Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance Premium Announcement
Summary On January 1, 2024, Microsoft will release a new SKU for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance that empowers people with advanced business performance management capabilities. Dynamics 365 Finance Premium will provide creator access to advanced intelligence, insights, planning, and database capabilities that help customers accelerate business performance. The initial release will focus on creator access to Microsoft’s new extended planning and analysis (xP&A) capabilities that encompass the crucial tasks of budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, and corporate performance management. Business performance planning will become generally available on December 31, 2023 and customers will need to purchase Dynamics 365 Finance Premium licenses to use these capabilities. The new SKU will be available on price list preview starting December 1, 2023. This release is a significant step in establishing Microsoft as a leader in ERP with rapid innovations in finance to enhance business performance agility and empower teams with AI-guided planning, analytics, and insights to take next best actions. Make sure to review the blog to learn more: Enhance business performance with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance Premium. Details Business performance planning Microsoft introduced the vision for extended planning and analytics (xP&A) on May 31, 2023. The GA of business performance planning capabilities will equip Dynamics 365 Finance customers with a comprehensive view of financial and operational performance to empower more informed decision-making. These capabilities simplify and automate planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and analytics through integration with familiar Microsoft Power BI and Excel environments. Initial release use cases will apply to finance “record to report” business processes including revenue planning, bottom-up planning, budgeting, forecasting, long range planning, merger and acquisition valuation, cashflow, risk mitigation, and capex planning. Additional data models will be added to extend use cases to include operational and workforce planning scenarios to deliver on the vision to: Unify disparate data from across the business into a single source of truth. Create, share, and collaborate across secure cloud reporting delivered through familiar tools with Microsoft Excel and Power BI visuals. Receive contextual AI-driven insights to improve business performance, embedded into the flow of work. Connect planning and operational data with AI capabilities to enhance forecasting. Business performance analytics Introduced on February 22, 2023, business performance analytics provides Dynamics 365 Finance customers with self-service analytics and reporting that eliminates the need for finance professionals to have expertise in data science or IT. The business performance analytics capabilities are currently available in public preview and you can request to install and try it out today. These capabilities are available within the Dynamics 365 Finance SKU; however, looking forward, access to more advanced insights and AI-guided analytics will be available as part of the new Premium SKU. Dynamics 365 Finance SKU placemat – NEW Premium SKU Ensure your customers can activate the new business performance planning capabilities within Dynamics 365 Finance from the Power Platform Admin Center (PPAC) when they become generally available on December 31, 2023, by optimizing their SKU mix for finance and business performance management users. Any user that needs to create plans, budgets, forecasts, or financial analysis reports will need to have a Dynamics 365 Finance Premium license. Users that only need to read or make light edits to business performance planning tasks can use a Dynamics 365 Finance license. Those that only need to read reports or dashboards can use a Team Member license. You can find pricing details here: Finance Pricing | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Modernizing business performance management Microsoft’s new business performance planning and business performance analytics capabilities provide an advanced approach that goes beyond traditional financial planning and analytics to deliver across these planning and analytics use cases: Integrated Business Planning (IBP): Enables the integration of financial planning with operational and strategic planning, breaking down silos between different business functions. This holistic approach ensures alignment across your organization's various planning processes. Driver-Based Planning: Allow you organization to develop driver-based models, where key operational drivers (such as sales volume, headcount, or production units) directly impact financial outcomes. This dynamic modelling improves accuracy and responsiveness in forecasting. Scenario Planning and Analysis: Facilitate the creation and analysis of multiple scenarios, considering various internal and external factors. This helps you understand potential impacts on financial performance and make informed decisions in a rapidly changing business environment. Real-Time Reporting and Analysis: Get visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) and financial metrics. This ensures that decision-makers have access to the most up-to-date information, enabling timely and data-driven decision-making. Profitability Analysis: Conduct detailed profitability analyses by customer, product, or business segment. This granular level of analysis helps in identifying areas for improvement and optimizing resource allocation. Collaborative Planning: Encourage collaboration among different departments and stakeholders involved in your planning process. This collaborative approach fosters better communication, alignment, and a shared understanding of organizational goals. Cash Flow Planning: Effective cash flow planning is crucial for the financial health of an organization. Ensure you have robust tools for cash flow forecasting, helping you manage liquidity and make strategic decisions to optimize your cash position. Rolling Forecasts: Unlike static annual budgets, you need support for rolling forecasts, allowing your organization to continuously update forecasts based on actual performance and changes in the business environment. This adaptability enhances agility in financial planning. Ensure your customers are ready to adopt the new business performance planning capabilities and start 2024 with a better view of their strategic plans. Call to Action Familiarize yourself with the FAQ and Pitch Deck Read the blog: Enhance business performance agility with Dynamics 365 Finance Premium Bookmark the Dynamics 365 Finance Partner Hub Page Review the new Finance Premium SKU in pricelist preview Follow news to access demo resources and technical training coming in January 2024 Drive adoption with your customers and optimize the SKU mix to ensure people have access to business performance management capabilities More resources and technical training will roll out January - March 2024 Ask questions in the Business Applications Microsoft Partner CommunityBring Back AI Builder Calculator
Hello, This is my campaign to bring back the AI Builder Calculator. Since Ignite, the AI Builder calculator at https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/ai-builder-calculator/ simply redirects to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-apps. I feel like this is a misstep. AI Builder looks to be a huge part of Power Automate and Copilot Studio and not giving users a mostly user-friendly way to go about calculating the # of AI Builder credits they will use doesn't seem like the right business decision. As of today, you'd have to know that the rate card is in the Power Platform licensing guide, know how many AI Builder credits you get in a bundle and do the math yourself. The AI Builder calculator did that for you and was an integral part of Microsoft's websites for years. Perhaps another reason this is nonsensical is that AI Builder has much more to do with Power Automate than it does Power Apps, so if you were going to redirect the site, why have it redirect to Power Apps. Please resurrect the AI Builder calculator for the good of the community. -Blake
New Attach Licenses for Business Central Premium - now available!
Hot this week - Microsoft just launched two new Attach Licences for Business Central Premium - Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Customer Service, at $20 per application. For customers with Business Central premium this is an amazing value add - for only $20 more, customers can take advanced of these capabilities, leverage the integration available across our Dynamics solutions, and truly transform and round out their backend and front end operations with these solutions. For partners, the new pricing SKUs can help expand your business applications footprint and address the critical digital transformation needs of customers today. Learn more about the new offer details and eligibility criteria and reach out to your customers now with the ready to go email template in this partner kit. Happy selling! Angela Angela Reese Kawano | Senior Partner Marketing Manager (She/Her) Business Applications & Global Industry Marketing | Partner Ecosystem Team Email: mareesek@microsoft.com| Phone: 202.2776441 | www.linkedin.com/in/angela-reese-kawanoPartner Alert: FY25 Partner Activities Update
Summary Partner engagement with Business Applications Partner Activities was at an all-time high in FY24, with a record number of workshops delivered to customers to ensure successful partner-led implementation and adoption of Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. Looking ahead to FY25, we’ll be building on this momentum with improvements to the partner and customer experience. Based on partner feedback, we are making the following changes: Extending access to partner engagements to the full fiscal year Aligning the engagement portfolio with solution plays Providing more consistent access to activities across markets FY25 updates Extension of partner engagements to full fiscal year FY24 engagements will close on June 30, and FY25 engagement nominations will open on July 1. This change eliminates any pre-commit period, providing uninterrupted access to claiming and executing workshops from the first day of the fiscal year to the last day of the fiscal year. Solution play-aligned engagements Starting July 1st, we will be transitioning our portfolio of funded engagements to align to our solution plays. New engagements to watch for July 1, include: Low Code Vision & Value: Build customer intent to innovate with AI in low-code environments. Provide guidance on how to develop a transformation vision, prioritize scenarios, define value, and accelerate adoption. ERP Vision & Value: Drive