Managing your organization’s data effectively is a critical task for ensuring business continuity. Dynamics 365 Business Central simplifies this process by offering built-in backup and restore features via the Business Central Admin Center. In this blog, we’ll explore how you can utilize these features to safeguard your environment and handle potential mishaps. Overview of Backups in Dynamics 365 Business Central Business Central automatically manages backups for your production and sandbox environments. These backups are stored securely for a limited period, allowing administrators to restore environments when needed. The retention period and capabilities for restoring backups are influenced by the environment type (production or sandbox). Key Features of the Backup System Restoring an Environment Restoring an environment is a straightforward process, ensuring minimal downtime. Follow these steps to restore an environment using the Admin Center: Step 1: Access the Admin Center Log in to the Business Central Admin Center using your administrator account. Step 2: Select the Environment Navigate to the Environments page and select the environment you wish to restore. Step 3: Initiate the Restore Process Click on the Restore button and choose a backup point from the available restore options. Step 4: Configure Restore Options Step 5: Confirm the Action Review the details and confirm the restore. The system will notify you once the process is complete. To encapsulate, the backup and restore functionalities in Dynamics 365 Business Central offer a reliable safety net for your organization’s data. By leveraging the Admin Center, administrators can easily safeguard business continuity and minimize risks associated with data loss or corruption. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Azure Function Apps are a powerful tool for creating serverless applications, but losing the underlying code can be a stressful experience. Whether due to a missing backup, accidental deletion, or unclear deployment pipelines, the need to recover code becomes critical. Thankfully, even without backups, there are ways to retrieve and reconstruct your Azure Function App code using the right tools and techniques. In this blog, we’ll guide you through a step-by-step process to recover your code, explore the use of decompilation tools, and share preventive tips to help you avoid similar challenges in the future. Step 1: Understand Your Function App Configuration Step 2: Retrieve the DLL File To recover your code, you need access to the compiled assembly file (DLL).From Kudu (Advanced Tools), navigate to the site/wwwroot/bin directory where the YourFunctionApp.dll file resides and download it. Step 3: Decompile the DLL File Once you have the DLL file, use a .NET decompiler to extract the source code by opening .dll file using a .Net decompiler and running the decompiler script. The decompiler I have used here is dotPeek which is a free .Net decompiler. To Conclude, recovering a Function App without backups might seem daunting, but by understanding its configuration, retrieving the compiled DLL, and using decomplication tools, you can successfully reconstruct your code. To prevent such situations in the future you can enable Source Control to Integrate your Function App with GitHub or Azure DevOps or set backups. We hope you found this blog post helpful! If you have any questions or want to discuss further, please contact us at transform@cloudfronts.com. Please refer to our customer success story Customer Success Story – BUCHI | CloudFronts to know more about how we used the function app and other AIS to deliver seamless integration. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Debugging Power Pages (formerly Power Apps Portals) can be tricky, especially when errors don’t show up clearly. One underrated but powerful method is using the browser’s “View Page Source” feature to uncover hidden issues. In this blog, we’ll explore how to use HTML source code inspection to diagnose problems in Power Pages, including: Use Case Imagine you’ve built a customer portal with dynamic content using Liquid templates, but: Manually checking each element is time-consuming. Instead, use these two pro techniques to pinpoint issues fast. Method 1: Debugging Using “View Page Source” Step 1: Access the Page Source Step 2: Check for Liquid Rendering Errors Power Pages uses Liquid templates to render dynamic content. If a Liquid snippet fails, it may appear as: Example: Debugging a Broken FetchXML Query Consider this Liquid Code in your Portal page but the data does not render In the page source, look for: This tells you the issue is table permissions, not the query itself. Method 2: Debugging Using Hidden <div> Tags If you need real-time frontend debugging, inject hidden <div> tags to display variables. Add a Hidden