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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Synchronizing External...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Synchronizing External Data

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Posted on by Community Member

Hello Community,

I am reading the following article:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/developer/use-change-tracking-synchronize-data-external-systems

However, I am confused here as it seems that you have to resort to a plugin of some sort to enable this.  Is that correct?  It doesn't seem to reference any sort of UI, which -- as I have been learning via my foray through the new PowerApps integration -- is extensive.  This seems like such an obvious and common scenario that there should be built-in support for this, rather than having to build a plug-in and resorting to custom code.  Any guidance, clarification, and/or assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Michael

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  • Verified answer
    Michel van den Brink Profile Picture
    Michel van den Brink 4,697 on at
    RE: Synchronizing External Data

    Hello,

    The article you are referring to is indeed more towards creating a custom synchronization solution.

    What kind of synchronization scenario are you looking for?

    There are various tools available from both Microsoft and third-parties.

    For out-of-the-box integrations you will be able to use Microsoft Flow and PowerApps (both included in your Dynamics 365 subscription). Dynamics doesn't have an integration feature of it's own, because Microsoft Flow and PowerApps are in the same family of business apps and work together seamlessly.

  • Verified answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: Synchronizing External Data

    Thanks Michel... I did look into PowerApps and Flow.  PowerApps actually has an area for "integration projects" but it is not clear how they are used, as there is nothing obvious in the UI that enables their use.  Unfortunately, Flow has poor math and its Office 365 plan does not even support a recurring trigger that is set to the plan's max flow frequency of five minutes, resulting in the operation of a single flow for only 7 days of the month, or ~23% uptime.  This is a terrible setup IMO.

    The data integration scenario that I am looking to accomplish is simply taking data found at external public APIs and sending them into my CDS by way of upserts.  The data integration packages that it offers are really close, but I do not see a way to execute them at all, and even if I did, I do not think upserts are possible via Power Query.

    The solution that I have ended up at is to use an Azure Function on a timer interval that will pull all the data necessary from CDS to make calls to all known APIs, and then send that data back into CDS via the OrganizationService provided by the new Dynamics partnership.  I am hoping to make use of the Upsert functionality found there.

    We'll see how it goes. :p

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