Dynamics 365 Business Central integration capabilities: Using an Arduino with Azure Functions

From version to version, Microsoft has increased the integration capabilities of Dynamics NAV. With the release of Dynamics 365 Business Central, the integration options have gotten even better. But with the added the potential of the Microsoft Azure platform the integration capabilities become literally limitless.

In the old days, when there was a need to apply non-standard business processes inside the system, it was the standard functionality that got modified. Now we can avoid that and jump out of the system to use ready services, provided by Microsoft Azure platform. For example, we can use Microsoft Flow instead of programming complex approval routes inside Dynamics 365 products. We can use PowerApps to provide access to business data to multiple users without the need of a developer. Building up Power BI reports gets many times faster than trying to program the report with standard NAV tools. There are hundreds of Azure services that can be utilized to cover the needed business processes – limited just by imagination.

One of our customers came to us one day and asked if we could create a solution that would tell him what the market thinks about his products. To fulfill his request, we integrated his ERP system with Twitter using  Flow, and each time there was a tweet mentioning his product name, we took that tweet and put it into  Azure Cognitive Services to recognize the emotional attitude of the text (to what extent it is positive or negative), and returned the result back to the ERP system. Within a few months our customer could see directly in his list of items how the market was reacting to each item. What is most interesting, our solution did not require much programming, except raising up the API in the ERP system. All the rest was done on a user level by just by setting up the connectors.

Having that power in our hands, we strongly advise you to first look at the set of Azure Services available before you go customizing your standard Dynamics application.

There are great integration possibilities which we can utilize, and IoT is no exception. As an example, my colleague Andrey Baludin and I were presenting a sample case, demonstrating how easy and powerful the integration with IoT devices through Azure Functions is at the latest NAV TechDays conference in Antwerp.

As a business scenario, we took imaginary requirements to prevent a Business Central user from posting a sales invoice if the user was too drunk, by automatically triggering an extra level of approval.

For that purpose, we used the following equipment:

1) Arduino Uno controller with USB cable (you can use analog, price is around five to seven dollars) to control the measurements.

2) Ethernet shield for Arduino Uno and ethernet cable (price also is around five to seven dollars) in order to get connected to the network.

3) MQ3 meter with connection wires (three to five dollars) – a sensor that measures fraction of alcohol in the air.

4) Any alcohol for tests (price depends).

How does that relate to Business Central?