In our recent blog, A first look at Business Central 2021 Wave 1 Updates, we took an overview approach to the 2021 Wave 1 Update and looked at all the new or updated features that would most affect the user experience of Business Central. In this blog we are bringing the focus in and looking at what the team here at TVision Technology are calling the “Five Fantastic Features” of this most recent Business Central update (April 2021).

1. Improved integration with Microsoft Teams

Over the last few Business Central updates, Microsoft has been improving the integration between Office 365 and Business Central. There is the integration with Microsoft Outlook which saves you jumping from applications and there is the enhanced Excel integration with ‘Export to Excel’ and ‘Edit in Excel’.  In this wave release, integration with the Office365 suite has been extended even further with the addition of the increasingly popular Microsoft Teams.

The app is available on the Teams marketplace, and you can use it with the Teams desktop, mobile app, or web. It connects Microsoft Teams to your business data in Dynamics 365 Business Central, so you can quickly share details with your team, connect with your business contacts, and respond faster to inquiries.

Features in the app include:

  • Paste a link to any Business Central record into chat, and it will expand that into a compact card to share with your colleagues.
  • View card details, edit data, and take action without ever leaving Microsoft Teams.
  • Look up customer or vendor contact details, interaction history, and transactions from the search box or message compose area in Microsoft Teams.

2. Bank reconciliation improvements

This improvement to bank reconciliation is an exciting one and allows you to easily see how the automatic application rules have been applied to the bank reconciliation features.  Now, you can cancel a bank reconciliation that was posted with errors, and then run a new bank reconciliation report from the Bank Statement page.  

To cancel an incorrect bank reconciliation, you need to go to the Bank Acc. Reconciliation page, find the incorrect statement and click on the Undo button in the ribbon. Once this is done, you can run a new bank reconciliation report with the correct details included. There is also the option to force change the statement number in case you want to redo an undone bank reconciliation using the same number.

You now also have a report for Bank Acc. Statements that shows the reconciled entries.

3. Simplified bank statement file import

In this update, Microsoft have simplified Business Central’s bank statement import capability. This means that you can take a regular flat file (.csv, .txt), and map the file’s columns to fields in Business Central using a simple wizard.

This new feature really only works for simple bank statements that are very flat files, comma separated, or colon separated. If you’ve got a more advanced statement from your bank with edit information and summary information, you’re still going to need some help getting that set up, but for a simple import, you can now do this all yourself.

4. More control over settings for Default Dimensions

Dimensions are a fundamental part of your financial reporting and one of the reasons why many businesses chose to move to Business Central.  This first new Dimensions improvement aims to ensures that the correct dimensions are always recorded against your transactions. On the set up page for Default Dimensions , you can set it up so that when the dimension Value Posting is set to Code Mandatory, users are now able pick from a predefined list of allowed dimension values that have been chosen as valid for particular master data, documents, or transaction posting in Business Central. This feature is an excellent way to prevent unnecessary dimension errors.

5. Dimensions corrections (for G/L Entries)

This new feature is what many, including some of our TVision team, are calling “the shiny new bike for Christmas” feature of this current update. This improvement to Dimensions, which users have been requesting for a long time, allows you to make Dimensions corrections on General Ledger (G/L) entries. 

In the past, you would have done this by creating a manual journal which, for large transactions, is time-consuming and error prone. 

What this new feature does is simplify the task by adding Correct Dimensions functionality for G/L entries. To start a dimension correction, you can use one the following pages:

  • On the GL/Register page, start by selecting a register, and then choose the Correct Dimensions action. This starts a correction for the entries in the selected register.
  • On the General Ledger Entries page, choose the Dimension Correction action.

Once you are on the Dimension Correction page, you will need to:

  • Enter information about the change in the Description field. This field is important as other people might use this information later to understand what was done.
  • Choose the relevant entries on the Selected Ledger Entries FastTab.
  • On the Dimension Correction Changes FastTab, choose the dimension that you want to change in the Dimension Code field, and the new value in the New Dimension Value Code field.
  • Validate the correction by selecting Validate Dimension Changes (Click here for more information on Validating Dimension Corrections).
  • Choose Run.

If you are correcting a large number of entries, it is advisable that you schedule the correction run for outside of normal office hours.

It is also possible to reverse your correction if, after you correct a dimension, you don’t like what you see. To do this, use the Undo action. However, you need to be aware that you can only undo the most recent correction.

Click here for more information on Troubleshooting and Correcting Dimensions.

Watch our recent webinar, including a demo of the five fantastic features from the Business Central 2021 Wave 1 Update , on What’s New in Business Central – April 2021 update to find out more.

How can TVision help you?

TVision is one of the largest and most experienced providers of Business Central and NAV in the UK. If you want to know more about Microsoft Business Central and how it can help improve your business processes, please feel free to contact us to arrange a demo. If you are already using Business Central but would like better support and advice than you are currently receiving, please contact us for an informal, no-strings attached chat on what TVision could do for you.