New in Dynamics 365 v9.0 - Multi-select option set, Virtual entities & Flow

This blog is the part of a multi-series blog on the latest updates in Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement v9.0. The Part-1 on User Experience enhancement is here and Part-2 on Apps enhancements is here.

This blog is about the following new features in v9.0 –

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•        Multi-select Option sets
•        Virtual entities 
•        Microsoft Flow integration

1.      Multi-select Option set – This was one of the most requested and long awaited features which customers asked for in Microsoft Dynamics 365.

When you are creating a new custom field for an entity. there is a new field type – Multi-select option set.  For example, I am creating a new field for Contact – Hobbies. This is a multi-select option set as each contact can have more than 1 hobby.

Multi-Select Option Set

After creating the new field I can add a list (options) of Hobbies for the Contact.

Hobbies - Multi-select

Now add the custom field to the Contact form and you have a multiple choice for Hobbies to select for a contact.

Add multiple Hobbies for a Contact

And once you select all Hobbies for the contact the data looks great. Thank you Microsoft Dynamics 365 product team!!

Nice work!!

Some of the things to know about Multi-select option sets –

1.         You can enter upto 150 options max in the list
2.            Multi-select option set can also be a Global Option set (I recommend all Option sets should be  Global Option sets) so it can be used across the board with Multiple entities - For example Hobbies for Leads and Contacts
3.           You can also add the multi-select option set to a view as shown below

Multiple Hobbies in a Contact View

    

Now it is time to plan for the data transformation - Moving data from custom entities created before multi-select was available, to the new multi-select option set.

2. Virtual Entities –

      Clients have data stored in multiple external systems, applications and databases. It is useful to show the data from external systems in Dynamics 365 and not to import or replicate the data. This is where the new feature of Virtual entities will be beneficial.

      For example Virtual entities provide the ability to connect to an ERP database and show the necessary information for Customer Order status or Account status, payments and receivables information.

Steps to create a Virtual entity –

1. Create a Data Source – Settings > Administration > Virtual Entity Data Sources

2. Enter the necessary information – Note – Currently this support Odata v4.0 only

Data source for Virtual Entity

Once the data source is created you can create the custom Virtual entity and refer the above Data Source.

New Virtual Entity - checkbox

The Virtual entity now can be used in Dynamics 365. Some points to consider about Virtual Entities –

1. -        Virtual entities are read only
2. -        Currently it supports OData v4.0 service
3. -        You cannot trigger workflows or plugins with the data retrieved from Virtual entities, as the data is not stored
4. -        Only organization owned entities are supported
5. -        Field level security is not supported with Virtual entities
6. -        The external data source entities must have a GUID primary key

3.  Microsoft Flow  – A user can now create or edit a flow from within Dynamics.

The flow button is available from a list view or record form – For example on the active Account list view the following flow options are available.

Flow in Dynamics 365

It requires the user to have an account and login to Flow. Once logged into Flow, they can create a new flow, manage all the created flows and see the run history of the flows.

I have few concerns with the Flow integration –

1.      Flow is useful for a system admin to create integrations between Dynamics 365 and 1 or more external application. For any internal to Dynamics 365 processes I would prefer to use Workflows or Actions within Dynamics 365

2.      There is no Global setting or configuration in security role within Dynamics 365 to control which user/s can use Flow. I think this is a security flaw and it may require admins to disable the flow button for all users except the few who can and should be allowed to create flow

3.      There is a cost to the Flow runs and it needs to be compared with other options

I hope the above is useful for you and let me know your observations on the above.

Thanks for reading.

Mihir Shah
365WithoutCode

New in Dynamics 365 v9.0 - Apps Enhancement

This blog is part-2 of a multi-series blog which focuses on the new enhancements to Dynamics 365 (v9.0) Customer Engagement application. 

The Part-2 of this blog is on Apps enhancements. You can read the Part-1 - enhancements to the User Experience here. With this release Microsoft is moving to an Apps based application development and consumption model and I get the feeling that everything is in Apps and App is everything.

