In this blog, we’ll focus primarily on the new and improved functional updates that can add value for you as a CRM user.
Microsoft releases two major waves of new features each year, which are then rolled out. One in October and one in April. In this release wave, we take a closer look at all the newly announced features and present them in a clear, organized list for you. These enhancements will between April 2022 and September 2022 be rolled out.
Would you like to view the full release plan? Check out the Microsoft overview for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform.
1. General Improvements
Modern Advanced Search
Following the optimization of the advanced lookup field in the previous release, Microsoft has decided to further optimize the entire search process within Dynamics 365.
With the modern advanced search feature, you can quickly and easily filter results right on the page you're on without having to navigate to a separate window.
Hiding System Views
Sometimes it is unavoidable to create additional system views to filter the data in Dynamics 365 for users, but this can result in a long list of system views that are not always equally useful to all users.
With this new feature, you can hide system views that aren't relevant to end users so they can quickly find the right view.
New Activities Drop-Down Menu
A new drop-down menu will appear that shows only activity types related to the app you are currently in. Activities not included in the app metadata are now hidden from New Activity.
This means that individual activities that are not added to the app will not appear in the drop-down list.
Rich text for the appointment description field
In addition to email and notes, you can now also edit the description field for appointments using the text editor.
This allows you to add links, images, tables, etc., to your appointment.
2. Integration with Microsoft Teams
In this new release wave, Microsoft is continuing the trend toward deeper integration of all tools in the ecosystem, and more specifically with Teams:
Teams Meeting
This feature will save you a lot of time, since you will no longer have to create a Microsoft Teams meeting outside of Dynamics 365.
In addition to the ability to add a Teams meeting directly to specific appointments, you can also join a Teams meeting directly from a Dynamics 365 appointment or even the timeline!
Owner's Online Status
When you're working on a record, you can see the record's owner and their online status. You can also send the owner an email or a chat message by clicking on the user's photo.
Currently, this feature is only available for the tables Account, Case, Opportunity and Contact.
Other attendees
In addition to the improvements to the owner field, you can now see who is currently working on a record, including their online status. You can also start a chat or send an email to that person to take your collaboration to the next level.
This feature is also currently available only for the tables Account, Case, Opportunity and Contact.
3. Reports
In-app notification
In addition to push notifications for mobile devices, you can now also display in-app notifications. With this new notification feature in the app, you can create notifications that appear in the browser.
If you want to display a notification, you must create a record in the new Notification-table in Dynamics 365. There are several ways to create these notifications. You can do so via the Create Record-API or Web API. See the examples on the right.
Another tool you can use is Power Automate. You have complete control over which information you want to include in the report.
This feature allows us to replace email notifications sent to end users with in-app notifications, so that their inboxes aren't flooded with CRM notifications.
