Overview

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

• