Dynamics 365 Business Central 2021 release wave 1 and the continued search for The Righter Way™

Anyone that has worked with me knows I am always searching for The Righter Way™ to work in Business Central. And today, I have a big grin on my face as I review the new functionality we’ve received with the 2021 Wave 1 release of Dynamics 365 Business Central. Anything that improves the automation of repetitive tasks, the integration between systems, or capitalizes on the strengths of the other products within the Microsoft stack gives me something to cheer about. Here are 3 new features/functionality at the top of my list.

1. Simplified bank statement file import

“Users can often download various transaction file formats from their bank. With the new capability, users can configure the import of flat file and comma- or semicolon-separated transaction formats, so that they can more easily import files they have produced or manipulated to fit with the mapping that they have configured.” - Feature details (from Microsoft)

So what does this really mean? Setting up BC to import your bank statement may be super, super easy! And what would that mean to doing that monthly Bank Reconciliation? Check it out.

1. Go to Assisted Setup and search on “bank.” Open the Set up a bank statement file import format wizard. (As always, I recommend doing this first in a test company or sandbox environment, not in your production company.)
   
2. The wizard opens and prompts you through the process. Have a downloaded transaction file from your bank ready for the next step.
   
3. The first step is to Upload a bank statement file. When I did this using a downloaded file from Chase, I got the following error. The error is not very intuitive, but once I shortened the name of the file to 20 characters, I was able to import without error.
   
4. With success, I don’t need to define the bank statement file layout manually. However, manual setup is an available option if the import does not work for you.
5. As you page through the setup, you get a taste of what you would have had to do manually. At the end, you can test the file format just created.
   
6. The last step is attaching the format to the bank account.
   
7. Wow was that easy! On verification, the Bank Statement Import is on the selected bank account.
   
8. Don’t forget this only adds value when you are using the Bank Reconciliation with Auto-Match or Payment Reconciliation Journal. The setting for the bank reconciliation with auto-match can be found in General Ledger Setup.

2. Assisted setup helps move the task of adjusting item costs to the background

While early in the life of your system you may have chosen to automatically adjust cost on item entries, as your company grows or processes change you may need to change to running it periodically. This may have involved adding it to a weekly checklist or assigning it to someone to run nightly. What you would really like to do is have it run automatically in the background throughout the day or maybe on a nightly basis. You know the job queue is the right tool to use, but you are either intimidated by it or just don’t know where to start. Lucky for you, a new assisted setup is coming to the rescue.

“On the Inventory Setup page, when you turn off the Automatic Cost Posting toggle, or specify Never in the Automatic Cost Adjustment field, an assisted setup guide becomes available, and can help you on each step of the way.” - Feature details (from Microsoft)

Walking through the wizard you can choose to create a job queue entry for Adjust Cost – Item Entries and/or Post Inventory Cost to G/L. In the final step, you can select if you want to view the job queue entries you just created when you select finish. I selected this option so we can see the result. I can modify the job queue entries created if the default settings don’t meet my requirements.

I get a friendly notification reminder that I must place the job queue entry on hold if I want to modify any of the settings in the entry.

3. Enablement of Word merge in Business Central

The last feature isn’t something I’ve had a chance to test completely, but what I have devised so far is that from Business Central we can use Word Templates and a wizard function to create them. When creating templates users select the data to use for the mail merge.

I am really looking forward to how this will work and if it is as simple as I hope!

Well, there you have it, my top 3 from the Dynamics 365 Business Central 2021 release wave 1. I hope at least one of these improvements is something you will be able to use immediately. Even if it is only one and it helps to make your job easier and less frustrating, then I’ve done my job to help you work with Business Central The Righter Way™.