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Release2ERP for D365 FO

Release2ERP for D365 FO

Perfion Release2ERP for D365 FO allows you to import and persist information from Perfion to the D365 FO environment.

If you have special use cases or need custom setup tailored to your needs, please contact your Perfion partner for more information.

This page describes the Perfion “Release2ERP for D365, Finance and Operations” module (abbreviated Release2ERP, for the remainder of this document) which enables synchronization of data from Perfion into a Dynamics 365, Finance and Operations solution.

Architecture

The Release2ERP module is a piece of software which is installed directly into the Dynamics 365 solution, as an extension. The software is configured from inside Dynamics 365 and will appear as a fully integrated part of your D365 solution.

For the Release2ERP module to function, the data from Perfion must be accessible from the D365 server via the Perfion API. The API is used to retrieve data before they are stored in D365.

The overall architecture of the Release2ERP module is shown below:

Configuration of the integration is done inside Dynamics 365, as described later in this document. In this way, Dynamics owns the initiative over the integration, whereas Perfion is passive and responding to incoming requests.

Use cases

  • Perfion as master system for ERP data.

    • For manufacturers: Items can be “born” in Perfion, and sent to D365 when they are ready for production/sales

    • For resellers: Product data received from suppliers can be received in Perfion, filtered/modified, and then sent to D365

  • Use conversion rules to account for difference data structures between systems

  • Allowing Perfion users to influence other processes without entering Dynamics 365

  • Scheduled synchronization to ensure consistency across system landscape

Limitations

  • There is no “push” functionality from Perfion when for example data has been changed. All sync jobs are “pull” from Dynamics 365

  • Mapping is always done to D365 Enitites – so if no target Entity exists in D365 for a specific data field, it must be created before mapping is set up.

  • Use of Release2ERP requires an additional license fee

D365 Commerce Compatibility

D365 Commerce is fully integrated with D365 Finance & Operations, meaning that the front-end of D365 Commerce is being supplied with data directly from D365 Finance & Operations.

Therefore, Perfion Release2ERP supports D365 Commerce, as the Release2ERP module supplies product information data to D365 Finance & Operations, which then can be visualized in D365 Commerce front-end.

We do not support the configuration of a D365 Commerce solution, this should be configured together with a Commerce partner.

Prerequisites and installation

Prerequisites

The Perfion Release2ERP, Finance and Operations module has been verified to be compatible with the following versions of Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations:

  • 7.0

  • Release 1611

  • July 2017 update

  • 7.3

  • 8.0

  • 8.1

  • 10.0

In order for the integration to be working, the following Perfion components must be installed and running:

  • Perfion Database

  • Perfion API Web Service

In most typical Perfion installations these steps will already have been taken. If not, refer to the corresponding documentation and/or your implementation partner.

Installation

NOTE: We recommend that your Microsoft Partner perform the installation of this product.

Download the latest Release2ERP for Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations from Perfion Download Center.

For installing the package into Dynamics 365, please consult with your Microsoft Dynamics Partner on how to proceed. Perfion guarantees compatibility and adherence to Microsoft standards for D365 extensions but does not handle the actual installation on the customer’s Dynamics server.

Configuration and setup

Menu structure

Installing Perfion Release2ERP adds a new submenu to the System Administration menu named Perfion Release2ERP. The submenu contains menu items for integration setup and execution:

Base data

Before setting up integrations, it is necessary to setup base data which is used in the import.

Configuring Perfion connections

The first part to complete during configuration is to set up one or more connections to Perfion. Connections are set up using the Setup à Connections menu item.

Create a new record using the +New button in the top ribbon. Specify a connection identifier (in the example below it has been named “test”). Fill in the description and connection string to complete the basic connection setup.

The connection string is the URL for the Perfion API. A good way to avoid issues is always to check the URL in a browser before putting it in the connection string, just to make sure you have an open API.

If authentication has been enabled on the Perfion web service, you need to specify user name and password in the Authentication part of the connection settings. The password is encrypted in the Dynamics 365 database.

Configuring value conversions

In some cases, it is necessary to convert values from Perfion when importing them into Dynamics 365. Conversions are set up using the menu item Setup à Conversion. Create a new record using the +New button. Fill in a conversion identifier and a description. Afterwards, create conversions as needed. You will be able to specify the conversions in the integration setup later.

Configuring customer keys

Custom keys are only needed in those cases where you want to override the default behavior when updating records during import. Without custom keys, Dynamics 365 records will be found and updated using the primary key specified on the table by the developers. Using custom keys enables you to specify which of the table fields should be used for finding and updating existing records.

The menu item for custom key setup is found in Setup à Custom keys

Create a new custom key setup using the +New button. Fill in a custom key identifier and a description. When creating the custom key setup, you must enter the table which you are specifying the new custom key for. This value is not editable later.

The following screenshot illustrates a setup that will only import one note per document type for a specific record. The default behavior would have imported new records every time because of the default primary key being less strict.

Integration

When the base data has been set up, the integration setup can be created. This is done using the Common à Integrations menu item.

Integration header

Create a new integration using the +New button in the top ribbon.

The integration header consists of the following fields:

Field name

Description

Notes

Integration

Unique identifier for integration

 

Description

Description of record

 

Connection

Perfion connection to use

 

XPath root

Root node containing data from Perfion

Defaults to //Data/Product. Change this value if it does not reflect data in your Perfion database.

Update multiple records

Allow updating multiple records when finding existing records matching criteria.

Relevant if multiple records exist in the Dynamics 365 database based on the field mappings and Perfion data. Choose Yes to update possible duplicates. Choose No to skip updates. Choose Error to stop the import when finding multiple records.

Latest import

Latest execution date and time.

Not editable. Filled in when importing data.

Query

Perfion query used to select subset of data from Perfion.

Use the wildcard %d to insert date and time of latest import into the query. For example, into the where clause to filter records older than a specific time. When the query is executed, %d will be replaced with date and time.

Advanced parameters

Parameters for batch processing and logging.