Debug <div> Place this in your Liquid template: Inspect with Browser DevTools <div> Example: Debugging a Missing Username If {{ user.fullname }} appears blank: Results Let’s test it – In this case, my fetchXML result is not rendering, so I wanted to verify if I have the necessary roles as well as the user information. By using your browser’s “View Page Source” feature and strategically placed hidden debug <div> tags, you can quickly uncover hidden Liquid errors, verify data rendering, and troubleshoot Power Pages issues more efficiently. These simple yet powerful techniques eliminate guesswork, help identify permission problems, and let you validate variables without disrupting the user experience – ultimately saving you valuable development time while maintaining cleaner, more reliable portals. (Pro Tip: Combine these methods with browser DevTools for even deeper debugging capabilities!) We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Power BI is a great tool for turning data into clear, interactive reports and the best part?  It works smoothly with Business Central, right out of the box.  You just need to set it up, and you can start viewing powerful reports right inside within Business Central dashboard.  Microsoft provides several ready-made reports, grouped into different apps, so you can pick and install only what you need.  Once set up, these reports help you track key business insights without switching between systems.  In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to set up and use Power BI reports in Business Central to make smarter decisions. References Introduction to Business Central and Power BI Install Power BI apps for Business Central Configuration Open your Business Central and search for “Assisted Setup”. Click on “Connect to Power BI” Once the set up page opens, click on Next. Fiscal: A 12-month calendar that begins in any month and ends 12 months after. Standard: A 12-month calendar that begins on January 1 and ends on December 31. Weekly: A calendar that supports 445, 454, or 544 week groupings.The first and last day of the year might not correspond to a first and last day of a month, respectively. Specify the time zone. Specify the working days. Here, it asks for configuring individual apps for Power BI. You can skip this for now as we’ll be back at this later. In the next screen, specify the environment name and the company name. Now, we’ll install the “D365 Business Central – Sales” app in Power BI. Go to your Power BI dashboard and click on Apps.  Search for Business Central Open the relevant one and click on “Get it now” Then click on “Install” Wait for a few seconds till the installation is complete. Now, when you open the report for the first time, it’ll show the report with sample data. To view it with your own data, we need to connect the data to Business Central. Enter the company and environment name. Specify the authentication method to OAuth 2.0 and click on “Sign in and connect” After a few minutes, the refresh will be completed and you’ll see your data. Once this is done, search for “Power BI Connector Setup” In the relevant tab, Sales Report for this example, click on “Power BI Sales” field’s drill down. Select the app that you installed. Now go back to your Business Central dashboard and scroll down to the “Power BI” section. Click on the “Get Started with Power BI” and keep clicking on Next till the end of the setup. If there are any selected reports, you will see the relevant report. If not, you’ll see the following-  In either case, click on the drop-down next to Power BI or click on the “Select reports” Scroll down to find the appropriate report and click on “Enable” and then click on Ok. You will see your Power BI report on the dashboard. You can enable multiple reports and cycle through them by clicking on the “Next” and “Previous” buttons. You can also expand the report to see it as a full page within Business Central by clicking on the “Expand” page. You can further view it in Fullscreen as well. If you want to see multiple reports on the same page, we can create a custom role center and add multiple reports to them. For example, I’ve created a “Power BI dashboard” role center. In this way, we can have n number of reports on our dashboard. Source Code – BCApps-PowerBIDashboard Setting up Power BI in Business Central is a simple way to bring your data to life.  With just a few steps, you can connect your reports, see real-time insights, and make better business decisions all without leaving Business Central.  Whether you need sales trends, financial reports, or custom dashboards, Power BI makes it easy to track what matters most. If you need further assistance or have specific questions about your Business Central and Power BI Integration, feel free to reach out for personalized guidance. We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

In modern cloud-based applications, real-time monitoring is crucial for detecting performance bottlenecks, identifying failures, and maintaining application health. Azure Live Metrics is a powerful feature of Application Insights that allows developers and operations teams to monitor application telemetry with minimal latency. Unlike traditional logging and telemetry solutions that rely on post-processing, Live Metrics enables real-time diagnostics, reducing the time to identify and resolve issues. What is Azure Live Metrics? Azure Live Metrics is a real-time monitoring tool within Azure Application Insights. It provides instant visibility into application performance without the overhead of traditional logging. Key features include: Benefits of Azure Live Metrics 1. Instant Issue Detection With real-time telemetry, developers can detect failed requests, exceptions, and performance issues instantly rather than waiting for logs to be processed. 2. Optimized Performance Traditional logging solutions can slow down applications by writing large amounts of telemetry data. Live Metrics minimizes overhead by using adaptive sampling and streaming only essential data. 3. Customizable Dashboards Developers can filter and customize Live Metrics dashboards to track specific KPIs, making it easier to diagnose performance trends and anomalies. 4. No Data Persistence Overhead Unlike standard telemetry logging, Live Metrics does not require data to be persisted in storage, reducing storage costs and improving performance. How to Enable Azure Live Metrics To use Azure Live Metrics in your application, follow these steps: Step 1: Install Application Insights SDK For .NET applications, install the required NuGet package: For Java applications, include the Application Insights agent: Step 2: Enable Live Metrics Stream In your Application Insights resource, navigate to Live Metrics Stream and ensure it is enabled. Step 3: Configure Application Insights Modify your appsettings.json (for .NET) to include Application Insights: For Azure Functions, set the APPLICATIONINSIGHTS_CONNECTION_STRING in Application Settings. Step 4: Start Monitoring in Azure Portal Go to the Application Insights resource in the Azure Portal, navigate to Live Metrics, and start observing real-time telemetry from your application. Key Metrics to Monitor Best Practices for Using Live Metrics To conclude, Azure Live Metrics is an essential tool for real-time application monitoring, providing instant insights into application health, failures, and performance. By leveraging Live Metrics in Application Insights, developers can reduce troubleshooting time and improve system reliability. If you’re managing an Azure-based application, enabling Live Metrics can significantly enhance your monitoring capabilities. Ready to implement Live Metrics? Start monitoring your Azure application today and gain real-time visibility into its performance! We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain (D365 F&SC) is a powerful enterprise solution designed to optimize business operations. To enhance workflow management, Microsoft has introduced a new feature that allows organizations to set up a dedicated email ID for users to receive workflow-related notifications. This feature, available in the Feature Management area of D365 F&SC, helps streamline communication and ensures that important workflow notifications reach the right users efficiently. In this blog, we will cover:✔ How to enable this new feature.✔ How workflow notifications are managed.✔ Practical use cases, including an Accounts Payable example.✔ The key benefits of this enhancement. Enabling the Alternate Email Feature for Workflow Notifications To activate this feature, follow these steps: Outcome: Once enabled, all workflow-related emails will be sent to the email ID specified in the Alternate Email field. Managing Workflow Notifications with the Alternate Email Field Key Aspects of Workflow Email Management: Primary Email for Notifications: Fallback to Sender Email Field: Use Case: Accounts Payable Email Alias for Payment Advice Notifications Scenario:An organization uses ACH payments to pay vendors, and the Accounts Payable (AP) team wants to send payment advice notifications from a shared email alias rather than their personal email IDs. Solution Using the Alternate Email Feature: Set the Sender Email field to the Accounts Payable email alias (e.g., ap@company.com). Configure individual user accounts to use their personal email under the Alternate Email field. As a result, vendors will receive payment advice emails from the Accounts Payable alias instead of a user’s personal email. Benefit:This approach improves consistency in external communications and ensures that vendors recognize the payment notifications as coming from the official