Dynamics Community Forum Thread Details

Business Central Integration with Dataverse & Contact Table as Customer

I'm working on migrating to Business Central but one of the key factors is the ability to have customer data integrate so well for invoicing and avoiding the headache of double-entry. OOB, it seems that the Dataverse Sync easily syncs Accounts from Dataverse (CRM/Sales) to Business Central as Customers but Contacts it does not. In our business, 90% of our customers are individuals and not businesses so we need the Contact Table in Dataverse to have as much functionality with the Customer table in Business Central as the Account Table does OOB. I tried adding another table to the sync but it seems since "Customer" from BC is already committed to syncing with "Account" from Dataverse that it is not an option and I can see why.

How can I make Dataverse Contacts and Accounts (which are all customers) sync with Business Central as customers?

Categories:

Dynamics 365 general

Hi there! Good morning, evening, or afternoon - depending on where you are :) Hope you are well today! I see you posted this a while ago - hoping you have resolved by now but incase not, here are a few thoughts:

The out-of-the-box (OOB) integration between Business Central (BC) and Dataverse does indeed prioritize syncing Accounts from Dataverse to BC as Customers, which can be limiting for businesses like yours where most customers are individuals (Contacts). However, there are ways to customize the integration to meet your needs. Here's how you can approach this:
1. Customize the Integration Table Mappings

By default, the Customer table in BC is mapped to the Account table in Dataverse. To include Contacts, you can create a custom integration mapping:
- Navigate to Integration Table Mappings in BC.
- Add a new mapping for the Contact table in Dataverse to the Customer table in BC.
- Ensure that the field mappings align with your data structure (e.g., map Contact Name to Customer Name).

2. Use Virtual Tables for Contacts

Leverage Dataverse Virtual Tables to expose the Contact table in Dataverse as a virtual table in BC.
- This allows you to interact with Contact data in BC without duplicating it.
- Virtual tables support CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations, so you can manage Contacts as Customers seamlessly.

3. Implement a Custom AL Extension

Develop an AL extension in BC to handle the synchronization of Contacts as Customers:
- Create a custom table in BC to store Contact data.
- Write AL code to synchronize data between the Contact table in Dataverse and the custom table in BC.
- Use events and triggers to ensure real-time updates.

4. Use Power Automate for Data Sync

Set up a Power Automate flow to synchronize Contacts from Dataverse to BC:
- Trigger the flow when a new Contact is created or updated in Dataverse.
- Use the BC API to create or update the corresponding Customer record in BC.
- This approach provides flexibility and avoids modifying the default integration.

5. Consider a Hybrid Approach

If both Accounts and Contacts need to sync as Customers, you can:
- Use the default OOB integration for Accounts.
- Implement a custom solution (e.g., Power Automate or AL extension) for Contacts.
- Ensure that duplicate detection is enabled to avoid conflicts.

6. Test in a Sandbox Environment