Synapse link for Dataverse is the replacement for Export to Datalake which has been deprecated in 2023. Although it is called link for Dataverse, it can be used to access Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain tables (and CE data from dataverse as well).
SQL Track Changes has to be enabled in D365 F/SCM. Creates, Updates and Deletes are written to a storage account in CSV format. Synapse is running a spark pool that converts the CSVs into Deltalake format which relies on the (Open-Standard) Parquet format. As result you can see and query the F/SCM tables in the lake like it were tables in a relational database.
Good news, Synpase has a serverless SQL pool and a public SQL endpoint. You can find the SQL endpoint from the Manage Icon (down left) > SQL Pools > Select your pool > Workspace SQL Endpoint.
You can create databases in this SQL pool and create views based on the tables in the datalake. For example join CustTable and DirPartyTable and provide a view that contains customer data with a name and address.
You can use the development workspace in Synapse web based workspace but you could also use other tools to connect e.g. SQL Server Management Studio. Tables in the datalake and views in another database can be accessed.
PowerBI has a built-in connector for Synapse Workspace. You can easily load data from the tables and also from the views.
JSON strings can easily be handled using the FormJSONSerialized class in Dynamics 365 FO. Here is an example:
// JSON with string and number
str jsonString = @'{"Name":"Dynamics 365","RefRecId":123456789}';
Data Contract
Create an X++ class that matchtes the properties and add the DataContract and DataMember attributes. The attribute name has to match the JSON property name. You can stick to the parm*() naming schema for the method.
[DataContract]
class ERPDataContract
{
Name name;
RefRecId refRecId;
[DataMember("Name")]
public Name parmName(Name _name = name)
{
name = _name;
return name;
}
[DataMember("RefRecId")]
public RefRecId parmRefRecId(RefRecId _refRecId = RefRecId)
{
refRecId = _refRecId;
return refRecId;
}
}
There are many ways how to access, import and export data in Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management. Find here a one page PDF summary of 12 common ways. Every solution has it pros and cons.
Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management uses SQL Server Reporting Services for reporting and document generation. In 2022 Microsoft included SSRS (aka. Paginated Reports) in PowerBI Pro license. One may ask if it is possible to use PowerBI Paginated Reports as well for reporting purpose in Dynamics 365 F/SCM.
X++ SSRS
PowerBI Paginated Reports
+ Direct access to transaction DB + Business logic in X++ + Integrated with Dynamics 365 FO
– Complex development – Embedded in Dynamics 365 FO deployment cycle
+ Simple development using Report Builder + Integrated with Business Intelligence + Reuse existing data models
– Limited development possibilities – No direct data access
Pros and Cons for Paginated Reports
Data Access
Paginated reports in PowerBI have only a limited capability to access data. There is no Dynamics 365 FO connector or OData access to entities. You could use different approaches to get Dynamics 365 FO data.
PowerBI dataset. The report builder can access PowerBI datasets. If you don’t have real time requirements for the paginated reports, this may be the preferred approach. Use the ETL functionality in Power Query to prepare the dataset or use an existing one.
Development
Paginated reports are designed by using the Report Builder. It is an adapted version of the SSRS Report Builder with some more data access features. In theory you could develop an SSRS report using Visual Studio and upload the .RDL file. However, PowerBI Paginated Reports are a limited version of SSRS and you might get errors.
Fazit
Paginated Reports are a reduced SSRS feature in PowerBI. The Report Builder is very limited. You can define data access, defined parameters and place data on the report sheet. If you want to create printable documents without real-time requirement the Paginated Reports may be an option for you.
The export to data lake feature in Dynamics 365 Finance & SCM allows you to export data from tables to a storage account. You can directly export tables like CustTable, InventTable, etc. and do not need to put it in entities. Power BI can directly access the datalake and load D365 tables like in the good old times. I’ve published a short video on Youtube:
Recently we had the requirement to use the product categories from Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management in a PowerBI report as well. It should be used to filter products by categories and sub-categories. We were using Data Lake export in D365 FSCM.
This is how product category hierarchy looks like in Dynamics 365 SCM:
This is how it should look in PowerBI:
Data sources
To build a product category model in PowerBI some tables need to be exported:
EcoResCategoryHierarchy
EcoResCategory
EcoResProductCategory
EcoResProduct
Load and model the category hierarchy data
Start with EcoResCategory table. I’d recommend to remove all unnecessary fields and keep at least RecID, Name and ParentCategory.
The field ParentCategory is a reference to the RecID of the parent line. In theory this would be sufficient to build the hierarchy in PowerBI. In practice we want to create the hierarchy via the name, not the RecID. Create a copy of the table and remove all fields except the Name and RecID. I call the new table EcoResCategoryName:
Create an outer join from the original table to the new EcoResCategoryName table via the ParentCategory to the RecID.
As result the Name of parent is now part of the table. For example the parent of PC&Tablet is Lenovo Sales. and the parent of Server as well as the parent of Storage is Server & Storage.
Safe and load the data.
Build the Hierarchy
In PowerBI you can use the DAX formula PATHITEM to identify a certain element within a hierarchy. You have to provide the PATH (i.e. Name and ParentName) how the hierarchy is linked. For example to get the first level hierarchy element use the following code:
In my example “Lenovo Sales” is a root element for my hierarchy. The other root elements like “Neue Kategorie” and “Elektro Geräte” belong to another hierarchy (see CategoryHierarchy field). My hierarchy has 3 levels, therefore I create 3 additional fields called Level1, Level2, Level3.
To create the hierarchy in PowerBI right click on the Level1 field and select create hierarchy. Right click on Level 2 and choose “Add to hierarchy”. Do the same with Level 3. Your hierarchy should look like this:
Create the PowerBI data model
To implement a report like in Dynamics 365 SCM, load 3 additional tables:
EcoResCategoryHierarchy
EcoResProductCategory
EcoResProduct
Link the EcoResCategoryHierarchy.RecId to EcoResCategory.CategoryHierarchy Link the EcoResCategory.RecId to EcoResProductCategory.Category Link the EcoResProductCategory.Product to EcoResProduct.RecId
In my example the relations look like this:
Add visuals to the report
I’ve added 3 visuals to the report. First, a filter element to choose from the EcoResCategoryHierarchy. For example the “Lenovo” hierarchy consisting of Laptops, Servers and Storage products.
Next a filter element for the hierarchy that was created earlier. PowerBI presents the hierarchy in a drop down tree. To avoid “Blank” elements in the hierarchy create a visual level filter and exclude the blanks
My third visual is a table containing the product. The products get filtered based on the selection of the hierarchy elements.
Custom Scripts in Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management enables you to upload and execute X++ Code without the need to deploy a new release. Custom Scripts serve the same purpose like X++ Jobs in AX 2012 and earlier versions e.g. data correction. This short video shows how to create such a custom script, upload and execute it in a Dynamics 365 FO instance:
The Custom Scripts feature in Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management allows you to upload and execute code snippets. Microsoft implemented some barriers because this feature is potential dangerous. You need two accounts, one for uploading the script and one for approval. The feature can be found in System Administration > Periodic Tasks > Database > Custom scripts.
Microsoft has recently released the new VHD for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations 10.0.24 to download from LCS. When you instantly try to execute the Admin Provisioning Tool and provide your domain user you will get an error.
There are some steps required before you can assign it to your Domain: