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Connecting to Business Central Version 16 or Later


 

Overview

This article details the steps involved to connect Jet Analytics to the following data sources:

Business Central Version 16 or Later (Online Tenant)

Business Central (Online Tenant) via OAuth

Recommended Cloud Connection

The Jet Data Manager can connect to Business Central via Online Tenant using a locally stored OAuth token to authenticate the connection.

Business Central (Online Tenant) via Web Services Key (To be Deprecated by Microsoft in 2022)

Not a recommended method as the Web Services Key is planned to be deprecated as a method of authentication by Microsoft sometime in 2022.

Business Central Version 16 or Later (On Premise)

Business Central (On-Premise) via Web Service Connection

This is the most complete method of connecting to an on-premise instance of Business Central.  This connection method will pick up ENUM's and automatically consolidate aggregation tables.

 

Business Central (On-Premise) via Direct SQL Connection 

This method is the fastest for On-Premise connections but comes with drawbacks.  The Direct SQL Connection will not pick up ENUM's and will not consolidate aggregation tables.  If the performance of a connection via Web-Services is not viable, customizations can be made in your project to achieve the same results.

 

Business Central (Online Tenant) 

Step 1: Gather tenant and environment information 

From the Business Central portal navigate to Help and Support

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Locate your Tenant ID and Environment name.

mceclip1.png

 

Step 2: Obtain web services access key

From the search icon navigate to Users

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Select the user which will be used to establish the connection to the Business Central data source.

Note: this user will require a permission set of SUPER and the company column should be blank.

Next copy the Web Services Access Key 

mceclip3.png

 

Step 3: Install Extension

From within the Business Central portal, using the search icon, navigate to Extension Management

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click Manage → Extension Marketplace

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Search for "Jet Analytics" and click Get it now.

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Step 4: Verify extension installation 

Click Manage and then Deployment Status

mceclip6.png

Verify that the status column has a value of completed.

mceclip7.png

 

Step 5: Allow http client requests

Note: if you are configuring a Production environment you can skip this step

If you are configuring a Sandbox environment, you will need to allow the Jet Analytics extension to send diagnostic information. In the Business Central portal, navigate to Extension Management. Locate the Jet Analytics extension, and click on the menu next to the extension name (indicated by three vertical dots). Click Configure and toggle on Allow HttpClient Requests.

mceclip8.png

mceclip9.png

 

Step 6: Configure Business Central data source in Jet Analytics project

Open your existing project. In this example, we are using a pre-build cube store project. 

Right click on the data source and choose Edit BC 365 provider

mceclip5.png

Input the following:

  • API URL
  • Environment name
    • NOTE: if your environment is not named 'Sandbox' or 'Production', you will need to click in this box and type out the environment name.
  • Authentication type
  • Username
  • Password

Once done click Test Connection → OK.

Note: the username will be in the same format as the username in the Business Central portal. Do not use the UPN / email address.

Note: the password will be the web services access key.

Next, right click on the data source and choose Set Up Accounts

mceclip11.png

Check the box for the desired companies and click OK.

mceclip12.png

Next, right click on the data source and choose Synchronize Objects.

mceclip13.png

You should now be able to see your tables in the Data Selection pane.

 

Business Central (Online Tenant) via OAuth

Step 1: Gather tenant and environment information 

From the Business Central portal navigate to Help and Support

mceclip0.png

 

Locate your Tenant ID and Environment name.

mceclip1.png

Step 2: From the search icon navigate to Users

mceclip2.png

Select the user which will be used to establish the connection to the Business Central data source.

Note: this user will require a permission set of SUPER and the company column should be blank.

Step 3: Install Extension

From within the Business Central portal, using the search icon, navigate to Extension Management

mceclip5.png

click Manage → Extension Marketplace

mceclip1.png

Search for "Jet Analytics" and click Get it now.

mceclip2.png

Step 4: Verify extension installation 

Click Manage and then Deployment Status

mceclip6.png

Verify that the status column has a value of completed.

mceclip7.png

 

Step 5: Allow http client requests

Note: if you are configuring a Production environment you can skip this step

If you are configuring a Sandbox environment, you will need to allow the Jet Analytics extension to send diagnostic information. In the Business Central portal, navigate to Extension Management. Locate the Jet Analytics extension, and click on the menu next to the extension name (indicated by three vertical dots). Click Configure and toggle on Allow HttpClient Requests.

mceclip8.png

mceclip9.png

 

Step 6: Configure Business Central data source in Jet Analytics project

Open your existing project. In this example, we are using a pre-build cube store project. 

