Following our unified data architecture implementation using Databricks Unity Catalog, the next step focuses on understanding the advantages and future potential of this Lakehouse-driven ecosystem. The architecture consolidates data from multiple business systems and transforms it into an AI-powered data foundation that will support advanced analytics, automation, and conversational insights. Key Advantages Centralized Governance:Unity Catalog provides complete visibility into data lineage, security, and schema control — eliminating silos. Dynamic and Scalable Data Loading:A single Databricks notebook can dynamically load and transform data from multiple systems, simplifying maintenance. Enhanced Collaboration:Teams across domains can access shared data securely while maintaining compliance and data accuracy. Improved BI and Reporting:More than 30 Power BI reports are being migrated to the Gold layer for unified reporting. AI & Automation Ready:The architecture supports seamless integration with GenAI tools like Genie for natural language Q&A and predictive insights. Future Aspects In the next phase, we aim to:– Integrate Genie for conversational analytics.– Enable real-time insights through streaming pipelines.– Extend the Lakehouse to additional business sources.– Automate AI-based report generation and anomaly detection. For example, business users will soon be able to ask questions like:“How many hours did a specific resource submit in CRM time entries last week?”Databricks will process this query dynamically, returning instant, AI-driven insights. To conclude, the unified Databricks architecture is more than a data pipeline — it’s the foundation for AI-powered decision-making. By merging governance, automation, and intelligence, CloudFronts is building the next generation of data-first, AI-ready enterprise solutions.

At CloudFronts Technologies, we are implementing a Unified Data Architecture powered by Databricks Unity Catalog to bring together data from multiple business systems into one governed, AI-ready platform. This solution integrates five major systems — Zoho People, Zoho Books, Business Central, Dynamics 365 CRM, and QuickBooks — using Azure Logic Apps, Blob Storage, and Databricks to build a centralized Lakehouse foundation. Objective To design a multi-source data architecture that supports:– Centralized data storage via Unity Catalog.– Automated ingestion through Azure Logic Apps.– Dynamic data loading and transformation in Databricks.– Future-ready integration for AI and BI analytics. Architecture Overview Data Flow Summary:1. Azure Logic Apps extract data from each of the five sources via APIs.2. Data is stored in Azure Blob Storage containers.3. Blob containers are mounted to Databricks for unified access.4. A dynamic Databricks notebook reads and processes data from all sources. Each data source operates independently while following a governed and modular design, making the solution scalable and easily maintainable. Role of Unity Catalog Unity Catalog enables lineage, and secure access across teams. Each layer — Bronze (raw), Silver (refined), and Gold (business-ready) — is managed under Unity Catalog, ensuring clear visibility into data flow and ownership. This ensures that as data grows, governance and performance remain consistent across all environments. Implementation Preview:In the upcoming blog, I will demonstrate the end-to-end implementation of one Power BI report using this unified Databricks architecture. This will include connecting the gold layer dataset from Databricks to Power BI, building dynamic visuals, and showcasing how the unified data foundation simplifies report creation and maintenance across multiple systems. To conclude, this architecture lays the foundation for a unified, governed, and scalable data ecosystem. By combining Azure Logic Apps, Blob Storage, and Databricks Unity Catalog, we are enabling a single source of truth that supports analytics, automation, and future AI innovations.

We are delighted to announce that the largest US-based manufacturer of Fire-Rated and Architectural steel windows, Optimum Windows is partnering with CloudFronts for Managed Services Agreement (MSA) renewal.  Optimum Window, established in 1985, is a family-owned business based out of Ellenville, in upstate NY. Since then, Optimum Window has become the largest and most diversified manufacturer of Fire-Rated and Architectural steel windows in the United States and has continued its growth with a series of custom high-tech metal window and door systems designed for commercial, high-end residential & landmark applications. Learn more about Optimum Window at https://optimumwindow.com/   Optimum Window’s partnership with CloudFronts began with the implementation of a CRM system with custom enhancements that automates their end-to-end sales & order processes.  Under this MSA, CloudFronts will provide support & maintenance services for the system based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales.  About CloudFronts  CloudFronts is a global AI- First Microsoft Solutions & Databricks Partner for Business Applications, Data & AI, helping teams and organizations worldwide solve their complex business challenges with Microsoft Cloud, AI, and Azure Integration Services. We have a global presence with offices in U.S, Singapore & India.    Since its inception in 2012, CloudFronts has successfully served over 200+ small and medium-sized clients all over the world, such as North America, Europe, Australia, MENA, Maldives & India, with diverse experiences in sectors ranging from Professional Services, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Retail, Logistics/SCM, and Non-profits.     Please feel free to connect with us at transform@cloudfronts.com 

