Introduction

Microsoft Dynamics 365 has the following integration options:

  • FastStats: You can run the Microsoft Dynamics wizard in FastStats to upload data to Microsoft Dynamics 365

  • Designer: You can download the data of any table in Dynamics 365 for analysis in FastStats

  • PeopleStage: Using PeopleStage, you can define and implement marketing process flow diagrams that react to the responses you receive from Dynamics 365

Note: Apteco approves this integration with Dynamics 365. Use of the Apteco software in combination with Dynamics 365 through this integration doesn’t affect the intellectual property rights indemnity provided in the Apteco software ‘End User Licence Agreement’.

Before you begin

Note: This guide assumes you have the relevant Apteco software system administration experience to perform this task, particularly with the FastStats Designer and the areas of the Apteco software that relate to creating selections. If you do not, contact your Apteco partner or the Apteco support team. You need to have the appropriate system and SQL Server administrator permissions to install the relevant components successfully. Additionally, you will need to have access to the Dynamics 365 web-based control panel using an Administrator Account.

Useful to have before you start:

  • Dynamics 365 entity name: Entities are used to model and manage business data in Dynamics 365, decide on a table name for example: FastStats Prospects

  • Understanding your data model: Plan what data you need to upload and make a note of the data types and field lengths.

  • The Designer.zip available from: apteco.com/portal/software-releases

  • The CRM instance URL, username and password for your Dynamics 365 control panel

Note: This guide is not intended as a full manual on setting up your requirements in Dynamics 365 please refer to the Dynamics 365 help or contact Microsoft for more information.

Architecture

The following diagram describes a typical process to upload data from FastStats to Dynamics 365, and extract data back to Designer.

  1. An upsert (insert/update) is initialised through the FastStats Web Service using FastStats, which inserts a job into the Web Service Control database (WS_DB).

  2. The FastStats Service picks this job up, uploads the list of data to Dynamics 365 via SOAP communication using the Dynamics 365 Discovery web service.

  3. The FastStats Service continues to poll the Discovery Web Service to ensure that the data has been uploaded successfully.

  4. Data can be manipulated further using the Dynamics 365 web interface.

  5. Changes to Dynamics 365 data can be downloaded by FastStats Designer by pulling back the appropriate tables list.

Discovery Web Service

A single Dynamics 365 Server can host multiple business organizations. By using the Discovery web service, your application can determine the endpoint address URL to access the target organization's business data. The Discovery service is accessed via the SOAP Organization service.

See Custom tables in Dynamics 365.