Accounts Payable department. Key Benefits of the Alternate Email Feature Simplified Workflow Management Increased Efficiency Better Team Collaboration Improved Vendor Communication To conclude, the Alternate Email ID for Workflow Notifications feature in D365 Finance & Supply Chain is a game-changer for businesses looking to enhance workflow management. By enabling this feature, organizations can streamline communication, improve collaboration, and reduce email clutter for users. With this new enhancement, users can efficiently track their workflows without the hassle of checking multiple email accounts—leading to greater productivity and better business operations. Need assistance implementing this feature? Let us know in the comments or reach out for expert guidance! We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Introduction When setting up trade agreements in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365FO), you may notice the “Find Next” option. What does this Find Next flag do? How does it affect discount calculations in the system? This blog will break it down with a simple example! What Does “Find Next” Do? Find Next = ON → The system accumulates multiple applicable trade agreement lines and applies all eligible discounts. Find Next = OFF → The system only applies the first best-fit discount and ignores other possible discounts. Key Impact: When enabled, multiple discounts can be combined. If disabled, only the most specific discount is applied. Step-by-Step Example: Trade Agreement with “Find Next” Let’s walk through a real-world scenario to see how this setting changes discount application. Step 1: Create a Trade Agreement Step 2: Add Discount Lines We add three discount lines for Item A: Line Condition Discount % 1 Basic discount for Item A 5% 2 Quantity-based discount (10 – 100 units) 10% 3 Quantity-based discount (101 – 500 units) 20% Scenario 1: “Find Next” is OFF (Disabled) Step 3: Create a Purchase Order Step 4: Increase the Order Quantity Scenario 2: “Find Next” is ON (Enabled) Step 5: Enable “Find Next” Step 6: Recreate the Purchase Order Step 7: How the Discount is Applied Key Takeaways Find Next OFF → The system applies only the first matching discount. Find Next ON → The system adds up multiple applicable discounts. Best Practice: Use Find Next when you want multiple discounts to be applied together. Understanding how Find Next works helps businesses configure trade agreements properly and avoid unexpected pricing issues. Need more D365 tips? Stay tuned for our next blog! We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Consider the scenario of a pharmaceutical manufacturer facing an unexpected shortage of essential raw materials. This situation inevitably leads to production delays, potentially causing missed deadlines and expensive product recalls. In today’s dynamic pharmaceutical sector, where adherence to regulations and a responsive supply chain are crucial, outdated information poses a significant risk. What if these disruptions could be predicted and mitigated before they materialize? What if you had immediate, comprehensive visibility into your entire operational landscape? This is the advantage offered by real-time data, and solutions like Microsoft Business Central are spearheading the evolution of pharmaceutical decision-making. The Shortcomings of Traditional Pharmaceutical Data: Historically, the pharmaceutical industry has operated with data that is often delayed. Reports generated several days or weeks after events occur provide a historical perspective, lacking the current operational awareness needed for effective management. This results in: Real-Time Data: A Game-Changer for Pharma: Our Business Central Pharma module provides a unified platform that delivers real-time visibility across your entire pharmaceutical operation. This empowers you to: Practical Implementation and Tangible Benefits: Implementing Business Central can seem daunting, but the benefits are undeniable. By having the end-to-end process in one system can be very beneficiary. The Future of Data-Driven Pharma: The future of pharma lies in leveraging the power of data. Imagine being able to anticipate potential supply chain disruptions or quality issues before they occur. This is the promise of data-driven Pharma Module. To encapsulate, in the pharmaceutical industry, where precision and speed are critical, real-time data is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Our Business Central pharma module helps companies to embrace the data revolution, enabling faster, more informed decisions that drive efficiency, compliance, and growth. Ready to unlock the power of real-time data for your pharmaceutical operations? Contact us today at transform@cloudfonts.com to learn how our Business Central pharma module can transform your business.

Efficient data cleaning is a crucial step in any data preparation process, and Power Query makes it easy to handle common tasks like trimming and removing unnecessary spaces with functions that you can apply across multiple columns and queries at once. By creating and invoking a function, you can quickly trim and remove spaces from all the columns & tables you need, saving time and effort. In this blog, we’ll show you how to use Power Query functions to streamline your data-cleaning process. The power query we are going to use to trim text in columns is – (text as text, optional char_to_trim as text) =>letchar = if char_to_trim = null then ” ” else char_to_trim,split = Text.Split(text, char),removeblanks = List.Select(split, each _ <> “”),result=Text.Combine(removeblanks, char)inresult This Power Query function takes text as input and removes extra spaces or a specified character from a text string. It splits the text into parts, filters out empty strings, and recombines the cleaned parts using the specified character. If no character is provided, it defaults to removing spaces. The power query we are going to use to remove spaces from the text is – (InputTxt as text) => let Clendata = Text.Combine(List.Select(Text.Split(Text.Trim(InputTxt),” “),each _ <> “”),“”) in Clendata The Power Query function removes all spaces from a given text string. It trims the input, splits it by spaces, filters out blanks, and then combines the parts into a single string. The result is a clean, space-free text, ideal for standardized data preparation. Now, we have our power query function ready, we can use this function across multiple columns or dataset. To do so, go to Add Column > Invoke Custom Function > Your Power Query Function. To conclude, Cleaning and transforming data in Power Query become much easier and more efficient with the use of custom functions. Whether you need to remove spaces, clean multiple columns, or standardize text, these functions save time and ensure consistency across your dataset. By applying these techniques, you can handle large, messy datasets with ease, making your data ready for analysis or reporting. Start implementing these simple yet powerful methods today to streamline your data preparation process! We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.

Uploading documents to Dynamics 365 through mobile devices can enhance the flexibility and efficiency of your team members. In this blog, I’ll Walk you through a step-by-step procedure for uploading documents using the **Sales Team Member** app on mobile devices. This guide focuses on document upload via the mobile version of Dynamics 365, showcasing how easy it is to manage files on the go. Whether you’re a Sales Team Member or an administrator, this simple process will help you streamline document management using the mobile application. The Use-Case: Uploading Documents in Sales Team Member Imagine a scenario where your team needs to upload documents related to orders, opportunities, or leads while out in the field. Using the Sales Team Member app, the document upload process is streamlined and works seamlessly. Here’s how you can do it: Key Components of the Solution PowerApps Mobile Application: This app provides an easy-to-use interface for users to interact with Dynamics 365 on their mobile devices, including document uploads. Document Upload in Dynamics 365: The process allows users to upload files to records in various entities such as Order Fulfillment, Leads, Opportunities, etc. SharePoint Integration: After uploading the document via mobile, it is stored in SharePoint, where it is accessible both on the mobile device and the web interface. Step-by-Step Process Step 1: Install the Power Apps Application Navigate to your App Store or Play Store, install the Power Apps app, and open it. Step 2: Sign In Sign in with your work account by adding it to the app. Enter your credentials when prompted. Step 3: Access the Sales Team Member App Once logged in, find and select the Sales Team Member app to access your required entities and records. Step 4: Navigate to the Order Fulfillment Entity To upload a document, go to the Order Fulfillment entity. The upload process is the same across all entities. Step 5: Upload the Document In the Order Fulfillment record, tap the Related tab, then select Documents. Tap the ellipsis (three dots) beside the Document Associated Grid and choose Upload. Select Choose File to upload the document from your mobile storage. Step 6: After selecting Upload, you’ll see a prompt. Tap Choose File to access your Gallery/File Storage. Select your desired file, then tap OK. Step 7: View Uploaded Document Once uploaded, the document will display on your mobile app, and you can also view it on the web version. The document will be stored in SharePoint and accessible from either platform. Mobile version: Web version: On opening the file, the file opens SharePoint and displays the document. To encapsulate, with the above procedure, Sales Team Members can easily upload documents via their mobile devices in Dynamics 365, making it easier to manage and share important files from anywhere. This streamlined process not only boosts efficiency but also ensures your team stays connected, even when working remotely or on the move. Hope this helps!!! We hope you found this blog useful, and if you would like to discuss anything, you can reach out to us at transform@cloudfonts.com.