Azure Databricks has become the go-to platform for data engineering and analytics, while Power BI remains the most powerful visualization tool in the Microsoft ecosystem. Connecting Databricks to Power BI bridges the gap between your data lakehouse and business users, enabling real-time insights from curated Delta tables. In this blog, we’ll walk through the process of securely connecting Power BI to Databricks, covering both DirectQuery and Import mode, and sharing best practices for performance and governance. Architecture Overview The connection involves:– Azure Databricks → Your compute and transformation layer.– Delta Tables → Your curated and query-optimized data.– Power BI Desktop / Service → Visualization and sharing platform. Flow:1. Databricks processes and stores curated data in Delta format.2. Power BI connects directly to Databricks using the built-in connector.3. Users consume dashboards that are either refreshed on schedule (Import) or query live (DirectQuery). Step 1: Get Connection Details from Databricks In your Azure Databricks workspace:1. Go to the Compute tab and open your cluster (or SQL Warehouse if using Databricks SQL).2. Click on ‘Advanced → JDBC/ODBC’ tab.3. Copy the Server Hostname and HTTP Path — you’ll need these for Power BI. For example:– Server Hostname: adb-1234567890123456.7.azuredatabricks.net– HTTP Path: /sql/1.0/endpoints/1234abcd5678efgh Step 2: Configure Databricks Personal Access Token (PAT) Power BI uses this token to authenticate securely.1. In Databricks, click your profile icon → User Settings → Developer → Access Tokens.2. Click Generate New Token, provide a name and expiration, and copy the token immediately. (You won’t be able to view it again.) Step 3: Connect from Power BI Desktop 1. Open Power BI Desktop.2. Go to Get Data → Azure → Azure Databricks.3. In the connection dialog:   – Server Hostname: paste from Step 1   – HTTP Path: paste from Step 14. Click OK, and when prompted for credentials:   – Select Azure Databricks Personal Access Token   – Enter your token in the Password field. You’ll now see the list of Databricks tables and databases available for import. To conclude, you’ve successfully connected Power BI to Azure Databricks, unlocking analytical capabilities over your Lakehouse. This setup provides flexibility to work in Import mode for speed or Direct Query mode for live data — all while maintaining enterprise security through Azure AD or Personal Access Tokens. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Delta Lake is a storage layer that brings reliability, consistency, and flexibility to big data lakes. It enables advanced features such as Time Travel, Schema Evolution, and ACID Transactions, which are crucial for modern data pipelines. Feature Benefit Time Travel Access historical data for auditing, recovery, or analysis. Schema Evolution Adapt automatically to changes in the data schema. ACID Transactions Guarantee reliable and consistent data with atomic upserts. 1. Time Travel Time Travel allows you to access historical versions of your data, making it possible to “go back in time” and query past snapshots of your dataset. Use Cases:– Recover accidentally deleted or updated data.– Audit and track changes over time.– Compare dataset versions for analytics. How it works:Delta Lake maintains a transaction log that records every change made to the table. You can query a previous version using either a timestamp or a version number. Example: 2. Schema Evolution Schema Evolution allows your Delta table to adapt automatically to changes in the data schema without breaking your pipelines. Use Cases:– Adding new columns to your dataset.– Adjusting to evolving business requirements.– Simplifying ETL pipelines when source data changes. How it works:When enabled, Delta automatically updates the table schema if the incoming data contains new columns. Example: 3. ACID Transactions (with Atomic Upsert) ACID Transactions (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) ensure that all data operations are reliable and consistent, even in the presence of concurrent reads and writes. Atomic Upsert guarantees that an update or insert operation happens fully or not at all. Key Benefits:– No partial updates — either all changes succeed or none.– Safe concurrent updates from multiple users or jobs.– Consistent data for reporting and analytics.– Atomic Upsert ensures data integrity during merges. Atomic Upsert Example (MERGE): Here:– whenMatchedUpdateAll() updates existing rows.– whenNotMatchedInsertAll() inserts new rows.– The operation is atomic — either all updates and inserts succeed together or none. To conclude, Delta Lake makes data pipelines modern, maintainable, and error-proof. By leveraging Time Travel, Schema Evolution, and ACID Transactions, you can build robust analytics and ETL workflows with confidence, ensuring reliability, consistency, and adaptability in your data lake operations. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

