Integrating Dynamics 365 F&O with other systems can help streamline business processes and boost productivity. Currently, there are many different integration technologies available, deciding on which integration approach to use can sometimes be overwhelming.
There are several ways to integrate Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (F&O) with other systems. Here are some common integration options:
- DMF(Data Management Framework)
Human Resources provides a set of data entities you can use for importing and exporting Human Resources data. DMF entities are still useful in some circumstances, such as:
- Dataverse entities aren’t yet available.
- The integration requires high-performance bulk data import/export capabilities.
DMF is mostly useful when you need bulk data transfer and It is not appropriate for real time integration. DMF jobs can run quickly or scheduled in a batch.
2. Data integrator :
It is a point-to-point integration service used to integrate data into Common Data Service. It supports process-based integrations, like Jobs to Jobs, that provide direct writes between apps for Finance and Operations and Dynamics 365 HR. It also supports integrating data from multiple sources into Common Data Service.
3. Dual Write :
Dual-write is an out-of-box infrastructure that provides near-real-time interaction between customer engagement apps and Finance and Operations apps. When data about customers, products, people, and operations flows beyond application boundaries, all departments in an organization are empowered.
Dual-write provides tightly coupled, bidirectional integration between Finance and Operations apps and Dataverse. Any data change in Finance and Operations apps causes writes to Dataverse, and any data change in Dataverse causes writes to Finance and Operations apps. This automated data flow provides an integrated user experience across the apps.
Microsoft document is well explained.
4. Virtual Entity :
There are some entities which are not available in CDS. With using Virtual entities, you can make it visible in CDS and sync accordingly.
The data for virtual entities do not reside in CDS but, it continues to reside in the application where it belongs. As a result, the CRUD operations that are enabled on the Dynamics 365 Human Resources entities by making them available in CDS as virtual entities allows for data operations from CDS and Power Platform on data that is residing in Finance and Operations, thereby allowing direct interaction without having to copy data between systems.
All OData entities in Dynamics 365 Human Resources are available as virtual entities in CDS and thus also in the Power Platform. Makers are now able to build experiences in applications like Sales, Marketing, Customer Engagement etc. along-side with data directly from Finance and Operations with full CRUD capability. Power Portals can be used to build external facing web sites to enable collaboration scenarios for business processes in Dynamics 365 Human Resources
5. Odata integration :
Most of the entities are enabled for access through the Odata service.
Below link provides the documentation for Odata service.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/fin-ops-core/dev-itpro/data-entities/odata
6. Excel Add -ins :
This is very easy way to insert/update and delete data for an entities in Dynamics 365 HR and F&O. Some of the entities are not available in Data Management but through Excel add ins those entities can be access from here. Also The Excel Add-in makes use of OData-enabled entities beneath the surface.
7. BYOD(Bring Your Own Database)
The Data management provides a powerful feature BYOD that allows users to export data to your own Microsoft Azure SQL database. This capability provides tremendous flexibility. When the data is present in your own SQL database, you can make use of any applications or middleware that can connect to a SQL datastore.
BYOD is mostly used for reporting solutions, data integrations, data mashups, as a data source for an Azure Data Factory pipeline.
When planning an integration project, it’s important to consider factors such as data volume, frequency of data transfer, and security requirements. You should also ensure that the systems you are integrating with are compatible with Dynamics 365 F&O.
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