Overview

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Release Objectives

The main objectives for the implementation of the Cobalt Release 3.4.1 project were centered around Microsoft’s transition to a true SaaS model (i.e. no more opting out of updates) in 2019. Specifically, we set out to:

  1. Stabilize Cobalt’s products for Microsoft Dynamics 365 version 9.0 online such that Cobalt 3.4.1 achieves functional parity between Microsoft Dynamics 365 8.2 online and Microsoft Dynamics 365 9.0 online.
  2. Support smooth upgrades for our Microsoft Dynamics 365 online customers.

Expected Benefits

For each release, we outline the expected benefits if we achieve the objectives and success criteria of the project. The expected benefits for 3.4.1 were:

  • Cobalt Support & Existing Customers – Existing customers will benefit from a working, high-quality product while using the latest version of Dynamics 365 online. Improving stability on Dynamics 365 online will also lower the support department’s workload.
  • Cobalt Implementation Teams / New Customers – A fully vetted and tested Cobalt product version for online will increase confidence in implementation teams as we continue to deploy more customers online. This will save resources during new implementations and keep new customers satisfied early-on.
  • Sales / Prospective Customers – The sales team will have the ability to demo our product on version 9.0, allowing them to sell online implementations more confidently. This may also help us compete with Salesforce-based solutions with greater success.

Updated Adapters

The main development update in this release was to update the adapters to use the 9.0 Software Development Kit (SDK). This update was necessary for our code to connect to the latest Dynamics 365 web services.

Accounting Export Wizard

Since Dynamics 365 online uses Azure, the accounting export wizard needed to be updated. The update changed the code to create zip file in memory instead of using the file system.

Engagement Dynamics App

To make sure that we are able to continue to use the Web Interface until Cobalt 3.5, we created an Engagement Dynamics Application that uses the Web UI. Without this change, customers would be forced to use the new Unified Client Interface (UCI). At this time, Cobalt’s JavaScript is not compatible with the UCI, but we will be tackling this in the 3.5 release.