Technology is ever-evolving, and as per the need, it requires continuous enhancements and updates. Nobody understands this better than Microsoft, which consistently develops and implements innovative technologies to guarantee that advancements are up to the mark to benefit its customers.
In most instances, some features that were once useful can later be no longer beneficial for the user or might need to upgrade with an entirely different feature. Upgrading or enhancing them won’t be ideal and practical. Microsoft deprecates features at this point as they are no longer useful, necessary or are incompatible with the new advancements.
Recently, Microsoft deprecated some features in its Dynamics 365 Customer Service module, which we have simplified and listed in this article.
Administrators and IT professionals can use this information to prepare for future releases. Here are all the features that will be deprecated in the D365 Customer Service Module:
1. Service scheduling in Dynamics 365 Customer Service is deprecated
Service Scheduling, which was deprecated on December 1, 2020 has been removed and now the Unified Interface offers the new scheduling interface, which is based on Universal Resource Scheduling. Existing service scheduling customers will receive early notice of a time-bound migration to the new scheduling capabilities.
With the removal, get ready to set up the new scheduling interface for the existing Dynamics 365 Customer Service organisation. Scheduling in Customer Service Hub allows you to plan and schedule service activities for your customers by bringing together all your resources. It also helps customer service organisations with improved service quality by preventing over-scheduling.
You can follow the guidance in Service Scheduling Guide to set up the new scheduling experience.
2. Standard SLAs in Dynamics 365 Customer Service are deprecated
Standard service level agreements are obsolete and will be eliminated in a future major version (SLA Type field is set to Standard). Enhanced SLAs are used in place of standard SLAs. Visit Enhanced Service Level Agreements for additional details.
3. Customer Service Insights standalone app to be deprecated
In the year end, the standalone Customer Service Insights software will be deprecated. Your existing working conditions, if you are a client who utilises this app, will be terminated and unavailable by December 8, 2021. Users won’t be able to utilise the standalone service, but the Customer Service Insights capabilities that are already built into the main apps will still be accessible and supported. Users with Customer Service Enterprise licenses can still access their current workspaces but cannot create new ones.
Our experts recommends that you migrate to the embedded experience within the core Dynamics 365 Customer Service applications. Meanwhile, this standalone app guide contains documentation for the standalone web application.
4. Automatic record creation rules in web clients are depreciated
Another deprecation is the web client’s automated record generating function. Microsoft ended the support for this functionality on October 1, 2020.
As you cannot utilise the functionality for an extended period, you urgently need to migrate your web client-created automatic record creation rules to the new Unified Interface environment. Microsoft will continue to provide critical security updates and support for these features in the web client until their end of support on October 1, 2022, two years down the line of depreciation.
To learn about its implementation, see Migrate automated record creation rules and service-level agreements, which helps migrate the rules in the web client to Unified Interface.
You can check out this blog New Look Coming to Dynamics 365 with a Faster, more efficient user experience to understand the benefits of the new interface.
5. SLAs in web client are deprecated
Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) in the web client are another deprecated functionality. This was effective from October 1, 2020. With this deprecation, now you need to transfer your SLA made on the web client to the new Unified Interface Environment.
The migration tool for Service Level Agreements (SLAs) helps migrate the rules in the web client to Unified Interface, which also includes converting the workflows to Power Automate-based flows.
Though the functionality has been deprecated, Microsoft will continue to provide critical security updates and support for these features in the web client until their end of support on October 1, 2022.
For information on how to migrate the items, see Migrate automatic record creation rules and service-level agreements.
6. Internet Explorer 11 support for Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform is deprecated
In December 2020, Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 support for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform was deprecated. And the Internet Explorer 11 will no longer be supported after August 2021.
This will impact customers who use Dynamics 365 and Power Platform products designed to be used through Internet Explorer 11. It’s time to immediately switch to Microsoft Edge, a browser with built-in compatibility for legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and applications. In addition, the modern browser is faster than the Internet Explorer.
Should you have more curiosity and questions, you can contact the support team of Dogma Group.
7. Omnichannel Administration app is deprecated
Since Microsoft ended support for the Omni-Channel Administrator app on April 30, 2022, you immediately need to switch to the Omnichannel admin centre or Customer Service admin center app to configure the latest features such as unified routing and voice channel.
If you are an Omnichannel for a Customer Service user who has upgraded, you can perform all the tasks in Omnichannel admin center that you had been performing in the Omnichannel Administration app.
Omnichannel for Customer Service is a robust application that extends the power of Dynamics 365 Customer Service to enable organizations to instantly engage with customers through channels such as live chat, SMS, and WhatsApp. For more information, check out the Omnichannel admin center.
8. Support for some knowledge management entities no longer available
The knowledge management entities KbArticle, KbArticleComment, and KbArticleTemplate were no longer available after its deprecation on October 1, 2021.
You can use the KnowledgeArticle entity for knowledge management in Dynamics 365 instead of the deprecated entities. This new knowledge experience in Dynamics 365 Customer Service enables you to create rich knowledge articles along with versioning and translation support. It uses the KnowledgeArticle entity to store and manage knowledge natively in Dynamics 365 Customer Service.
For more information on the new knowledge experience, See Work with Knowledge Articles
9. setContextProvider method depreciated for authenticated chat
Since Microsoft deprecated setContextProvider for authenticated chat, this functionality has been removed from October 1, 2021. As setContextProvider method is supported only for unauthenticated chat, you need to go for JSON Web Token (JWT) for authenticated chat.
Visit Send Authentication token for additional details.
What’s Your Next Step?
Depreciation affects many aspects of Dynamics 365 as well as your business processes. As our client’s most trusted advisors, we want to inform you that this deprecation notification might span a few years. After removal, the feature or capability will no longer work. Hence, we encourage all customers to plan and update their code before the feature is unavailable.
Once the feature is removed, the code needs to be changed/updated and must be re-written to meet the new feature requirements as per your business roadmap. To get the most productivity out of your products, it’s better to upgrade and use the most recent version.
For questions about the next steps and guidance on moving ahead, please contact us at 01296 328 689 or email us at info@dogmagroup.co.uk.
