Enabling Virtual Entities in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Using Power Automate

When users of Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations wish to connect their data with a Power Platform environment, exploring Virtual Entities should be among the initial strategies they consider. 

What are Virtual Entities?

Virtual Entities are lightweight representations of data from business systems that are made accessible from a Dataverse environment. They provide a way for applications connected to Dataverse to view and interact with data from external systems such as relational databases, web services, or custom connectors. F&O customers can bring their ERP solution together with Power Platform by enabling virtual entities on key F&O data, making this data available in Dataverse.

Why Enable Virtual Entities for F&O?

Enabling Virtual Entities offers several advantages:

• Real-Time Data Access: Virtual Entities allow users to access and interact with real-time data from external systems without the need for manual data entry or synchronization.
• Streamlined Processes: By integrating external data seamlessly into Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, Virtual Entities streamline processes and improve overall efficiency.
• Enhanced Decision Making: Access to a wider range of data sources enables better-informed decision-making within the organization.

Enabling Virtual Entities Using Power Automate

Power Automate, Microsoft’s cloud-based automation platform, provides a straightforward method for enabling Virtual Entities in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. In the following example, we will look at how to create a flow to enable specific Virtual Entities from F&O. In the case below, we are querying for employee-related entities and telling Dataverse to make them available as Virtual Entities. Here’s how to do it: