What Is A Release Wave?

If you’re involved in any kind of supply chain management or use Dynamics 365, you’re likely already familiar with Microsoft’s Release Wave schedule. But… for everyone else, Microsoft issues two major rollout schedules each year, detailing updates to its Dynamics 365 and Power Platform solutions.

These updates are delivered in phases, with each rollout assigned a specific release date to ensure a smooth and predictable deployment process.

This structured approach allows system administrators to adapt gradually and manage changes efficiently.

Certain updates are initially made available to early adopters for testing and feedback. Once Microsoft is confident in their stability and performance, these features are released for general availability.

In this overview, we will highlight the key features of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management in Release Wave 1, 2025, including what’s available for testing and what’s officially launching.

Overview Of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management delivers a robust set of features designed to support the full spectrum of operations required by manufacturers, distributors, consumer goods companies and retailers.

Its capabilities cover product information management, forecasting, planning, inventory, sales, procurement, complex manufacturing, asset maintenance, warehousing, transportation, and costing.

The 2025 Release Wave 1 will introduce several important enhancements.

Demand planning sees significant improvements with the addition of Copilot, generative insights and cell-level explainability, all aimed at enhancing forecasting accuracy.

In manufacturing, new features include optimised testing strategies and digitised records for quality management, with Copilot-assisted updates refining planning data to enable more precise production processes.

Planning optimisation now supports lean manufacturing principles, catch weight management, and step consumption to enhance material usage efficiency.

Contract lifecycle management has also been upgraded to allow better integration with external systems, streamlining supplier contract processes. Additionally, vendor rebate management has been enhanced with reconciliation and resubmission workflows, providing greater flexibility for vendor transactions.

These updates collectively enable businesses to manage supply chain operations with greater precision, efficiency, and adaptability.

What To Expect & When

• Enhance vendor rebate management – This entered public preview in January and will reach general availability in April this year. It means that from then, vendor rebate management clerks will have the ability in Supply Chain Management to resubmit and edit vendor rebate deals. Source transaction vendors will also be able reconcile their company output (such as accounts payable invoices), which adds a lot of flexibility.
• Track with tracking attributes and data collection in Supply Chain Traceability – Coming to public preview this April, stakeholders will be able to retrieve lists of product serial or batch numbers based on business activities and tracking attribute data, enhancing supply chain traceability and enabling them to analyse deviations using captured data.
• Implement lean manufacturing, catch weight, and step consumption – This one isn’t going to hit public preview till Jul, and then general availability in September, but when it does the Planning Optimisation engine will empower organisations in streamlining their planning processes, reducing costs and improving service levels by enabling fast and accurate supply plans. Planning Optimization will include features that allow companies using lean manufacturing, catch weight pricing and measurement systems, and step consumption with process manufacturing to benefit from this planning engine.
• Support contract lifecycle management in source to pay by flexible integration – With flexible integration to external contract lifecycle management systems from April this year, organisations will better be able to manage the creation and management of contract lifecycles with suppliers in their source-to-pay process. Purchase agreements stipulated in the contracts integrate seamlessly with operations such as applying the correct terms and pricing.

Not sure if this will affect you or how to make sure you’ll benefit from it come April?

Perhaps after reading this you’d like more information on Dynamics 365 Supply Chain (we would after reading this!).

Reach out below and we’d be happy to talk over how Release Wave 1 could benefit your organisation…