What is the difference between DMF and ER?

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Posted on by D365FO user

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1. So what are the advantages of using DMF or ER?

2. So in DMF, we build entities, and then export, and if sth gets wrong, everything is broken.. is this the same in ER? or is it better? and is there execution log like DMF?

3. I also noticed in ER there is data model them we map this data model to database tables and then do the format, or use an existing data model from LCS and maybe modify it add extra fields or data sources that u need. But how do i build the data model? i mean when u build that data entity i say for example i want custinvoicejour and inside it maybe custTable and sales table. But how do i do this in data model, how do i know what to put in as a root source and what to put exactly?

4. if i want to send multiple business documets to a customer, i should use a third party to customize what should be sent to this customer or that customer, or can i do that in AX?

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Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi D365FO user,

Here some comments:

No 1:

DMF is made for standard imports and exports into D365FO that leverage the data entities.

If there is no entity available you can either ask a developer to build it for you or alternatively use ER.

Doing that in ER is not as easy as it sounds especially if you have never done that before because you need to know tables, relationships, methods, etc.

If this is no problem for you then ER might be an alternative to developing a new entity.

No 2:

I don't understand this question. How can you import something that is wrong and break things?

Do you have an example?

No 3:

That's the hard part.

What is it that you want to do? Import customer invoices or export them?

No 4:

Well, you can put all the documents to sharepoint and then use flow to group and summarize the documents before they are send out.

I put an example here that demonstrates how that works: dynamicsax-fico.com/.../

Best regards,

Ludwig

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Alireza Eshaghzadeh 14,679 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi D365FO user,

I see that Ludwdig has already addressed the questions, I have just provided the comment as addition and I hope that I helps you to understand better,

1- In DMF you can export and import data I D365FO (Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations) via standard entities that exist I solution. ER you can use for import data (e.g. bank statement, customer and vendor payment) and export (e.g Report I Excel and E-invoice) which needs developer to build the configuration.

2- On D365FO Workspace > data management > Data entities you can find standard entities. If you need to create a customized entity, developed should build it where it need release to update the solution with this customized entity. In ER, you do not need a release to deploy a configuration. It just need to be installed in the D365FO.

3- You can install standard ER config from LCS via On D365FO Workspace > Electronics reporting > Configuration provider (Microsoft) > LCS > Open. To build data model, you can either reuse the model if Microsoft already has released a config or create a model mapping on Electronics reporting by creating configuration where you need a developer.

4- You can do it in D365FO. You can use SharePoint.

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D365FO user 465 on at

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Hi Ludwig and Alireza,

Based on ur answers:

1. So the only difference is DMF needs a developer and ER doesn't? I mean there is no other advantages like performance or speed? Does it seem like ER is time consuming?

2. I mean in DMF when you for example export like 100 invoices, if one of them is broken, it might cause the whole file to be broken and u have to try and export the 100 invocies again. Is this the same case in ER and is there an execution log to see what failed?

3. I want to export invoices, so i don't know where to start, but i tried adding an existing model from LCS maybe called peppel sales invoices but when u click on it u can't see the data model, however if u create a new model you'll be able to see the data model.

In data entities i made it by creating a composite entity that contains SalesInvoiceHeaderV2 and salesInvoiceLineV2 and added other data sources.

So how i'm going to do that in ER? how to see exisitng standard model and what do if i want to add datasources to it. Or what if i want to create one from scratch from where should i start?

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Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

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Good morning D365FO user,

Here some additional comments:

For No 1 a:

I would say DMF does not need a developer.

ER does neither.

But both need experienced 'super' users.

For No 1 b:

My personal feeling is that ER is faster when I compare it in my demo machine with DMF.

But I don't have any data to prove that.

For No 2:

Here DMF and ER are similar in my opinion.

In DMF you have a log and you can enable a trace log for the ER as well.

Irrespective of that, you will have to make sure that your underlying data are ok before importing/processing them.

For No 3:

Why do you want to export invoices?

What do you want to do with the exported data?

Best regards,

Ludwig

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nmaenpaa 101,160 Moderator on at

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Based on your recent questions you already spent a lot of time trying to create composite entity for exporting invoices.

As you know, you can export invoices (header and lines separately) without any developer.

I think that your approach of using data entities is a good one for you, but perhaps you need to spend a bit more time in designing it in a way that doesn't require complex and time consuming dev effort from you.

Anyway, this is a bit off topic. But if you need support in designing invoice export in best possible way, perhaps you can post a new question about that.

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Rahul Mohta 21,032 on at

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ER would have lots of pros for low volume and configurable / flexible way of extracting data

DM has lots of pros for structured , large volume data and could also use for integrations

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D365FO user 465 on at

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Hi Ludwig and Nikolas,

i will reply to u both in different paragraphs.

--Ludwig

i do agree it needs super users, it took me alot of time to understand DMF and now i feel lost using ER.

Based on ur answers:

1. So i wanted to test the speed and compare with DMF, but i have a question, if i multi select all invoice journals and click send then it will generate each file separately in the "Electronic Reporting jobs" Can't i put all of them in one file? just like DMF?

3. I want to send these invoices to a customer, so i might want to send all invoices for different customers in one file, or i might want to send everything in one file except for two customers where i want there files to be alone. (it depends on the requirement) So if i want to do it in ER how can i do it? as i mentioned using DMF i used composite entity that contains salesInvoiceHeaderV2 and salesInvoiceLineV2. If i want to do sth similar in ER what should i do?

--Nikolas,

Yeah i did spend alot of time in DMF, but when i heard about ER, i wanted to try if it would be faster.

So what i'm thinking about DMF, if let's say i'm exporting 100,000 invoices and this takes let's say 12 hours. Now Imagine if the entity broke at 99,000. I think the only solution would be to re-try again and wait for other 12 hours. Is there a solution to this using DMF? Would ER have a solution to this? or would ER be faster, or is ER easier in tracing?

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Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi D365FO user,

For No 1:

If you want to export invoices then I would expect that all of your invoices are created as separate files.

However, this completely depends on the way how ER is setup.

You can compress things in zip files if you like.

Please have a look at the sepa payment files/ER where you can find such a setup.

For No 3:

If you plan to combine different invoice documents that you send to the same customer in a single email then you will need the PowerPlatform for that purpose. This cannot be achieved in ER out of the box.

In general, I would not expect ER being much faster when you want to export 100000 invoices. ER also makes use of batch processing for those large volume exports and if you use the same batch servers then there should not be a large time difference between the DMF and ER export.

Tipp:

Can't you export your invoices in tranches? E.g. Invoice 1-10000, invoice 10001-20000, etc.?

The advantage of doing that is that the exports run shorter and that you can identify problems quicker irrespective of whether you use ER or DMF.

Best regards,

Ludwig

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D365FO user 465 on at

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Hi Ludwig,

1. Can you please explain more how can i click multiple invoices (Ex.5) and when sending them i'll only find one record in "Electronic Reporting jobs" instead of 5?

what is this setup?

2. How can i export them in tranches?

3. In DMF, i export entity by code(batch process), and i generate about 30 files in one batch job (each containing different number of invoices (but total number of invoices in all files is more than 500)) and this batch takes about 4 min
while in ER i export about 65 files each containing one invoice and they take about 9 minutes.

But i'm not sure if this is a fare comparison because if export the entity without code but using dmf , then i think each file will take the same as ER. Am i right? that's why i'm asking how can i generate all in one file and see how long it takes?
and clicking send is not considered batch process so how to make it batch process?

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Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi D365FO user,

In this related thread, I shared you a link where you can batch process (post and print) invoices.

community.dynamics.com/.../1068103

If you post and print your invoices that way in the first place then the electronic invoices will be generated either in the ER job form in the OrgAdmin module or on SharePoint.

Best regards,

Ludwig

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