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Dynamics 365 Finance and SCM

Connection settings

Perform the following actions when setting up a D365 Finance and Operations data source for the first time.

  • Create a native application for Data Hub in your Azure Active Directory and note the Client ID.

  • Install the ZAP D365 Finance and Operations service package.

  • Create a D365 Finance and Operations data source in Data Hub.

Subsequent D365 data sources may be created without the need for steps 1 and 2. Specify advanced data source settings after the data source has been created in step 3.

Create a native application in Azure Active directory

Create an Azure Active Directory application to allow Data Hub to authenticate with Azure Active Directory.

  1. Log in to the Microsoft Azure Portal using your Azure Active Directory credentials.

    • A User must have Azure AD admin privileges.

    • The Azure AD must be the one used by the D365F&0 instance deployed by Lifecycle Services.

  2. Add a new application for Data Hub to the active directory.

    • Open Azure AD > Active Directory > App Registrations > New Registration.

    • Give your application a name and select the Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Azure AD directory - Multitenant) and personal Microsoft accounts (e.g. Skype, Xbox) option.

    • Under redirect URI, set Web and https://services.zapbi.com/OAuthLoginRedirect as the Redirect URI and click Create.

    • Open Application > API Permissions > Add a Permission > Dynamics ERP > Delegated Permissions. Allow AX.FullAccess, CustomerService.FullAccess, Odata.FullAccess.

    • On the D365 data source screen in the Data Hub portal, set the Domain Name to be the same as the domain of the connecting to D365 user (e.g zapbi.com) for user userA@zapbi.com.

    • In the Azure portal, go to the created earlier application > Certificates & Secrets > New Client Secret and copy the secret to the Data Source screen and into the Application Client Secret field.

  3. Grant administration consent to the new application using the procedure provided here:

    Microsoft Azure Documentation: Grant admin consent to enterprise apps in the Azure portal.

    • To perform this step you must have D365 F&O business connector rights.

  4. From the applications' overview screen, copy the Application (client) ID by selecting the 32 character value, then press CTRL-C to copy it to the clipboard.

  5. Paste the Application (client) ID into Application Client ID (Azure AD) on the D365 Finance and Operations Data Source screen in Data Hub. A convenient way to do this is to leave the Azure management web page open and perform the installation of the Data Hub service package in a separate browser window. Once the Connect screen appears, paste the Client ID into the Application Client ID (Azure AD) box during the Connect step.

Install the Data Hub service package

A D365 instance must have the Data Hub service package installed before a D365 data source can be created. This is done by downloading and running a service package on the Virtual Machine or Azure instance that hosts D365.

The service package has to be installed only once, but must be installed before creating a D365 data source. The service package installs a library (.DLL) file, which implements a Windows service that processes requests from Data Hub and returns information from D365 to create cubes.

There are two steps to the installation process. The first step is to download the service package zip file from Data Hub. The second step is to install the service package on the computer that is running D365.

Details for both of these installation methods are provided below.

Note

  • The initial release of D365 allows customers to only use the SaaS deployment method. The on-premises option will be available later. Microsoft partners may deploy the service package to a demonstration VM using images supplied by Microsoft.

  • Customers using SaaS will have to have their Microsoft partner install the Data Hub service package for them, as LCS is presently available only to partners.

  • As part of the LCS installation of the Data Hub service package, the D365 instance will need to be restarted, resulting in a brief period of downtime.

Install Step 1: Download the service package

The service package is installed from a link provided on the model creation wizard's Connect screen.

  1. In Data Hub, create a new D365 data source or solution using one of the following methods:

    1. As part of the create new model wizard.

    2. By adding a D365 data source to an existing model.

  2. On the model creation wizard Connect screen, click Download Service Package link.

  3. In the Save As box, choose a convenient folder in which to save the service package file (ZAP_AXDeployablePackage.zip).

Note

If D365 is hosted using Software as a Service (SaaS) through Microsoft Azure, download the service package to a client computer and upload it to Azure as part of the installation process using Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services.

Install Step 2: Deploy the service package to D365 hosted using SaaS in Azure

If you are using D365 provided in the Public Cloud (using Software as a Service (SaaS) through Microsoft Azure), RDP to the host is not available; therefore, it is necessary to install the service package using Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS).

Note

Customers using D365 deployed via SaaS will have to have their Microsoft partner install the Data Hub service package for them, as LCS is presently available only to partners.

  1. Log in to Lifecycle Services.

  2. Select the D365 project.

    The project page appears.

  3. On the Project page, click Asset library in the More Tools section. The Asset library screen appears.

  4. Select the Software deployable package asset type in the Asset type list on the left.

  5. Click the + icon under the Software deployable packages files section. The Upload Software Deployable Package File screen appears.