1. Apps  - Introduced in Dec’2016 update is further enhanced and it is now the default way to create unique user interface and experiences. I had a blog earlier which details how the app is designed and you can read it here.

Here is how the new Tier-1 Customer Service dashboard looks like – 

Fig-1: new Tier-1 Dashboard

Below is the app designer. When creating a new App you can copy from an existing app and all the components gets copied over.

Fig-2 – App designer

2.  App Type - Microsoft has 9 OOTB managed apps as listed below. The Apps can be differentiated into 2 types based on the Client type.

Fig-3 – App Client Type

The table below shows all the managed apps with client type. (Note - I am using a trial version for this blog)

Table-1: OOTB managed Apps with Client Type

Note – All the apps above are accessing the same instance (and hence the same data) of Dynamics 365.

Microsoft has provided recommendation for the interface for some of the managed app based on performance results.

Table-2: App recommendation for best performance

 3.       Unified Interface – This is a new design framework applicable to all new Apps. It is created to  provide an “optimal viewing and interaction experience for any screen size, device or orientation”.

The new Sales Hub, Customer Service Hub and new mobile app are based on the Unified Interface. 

Here is how the new Customer Service Hub app dashboards looks like – (note – I am using the Custom time Frame to change the date range)

Fig-4: Tier-1 dashboard with Visual Filters

Fig-5: Tier – 1 Dashboard

The Case form – The unified interface changes can be better appreciated when we look at the form design changes in the Case form.

·        It has the new Timeline feature.

·        The tabs are now on the top – Summary / Details / ….

·        The time is now shown (16 D) in the business process flow stage

·        When clicking on the stage (example – Identify) it will show you the steps in that stage

Fig-6: The new Case form design

4.         Security – Apps can be secured by limiting the security roles that have access to the apps. 

Go to the Custom App and within the custom app go to Settings > My Apps.

Select the App you want to secure the access to and click on the “…” and select ‘Manage Roles’

In summary, some of the points to consider when designing with Apps.

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•       Create a new app from an existing managed app. This will copy all the components within the Managed apps
•       Secure the access to the app and provide a user friendly url
•       Follow the recommendation for performance from Microsoft
•       Some of the new features like timeline view is only available in the unified interface app

Hope the above helps you to jump start using the new Apps within Dynamics 365. Do let me know if there are any new feature which you like or dislike. Thanks for reading.

Mihir Shah

365WithoutCode

What’s new in Dynamics 365 v9.0 – Part-1 User Experience enhancements

Microsoft has recently announced the release of Dynamics 365 v9.0. This blog focusses on the new enhancements to Dynamics 365 (D365) Customer Engagement applications including – Sales / Customer Service / Field Service / Project Service Automation.  This is a major release from Microsoft and also it was much awaited. I had the opportunity to be part of the preview program and got to test out some of the new functionalities and enhancements.

The Part-1 of this blog is on enhancements to the User Experience.

New form design for v9.0

       D365 v9 has vastly improved user experience with a new form design, tabs and consistent spacing. One of the pet peeve of many clients was the amount of white space on forms. This version aims to reduce / eliminates the white space as shown above and detailed below.

a.      The forms are now divided into containers for content display. There is a border along each container

b.      The spacing of sections and fields is standardized and the fonts on the form are standardized

c.      There are horizontal tabs and buttons, making it easier for a touch enabled experience

d.      The empty sections have a default message for the user

e.      The colors of the sub-grid can be customized (example - Recent Cases). 

Add color to Sub-grid on a form

f.   There is a new system wide setting for text wrap that Admin can enable or disable.

Text wrapping feature

g.    There are now 3 standard themes to select from – Customization > Themes

New themes

h.      Search – Advanced find now has the “Does not equal” operator. For example - I want to find all contacts which are not in the State of NY.

"Not-In" operator

Let me know your feedback on the new user experience enhancement. In my next part of this blog, I will write about the other enhancements in v9. Thanks for reading.

Mihir Shah