Manage all your Apps And Updates in Admin Center for Business Central
Business Central Admin Center app management walkthrough: the all apps view with update actions, dependency-driven "action required" status, scheduling and force sync options, dev apps and PTE filtering, installing and uninstalling apps, and monitoring installs on the Operations page.
- Introduction to Admin Center transition
- Accessing Admin Center and viewing environments
- All apps view and update availability
- Action required vs install update status
- Dependency management and update scheduling
- Dev apps and PTEs management
- Installing new apps from Admin Center
- Monitoring installation progress in Operations
- Future of app management in Admin Center
Overview
Erik Hougaard shows how Admin Center is moving from a place administrators rarely visit to the main place for managing apps and updates. He walks through the environments list, the all apps view, and the update actions now available there.
The demo covers updating apps that have dependencies, scheduling updates and installs, separating dev apps and PTEs, installing a new app, and following progress on the Operations page. He says this is the expected future way to manage apps and notes the PTE name may change.
Key points
- The all apps view in Admin Center now includes the update action directly. Before, you had to select global apps to update applications. The speaker says this was added about a week before recording and may not be in all environments.
- An update shows ‘action required’ when the app depends on other apps that must be updated first. In the demo, Toolbox could not be updated because two apps it depends on (AL compiler and interpreter, AL AI services) were not updated.
- Choosing update to the latest requires acknowledging the app provider’s terms of use and privacy policy on AppSource for the app and its dependencies. All three apps are then scheduled, and the dependencies install before the dependent app compiles.
- Installs can be scheduled for right now, the next update window (tonight, described as a new option), the next minor version, or the next major version.
- Sync mode includes force sync, which gets the new app version in no matter what breaks (for example removed tables or pages). The speaker believes it only applies to data.
- Dev apps and PTEs have their own views. Apps can be installed and uninstalled from Admin Center without going to extension management.
- The Operations page shows installation progress. The speaker says a typical PTE takes about 1 minute 20 seconds to install in his environments, but the demo install took longer.
Features
Every feature below: status not stated, demoed.
| Feature | At |
|---|---|
| All apps view with update actions | 1:39 |
| Action required status for dependent apps | 2:45 |
| Installation scheduling options | 6:40 |
| App installation from Admin Center | 6:29 |
| Operations page for installation monitoring | 7:51 |
| Uninstall apps from Admin Center | 6:15 |
Quotes
- 0:00 “admin center is going through a transition uh from becoming something that you rarely visit”
- 1:51 “until like a week ago this one did not include the update action here. So, you before that and maybe not all environments then”
- 3:36 “We cannot update toolbox because toolbox has a dependency to two other apps that are not updated either”
- 4:00 “I can click update to the latest and I acknowledge the app provider’s terms of use and privacy policy specified on AppSource aka Microsoft”
- 6:51 “Next update window, meaning tonight. That’s So, that’s a new option.”
Disclaimers in the video
- 5:47 subject-to-change: At some point we need to get a new name for this
Presenters (as heard): Eric.