the floor, the agent can support more resilient, adaptive manufacturing operations.

The PayFlow Agent by HSO helps finance teams manage vendor payment inquiries with greater speed and accuracy. It analyzes incoming emails, retrieves live payment data from Dynamics 365, and responds with up-to-date status information—which can reduce manual effort and help vendors receive clear, timely communication. The agent streamlines payment cycles and can improve transparency across accounts payable.

The Quality Impact Recall Agent by Cegeka helps organizations identify product quality issues and trace their impact across inventory and customer shipments. It coordinates notifications, guides corrective steps, and streamlines recall preparedness, which can help teams act quickly when risks emerge and maintain trust in the products they deliver.

Factorial connects to the Dynamics 365 Business Central MCP Server to deliver a new agent-to-agent experience. You can use a single Copilot interface to pull, exchange, and act on data across the systems. For example, within expense workflows, Factorial’s agent can request, validate, and reconcile financial data directly with Business Central.

Zensai’s agent integrates with Dynamics 365 Business Central to transform an organization’s operational signals into aligned goals and check-ins inside Microsoft 365. Built in Copilot Studio and connected through MCP for Dynamics 365, the agent converts finance, compliance, HR, and sales insights into structured, cascaded goals within Perform 365. At Convergence 2025, you’ll see how these first-party, partner, and custom-built agents form a connected ecosystem—and how organizations are already using them to move from automation to autonomy.

Convergence 2025

Convergence has always been where our community comes together to learn, connect, and imagine what’s next—and this year we’re reigniting that tradition at a moment of extraordinary change.

Throughout the event you’ll see how organizations are moving from systems of record to systems of agency, and how you can apply these ideas to accelerate your own AI transformation. I’m excited for you to experience everything we’ve been building.

The post The era of agentic business applications arrives at Convergence 2025 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

]]>