Why Azure Synapse Link for Dataverse improved the Dynamics 365 data analysis story

As expected, many exciting announcements came out during Microsoft Build 2021. The announcement that caught my attention most was the preview releaseof Azure Synapse Link for Dataverse. This service will allow simple configuration to continuously export your Dataverse data and metadata to your own data lake.

In conversations with others in the Dynamics 365 CRM/CE community, some have mentioned that this functionality feels like a rebrand of the ‘Export to Data Lake’ functionality that has been available for quite a while now, and I partially agree. 

The capabilities announced at this year’s Build add another extremely beneficial layer on top of the previous functionality: the automatic linking of the configured storage account with Azure Synapse Analytics and the creation of T-SQL views in the Serverless endpoint that queries from the data lake. This additional layer greatly simplifies the process of accessing your data to create a Logical Data Warehouse through writing additional SQL Views or through other Azure services including Azure Machine Learning and Azure Cognitive Services.

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