Right click on the data source and choose Edit BC 365 provider

mceclip5.png

Input the following:

  • API URL
  • Environment name
    • NOTE: if your environment is not named 'Sandbox' or 'Production', you will need to click in this box and type out the environment name.
  • Authentication type

To authenticate with OAuth, you will need to specify a path in which to create a token on your local machine.  The path can be anywhere on the local machine and can have any name as long as it ends in ".txt". 

mceclip1.png

After entering the token path, click Authorize OAuth and the token will automatically be created in the specified path after entering your Business Central login credentials.

Once done click Test Connection → OK.

Note: the username will be in the same format as the username in the Business Central portal. Do not use the UPN / email address.

Next, right click on the data source and choose Set Up Accounts

mceclip11.png

Check the box for the desired companies and click OK.

mceclip12.png

Next, right click on the data source and choose Synchronize Objects.

mceclip13.png

You should now be able to see your tables in the Data Selection pane.

 

 

Business Central (On-Premise) via Direct SQL Connection

Note: as of 1/15/2021 the direct SQL Connection does not support ENUM objects. If you need these ENUM objects you should use the Business Central (On-Premise via Web Service Connection).

 

Step 1: Right click on the data source and choose "Edit Microsoft SQL Provider"

mceclip0.png

 

Step 2: Enter the server name where the BC database resides and select the database in the drop-down list.

mceclip1.png

 

Step 3: Right click on the data source and choose "Set up accounts"

mceclip3.png

Check the box to indicate which company data sets to pull into the project. In this example, we want to pull data for both CRONUS USA and CRONUS EXT USA

mceclip2.png

 

Step 4: Right click on the data source and choose "Synchronize Objects"

mceclip4.png

 

 

Business Central (On-Premise) via Web Service Connection

 

Step 1: Select the .app file from the download here that corresponds with your version of Business Central

Step 2: Publish the application 

Run the following cmdlet in the Business Central Administration Shell:

Publish-NAVApp -ServerInstance [ServerInstance] -Path [PathToAppFile] -SkipVerification

Publish-NAVApp -ServerInstance 'MicrosoftDynamicsNavServer$BC160' -Path 'C:\JetAnalyticsCloudConnector\JetAnalyticsCloudConnector\insightsoftware_Jet Analytics_1.0.0.20.app' -SkipVerification

 

Step 3: Synchronize

Run the following cmdlet in the Business Central Administration Shell:

Sync-NAVApp -ServerInstance [ServerInstance] -Name [AppName] -Version [AppVersion] -Tenant [TenantName]

Sync-NAVApp -ServerInstance 'MicrosoftDynamicsNavServer$BC160' -Name 'Jet Analytics' -Version 1.0.0.20 -Tenant default

 

Step 4: Install app

Run the following cmdlet in the Business Central Administration Shell:

Install-NAVApp -ServerInstance [ServerInstance ] -Name [AppName] -Tenant [TenantName]

Install-NAVApp -ServerInstance 'MicrosoftDynamicsNavServer$BC160' -Name 'Jet Analytics' -Tenant default

 

This codeunit will appear in your Web Services

mceclip0.png

 

 

Step 5: Configure Business Central data source in Jet Analytics project

Open your existing project. In this example, we are using a pre-build cube store project. 

Right click on Data Sources and choose Add Dynamics Business Central (NAV) Adapter

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Choose Wizard Setup

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Choose BC 365

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Give your data source a name and click OK

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Input the following:

mceclip3.png

  1. ODATA API URL
  2. Environment name
    • The environment name should be empty 
  3. Authentication type
    • This option will depend on your environment

 

Once done, click Test Connection → OK.

 

Next, right click on the data source and choose Set Up Accounts

mceclip19.png

 

Check the box for the desired companies and click OK.

mceclip20.png

Next, right click on the data source and choose Synchronize Objects.

mceclip21.png

You should now be able to see your tables in the Data Selection pane.

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