About Directions EMEA
Directions EMEA is an independent conference for Microsoft partners, including Dynamics 365, Office 365 and Windows Azure partners, as well as independent software providers. Every year, the conference brings together around 2,500 participants from all over Europe. The aim of the conference is to inform participants about new products in the Dynamics system and to enable space for sharing knowledge between individual partners.
What was presented at this year’s Directions EMEA 2019?
Microsoft still has the same message, that means Microsoft talk about building a comprehensive ecosystem of business applications. The entire ecosystem should be maintained as part of an intelligent cloud computing and one shared database. Cloud computing, that seems to be an issue that gives direction to development for the coming years.
During this year’s keynote speech, we met with a similar message recently. We are talking here about four pillars of system development:
1) Stabilization (better and fewer error messages, itelligent load balancing, reduction of noisiness).
2) Perfomance (non-blocking number series, page background tasks, general journal background posting, improved lookup speed in client, automatic index tuning in Azure SQL)
3) Supportability (partner telemetry available to partner, create support ticket directly from Admin Center)
4) Security (work on system development to ensure data security, ISO27001, ISO27017, ISO27018, SOC 1 & 2 Type 2, HIPPA BAA, FERPA).
In addition, a new Business Central logo was presented.
Presenter mentioned about the new Business Central update, which is called Wave 2. About what Microsoft has prepared with the next update we will soon write in more details on our blog. Meanwhile, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the materials on the Microsoft website: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365-release-plan/2019wave2/dynamics365-business-central/planned-features The key information seems to be the fact that the C/AL language and RTC (Role Tailored Client) has been abandoned. This means changes the current technology in the form of the C / SIDE environment. This is a significant change from the point of view of the implementation project. In addition, it should be mentioned that the last update contains 140 breaking changes, which means a large number of new features also in terms of functionality.
What new functionalities were announced during the confederation?
• Role explorer – full functionality view
• Alt + O keyboard shortcut to add notes.
• Numerous improvements in integration with Microsft Excel (among others, document lines can be exported to Excel).
• Work on many windows at the same time.
• An online session can last 2 hours (instead of 20 minutes)
• Application shortcuts are visible in tool labels.
• Working in the app, while tasks are refreshing in the background
• VS Code – procedure live check
In summary, the latest update will bring many changes, among others: Modern Client, VS Code + AL, improved migration tools and 140 breaking chagnes.
Key information about the future of Business Central
• SPIRNG RELEASE: Business Central Spring Release will be available for sale only until October 14, 2020
• OCTOBER RELEASE: In October 2019, the Wave 2 update comes out, having a key impact on the development environment (AL and Modern Clinet).
• YEAR 2020 oraz 2021: in the coming years we can expect further improvements:
• Support for other countries.
• Development of ISV solutions
• Further improvements in the field of migration tools (in particular the transition from the on-premise version to the cloud).
• Deepening integration with the Power Platform.
• Widely understood development of cloud-based services.
Finally, it should be mentioned that Directions conference announced rebranding. Instead of Directions EMEA / ASIA / NA, the organization will now operate under the Directions 4 Partners brand. Next year’s European edition will be held in Milan.