Integrating Dynamics 365 (D365) with external systems using Azure Logic Apps is one of the most common patterns for automation. But in real-world projects, things rarely go smoothly – API throttling, network timeouts, and unexpected data issues are everyday challenges. Without proper error handling and retry strategies, these issues can result in data mismatches, missed transactions, or broken integrations. In this blog, we’ll explore how to handle errors and implement retries in D365 Logic App integrations, ensuring your workflows are reliable, resilient, and production-ready. Core Content 1. Why Error Handling Matters in D365 Integrations Without handling these, your Logic App either fails silently or stops execution entirely, causing broken processes.  2. Built-in Retry Policies in Logic Apps What They Are:Every Logic App action comes with a retry policy that can be configured to automatically retry failed requests. Best Practice: 3. Handling Errors with Scopes and “Run After” Scopes in Logic Apps let you group actions and then define what happens if they succeed or fail. Steps: Example: 4. Designing Retry + Error Flow Together Recommended Pattern: This ensures no transaction is silently lost. 5. Handling Dead-lettering with Service Bus (Advanced) For high-volume integrations, you may need a dead-letter queue (DLQ) approach: This pattern prevents data loss while keeping integrations lightweight. 6. Monitoring & Observability Error handling isn’t complete without monitoring. Building resilient integrations between D365 and Logic Apps isn’t just about connecting APIs—it’s about ensuring reliability even when things go wrong. By configuring retry policies, using scopes for error handling, and adopting dead-lettering for advanced cases, you’ll drastically reduce downtime and data mismatches. Next time you design a D365 Logic App, don’t just think about the happy path. Build error handling and retry strategies from the start, and you’ll thank yourself later when your integration survives the unexpected. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

When developing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you spend a lot of time working in Visual Studio Code. To streamline productivity and keep projects well-organized, workspaces in Business Central AL play a critical role. In this blog, we’ll explore what workspaces are, why they matter, and how you can use them effectively in your AL development journey. What is a Workspace in Business Central AL? A workspace in Visual Studio Code is essentially a container that holds your project’s structure, settings, and configurations. In Business Central AL development, a workspace defines: In short, a workspace ensures that everything needed to build and deploy an extension is neatly bundled together. Benefits of Using Workspaces Creating and Managing Workspaces Tip: Save your workspace using File > Save Workspace As… so you can reopen it quickly in future. Example: Multi-root Workspace When working with multiple extensions in a workspace, handling dependencies used to mean installing each required app one by one. Now, the development environment can automatically look at the dependency graph in your workspace and publish the necessary projects along with the one you selected. This way, you can focus on building and testing without worrying about missing dependencies. Imagine you’re working with multiple extensions in your Business Central environment: From the diagram: Base App ALProject1 ALProject2 ALProject3 Adding Folder to Workspace. Saving Workspace. Creating a separate folder to store workspaces. Publishing Full Dependency. This allows you to debug, build, and manage all the extensions from a single VS Code instance. Best Practices for Workspaces To conclude, workspaces in Business Central AL are more than just folders — they are the foundation of your development environment. By structuring your projects with well-maintained workspaces, you ensure smoother collaboration, better organization, and efficient extension deployment. If you’re just starting with AL, experiment with single-project workspaces, and as you grow, explore multi-root setups to manage larger development scenarios. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com

