Dynamics 365 Business Central
Notes:
The Dynamics 365 Business Central connector is currently in feature preview and as such documentation for this feature is still work in progress
Install XPNA Connector
Before connecting to Business Central, install XPNA Connector from Microsoft AppSource in the Business Central environment containing the companies you want to connect.
- In xpna, add a connection and select
Dynamics 365 Business Central. - Select
Install from AppSourceto open the listing, then follow Microsoft's installation prompts for your Business Central environment. Ask your Business Central administrator to install the app if you do not have permission. - Once installation is complete, return to xpna, connect to Business Central and select the company to import.
No file download or manual extension upload is required. For more information, see Microsoft's guide to installing Business Central apps.
Connectivity & Security
A Business Central data source within xpna is secured using the Business Central OAuth2 security flow.
This is a highly secure process provided by Microsoft, which allows Business Central users to grant access to one or more Business Central organiations, (that the user has access), to a verified third-party application, like xpna, with specific permissions.
Note:
At no time does xpna access, ask for, or store the user's Business Central credentials.
Authorization tokens are stored encrypted within xpna
On adding a new Business Central data source, when the user clicks on the Connect to Business Central action button, the following flow will occur to allow the user to grant xpna access and return us a token, that we store encrypted, we can use on behalf of the user to subsequently retrieve their Business Central data:
| Actor | Action |
|---|---|
| xpna | Opens a browser window in the user's default browser to Business Central |
| Business Central | Gets the user to login with their Business Central credentials (if not already logged in) |
| Business Central | Redirects the page back to xpna |
| xpna | Receives the authorization and attempts to connect to retrieve the information about all organisations the user has access to |
| xpna | Displays a message to the user about the success or failure of the connection |
Dimensional Mapping
It is recommended that reading about Dimension Mapping is done before performing mapping for the first time.
If an organisation is using Business Central dimensions, the option to create/map dimensions for each will be given on the initial connection.
For each, they can be mapped to an existing dimension or have a new one created to represent it.
If multiple connections (from other sources) within the same workspace are using them in the same way, the same dimensions can be reused across many of them. The name of the custom dimension in xpna does not need to be the same as what is in Business Central.
Initial Load Duration
To extract and process the data into the xpna data warehouse may take anywhere from 1 minute to several hours, depending on the number of transactions stored in Business Central.
Data Synchronization
xpna does incremental loads from Business Central on a daily schedule set by the user and will also load on demand when the Refresh data action button is used, (this looks like a 'Play' button).
Expect data refreshes to complete in less than a minute.
Managing the Connection
At any time, a user can disconnect their connection between xpna and Business Central from within xpna on the Connections page.
On disconnection, the user's Business Central data is not removed from xpna; only the connection that is used to update data is severed.
If removal of the data is also required, the user can open up a support ticket with us.
Planning Data
Business Central budgets are retrieved as a part of data synchronization, and each is stored in a separate scenario derived from the name in Business Central.
xpna does not write planning data back into Business Central because it allows planning data to be created against accounts that do not exist in Business Central. For example, non-financial accounts such as headcount cannot be created in Business Central, so if planning occurs against this account, reporting can only be done from xpna.
Nothing prevents the building of custom Business Central imports from xpna data for loading back into Business Central if that is desired by users.
Data Flows
xpna extracts a number of data sets from Business Central. These are listed below.
xpna does not push data back into Business Central for any data set.
| Business Central | xpna |
|---|---|
| GeneralLedgerAccount | Account dimension and hierarchies |
| GLRegisters | General ledger amount |
| GeneralLedgerEntries | General ledger amount |
| GeneralLedgetSetup | Entity |
| AccountingPeriods | Entity |
| Dimensions | Dimensions and members |
| DimensionSets | Dimensions and members |
| DimensionValues | Dimensions and members |
| GeneralLedgerBudgetEntries | Scenarios |
| Preferences | Entity Configuration |
| SourceCodes | Dimensions and members |
| AccountsReceivable | Data source |
| AccountsPayable | Data source |
| Employees | Business Partner |
| Customers | Business Partner |
| Vendors | Business Partner |