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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/dynamics365-cloud-runmyprocess.rst

⇱ Connect to Dynamics 365 Data in RunMyProcess through Connect AI

Connect to Dynamics 365 Data in RunMyProcess through Connect AI

👁 Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Use CData Connect AI to create on OData API for Dynamics 365 Data and connect to Dynamics 365 data in Akorbi Digital RunMyProcess.

Akorbi Digital RunMyProcess makes it easy to create applications for complex business applications, such as budget application and contract management. CData Connect AI creates a live connection to Dynamics 365 and can be used to generate an OData API (natively supported in RunMyProcess) for Dynamics 365. By pairing RunMyProcess with CData Connect AI, you get true cloud-to-cloud connectivity to all your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources - no need to migrate your data or write your own integrations. Simply connect to Connect AI from RunMyProcess as you would any other REST service and get instant, live access to your Dynamics 365 data.

In this article, we walk through connecting to Dynamics 365 from CData Connect AI and accessing Dynamics 365 data through an OData feed in RunMyProcess.

About Dynamics 365 Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the full Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Sales, Customer Service, Finance & Operations, Marketing, and more.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics 365 in a variety of ways, including Azure Active Directory, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage their Dynamics 365 entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

CData customers use our Dynamics 365 connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics 365 data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


Connect to Dynamics 365 from RunMyProcess

To work with live Dynamics 365 data in RunMyProcess, we need to connect to Dynamics 365 from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the Dynamics 365 data.

Connect to Dynamics 365 from Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "Dynamics 365" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics 365.

    Edition and OrganizationUrl are required connection properties. The Dynamics 365 connector supports connecting to the following editions: CustomerService, FieldService, FinOpsOnline, FinOpsOnPremise, HumanResources, Marketing, ProjectOperations and Sales.

    For Dynamics 365 Business Central, use the separate Dynamics 365 Business Central driver.

    OrganizationUrl is the URL to your Dynamics 365 organization. For instance, https://orgcb42e1d0.crm.dynamics.com

    👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Dynamics 365 Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Configure Dynamics 365 Endpoints for RunMyProcess

After connecting to Dynamics 365, create a workspace for your desired table(s).

  1. Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace). 👁 The Workspaces page.
    👁 Adding a new Workspace.
  2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
  3. Select the Dynamics 365 connection (e.g. Dynamics3651) and click Next. 👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. 👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
  5. Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}

With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to Dynamics 365 data from RunMyProcess.

Retrieve Dynamics 365 Data from RunMyProcess DigitalSuite Studio

With the connection to Dynamics 365 and OData endpoints created, we are ready to add Dynamics 365 data to RunMyProcess for Retrieval.

Create a Provider

  1. Log into RunMyProcess and open DigitalSuite Studio.
  2. Click Resources to bring up the Resources page, then select then the CONNECTORS tab. 👁 Connectors page
  3. Click the + (New Provider) button to create a new provider, choose the account to use, then click Confirm. 👁 Create a new provider
  4. In the provider settings page, configure the following properties.
    • URL: Set the OData endpoint in the Connect AI OData page: https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}.
    • Authentication Schema: Select Login/Password.
    • Login: Specify a CData Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected]).
    • Password: Specify the PAT of the Connect AI user.
    👁 Selecting a connector
  5. Fill in the same properties in the ACCEPTANCE and TEST tabs. Note: You can copy the configured settings by clicking 'Copy this configuration button,' then pasting the content in the new tab by clicking 'Paste previously copied configuration.'
  6. Click Save to save the properties.

Retrieve Dynamics 365 Data by Creating a Connector

  1. In the CONNECTORS tab, click the button with three dots to create the provider, then select Add connector from the menu.
  2. In the following page, set Connector URL to the OData endpoint configured in Connect AI (e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}) 👁 Connector settings page
  3. Click Save then Launch to test the connector execution. Click Launch test to execute. The process is successful if you get the JSON response of your configured table information. 👁 Execution test page

More Information & Free Trial

Now, you have created a provider and connector to retrieve Dynamics 365 data. For more information on creating OData feeds from Dynamics 365 (and more than 100 other data sources), visit the Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live Dynamics 365 data in RunMyProcess.