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Deep Dive: Managing Updates in Business Central 2024 Release Wave 2

Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Reading time: 6 minutes

In my previous series of four blogs, I provided an overview of the exciting changes coming to Microsoft Dynamics Business Central in the 2024 Release Wave 2. Today, we are diving deeper into one of the most impactful areas: Managing Updates. This deep dive will cover the key changes, including enhanced control over update rollouts, new scheduling options, and improved flexibility for managing environments—details that are critical for consultants, developers, and administrators working with Business Central.

With this release the changes will be going into Private Preview, where Microsoft will choose a couple of select partners and/or customers to take this to preview, and iron out any problems, after which it will roll out to public preview. Keep an eye out on Viva Engage for more details during this coming week. For full details, watch out of the Business Central Launch event in October.

Get more details on what’s changing on the following link. Also during the coming week there will be a recording available on the update management from last week’s office hours.

Why This Matters

Keeping your Business Central environment up to date is crucial for leveraging new features, security enhancements, and performance improvements. However, the update process can be complex, especially for businesses operating multiple environments. The 2024 Release Wave 2 introduces new features designed to simplify and enhance update management, providing businesses with greater control and planning capabilities.
Companial - Managing Updates in Business Central 2024 Release Wave 2

Key Changes in Update Management

  1. Update Rollout Control: One of the standout changes is the new ability to control the rollout of updates across your environments. Business Central now allows administrators up to 5 months to rollout major updates and to select specific environments to update first, providing more opportunity to test updates in non-production environments before deploying them in live systems. This staggered approach reduces the risk of unexpected issues and ensures that your team has ample time to adapt to any changes.
  2. Opt Out Minor Updates: It will now be possible to opt out of minor updates, this is especially helpful for environments where company policy does not allow software changes without extensive testing. This will also mean less downtime for environments with 24-hour uptime is required. This is a major change and will be of great benefit to certain customers and partners. Presently if you fell behind you would have to sequentially update through every version to get back up to speed, and this will also change, and you’ll just be able to jump to the latest version. As no finer details are available at this stage, we’ll have to wait and see what this will entail.
  3. Environment-Specific Update Planning: Administrators can now tailor the update schedule to each environment, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that maintain multiple environments for development, testing, and production, allowing them to plan updates in a sequence that best suits their operational needs. Each environment can be updated on its own timeline, reducing downtime and ensuring that updates do not interfere with critical business functions.
  4. Monitoring Update Status: New monitoring tools are introduced in the 2024 Release Wave 2, providing real-time insights into the status of updates across all environments. The update dashboard now includes detailed logs and notifications, helping administrators track progress and troubleshoot any issues that arise. This increased visibility ensures that businesses can stay informed about the update process and respond quickly if adjustments are needed.
  5. Microsoft Environments First: Microsoft will roll out these changes to Microsoft-localized environments first, and we should see these changes rolling out with version 25, however the partner-localized environments will roll out probably with the next version, to give the partners that are responsible for the localization a chance to adapt to the changes. Not sure if your country version is Microsoft- or partner-localized, check this page.

Technical Insights

For those who manage updates frequently, these changes offer more than just convenience—they provide a strategic advantage. By enabling a more controlled and deliberate approach to updates, Microsoft is addressing one of the most common pain points expressed by partners and customers alike: the challenge of aligning updates with internal schedules and testing protocols.

The technical implementation behind these features relies on Microsoft’s expanding capabilities within the Business Central admin centre. These enhancements are seamlessly integrated into the existing interface, leveraging the power of automation and Azure-backed services to streamline the update process.

Looking Forward

The changes coming in the 2024 Release Wave 2 reflect Microsoft’s commitment to delivering a more user-centric experience in managing Business Central environments. By empowering administrators with better control, flexible scheduling, and enhanced monitoring, these new features are set to reduce the operational friction traditionally associated with updates.

This is just the beginning of our deep dives into the new features of Business Central 2024 Release Wave 2. Stay tuned for more in-depth explorations, where we’ll continue to unpack the technical and strategic impacts of these enhancements. 

Berny Düring
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