Friday, March 5, 2021
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2021 release wave 1 (version 18) will be available in April 2021 containing plenty of in-app improvements for better performance, usability, printing and more. However, a number of things that were marked as obsolete in Business Central 2019 release wave 2 (version 15) are removed in this version.
What does it mean for the AppSource apps and Per Tenant Extensions on Business Central Online? If solutions are not adjusted accordingly, their customers will be prevented from upgrading to the upcoming release of Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Why is it important to stay compatible?
As per Freddy Kristiansen’s message, Microsoft now validates all apps against major releases. If the app was not compatible by March 1, 2021, Microsoft did not fail it but instead got in touch to request submission of a compatible version or of a new version for the next major release. But from March 1, 2021, apps that are not compatible with Business Central 2021 release wave 1 will fail Microsoft validation.
In addition, from March 1 the customers that are running AppSource apps or Per Tenant Extensions that are not ready for Business Central 2021 release wave 1 will get Microsoft notification, as announced in the Microsoft mandatory update policy.
What are the most relevant Breaking Changes that need to be addressed?
The tables below contain a list of Breaking Changes (ObsoleteState = Removed) that were introduced in 2021 release wave 1.
List of Dynamics 365 Business Central objects affected by this change:
Entire obsolete objects removed:
- Table 1875 – Business Setup
- Table 4800 – VATGroup Approved Member
- Table 4801 – VATGroup Calculation
- Table 4802 – VATGroup Submission Header
- Table 4803 – VATGroup Submission Line
- Table 53 – Batch Processing Parameter Map
- Table 5479 – Journal Lines Entity Setup
- Table 6308 – Power BI Ongoing Deployments
- Table 7350 – Lot Numbers by Bin Buffer
- Table 7800 – MS-Event Emitter Event Codes
- Table 7820 – MS-QBO Customer
- Table 7821 – MS-QBO Item
- Table 7822 – MS-QBO Invoice
- Table 7823 – MS-QBO Modified Field List
- Table 7824 – MS-QBO Setup
- Table 7825 – MS-QBO Synchronization Error
- Table 7826 – MS-QBO Start Sync. Service
- Table 7827 – MS-QBO Failed Syncs
- Table 7828 – MS-QBO Sync Buffer
- Table 9170 – Profile Resource Import/Export
- Table 9501 – Email Attachment
- Table 99008535 – TempBlob
Tables with part of obsolete fields removed:
- Table 1235 – XML Buffer
- Table 1262 – Isolated Certificate
- Table 1511 – Notification Entry
- Table 156 – Resource
- Table 167 – Job
- Table 23 – Vendor
- Table 270 – Bank Account
- Table 277 – Bank Account Posting Group
- Table 311 – Purchases & Payables Setup
- Table 312 – Purchases & Payables Setup
- Table 472 – Job Queue Entry
- Table 5050 – Contact
- Table 5200 – Employee
- Table 5600 – Fixed Asset
- Table 740 – VAT Report Header
- Table 742 – VAT Statement Report Line
- Table 743 – VAT Report Setup
- Table 79 – Company Information
- Table 9060 – SB Owner Cue
- Table 9153 – My Account
- Table 9176 – Experience Tier Setup
- Table 9178 – Application Area Setup
- Table 98 – General Ledger Setup
What can you do to make sure your apps are ready for Business Central 2021 release wave 1?
You can check whether your app or any of your dependencies are listed as not ready for Business Central 2021 release wave 1 by using this Microsoft-prepared URL:
https://businesscentralapps.azureedge.net/notreadyfor2021wave1/<yourappid>
In this URL, <yourappid> is the ID of your app to check. If you get a response such as ‘blob not found’ or ‘we did not find any problems’, your app is considered compatible, otherwise your app is not ready for the new release and there’s a short timeframe to fix the issues. This check ensures that your app compiles and can be installed but it does not test logic mistakes and cannot be relied on to find all the issues. For the full check-up, 1ClickFactory recommends using the automated testing and to test apps before each new release.
If your app is not ready for 2021 release wave 1, you should fix the issues, test your app against Business Central 2021 release wave 1 and submit a new app for the AppSource validation process before the new release goes live on April 1.
However, there are even more functionalities with Obsolete Pending state indicating that will be replaced in the near future. It becomes important not to postpone the adjustment to the last minute, when functionalities become removed. This is what 1ClickFactory takes care of with the Extension Maintenance service.
How 1ClickFactory can help
Adjusting AppSource apps or Per Tenant Extensions on Business Central Online on time requires efficient capacity planning. To reduce the risk of Extension maintenance tasks taking over and obstructing the other tasks, 1ClickFactory offers an Extension Maintenance service for a fixed monthly fee. Extension Maintenance helps to ensure an always up-to-date solution running the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Within the scope of the service, 1ClickFactory runs the compilation, deployment and automated tests against each new release of Dynamics 365 Business Central. After reporting and patching, 1ClickFactory delivers the updated solution back to the Dynamics partner. In addition, 1ClickFactory can also help partners to ensure that the apps comply with AppSource requirements. 1ClickFactory will also take care of the AppSource check-list validation and submit the apps to Microsoft AppSource on behalf of the Dynamics partner.
To find out more about Extension Maintenance and how 1ClickFactory can help, visit the 1ClickFactory website or get in touch today.