Community Summit 2023: Microsoft to adjust Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management update schedule, add more Copilot experiences

Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management (F&SCM) now generates more than a billion dollars in sales annually for Microsoft, according to CEO Satya Nadella’s shareholder letter from the 2023 Annual Report. And as the products continue to onboard more organizations, users can expect updates that tie into what Microsoft believes is “a new era of AI” thanks to Dynamics 365 Copilot, the embrace of Microsoft Fabric, and an ongoing effort to bring the ERP solution closer to the Power Platform.

“[Dynamics 365 F&SCM] product growth is outstanding. Customer successes are multiplying, and analysts are giving us strong reviews,” said Microsoft Technical Fellow and Dynamics 365 CTO Mike Ehrenberg in a recorded message to the AX and F&SCM audience at Community Summit 2023. Noting that he has now been with Microsoft for 20 years, Ehrenberg stated that his excitement at recent positive analyst rankings for the product reflects the team’s work on their cloud architecture, Microsoft’s data platform, and the application itself.

Microsoft will be adjusting their cloud update policy for F&SCM. The product will be moving from seven possible updates throughout the year to four. Updates will be planned for January, April, July, and October starting in April 2024 and will include a “simplified skip window and skip policy,” Ehrenberg explained. The seven-update cadence had remained “too difficult” for some customers and ISVs, Ehrenberg stated.

The quarterly updates will be accompanied by proactive quality updates, or PQUs, that will be done in cloud tenants with “near zero downtime.” Microsoft has already been following the PQU model, with ninety-eight percent of non-FDA-validated customers already receiving this style of update in production with no issues, Ehrenberg stated. The team is now looking to bring the model to FDA-validated customers. He told the audience: