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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Finance | Project Operations, Human Resources, ... / Benefit of Connectivit...
Finance | Project Operations, Human Resources, ...
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Benefit of Connectivity studio over standard DMF

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Posted on by Dev 390
Hi,
 
I wanted to know what are the benefits of using connectivity studio for data migration and integration over standard DMF especially for flat file import.
 
Thanks!
  • Verified answer
    André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture
    André Arnaud de Cal... 291,661 Super User 2024 Season 2 on at
    Benefit of Connectivity studio over standard DMF
    Hi Dev,
     
    You can use data entities for the target mapping, but you can also use tables, updateable views, or a combination of these. You don't need additional data entity development as you can map the target using tables and fields directly.
    You can find some videos for this solution on this page: business integration solutions - To-Increase.
  • Dev Profile Picture
    Dev 390 on at
    Benefit of Connectivity studio over standard DMF
    Hi Andre,
     
    For example we have a flat file which is not supported in DMF and I have some data for item can we directly map that to standard data entity and if required we need to create a customized data entity using development in F&O and map that to file somewhere in the CS project. In short do we utilize the existing entities in CS .
    It is mentioned as a no code tool so if we have a file that has some data that is not existing in F&O how do we customize that and also are we mapping the file directly to the target table and not the staging table here. Do we have any demo where we can see a scenario for better understanding.

    Thanks!
  • Suggested answer
    André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture
    André Arnaud de Cal... 291,661 Super User 2024 Season 2 on at
    Benefit of Connectivity studio over standard DMF
    Hi Dev,
     
    The blog shared by Judy has a good overview of some differences between Connectivity Studio (CS) and standard DMF. I worked at To-Increase until the end of last year, where I had this product also in my portfolio for some time. If you have specific follow-up questions, please ask them.
     
    Next to what is mentioned in the blog, there were different use cases where clients got stuck with the standard DMF. DMF requires the data to be in a specific format. With CS, you can map any source document to its own configured target document in CS. You can set up transformations, and conditional mappings. Where DMF requires the use of multiple data entities to import e.g. released products with default order settings or customers with multiple delivery addresses, in CS, you can map the details of one source file directly with all target tables.
    You can also split larger files with CS to divide the workload during import. 
    When you combine CS with other solutions from To-Increase, like Data Quality Studio or Data Entry Workflow, you can check for data quality by configuring your own rules and assigning imported data to be reviewed or completed by a user in a workflow.
    With CS, you can also directly integrate with web services and have more options as connectors for your data source, like an on-premise ODBC driver via Azure Service Bus or message queue.
     
    In case you are stuck with standard DMF for several scenarios, you might need to consider customizations or buy a subscription for this ISV solution that will be maintained, keeping the functionality compatible with future releases. 
    If your requirement can be solved with a simple customization, the CS solution might be too heavy for you.
     
  • Verified answer
    Judy Profile Picture
    Judy Microsoft Employee on at
    Benefit of Connectivity studio over standard DMF
    Hi,
     

    Connectivity Studio is an application integration, data mapping, and data migration platform. Simply by configuration and without any coding, you can use the solution to set up and manage integrations between Microsoft Dynamics, your business systems, and other applications.

    The Data Management Framework (DMF) within the Microsoft Dynamics ERP offers the functionality to validate the data coming in and carry out the mapping between the file and the database. However, since Microsoft delivers around 1500 data entities, finding the right data entity corresponding to the data entity in other systems you need to transfer to, can become difficult and sometimes even impossible with the standard entities in DMF.

    If you need to customize data entities in DMF, you need to hire developers. On the other hand, Connectivity Studio is an enterprise-ready solution that allows you to add data selections (tables, views, entities) simply by configuration. You can integrate any application using any fields and tables with Dynamics 365 using our solution. Using our integration engine, you can pick data fields within forms and simplify your integration.

    We see our customers across industries changing data entities or using completely new data entities. With Connectivity Studio, without any development, just by configuration, you can map data during integrations to ensure the correct tables are mapped to the corresponding tables in the other system that you are integrating with. In DMF, you need to migrate the entire data entity and you cannot map it to the corresponding table in another system if the data entity is different.

    Connectivity Studio uses tables and views to import and export data. Connectivity studio is a flexible solution that allows you to use a mix of tables, views, and entities for the same integration. Additionally, you might have multiple data scenarios to manage during an integration. With Connectivity Studio, you can set up constants, defaults, conversions, and transformations to ensure smooth integration and data synchronization between business systems. This kind of advanced data manipulation cannot be done using the current Data Management Framework within Microsoft Dynamics 365.

     
    The reference Document:
     
    Best Regards,
    Judy

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