Ali Raza Zaidi

A practitioner’s musings on Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations

Dynamics 365 for finance and operations

D365 Technical Training Day 2 to Day 5

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Let’s revisit the fundamentals! I’m planning to create a 28-video technical training series on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365 F&O). The goal is to build a strong foundation for beginners and aspiring D365 developers by covering core technical concepts step by step.

🎉 The first 4 videos are now completed and available on YouTube!

Current Playlist:

  • ✅ Day 2 – Download and Configure the D365 F&O OneBox VM
  • ✅ Day 3 – Visual Studio, Models & Packages
  • ✅ Day 3 – Primitive Data Types, Extended Data Types (EDTs) & Base Enums
  • ✅ Day 4 – D365 Technical Training Day 5 How to create table in D365 Finance and operations

I’ll continue uploading the remaining videos regularly, covering topics such as tables, forms, classes, queries, data entities, integrations, debugging, best practices, and much more.

If you’re starting your journey as a D365 F&O Technical Consultant or X++ Developer, this series is designed to help you learn from the ground up.

Don’t forget to Like, Share, and Subscribe to stay updated with every new lesson!

D365 Technical Training Day 2 : How to download and configure One Box VM on your laptop

D365 Techical Training Day 3 | Visual Studio, Model, packages

D365 F&O Technical Training – Day 4 | Primitive Data Types, Extended Data Types (EDTs) & Base Enums

D365 Technical Training Day 5 How to create table in D365 Finance and operations

Embedding Websites in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365FO)

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esterday, I worked on a small proof of concept (POC) to embed an external web page inside Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.

Initially, I thought the solution would require using an iframe. However, after some research, I discovered that WebsiteHostControl provides a much cleaner and more suitable approach.

The implementation is straightforward:

  1. Create a custom form.
  2. Apply the appropriate form pattern.
  3. Add a Tab control with a Tab Page.
  4. Add a Group control inside the Tab Page.
  5. Set the Group control’s Width Mode and Height Mode properties to Size to Available.

From there, you can add the WebsiteHostControl to the group and configure it to display the required external web page within the D365 Finance & Operations form.

Overall, it turned out to be much simpler than I initially expected, and WebsiteHostControl is the recommended approach for hosting external web content inside a D365 F&O form.

Then add a website host
Set its properties auto declaration to true
and Height mode and Width Mode to size to available

Inside form Initialize method just give url

public class FormTest extends FormRun
{
    /// <summary>
    ///
    /// </summary>
    public void init()
    {
        super();

        WebsiteHostControl1.url("https://www.tech.alirazazaidi.com");
    }

}

On running the form it will look like this

GPTs that Every D365 Finance and Operation Consultant Must use

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There are many GPTs available that are specifically trained to help answer different types of questions.

Some of these GPTs are focused on Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, helping with areas like X++, functional processes, troubleshooting, and solution design. For example, GPTs like D365F&O-GPT are built to act as experts for Finance & Operations queries.

You can also build and share your own GPTs, but this requires the Pro version of ChatGPT.

These GPTs become more useful over time as people continue to use and interact with them. In fact, similar AI assistants are being developed specifically for the D365 ecosystem to provide faster and more reliable guidance by combining documentation, best practices, and real-world experience.

Personally, I use these four GPTs related to Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. You can search for them, try them out, and explore others as well—new ones are being added by the community every day.

  • X++ Dev Helper for Dynamics
  • Dynamics 365 Architect
  • Dynamics 365FO Expert
  • Dr Dynamics – D365 F&O Architect

Purchase RFQ response is not allow to Edit

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While working with Demo data in Dynamics 365, I recently encountered an issue where I was unable to add or edit a reply to an RFQ (Request for Quotation).

At first glance, everything looked correct—the RFQ was created properly, vendors were added, and the workflow seemed fine. However, the reply option was disabled, making it impossible to proceed.

After investigating the setup, I found the root cause was a missing parameter configuration.

Root Cause: RFQ Edit Permission Disabled

In Dynamics 365 Procurement and Sourcing, RFQ behavior is controlled by system parameters. In Demo data, one critical parameter is disabled by default, which blocks RFQ replies.

✅ Solution: Enable RFQ Editing for Purchasers

To resolve the issue, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to
    Procurement and Sourcing > Setup > Procurement and Sourcing Parameters
  2. Open the Request for Quotation tab
  3. Set the following parameter to True:
    “Purchaser can edit”
  4. Save the changes

Consolidation of Purchase requisition lines in D365 Finance and Operations

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In this video, I explain the consolidation of purchase requisition lines in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.

In many real-world scenarios, different departments may create purchase requisitions for the same item. Instead of processing these requests separately and negotiating with vendors for each individual line, D365 F&O allows us to consolidate purchase requisition lines into a single consolidation.

This helps streamline vendor negotiation, enables better control over price, discounts, and vendor selection, and allows you to convert the consolidated requisition into a single purchase order efficiently.

I hope you find this video helpful. If you do, please like, share, and subscribe for more D365 F&O content.

Consider courses on udemy

https://www.udemy.com/user/alirazazaidi

How avoid schedule jobs running in specific time slots

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Recently, I discovered an interesting and useful feature in D365 Finance and Operations.

Most of the time, there are peak hours when the system is heavily loaded. During these periods, we may not want certain batch jobs to run in order to avoid performance issues.

D365 Finance and Operations (now rebranded as ERP AI) provides a feature to control this behavior.

You can find it here:
System administration > Setup > Active periods for batch jobs

Using this setup, you can define active periods and assign batch groups to them. Within each batch group, you can add batch jobs with their normal recurrence settings.

The key benefit is that batch jobs assigned to these groups will not execute during the defined inactive hours. This allows you to prevent batch jobs from running during peak system usage times and ensures better system performance.

Getting Started with D365 Finance and Operations: The Core Financial Setup

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When you set up a new Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations environment, everything starts with Finance. A solid financial foundation is essential for accurate reporting, smooth integration, and proper functioning of other modules.

Here are the three key configurations you should always begin with:

  1. Fiscal and Ledger Calendars
    Define your financial periods — whether monthly, quarterly, or yearly — to manage transactions within a specific accounting structure.
  2. Currencies and Exchange Rates
    Set up the currencies your organisation uses and the rules for exchange rate management. This ensures accurate conversions in global operations.
  3. Chart of Accounts (COA)
    Create your ledger accounts and structure them according to your organization’s financial reporting needs. The COA forms the backbone of your entire financial system.

Getting these core setups right helps avoid major rework later and provides a stable foundation for other functional areas like Supply Chain, Projects, and HR.

How to access enum values at database level D365 Finance and Operations

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On the live server, we don’t have direct database access. However, while assisting another user recently, I noticed that they could access the database through some method — possibly via the Entity Store or a similar mechanism.

I received a request from the client’s reporting team to provide a way for them to retrieve the text values of enums from the database.

On my development environment, I can access enum values using the following two tables: EnumValueTable and EnumIdTable.

For example, the following T-SQL query returns the values for the SalesStatus enum:

SELECT * 
FROM EnumValueTable
JOIN EnumIdTable 
    ON EnumValueTable.EnumId = EnumIdTable.Id
WHERE EnumIdTable.Name = 'SalesStatus'
ORDER BY EnumValueTable.EnumValue;