Steve Endow's Business Central Podcast

I Need Coffee - Episode 180 - Weekly BC Review!

Steve Endow Episode 180

Show Notes: Episode 180 - I Need Coffee (Sep 12, 2025)

1. Episode Milestone and Greetings
   - Celebrates 180 episodes, a significant milestone despite irregular periods.
   - Technical hiccups: dying keyboard, Stream Deck issues.
   - Shoutouts: Moardes, Tanya (RSM), Ola RSM, Eric Hogard, Christian Lais, DF, Demani.

2. Community Poll on BC Features
   - X poll: "What relatively new BC feature should functional consultants/developers learn?"
     - Responses: Queries (older), Copilot/Text/AI (newer), CI/CD (older), interfaces (years old), price calculation engine (~2 years), performance profiler (~2 years), data transfer/audit fields (underused, e.g., system modified on/by).
  

3. Personal Anecdotes and Blog Revival
   - Tanya (RSM) resurfaces host’s 2021 blog solving Chrome autofill overlay in BC—enjoys “artisanal” blogging but notes time cost; dislikes AI-generated content.
 

4. Weekly Projects: PTE Nightmare
   - PTE Disaster:** Adding one report field took 4 weeks due to:
     - Wrong field (duplicates across record types; hidden dataset issue).
     - Stuck pull request added MEM dependency, forcing redo.
    

5. Sandbox and Tenant Chaos
   - Team of 5 in Berlin juggled shared sandboxes for reports, imports, ISVs—disrupted by upgrades/MEM installs.
   - Solution: Host assigned 9 personal demo tenants (some from 2019); new free demo creation method (custom domain/email, kept low-key).
   - Issue: Browser profile overload (9+ tenants, manual setup across devices).

6. Technical Deep Dives
   - OData Deprecation: Marcel Schab’s blog warns of 2027 Wave 1 (v30) removal; urges Web API v2.0 migration (despite flaws). Simple Object Designer as alternative.
   - AL Upgrade: Fixed v26 issues (duplicates, old number series); v27 deprecations loom (200+ objects). Deferral possible to March 2026, but Nov 2025 urged.
   - Import Design: Staging tables for file imports (Excel/CSV/JSON) enable set-based ops (validation, history). BC list pages add UI polish. Exploring generic fields for multi-customer flexibility.

7. Cybersecurity Highlights
   - NPM Attack: Phished dev added malicious code to 15 packages (2B weekly downloads); caught in <1hr but exposes open-source risks (no audits, obfuscated code).
   - AI Coding Risks: Adds fictional deps, secrets, misconfigs (XKCD 2347 Jenga tower). Useful for explaining complex code.
   - M365 Breaches: Weekly partner compromises—enable Defender, conditional access, geo-locks.

8. Integrations and Events
   - Bill.com + BC/MEM App: Complex, over-budget, nearing go-live (next Friday).
   - Corporate ACH Debits: B2B auto-withdrawals (e.g., fuel suppliers) unsupported in BC NA; scoping paid design (CCD format).
   - Events:
     - Summit NA (Oct, Orlando): BC Bash party (700 cap last year).
     - Directions MIA (Nov 4–6, Poland): Christian Lais session.
     - Dynamics User Group: Dallas (Sep 17, 200+), other regions.
     - Summit Roadshows: Houston (Dec 9), Fort Lauderdale (Dec 11).
   - Webinar: Aropay (Sep 15): AL code’s SQL performance impact.

9. Team Updates
   - Joselyn: PowerBI, RDLC; speedrunning check layouts (<2hr goal).
   - David: Report layouts; paused data migration.
   - Ronald: McCroma Payment Hub (super checks).
   - Franklin: Excel imports, staging tables.
   - Fatima: PMP course; shadowing AL/PM tasks.