  6. Type a name for the Package (e.g. Data Hub D365 Service Package 2.2). Click Add a file.

  7. Navigate to the folder where you saved the ZAP_AXDeployablePackage2.2.zip downloaded file.

  8. Select the file and click Add. The Asset Library screen now displays the newly uploaded service package in the Software Deployable Packages files list.

  9. Take note that the newly uploaded package does not have a check under “Valid” and is in draft status.

  10. Select the package and in the menu above the table, select Versions. The Select From Available Versions screen appears.

  11. Select your version and click Get version. This assigns a version to your package, marked as published. It is now ready to be deployed to your Cloud AX7 Instance.

  12. Navigate to your Project Environment inside LCS and click Maintain to deploy the package.

  13. Select the update that you wish to deploy, and click Apply. Note that all previous updates remain in history.

  14. Once you click Apply, the update will begin. As the various steps are executing, they will be listed in the section “Failed and currently executing steps”.

  15. Once the service package has been successfully deployed, you will be able to connect to the D365 instance using the service by clearing the Read from database directly check box on the D365 data source's screen in Data Hub.

Create a D365 Finance and Operations data source

Once a native Azure application has been created and the service package has been deployed, you can proceed with creating the D365 Finance and Operations data source.

Note

If you are performing these steps immediately after deploying the service package, the data source Connect screen will already be open.

  1. In Data Hub, create a new D365 data source using one of the following methods:

    1. As part of the create new model wizard.

    2. By adding a D365 data source to an existing model.

  2. Specify the settings in the D365 Service Connection section. The following settings are required:

    1. Data Gateway - None unless your D365 is on-prem deployment and you want to connect to SQL database directly.

    2. Server - Your D365 instance URL.

    3. Application Client ID - Your Azure Client ID.

    4. Application Client Secret

    5. Password - The password for the specified user name.

    6. Client ID - The ID for the Data Hub application lets it authenticate with Azure Active Directory. The Client ID may be copied from the application's dashboard in the Azure management console and pasted into this box.

    7. Caption language - Select the language that will be used for the D365 captions.

  3. In the Source Connection section, use the Read from database directly check box to specify the database connection behavior. When this check box is selected (checked), the data source will read the corresponding D365 database directly, which requires that you specify additional settings. These settings appear immediately below the Read from database directly check box. When this check box is cleared (not checked), the data source will use the Data Hub service to connect to the database. No additional settings are required.

    Note

    Reading directly from the database (selecting the Read from database directly check box and specifying the additional settings) is faster than using the Data Hub service. However, it is not always available (such as with an off-premise, hosted D365 databases). In these cases, you must use the service option (clear the Read from database directly check box).

  4. If you selected (checked) the Read from database directly check box, click Detect Source Connection Details. Data Hub automatically detects some of the settings in the Source Connection group, allowing for faster and more accurate data source configuration. Using this feature, you can populate the Server and Database settings in the Source Connection group. The User Name and Password settings are not populated for security reasons.

  5. Specify the remaining settings in the Source Connection section:

    1. Server - If necessary, specify the name of the SQL Server instance that hosts the D365 database you want to access. This will typically be an Azure instance. Just the server name may be entered if there is only one SQL Server instance on that server. If the server hosts multiple instances, use the syntax ServerName\InstanceName. You can type in the instance name directly, or choose from a list of instances on your local network using the drop-down list. The list does not include Azure instances.

    2. Authentication - You can provide credentials to authenticate to the database instance specified above in two ways. The method used will depend on how your database instance is configured:

      1. Windows login - Enter a Windows user name and password. For D365, these will typically be credentials for logging into an Azure computer that hosts SQL server. This server is often the same as the one in the D365 Service Connection section.

      2. SQL Server login - Enter a SQL Server user name and password.

    3. User Name - Type a user name in the same form you use to log in directly to Windows or SQL Server (depending on which authentication method you chose above). This may be just a user name, or it may include the domain name in canonical form (domain\user) or UPN form (user@fully-qualified_domain_name), depending on your environment.

    4. Password - Type a password for the specified user name.

    5. Database - If necessary, type a database name to use as the data source, or select the database from a drop-down list of databases found on the specified server.

OAuth for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations data connection

This feature allows connection to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations providing seamless integration with Data Hub.

There are two ways to authorize the connection:

  1. Use Enable Password Grant Permission (current method).

  2. Select Sign in.

Sign In

  1. On the Connect tab, enter the connection details and click Sign in.

  2. In the pop-up, sign in with your User Name and Password.

  3. Click Next.

  4. Click Test Connection.

  5. Once the connection is confirmed, continue with model creation.

Set advanced data source properties

Optional advanced connection settings are available using either of the following:

  • The Advanced panel on the Connect screen when adding the data source.

  • The Properties panel when viewing an existing data source, under the Advanced section.

In this section: