By: Linda Rosencrance
Microsoft has made version 9.0 of its Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement apps generally available for new instances.
The new version includes updates that had been part of the previously-named July 2017 update, which was previewed in June.
Microsoft has highlighted three key classes of change in v9:
- The user interface for the tablet and phone;
- A transition to Azure services rather than the legacy CRM Online server architecture (at least for new systems);
- The separation of the software architecture between app (Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, etc.) and platform.
Here are three blog posts from CRM veterans that provide early impressions of some of the new features in v9.
Dynamics V9: Accounts that Have no Opportunities (almost there)
On the It Ain’t Boring blog, Alex Shiega wrote that recently he wanted to test a feature on Dynamics 365/CRM v9 that many people have been awaiting – the ability to use “Advanced Find” to answer the age-old question: What are all the accounts that have no opportunities?
However, although the feature is now included in v9, Shiega describes it as “not fully there.” That’s because In V9, there are two types of filters you can choose for the related entities: Contains Data, which provides the same filter behavior as in the earlier versions, and Does Not Contain Data, which is what allows you to identify accounts with no opportunities.
But if you use that filter, all your filters on the related entity will be deleted (e.g., disallowing you from narrowing those accounts with no opportunities in the current fiscal year).
Native Dynamics 365 v9 Auto Number Solution for Custom Entities
On the Dynamics 365 Northern Ireland blog, Brian Illand wrote that he had recently watched some of the Microsoft Ignite sessions on YouTube. From a Dynamics perspective, he found Matt Barbour’s session, which focused on platform updates for Dynamics 365 Customer Edition v9, most interesting.
Illand wrote that one thing not discussed in the preview sessions was the addition of Auto Numbering for any entity – not just a few select core entities. In his YouTube presentation, Barbour displayed a screenshot that explained how they’re created in C#.
Illand said he wrote a web resource to allow users to create a native, future-proof auto-number field without any code and posted the information on the Dynamics 365 Heroes Blog:
Simply install this managed solution [you can download it here] into your environment, navigate to Settings > Solutions and click on the Easy AutoNumber icon at the top of the screen and enter the autonumber details.
This should fill the gap until Microsoft adds this themselves in an upcoming release, so use it to make sure your auto-numbers are backwards compatible.
You can get more information about Illand’s managed solution here.
Dynamics 365 v9.0 Is Already Available
On his @RamonTebar blog, Ramon Tebar offers some information about the new features available in Dynamics 365/CRM v9. He wrote that the build version he received with his UK trial was 9.0.0.11.03.
In his post, he provides screenshots for the new design, the new unified interface apps, flow integration, multi select option set attribute, and new solutions components, including virtual entities.