12 Benefits of To-Increase's Integration Solution for D365 F&SCM

Data created, copied, distributed, and consumed is growing at a rapid pace. According to Statista, the total amount of data created globally reached 64.2 zettabytes in 2020 and is forecasted to reach 147 zettabytes in 2024. Additionally, the number of applications and business systems used by organizations is also growing at an alarming pace. According to another report by Statista, the revenue in the enterprise software segment worldwide is projected to reach US$237.10bn in 2022. So, if enterprises are spending on software, they also need to look at an integration platform to connect their system and avoid data silos. 

Evaluating integration solutions is not easy as not all integrations are the same; some integrations require technical expertise or more flexible solutions. As we have built a solution for application integration—Connectivity Studio for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management (D365 F&SCM), we understand customer pain points around integrations. We upgraded our integration solution with a performance monitoring feature that allows our customers to track the health of their configured integrations. 

In this article, we share the top 12 advantages of our integration engine and performance monitoring application that can help you integrate your application landscape and also help you with data migration. 

Benefits of Connectivity Studio for D365 F&SCM 

1) Embedded integration solution 

Our application integration solution is built using the same business logic and code as Dynamics 365 and offers the same familiar user experience as the Dynamics 365 environment. It can be accessed from the dashboard once you log into D365 ERP. Using Connectivity Studio, you can transfer data seamlessly in and out of the ERP, and any incoming data can be validated in the Dynamics 365 database. 

What makes us stand out from the competition is that while other solutions need to be integrated with the D365 ERP, our solutions are embedded in D365, so even implementation is easier and the user- experience is familiar.  

Related reading:  How Well Are To-Increase’s EDI and Integration Solutions Integrated with Microsoft D365? 

2) Easy-to-use, configuration-based solutions 

Since our solutions are embedded in D365 ERP, they offer the same user experience that our customers are already familiar with, so the learning curve is quicker and flatter. Our solutions have in-built tutorials, so it is easier for our customers to get started with the solution after the initial training. Also, since our solution has been built keeping business users in mind, it allows you to add integrations by simple configuration, so no coding skills are needed to configure new integrations or monitor your integrations with the Connectivity Monitor application.   

3) Works with Microsoft upgrades 

Before Microsoft updates their ERP, we receive the updates two weeks in advance, giving us enough time to test and work on our solutions, if needed. Even if Microsoft adds or updates a functionality, our solutions will work without any coding at your end.  

4) Flexible  

Mapping during integration using Microsoft’s current data entities as is with different systems and applications is difficult unless you use a solution like Connectivity Studio or start development. Since our solution allows our customers to use any table, view, and data entities, or a combination to configure integrations in D365 F&SCM, you can easily map and customize fields to manage your integrations and are not limited to using the existing data entities within the Data Management Framework in Dynamics 365. 

5) Synchronize data quickly 

Connectivity Studio leverages the existing functionality in Dynamics 365 to transfer data in and out of the D365 database. Using our application integration engine, you can split files during extract and load to utilize each batch server available on D365. This will drastically improve the processing time of the integrated records and data synchronization.  

6) Data management for multiple scenarios 

Using Connectivity Studio, you can segregate, migrate, and synchronize data and manage multiple scenarios. With Dynamic 365, you can maintain different ledger accounts separately, also known as companies, into one system. Segregating this data can be difficult during an integration. So, if you want to use Connectivity Studio to migrate data, you can import data into multiple companies simultaneously while using a mapping specific to each company.  

During an integration with business systems such as the CRM for example, it is possible that data fields in different systems are identified differently. Using D365 ERP, you cannot map integrations unless the field names are the same but using our integration platform you can customize this. For each field mapping, you can set up constants, defaults, conversions, and transformations to ensure smooth integration and data synchronization between several business systems.  

7) Options of connectors and document formats 

With Connectivity Studio, you can configure technical integration by using any of the following connectors - the web services, file system (folders), SharePoint, SFTP, email, D365 F&O/F&SCM database, or data connection with ODBC. 

Additionally, Connectivity Studio supports and can read files of several document formats, including Microsoft Excel, Delimiter-based (CSV), JSON, flat file, Microsoft Word, EDI, fixed text, ODBC, and XML file (with XSD or XSLT). And custom formats can be used as well. 

8) Automated synchronization of data 

After the initial implementation, you can set up an integration and re-use to automate integrations quickly. Connectivity Studio also offers a rich transformation library to help you with automation. After that, whenever anyone in your team updates the integration, in case of any changes, an event log can be applied for each connection. Once this has been done, the database triggers will detect insertions, deletions, and updates, if any, and only the changes in data will be synchronized. 

9) Real-time insights on integrations 

The Connectivity Monitor application built on the Dataverse leveraging the Power Platforms and offered as a feature within Connectivity Studio, draws out real-time insights on its dashboard on all your integrations in real-time. The app makes it easy for you to track the health of your integrations on the move, as it can be accessed on both mobile phones and tablets. You can track slow-performing integrations, integration errors, peak message flow times during the day, the number of records with errors, and many more such metrics through the application. These metrics will help you gauge the health of your integrations and help you ensure that you can optimize slow and lagging integrations proactively rather than reactively when an integration fails.  

10) Act quickly in case of integration errors  

The Connectivity Monitor app displays when there is an integration failure, if any, across your ‘Companies’ and ‘Applications’ involved in the dashboard. It is also easy to compartmentalize errors by Project, Application, Company, etc. You can use the actionable message log feature to track the URL of the issue and find a resolution quickly. Additionally, you can set up notifications for such events on Teams so that the respective team member can automatically be notified in case of an integration failure or error message.   

11) Extend to other applications 

If you need a solution for electronic data interchange or master data management, both these solutions are built on our integration engine Connectivity Studio as a base and easily integrate and leverage the capabilities of our integration solution. Additionally, the Connectivity Monitor app can track EDI and MDM messages with various vendors or across various legal entities. If you decide to implement our MDM Studio and EDI Studio solutions, you could track your integrations and MDM and EDI messages all in one place using the Connectivity Monitor app.  

12) Cost-effective solutions 

Currently, Connectivity Studio is priced based on the number of legal entities in Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SCM, which works out to be cost-effective. So, you can have as many integrations as needed to connect your ERP and application landscape without worrying about the cost of each integration.  

Are you ready to explore our integration solution for D365? 

In this article, we have shared 12 reasons why you should consider our integration solution for Dynamics 365 F&SCM. If you are looking for an integration solution for Dynamics 365 that supports a variety of formats, is flexible to use, and can monitor integration performance then you can explore Connectivity Studio.  

Our integration solution can help you scale and integrate your entire application landscape, including complicated integrations, for example, integrating an on-premises system with a cloud application.  

Additionally, it can also be used for data migration! So, if you need to move your data from an older ERP version, such as AX 2012 to Dynamics 365, our solution can help you with such projects too. 

Download our Connectivity Studio factsheet to learn more about all the features of our integration engine. And then, if you would like to schedule a demo, you can do that by filling in the form using the link below.