Guide · AI
Release Wave 2 2026: What the Fall Update Means for Your Dynamics 365
Since October 2026, Business Central runs on major version 29.0 with 2026 release wave 2, and Finance and Supply Chain Management received service update 10.0.49. At the same time, Microsoft changed how it announces new features: release plans are gone, replaced by a continuously updated roadmap. The update rhythm stays the same. What changes is the basis on which you assess each update. This guide covers the dates, the points worth checking, and how to organize update assessments from now on.
What changed in 2026 and what did not
On August 25, 2026, Microsoft announced that roadmap content for Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Dataverse would move to the AI at Work roadmap starting in September 2026. The twice-yearly model of release wave 1 and release wave 2 ends as a way of announcing features. New capabilities now appear continuously once they are committed. Earlier release plans stay online for reference.
The second part of the announcement matters most: only the communication changes, not how Microsoft builds and rolls out products. Business Central still gets a major version in April and October and minor versions in the other months. Finance and Supply Chain Management still gets four service updates a year.
For your update planning, that means: dates stay predictable, but the familiar source for assessing an update is gone. A release plan was one document per wave that you could file with a date. A roadmap that keeps changing has to be turned into a reviewable snapshot by you.
The dates at a glance
Business Central online
Update: Major version 29.0
Status: generally available since early October 2026, update 29.1 since November
Your room to maneuver: pick any update date within the five-month update period ending in February 2027, then a grace period
Finance and Supply Chain Management
Update: Service update 10.0.49
Status: self-update since September 11, 2026, automatic from October 2 or October 30, 2026
Your room to maneuver: one update may be paused, at least two updates a year are required
Finance and Supply Chain Management
Update: Service update 10.0.50
Status: preview since October 23, 2026
Your room to maneuver: self-update from December 22, 2026, automatic from January 31 or February 28, 2027
After the grace period, Microsoft enforces the Business Central update and, if necessary, uninstalls extensions that block it. Their data is kept and can be restored with a compatible version. For Finance and Supply Chain Management, Microsoft automatically applies the current update once an environment falls too far behind. The sandbox gets the automatic update seven days before production.
What matters in update 29.0
The documentation for update 29.0 is long, and many items concern development, country features or sustainability. For day-to-day operations, these are the points we consider worth checking:
Completing a quality inspection now fills in passed and failed quantities
Why it matters: Quality management from release wave 1 controls lot blocking and document blocking
What to check: Retest the inspection flow and the block and release logic
Fields from table extensions now live in the same database table as the base table
Why it matters: Affects almost every environment with extensions
What to check: Test extensions, reports and integrations against 29.0 in a sandbox
Unified Copilot chat, extended agents, simpler assignment of permissions to agents
Why it matters: Agents act like users in the system
What to check: Define scope and permissions before you turn agents on
The MCP server can run custom data queries
Why it matters: AI apps get access to data that had no interface before
What to check: Decide who may query which data
Optional features become mandatory, including masking of sensitive data in the UI
Why it matters: They can no longer be switched off in Feature Management
What to check: Compare the list of mandatory features with your own processes
What counts is the list on Microsoft Learn at the time of your assessment. Update 29.1 added more features, such as batch totals for payment journals.
A detail auditors ask about: the change log pauses
Business Central turns off the change log during an upgrade to the next version, for performance reasons. Once the upgrade is complete, logging resumes. Changes to data made during the upgrade therefore do not appear in the change log.
That is not a bug, but it is a gap worth documenting if your change log is part of your internal controls. We recommend two things: add the note with its source to your update documentation, and after every major version run a data reconciliation for critical records, such as blocked lots, open inspections and item tracking entries. Put the values before and after the update side by side in the evidence.
Assessing updates without a release plan
Assessing an update now takes several sources, and each of them changes. If you want to show later on what basis an update was approved, save the state of each source with a date.
• AI at Work roadmap: announced features, filtered to your products and available as an RSS feed.
• What's new per version on Microsoft Learn: the changes actually shipped, for Business Central per major and minor version, for Finance and Supply Chain Management per service update.
• Sandbox: testing with your extensions and a copy of your production data.
• Admin center or Lifecycle Services: planned and actual update dates per environment.
• Message center: changes that affect your tenant specifically.
A fixed monthly slot to review these sources and update the assessment replaces the rhythm the two release plans used to set.
A plan through February 2027
1. Now: Copy production into a sandbox and update it to 29.0 or 29.1 there. You can start the update right away. Then run regression tests based on risk.
2. By January: Set the production date deliberately and do not push it into the last weeks of the update period. If an update fails, Microsoft schedules the next attempt seven days later, and you will want that buffer.
3. After the update: Reconcile critical records, assess deviations, close the update documentation.
4. Monthly: Assess minor versions. If you do not need an intermediate version, skip it by choosing a later target version.
The same process applies to Finance and Supply Chain Management on its own schedule: 10.0.50 is available for self-update from December 22, 2026.
Where AI agents help here
With 2026 release wave 2, Business Central ships its own agents. The Payables Agent reads PDF invoices from a mailbox, identifies the vendor and creates an invoice draft, and from update 29.1 also handles vendor credit memos. It does not post on its own; a person reviews and approves. The Sales Order Agent prepares quotes and orders from customer requests. Both consume Copilot Credits.
The update assessment itself can largely be automated too. An agent collects new items from Microsoft Learn and the roadmap every month, matches them against your list of extensions and workflows, and hands you a draft assessment: what is affected, what should be tested, what is untouched. Your team makes the call, and the collecting work goes away.
How aenuma helps
aenuma builds AI agents where your business data already lives: in Dynamics 365, Business Central and the Power Platform. We set up Microsoft's agents so that permissions and approvals are right, and we build custom agents with Copilot Studio, Power Automate or n8n when the standard is not enough. Together we decide up front what happens automatically and where a person reviews.
More on our services page. Related guides: Dynamics NAV end of support and Business Central vs. Finance & Supply Chain.
Frequently asked questions
Are there no more release waves now that release plans are gone?
Not as an announcement model. Microsoft now publishes new features continuously on the AI at Work roadmap. The updates themselves keep their schedule: Business Central gets major versions in April and October, Finance and Supply Chain Management gets four service updates a year.
How long can we postpone the update to 29.0?
Within the five-month update period, which ends in February 2027. After that comes a grace period in which you can no longer reschedule. Then Microsoft enforces the update. If you have not tested by then, you test under time pressure.
Do we have to retest everything after every update?
No. The assessment decides which processes and data are affected, and that is where you test. For untouched features, a documented rationale is enough. That saves effort and holds up if questioned.
What belongs in the update documentation?
Version and dates per environment, the saved sources with dates, the assessment, test evidence with deviations, the data reconciliation after the update, and the approval.
Sources
Update 29.0 for Business Central 2026 release wave 2 (Microsoft Learn)
Update 29.1 for Business Central 2026 release wave 2 (Microsoft Learn)
Update cycles for Business Central online (Microsoft Learn)
Optional features that are now mandatory (Microsoft Learn)
Audit changes in Business Central (Microsoft Learn)
Service update availability for finance and operations apps (Microsoft Learn)
Payables Agent overview (Microsoft Learn)
Supervise agent activities (Microsoft Learn)
One always-on roadmap: Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Dataverse join the AI at Work roadmap (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog)
By Joshua Schütt, founder of aenuma. Last updated: November 2026.
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