D365 2024 Wave 2 Early Access - First Impressions from the Sandbox

Microsoft released early access for Dynamics 365 2024 Wave 2 in August. We've been running it in our sandbox environment for two months now, giving it a real workout with our food distribution workflows. Here's what's caught my attention and what's still undercooked.

For context: we're mid-migration from VAI S2K to D365 F&O. Every Wave release is an opportunity to evaluate whether new features can replace customizations we were planning to build. Wave 2 has a few that matter to us.

Catch Weight Improvements - Finally

I've been asking for better catch weight handling since we started evaluating D365 in 2023. Wave 2 delivers some genuine improvements.

The dual-unit ordering feature is the big one. Previously, entering a customer order for a catch weight item required specifying the inventory unit (cases), and the system would estimate the catch weight (pounds) based on nominal weights. If the customer actually wanted to order by weight - "give me 450 pounds of ribeye" - you had to do math and convert back to cases.

Now you can enter either unit. The system handles the conversion. Sales reps love this. It matches how customers actually think about their orders.

Testing revealed a few quirks:

Rounding behavior needs configuration. When converting 450 pounds to cases with 45-55 pound variance, where do you round? We had to set up tolerance rules carefully to match our business practices.

Price breaks by weight work differently. Our pricing has volume breaks at weight thresholds. The Wave 2 catch weight features interact with pricing in non-obvious ways. We needed custom pricing rules to handle our specific scenarios.

Reporting needs adjustment. Historical reports that assumed inventory-unit ordering need to be updated for dual-unit awareness. Not a showstopper, but it's work.

Overall grade: B+. Real improvements, but not completely turnkey for complex scenarios.

Copilot Features - Mostly Marketing

Microsoft has been pushing Copilot hard. Every Wave release has new Copilot features. Here's what's actually in Wave 2 early access for F&O:

Copilot in Accounts Receivable: It can summarize customer payment history and suggest collection actions. We tested it with a few delinquent accounts. The summaries are accurate. The suggestions are generic - "send a reminder email" isn't exactly strategic insight.

It's useful for AR clerks who need a quick overview of an account, but it's not going to replace judgment or automate complex collections strategies.

Copilot-assisted data entry: You can describe what you want to do in natural language, and Copilot tries to navigate you to the right form or fill in fields. We found it works about 60% of the time. The other 40%, it either misunderstands the request or can't map it to D365 functionality.

For experienced users who know where things are, it's slower than just clicking. For new users, it might help with discovery. Mixed value.

What's missing: The supply chain Copilot features announced for Wave 2 aren't fully baked in early access. The demand forecasting AI is there but shallow - it's a chatbot interface to existing forecast data, not new AI-driven forecasting.

Overall grade: C+. Some useful features, but the Copilot hype exceeds the current reality.

Warehouse Management App Updates

We use BFC Dakota for WMS rather than D365's native warehouse management, so these updates don't directly apply to us. But I tested them to understand what we're not using.

The mobile app UI improvements are noticeable. Faster transitions between screens, cleaner visual design, better scanner integration. Microsoft claims 15-20% faster pick times. I can't verify that independently, but the app does feel snappier.

New features for wave processing and load planning look solid. If you're using D365 native WMS, these are meaningful operational improvements.

For us, it confirms our decision to use BFC Dakota was right for our needs, but it also shows that native WMS is becoming more capable. For simpler distribution operations, native D365 WMS might be sufficient.

Financial Dimensions Updates

D365 financial dimensions got some usability improvements. Better autocomplete, cleaner error messages when dimension combinations are invalid, improved performance for dimension-heavy reports.

These are quality-of-life improvements rather than major features. Our finance team noticed and appreciated them. Small things that reduce daily friction add up.

Integration and Platform Improvements

The platform updates in Wave 2 early access are actually the most valuable for us:

Dual-write reliability: Dual-write (synchronization between F&O and Dataverse) has been notoriously finicky. Wave 2 includes retry logic improvements and better error handling. We've seen fewer sync failures in sandbox testing. This matters because our Power Platform integrations depend on dual-write working reliably.

Data entity performance: Several data entities we use for integration got performance optimizations. Our nightly data exports are running faster.

API improvements: Better rate limiting, improved error responses, support for more granular permissions. All good for maintaining our Adobe Commerce integration.

These aren't flashy features, but they reduce operational burden. I'll take boring reliability over exciting features any day.

What's Not Ready Yet

Early access means some features are incomplete or buggy. What we encountered:

Copilot Studio integration: The ability to create custom copilots that work with D365 data is announced but barely functional in early access. We couldn't get a working proof-of-concept.

Advanced warehouse management features: Some new warehouse features are present but not stable. We saw random errors in wave template processing that don't occur in our current production version.

Reporting service interruptions: Power BI embedded reports in F&O had intermittent failures during our testing. Microsoft says this is known and will be fixed for GA.

This is normal for early access. The point of sandbox testing is to find these issues before GA.

Our Upgrade Plan

Based on early access testing, here's our plan for Wave 2:

Wait for GA + 30 days. We never adopt a new wave immediately. Let other customers find the remaining bugs. Microsoft typically releases a quality update within the first month that fixes GA issues.

Enable catch weight improvements immediately. These are high value for our business and tested well. We'll enable them as soon as we take the update.

Pilot Copilot features with power users. Give our most D365-savvy users access to Copilot features. See if they find them useful in real work. If adoption is positive, expand. If not, don't push it.

Ignore the hype features. Supply chain AI, advanced copilots, and other heavily marketed features need more time to mature. We'll evaluate them again in Wave 1 2025.

Focus on platform improvements. The dual-write and data entity improvements are worth the upgrade alone. These reduce operational burden immediately.

Comparing to Wave 1

Wave 1 2024 was underwhelming. Lots of announcements, limited substance. Wave 2 is better. The catch weight improvements alone make it more meaningful for food distribution than anything in Wave 1.

Microsoft seems to be stabilizing after the AI hype cycle. Earlier releases were throwing Copilot at everything without coherent strategy. Wave 2 feels more focused: improve core functionality, add AI where it genuinely helps, stabilize the platform.

That's the right direction. I hope Wave 1 2025 continues the trend.

Conclusion

D365 2024 Wave 2 early access is solid but not transformative. If you're in food distribution, the catch weight improvements are worth attention. If you're looking for AI magic, temper expectations. If you care about platform reliability, the infrastructure improvements are genuinely valuable.

We'll take the full update in late October or early November, after GA stabilizes. For now, sandbox testing continues, and our upgrade checklist is ready.