Microsoft Dynamics 365 Integration

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a SaaS (Software as a Service) business solution which unifies ERP (Enterprises Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) capabilities into a single application that addresses various business processes and functions.

However, ERP and CRM aren’t the only applications in an organization’s application landscape. Typically, End-to-End business processes go beyond ERP/CRM applications, and in order to enable that, we need an integration platform and capability. Integration platform brings all applications together to deliver End-to-End business processes.

We look at various integration patterns available to deliver seamless integration between applications.

Integration Patterns

Integration pattern describes the type of interaction required with Dynamics 365 by other application. A business process that transcends one application would need information to be either created/updated, queried or ‘notified of a change’ to other application.

Inbound (Create/Update/Query): The integration platform supplies new or changed data to Dynamics 365 and querying to retrieve data from Dynamic 365 through a synchronous call.

Outbound (Event Driven Approach): Dynamics 365 supplies new or changed data to the Integration Platform using Event Driven approach.

Common Approaches to Dynamics 365 Integration

Here are few of the most commonly used approaches to integrate Dynamics 365 with other Microsoft as well as3rd party applications.

API Enable Integration

Dynamics 365 comes with modern, RESTful web service which provides a way to interact with data and objects in the application. The Web API implements the OData (Open Data Protocol) v4. OData is an OASIS standard for building and consuming RESTful APIs over rich data sources.

Service Root URL to expose Web API: Service Root URL :[Organisation Name]/api/data/v9.1/

Dynamics 365 Web API allows you to do various operations and presents them in RESTful style. Some major operations performed using Web API are:

Create, Retrieve, Update and Delete Entity using Web API
Querying Data using Web API
Execute Batch Operation and Conditional Operation using Web API

Sometimes, business users don’t want to share original URL and access credentials of Dynamic 365 APIs to integrate third party applications. You can hide all the address and credentials behind an API using Azure API Management (APIM). This configuration will act as a broker and provide access between your Dynamic 365 and third party applications.

Event Framework Enable Integration (Event-Driven & Webhook)

Event Framework provides the capability to register custom code to be run in response to specific events. Dynamics 365 event processing subsystem executes plug-ins based on a message pipeline execution model.

Plugins can be triggered by:

A user action in the Dynamics 365 user interface
Events triggered by the Organization Service or the Web API

Another option is to use webhooks.

Webhook (Lightweight HTTP pattern) – also called a web callback or HTTP push API – is a way to provide real-time information to the apps for Dynamics 365 to send out data to an HTTP endpoint whenever an event occurs.

Tools Enabled Integration

Leading integration platforms ( like Azure Integration Services, Dell Boomi etc) provide on-demand multi-tenant cloud/ on-premises integration services, that enables integration with Dynamics 365 . These tools enable other applications to connect with Dynamic 365 without the need of writing code.

Azure Integration Services provides prebuilt set of connectors to implement integration, automate workflow and make communication between Dynamics 365 and other application. Connector provide standard operations to –

Get (query) records
Create new records
Delete records
Update records
List records
Get a notification when any record is created in Dynamics 365
Get a notification when any record is updated in Dynamics 365
Get a notification when any record is deleted in Dynamics 365

Business Benefits of Integration:

Businesses are using Dynamic 365 and various third party applications that addresses various business processes and functions. System Integration helps business to optimise and streamline business processes and reduce costs.
Integration reduces manual efforts involved in maintaining and updating data and transactions in both systems.
Integration provides companies with a holistic view of customer interaction, right from prospect creation to sales and support.
Integration helps you to develop automated workflows across applications and avoid repetitive business process execution.