For years, Microsoft Dynamics GP has been a reliable ERP system, helping businesses streamline financial operations, maintain compliance, and drive efficiency. It became a backbone for thousands of organizations, particularly mid-sized businesses that valued its stability and robustness. But the business landscape has changed dramatically. Markets move faster. Customer expectations are higher. And technology is no longer just a support function, it is the engine of growth, agility, and innovation. This is why the transition from Dynamics GP to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is not just another software upgrade. It is a strategic leap forward that determines how ready your business is for the next decade. The Real Question: Maintain or Evolve? Every business leader faces this decision at some point: continue maintaining what’s familiar or evolve into what’s next. GP offers stability, but that stability now comes with limitations, manual upgrades, server costs, and restricted scalability. For many companies, these challenges are becoming a bottleneck to innovation. On the other hand, Business Central offers agility. It’s a modern, cloud-first ERP that grows with your business, continuously innovates, and seamlessly integrates with the entire Microsoft ecosystem. In today’s world, standing still is the same as moving backward. The choice is simple: maintain what works or evolve toward what drives growth. What Businesses Gain with Business Central Always Up to Date No more manual upgrades or disruptive transitions. Business Central runs on the cloud with continuous updates and innovations at no additional cost. This means your team is always using the latest technology, features, and security enhancements without the burden of maintenance. Faster Decisions, Smarter Moves In an age where data drives competitive advantage, Business Central integrates seamlessly with Power BI and embedded analytics to deliver real-time insights. Leaders can act on facts, not assumptions, and empower their teams to make faster, data-driven decisions that move the business forward. Scalability Without Limits Growth brings complexity, new markets, entities, currencies, and compliance requirements. Business Central scales effortlessly to handle it all. Whether you are expanding into new geographies or diversifying your business model, the system grows with you, not against you. An Integrated Digital Workplace Business Central works hand in hand with Microsoft 365, Teams, Power Automate, and AI. The result is a truly connected workplace where data flows freely, collaboration improves, and manual processes give way to automation. This integration not only boosts productivity but also builds a culture of transparency and shared accountability. Cost Efficiency and Risk Reduction By eliminating on-premise IT infrastructure, you reduce overheads, lower downtime, and free up valuable resources to focus on innovation. With built-in security, compliance, and automated backups, your business becomes more resilient and future-proof. A Transformation Story At CloudFronts, we recently began working with a mid-sized client who had been running Dynamics GP for nearly three decades. GP had been the financial backbone of their operations and had served them well. However, the leadership team recognized an emerging reality: GP will soon reach its end of life, and continuing to rely on it would increase both operational risk and cost. They made a strategic decision, to migrate to Business Central and secure a platform built for the next decade of growth. Their goals were clear: This migration is now underway, and the client views it not as an IT project, but as a business transformation initiative. For them, Business Central represents the foundation of a connected, intelligent enterprise, one where decisions are faster, processes are leaner, and growth is continuous. Why Now Is the Right Time Many businesses delay ERP migrations because “things are working fine.” But the reality is that postponing the move comes with hidden risks, rising IT maintenance costs, outdated security models, dependency on legacy infrastructure, and the gradual loss of talent familiar with older systems. At the same time, competitors who embrace modern ERP platforms are moving faster, integrating AI, automating workflows, and leveraging real-time insights. The cost of waiting is not just financial, it is strategic. Business Central is more than an ERP. It is a platform for growth, intelligence, and resilience. It enables organizations to future-proof their operations while staying agile in an unpredictable world. The Takeaway Migrating from GP to Business Central is not a technical move-it is a business transformation decision. It means: With Dynamics GP approaching its end of life, the question is not if you should move, but when and how strategically you make that move. The time to act is now. If you are evaluating your options or planning your next steps, let’s talk. At CloudFronts, we’ve helped businesses across industries transition from legacy ERP systems to modern, scalable platforms like Business Central with minimal disruption and maximum value. Reach out at transform@cloudfronts.com. Let’s explore how you can evolve confidently into the future of business.

This blog provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for performing a year-end close in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (F&O). It includes instructions, common issues, and suggestions for extracting relevant screenshots from a demo environment. 1. Pre-Close Activities 2. Performing the Year-End Close A. Set Up the Fiscal Year End Parameters B. Perform the Year-End Close Process C. Review Results D. Post-Close Activities 3. Common Issues and Tips Issue Action Profit and Loss accounts didn’t zero out Check ledger account settings. Retained Earnings entry missing Verify Retained Earnings account in ledger setup. Incorrect balances after year-end close Use the “Reverse” option and review postings. User doesn’t have access Ensure role has Financial Period Close privileges. Ledger Calendar page Performing the year-end close in D365 F&O is a structured process that ensures data integrity across financial periods. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfronts.com