Microsoft preps Dynamics 365 Business Central partners for future with modern UI, development model

With the April 2019 release wave  of Microsoft Dynamics 365 now entering the market, Business Central partners begin to focus on the October 2019 release, which will bring the end of support for the product's older development model and user interface.

Starting with the October 2019 release, Business Central will support only the modern client and will only allow for development of customizations and solutions in AL through VS Code. 

At the partner-focused Directions ASIA conference, partners and Microsoft examined some of these changes, including the benefits of retiring the Windows client and embracing improvements being made to the modern client in the areas of productivity and performance.

Also, as seen in the photo above, Microsoft Technical Fellow Mike Ehrenberg presented to the partner audience in Kuala Lumpur. His role has been characterized by multiple sources in the last month as the interim or temporary  engineering lead for Business Central, but in slides photographed at the event he was also described as "GM". It is generally believed that Microsoft is still searching for a general manager to serve in the R&D leadership role last held by Marko Perisic, though Microsoft has not confirmed it.

Writing on the Business Central partner blog, group program manager Claus Busk Andersen clarified that the product's future is focused user experience through "our modern web and mobile clients, and our embedded Outlook add-in". As seen in the top graphic, the modern client portfolio includes the primary web-based interface for multiple browser, mobile apps for Android and iPhone/iPad, a Windows 10 App for desktop, plugins for Excel and Outlook, and Power Platform connectors.

And for development, he explained: