Frequently Asked Questions (Faq's)

End-of-Support is the end of Extended Support for Microsoft products governed by Microsoft’s Fixed Policy, when support and servicing will no longer be available.

Microsoft will provide a minimum notice of 12 months.

Each product has its lifecycle timeline defined by its respective Lifecycle Policy and is consistent by product family for new and future versions. However, older versions of Microsoft products may have different lifecycle timelines. Therefore, it is important to verify the exact product support dates for your product.

End of Support for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 is set or October 13, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic Microsoft has extended service six months past the original April 14, 2020 date.

Nav 2009 R2 entered End of Support on January 14, 2020.

As of January 14, 2020

In the spring of 2018 Microsoft renamed its Navision offering to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, available in Cloud and On-Premise versions

No. But if you want to experience Business Central as fully integrated with Office 365, you can sign up for a free trial of Office 365. If you do not have an Office 365 subscription, and don’t want to buy one, when you sign up, we can provision a new Azure Active Directory tenant for you so that you have access to the Azure portal where you have access to advanced administration tools.

Essentials

Premium: All modules offered in Essentials plus

Yes it is required that all users in the organization have the same type of license.

Device size: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is supported on smartphones with a minimum screen size of 4" and tablets with a minimum screen size of 7".

Assembly orders are internal orders, just like production orders, that are used to manage the assembly process and to connect the sales requirements with the involved warehouse activities. Assembly orders differ from other order types because they involve both output and consumption when posting. The assembly order header behaves similarly to an output journal line, and the assembly order lines behave similarly to consumption journal lines.

Production orders are used to manage the conversion of purchased materials into manufactured items. Production orders route work through various work or machine centers on the shop floor.

Yes. Some Cloud-based features may run on premises in certain cases and others are not supported at all.

The minimum license requirement for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is one.

Customers who have external accountants who wish to connect to the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central application can purchase one per tenant at no additional cost. External Accountant Licenses contain all the same use rights as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central licenses except for the following: Access to user set up or admin tasks and any other Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central application.

The Microsoft Power BI service is a cloud-based business analytics service that enables anyone to visualize and analyze data with greater speed, efficiency, and understanding. It connects users to a broad range of cloud-based and on-premises data through easy-to-use dashboards, interactive reports, and compelling visualizations that bring data to life.

Power BI Pro is an individual user license that allows access to all content and capabilities in the Power BI service. You can even share content and collaborate with other Pro users. Only Pro users can publish content to workspaces, share dashboards, and subscribe to dashboards and reports.

Power BI Premium provides dedicated capacity to deliver more consistent performance. It also supports larger data volumes in Power BI. For individual users, Premium enables widespread distribution of content by Pro users and it doesn't require per-user Pro licenses for recipients viewing the content. This means that consumers can collaborate with colleagues and view and interact with dashboards, reports, and apps that have been shared with them.

Power BI Report Server is an on-premises report server with a web portal in which you display and manage reports and KPIs. Along with it come the tools to create Power BI reports, paginated reports, mobile reports, and KPIs. Your users can access those reports in different ways: viewing them in a web browser or mobile device, or as an email in their in-box.

Microsoft Power BI can be purchased independently but is included in Office 365 Enterprise E5 subscriptions

Yes. Power BI Pro is required to publish reports, share dashboards, collaborate with colleagues in workspaces and engage in other related features.

There are hundreds of different data sources you can use with Power BI. Wherever you get your data from, that data has to be in a format consumable by the Power BI service. With consumable data, the Power BI service can create reports and dashboards.

The on-premises data gateway acts as a bridge to provide quick and secure data transfer between on-premises data (data that isn't in the cloud) and several Microsoft cloud services. These cloud services include Power BI, PowerApps, Power Automate, Azure Analysis Services, and Azure Logic Apps. By using a gateway, organizations can keep databases and other data sources on their on-premises networks, yet securely use that on-premises data in cloud services.

Consumers use the Microsoft Power BI service to explore reports and dashboards in order to make business decisions. Those reports and dashboards are created by Designers who have Microsoft Power BI Pro licenses. Pro users have the ability to share content with their colleagues and to control what their colleagues can and can't do with that content. Sometimes, designers share content by sending you links, and sometimes the content automatically installs and appears in Microsoft Power BI under Apps or Shared with me.

Dynamics GP is a complete enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for small to medium sized businesses. Dynamics GP helps you gain control over your primary business drivers. From financials and human resource management to manufacturing and operations.

