Business Monitor is an add-on for Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (F&O). It provides a framework to implement and configure integrations with more flexibility. All integrations can be reviewed and managed from one central workspace in F&O.
Limitations of the F&O data management framework
In virtually all Dynamics implementations, there is a need to integrate with other applications, whether it be legacy applications, purpose-built applications, or external APIs. The data management framework in F&O, together with Azure Logic Apps, can fulfill a significant part of most integration requirements.
However, there are some integration scenarios where the implementation with the aforementioned tools could result in a highly complex and costly Logic App orchestration. Take, for example, an EDI message with one-to-many or many-to-many entity relationships. When there are many F&O data entities involved, the Logic App workflow can become very extensive with many actions. With many actions involved, the operational costs of the integration increase because of Logic App’s pay-per-use pricing model.
In terms of logging capabilities for service-based messages, the F&O data management framework has its limitations. Nowadays, most enterprise integrations are service-to-service communications. Inbound messages that are received by an OData service are not logged in F&O. In case an error occurs during processing of an inbound message, the error is returned to the service consumer and not logged in F&O. Because inbound and outbound service-based messages are not logged, the messages cannot be reprocessed or regenerated from F&O.
How Business Monitor complements F&O
Business Monitor for F&O fulfills these gaps. It provides a framework to implement integrations with more flexibility by processing inbound messages with an F&O handler class instead of a Logic App workflow. The handler class provides flexibility by allowing the developer to reuse existing data entities, write custom code or implement a combination of both. All inbound and outbound messages configured in Business Monitor can be reviewed and managed from one central workspace in F&O. With the Business Monitor message history, an administrator can view the message content and associated processing exceptions and he can resubmit messages from the logs. The images below show what this looks like when using the system.
Message history – grid view
Message history – view exceptions
Message history – view message
Framework assumptions
- Inbound/outbound message data is logged in custom F&O staging tables.
- The message itself is logged in a generic F&O message history table.
- Data is imported into F&O by means of data entities (OData) or custom service (REST endpoint).
- Data is exported from F&O by means of business events and, optionally, by data entities.
- Each message is defined as an interface in Business Monitor. Each interface has an interface handler class that contains business logic to process/create the associated staging table data.
Key features
- Retrieve and save messages to Business Monitor staging table data entities using Logic App or send JSON messages directly to Business Monitor’s inbound message service (REST endpoint).
- Extensive logging capabilities.
- Reuse existing data entities or write custom code in interface handler classes.
- Synchronous & asynchronous message processing.
- Resubmit messages from the logs.
Benefits
- One service call to Business Monitor’s inbound message service (deployed on F&O REST endpoint) performs better than multiple OData calls to F&O data entities.
- One single F&O message handler class for each interface message, as opposed to complex orchestrations/workflows to invoke multiple F&O data entities from an external application.
- Improve stability and flexibility with interface handler classes:
- Middleware layer handles message transportation only; all validations and business logic are executed within F&O.
- Minimal development effort: reuse existing data entities if possible.
- Maximum flexibility: combine data entities with custom code fragments or write entirely custom code.
To conclude, Business Monitor provides more flexibility to your business when implementing and configuring integrations. As this add-on has been developed by Kaya, we can advise you about the use of the solution. If you are interested, do not hesitate to contact us.