customer intent to modernize their on-premises ERP systems with Dynamics 365. Develop a well-crafted vision of the customer’s future state with clear business outcomes and success metrics. Customer Engagement Vision & Value: Build customer confidence by showcasing the vision and strategy for an AI-powered transformation through CRM migration to Dynamics 365. Low Code Solution Accelerator: Accelerate post-sales adoption of low-code solutions and ensure customer value realization. Develop stakeholder buy-in through prioritized scenarios and demonstrated solution value. *To view all available engagements in FY25, refer to the updated MCI Program Guide launching July 1. More consistent access across markets In FY25 we want to ensure customers in all geographies have access to the benefits offered by partner-led workshops. To achieve this, we’ll be implementing caps on the number of workshops eligible for credit per partner in any single country. These caps will be announced on July 1. Immediate FY24 updates To help facilitate the transition to the new FY25 activity portfolio, we are making some changes to FY24 engagements. Effective immediately, the following engagements are being retired: Solution Assessment Dynamics 365 Sales – Needs Assessment Dynamics 365 Success Planning Dynamics 365 Success by Design Performance Check Dynamics 365 Value Realization Power Platform Center of Excellence Power Platform Pro Dev Success Enablement Partners will no longer be able to submit new claims for the above workshops. However, these changes do not impact active claims. Partners can complete delivery of any workshops that have already been approved in accordance with the program rules. The Dynamics 365 Solution Optimization engagement has reached its budget limit for FY24 and is closed immediately for new claims until July 1. We have capped the number of Envisioning and Business Value Assessment workshops that a partner is allowed to complete in any single country. These caps, outlined below, are effective immediately. Workshop Name Cap for Market A Countries Cap for Market B Countries Cap for Market C Countries Business Value Assessment – Variable Payout 20 15 10 Envisioning – Variable – Variable Payout 30 15 10 Please review the MCI Incentives Guide for a list of Market Area Countries (page 149) Next Steps Thank you for your continued engagement with Business Applications Partner Activities. We’re excited about all the improvements coming in FY25 and look forward to sharing more information in the coming weeks. Please attend the June 14 Partner Office Hours and Partner Activities webinar series happening at the end of June to learn more about the upcoming changes. In the meantime, you can keep claiming and executing FY24 engagements for the remainder of June. You’ll be able to submit nominations for FY25 engagements starting July 1! Call to Action Register for the June office hours and deep-dive webinar series to learn about FY25 updates: June 14 (8am PST): Partner Activities Office Hours June 24 (8am PST): Low Code Vision & Value Deep Dive June 25 (8am PST): Customer Engagement Vision & Value Deep Dive June 26 (8am PST): ERP Vision & Value Deep Dive June 27 (8am PST): Low Code Solution Accelerator Deep Dive Bookmark the Business Applications Partner Activities page to stay updated with the latest resources and program announcements for FY25 Submit a query for Partner Activities Tier 1 support and any other feedback or questions Bookmark the Partner Center – Microsoft Commerce Incentives (MCI) Engagements Workspace Review the MCI Program Guide and Resources Stay Connected with Business Applications Partner Resources NEW! Sign up for the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform Partner Newsletters Follow the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform partner LinkedIn channels Bookmark the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform Partner Hub pages Join and engage in the Business Applications Microsoft Partner CommunityBusiness Applications Partner News: Week of January 29
What to register for: THIS WEEK! Microsoft Copilot Partner Bootcamp: Jan. 30-Feb. 1 (PST) AIM with Microsoft Partners– SMB Partner Webinar: Jan. 31 Build Next-generation AI-powered Customer Experiences with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights - Journeys Workshop: Jan. 30-Feb. 1 Build and extend AI-powered Copilots with Microsoft Copilot Studio: Feb 21-23 (CET, IST) & Mar 5-7 (PST) Business Applications AI Tech Summit: Feb. 27-28 What to download: Partner Alert: 2024 Release Wave 1 plans now available Updates to Post Sales Activities Incentives: Customer Eligibility Changes What to review/like/share: Dynamics 365/Power Platform Partner Hub Relaunch City of Kelowna Partner Blog: LinkedIn post | Direct blog link Reminders: Register for the upcoming events! Webinars: FY24 Business Applications Partner Incentives Overview Call: Feb. 14 Introducing AIM Modernization Centers: Feb. 20 Trainings: North America Demand Planning Workshop (in-person event): Feb. 12-13, Redmond, WA FY24 Customer Success Series: Mar. 21
New Microsoft Partner Blog: ISV Success: All ISV partner benefits under one program
Microsoft Business Applications ISV Connect partners are now ISV Success partners. Read our latest blog to learn more about how we’ve expanded rewards to grow with your business, accelerate co-sell benefits, and enable building AI-powered apps. Read more: https://aka.ms/BizAppsISVSuccess