In October of 2019 Microsoft moved GP to the Modern Policy. The Modern Policy will offer continuous support and servicing including bugs, fixes, new features and patch updates for Dynamics GP

Microsoft has committed to three-yearly updates of Dynamics GP going forward. To stay current, clients will need to take at least one of the three yearly releases to stay supported by Microsoft

Before the October 2019 release, any older release will continue to follow their existing Lifecycle timelines under the Fixed Policy.

Power Automate is a cloud-based service that provides a simple way for users to build workflows that automate time-consuming business tasks and processes across applications and services.

Microsoft Power Automate only requires an email address and a browser.

**Please note email addresses with .gov and .mil are not supported.

Power Automate connects to more than 100 data sources out of the box

There are numerous pre-built template flows for popular and common scenarios are available. Using a template only requires you to have access to the services in the template and to fill out any required settings.

Power Automate flows can be shared in two ways:

Users can create an unlimited number of flows based on license.

In April of 2020, Microsoft renamed its Office 365 small and medium business plans Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 includes:

No action is needed from you. Your Office 365 subscription will automatically be renamed to Microsoft 365. You will see the name of your subscription update to the new name across your Admin Portal and monthly billing statements.

Internet access is required to install and activate all the latest releases of apps and services included in all Microsoft 365 subscription plans. Internet access is also required to access documents stored on OneDrive, unless you install the OneDrive desktop app.You should also connect to the Internet regularly to keep your version of Microsoft 365 up to date and to benefit from automatic upgrades. If you do not connect to the Internet at least every 31 days, your apps will go into reduced functionality mode, which means that you can view or print your documents but cannot edit the documents or create new ones.

You do not however need internet access for your Office apps, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, because the apps are fully installed on your computer.

Previously named Microsoft Dynamics Project Service Automation helps organizations efficiently track, manage, and deliver project-based services, from the initial sale all the way to invoicing. The app enables you to: Plan projects, and create estimates work schedule and track project cost and revenue

Microsoft will discontinue sales of Microsoft Dynamics Project Service Automation on October 1, 2020.

Customers can evaluate Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation as part of the public preview starting June 22, 2020, while Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation will become generally available on October 1, 2020

Eligible customers using Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation may continue to use it through October 1, 2022 if on a CSP or Web Direct contract, or October 1, 2024 for EA customers, or until the end of their most recent Dynamics 365 contract or renewal, whichever occurs first.

There will be no immediate disruption of service for existing customers. Customers should review their current contracts to determine end of contract dates prior to October 1, 2020.

MicrosoftDynamics 365 Project Service Automation will remain a supported application until October 1, 2022 for CSP and Web Direct customers, and October 1, 2024 for EA customers. This means that Microsoft will continue to fix any bugs until the end of service date. Microsoft will also continue to release cumulative monthly updates for bug fixes

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce was formerly known Dynamics 365 for Retail and became available on February 3, 2020. Its offers a omnichannel solution that brings together back-office, in-store, call center, and digital experiences. Dynamics 365 Commerce enables you to build brand loyalty through personalized customer engagements, increase revenue with improved employee productivity, optimize operations to reduce costs and drive supply chain efficiencies, ultimately delivering better business outcomes.

The new to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce application is it enables the creation of digital experiences using built-in web authoring and development tools to produce engaging and intelligent digital storefronts. A connected marketing and headless commerce platform further enable the seamless management of content, assets, promotions, inventory, and pricing across all channels.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights application, when used with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce allows retailers to aggregate data from the various systems that customers use. They can then use this data to generate a single view of the customer and derive insights. The integration of Microsoft Dynamics Customer Insights with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce lets retailers select one or more measures that should be shown on the customer card for a personalized customer experience.

The first generally available offering from Fraud Protection is a purchase protection module that lets merchants sign in to the Fraud Protection dashboard for their organization and define fraud rules for online purchases. Based on the settings that a merchant configures in Fraud Protection, e-commerce transactions can be validated with Fraud Protection before they are sent for payment authorization.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales is the platform that enables salespeople to build strong relationships with their customers, take actions based on insights, and close sales faster. Use Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales to keep track of your accounts and contacts, nurture your sales from lead to order, and create sales collateral. It also lets you create marketing lists and campaigns, and even follow service cases associated with specific accounts or opportunities.

With the April 2019 release, any new subscription to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales will not have the Sales app (web client). The existing organizations where the Sales app was available will show a notification prompting users to update their legacy web client apps to Unified Interface.

In 2016 Dynamics CRM was replaced with Microsoft Dynamics 365 sales which is a suite of business applications including Dynamics 365 for Sales.

Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional is limited to:

Dynamics 365 for Sales does not have access to:

Dynamics 365 for Sales Enterprise has unlimited access to all of the above features

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales is only available on premise for the Enterprise version. Both Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional and Enterprise are available on cloud.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a set of intelligent business applications that helps you run your entire business and deliver greater results through predictive, AI-driven insights. Microsoft Dynamics 365 bring together the best of Microsoft’s CRM and ERP cloud offerings into one cloud service with specific, purpose-built apps for business functions.

Common Data Model includes a set of standardized, extensible data schemas that Microsoft and its partners have published. This collection of predefined schemas includes entities, attributes, semantic metadata, and relationships. Common Data Model simplifies this process by providing a shared data language for business and analytical applications to use.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Mixed Reality is a suite of applications including Dynamics Remote Assist, Dynamics 365 Guides and Dynamics 365 Layout with Dynamics 365 Product Visualize coming soon. The Microsoft Dynamics Mixed Reality applications are used in conjunction with the Microsoft Hololens 2.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides is a mixed-reality application for Microsoft HoloLens that lets operators learn during the flow of work by providing holographic instructions when and where they are needed. These instruction cards are visually tethered to the place where the work must be done, and can include images, videos, and 3D holographic models. Operators see what must be done, and where.

The Microsoft Hololens is a pair of mixed reality smart glasses developed and manufactured by Microsoft and used in conjunction with applications in the Microsoft Dynamics Mixed Reality product offerings. HoloLens was the first head-mounted display running the Windows Mixed Reality platform under the Windows 10 computer operating system.

In 2019 Microsoft released a second edition to the HoloLens - HoloLens 2 offering a field of view of 52 degrees, hardware accelerated workloads such as eye tracking, fully articulated hand tracking, and enhanced audio.

The Dynamics 365 Remote Assist is used to empower technicians to collaborate more efficiently by working together from different locations with Dynamics 365 Remote Assist on HoloLens, HoloLens 2, Android, or iOS devices.

Some of the practical uses of Dynamics 365 Remote Assist:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Mixed Reality works well with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service. Mixed reality Guides for Field Service enables the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides capability to be seamlessly integrated within the Field Service experience. Service tasks can have associated Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides that can be easily accessed by technicians when out on service calls in the field.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides are also an emerging idea for use with the Mircosoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources to assist employees learning new skills an updating existing training.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing is a marketing-automation application that helps turn prospects into business relationships.Some features include:

Microsoft Forms Pro is a solution that builds on the current survey-creation experience of Microsoft Forms in Microsoft 365. It offers new capabilities that make capturing and analyzing customer and employee feedback simpler than ever. Your customers can respond to the surveys by using any web browser or mobile device.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing can schedule and post messages directly to your organization's accounts on social media sites. Use the Social posts settings to author and schedule your posts.

Additionally Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing offers solutions for Linkedin also:

Dynamics 365 Human Resources provides the workforce insights you need to build data-driven employee experiences across multiple areas, including:

Dynamics 365 Human Resources offers several features to assist both employees and Human Resource managers.They include:

Dynamics 365 Human Resources offers the ability to create employee compliance programs like ADA and FMLA within the application with the ability to modify them at an individual or a company level.

Benefits Administration functionality with configurable self-service enrollment tools that allow for benefit groups, hierarchies, flexible credits, and auto-enrollment

Integrate Linkedin Talent Solutions for recruitment management.

XcelPros Packages are “Accelerators” tailored to include a comprehensive set of tools, templates and configurations. The packages include one or more of the following -

Here are a few reasons how you benefit from these Accelerators -

We offer a variety of packages that cover a number of products in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Ecosystem. With any of our offerings, XcelPros provides a free assessment to make sure the package is a right fit for your company, resources, skillset and technology goals. In addition, our packages have the option to start with a Proof-of-Concept (POC) option so you can have a risk-free option before making a commitment.

There are a number of factors that will determine the cost of your project. During our free assessment we will determine number of users, modules to implement, your technology needs and 3rd party integrations. We also have other project cost reduction measures such as remote implementations leveraging conferencing tools Skype and Microsoft Teams.

We offer an XcelPros Rapid Upgrade Package specifically for customers looking to upgrade their existing Dynamics AX solution. Our process will begin with a free assessment to understand your current configuration, evaluate any customizations our may have deployed during your original implementation and your project goals. We will then provide a project timeline and estimate for transitioning to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.