Best enhancements to Finance and Supply Chain Management in 2021 release wave 2

Dynamics 365 Finance is a robust financial management application that simplifies and modernizes business processes, while Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management automates and optimizes all aspects of the supply chain from production to transportation. Many businesses utilize the two applications together to create a fully integrated operational and financial platform. As with all Dynamics 365 applications, there are two release waves each year of new functionality and updates.

Below is a summary of the best enhancements to Finance and Supply Chain Management in 2021 release wave 2, rolling out between October and December, from our team of Dynamics 365 experts.

For a list of features in 2021 Release Wave 1, read our recaps for Finance and for Supply Chain Management.

​Process vendor invoices during import process automatically

Previously, when vendor invoices were imported, users were required to manually process additional steps, such as applying prepayments, completing the matching process, and submitting to workflow. As part of the new vendor invoice automation capability, the system can now perform these processes automatically during the import process. This feature will save accounts payable clerks’ time and effort, plus help reduce errors that might arise through manual processing.

​Open Vendor Transaction report

This is a new report that provides information on the open transactions for each vendor including invoice number, voucher number, transaction amount, credit and debit balance, and payment due date.

​Apply prepayments to vendor invoices automatically

New parameters have been added in Accounts payable to let the system apply prepayments to vendor invoices automatically when there’s a prepayment on a purchase order. If enabled, this feature will also apply the prepayments automatically when vendor invoices are imported as part of the vendor invoice automation functionality.

​Customer payment predictions

This new feature, available in December, will provide key insights into customer data to be used in the collections process. Using AI, the customer payment predictions feature will help collectors estimate which customers will pay on time, which invoices will be paid, and when payment is expected to be received.

Intelligent budget proposal​

This new feature creates proposed budgets based on historical data in Dynamics 365. Combining actuals with previous budgets, the system is able to suggest future budgeted amounts, saving a significant amount of time for users. Because the process uses historical data, users can have a high degree of confidence in the proposed budget. Once created, the new budget can be further refined by staff who possess knowledge and insights that might not be present in historical data.
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Treasurer workspace​

A new workspace will be available that includes all necessary elements for a treasury role to complete the analysis and activities to successfully manage an organization’s cash. The workspace includes payment predictions on open customer and vendor orders and invoices to provide you an accurate cash position. Users can also create and save cash flow forecast snapshots to be used when performing actual to forecast analysis.
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Inventory and logistics updates:

• New Global Inventory Accounting Add-in – This add-in allows you to perform inventory accounting using multiple costing legers so you can comply with multiple accounting standards and internal management accounting at the same time.
• Additions to the Inventory Visibility Add-in – Inventory allocation gives you more inventory fulfillment control by allowing the use of dimensions to group available inventory within physical inventory locations, and to assign inventory to inventory allocation objects. Soft reservation enables external systems to query Supply Chain Management for the inventory position of requested items. The system returns an accurate count of available inventory and temporarily reserves the requested item.
• Landed cost module enhancements – The Landed cost module will now automatically record the date of arrival for received items based on the actual completion date for the warehouse activities. This ensure that accurate dates are tracked on the landed cost transactions without requiring manual entry by warehouse workers.  The module also contains the ability for warehouse managers to split large putaway jobs using new work break functionality.
• Post on-hand adjustments using configurable reason codes – Warehouse and retail store workers doing on-hand inventory adjustments can select the reason for each adjustment while they work. The system can then automatically post each adjustment to the appropriate offset account based on the stated reason.
• Pricing service – Enables you to define prices and discounts using flexible price attributes. The service provides an omnichannel pricing engine that can find the product’s right price based on the applicable price, discounts, promotions, trade agreement, and more.

Cross-company data sharing

Companies with multiple legal entities can now share released product information and data across all legal entities. This feature will save time by enabling users to manage just one product record, which simplifies data maintenance, then release it for sharing with specified legal entities. For example, you might share product data between all legal entities that purchase, produce, distribute, or sell the product. Subsequent updates to the product will also be shared and visible to all those legal entities without duplicating the product-related information.

Planning Optimization support for capability-based resource allocation

Companies using Planning Optimization can optimize resource usage by deferring resource allocation until productions are scheduled. With this flexible solution, you can define the capabilities required for each route operation instead of assigning specific resources or resource groups to a route operation. During the scheduling process, the required capabilities for production will be matched with the capabilities of available resources to determine the best resource assignment for each production job. Planning Optimization runs as a separate process, so it can provide manufacturers using this solution with improved performance and scalability with in-memory processing, minimized system impact on other processes, near real-time insights into requirement changes during office hours.
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The new, configurable Tax Calculation service enhances the tax determination and calculation capabilities in both Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, helping improve compliance with local regulations. Tax Calculation is fully integrated out of the box, and enables you to:

• Automate and standardize tax determinations and calculations across countries or regions
• Use a configurable tax determination matrix and flexible calculation designer to configure and execute complex tax determination rules and calculations by using formulae and conditions
• Simplify compliance maintenance for local tax regulations
• Indirect tax determination, calculation, and posting support for receiving and shipping transfer orders

​For users ready to start using these new features from 2021 release wave 2, our team of experts is here to assist and recommend best practices. Contact Rand Group today to schedule a consultation.

Not yet utilizing Dynamics 365 Finance or Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management at your company? Rand Group offers a 3-week pilot to visualize and evaluate either solution. We’ll set up a test environment using your organization’s data and processes allowing your team to explore key functionalities. At the end of the pilot, Rand Group will present the findings to key stakeholders on how the solution can transform your marketing, sales, and lead generation roadmap. Learn more about the Finance pilot here or the Supply Chain Management pilot here.