What’s new in Business Central 2020 release wave 2

​Microsoft releases two major waves of updated features and functions for Business Central each year.  The 2020 release wave 2 features are being released between October 2020 and March 2021. Most of the new features were released on October 1 but some of the features are scheduled to be released later in the cycle. Out of the several dozen new features, we have compiled six top features of the 2020 release wave 2 release.

Some organizations have users that have access to multiple companies. For example, multiple subsidiaries within the same company or an accountant who needs access to multiple companies. Company Hub is a new feature which makes it easy for users to manage all of the companies that they work with in one view. With Company Hub you can view at a glance a list of all of the companies that you work with, KPIs related to those companies, and a list of assigned tasks. Company Hub also includes drill down capability, so you can easily drill down into a KPI or task for a specific company.

Microsoft has added functionality to make it easier to perform reversing journal entries in Business Central. There is a new option on the Posted General Journals page called “Copy Selected Lines to Journal” which can be used to create a copy of certain lines (or an entire batch). When the copy is created users can choose to have a batch created with opposite signs to reverse the journal and set a new Posting Date or Document No. Additionally, there is a new “Reverse Date Calculation” field which can be used to enter a date formula to specify when the reversal entries will be posted. This new functionality will make posting month end accruals easier as well as correcting mistakes.

A new feature called “Background Error Check” has been added to financial journals such as General Journals and Payment Journals. This feature allows you to see potential issues with the journal before you post it. A FactBox can be displayed on the journal that will provide insights into any issues with the journal. For example, if a required dimension is missing the FactBox will display that issue before the user goes to post. This early detection of posting issues can help streamline processes and improve productivity.

Several improvements have been made to the Bank Account Reconciliation process including a new feature which will allow users to cancel a Posted Bank Reconciliation. This will make it much easier for users to correct an incorrectly posted bank account reconciliation. When the bank reconciliation is cancelled the differences will automatically be reconciled. Additionally, the three tabs on the Bank Rec. Worksheet for Checks, Deposits, and Adjustments have been made larger so that you can work with more lines at a time. A new “Focus Mode” has been added so it is also possible to open the tab to a full page to more easily enter and review data.

On rare occasion, something irreversible occurs in a database either due to user or developer error. Microsoft has created a new feature that will allow administrators to restore a database to any point in time in the past 30 days. This is made possible by the fact that Business Central data is continuously backed up and those backups are stored for 30 days. To make it easier to ensure that the right point in time is restored, the restore process can first occur in a Sandbox environment to allow for data validation before that change is moved to production. This feature furthers Microsoft’s commitment to protect organizations mission critical business data. Note that this feature is not yet released and is planned for preview in January 2021. The date for general availability has not yet been announced.

Business Central uses dimensions to help categorize and report financials. There are two global dimensions and up to eight shortcut dimensions. Previously, the global dimensions could be filtered on in ledgers such as the General Ledger, Customer Ledger, and Vendor Ledger but the shortcut dimensions could not be filtered on. With this new update, users will be able to filter on both global and shortcut dimensions and export that data into Excel where they can create pivot tables and perform analysis. Note that this feature is planned for general release in January 2021.

Rand Group has a team of Business Central experts that can help you make the most out of the new features of Business Central. Contact us today to see what new features of Business Central could help your organization.

​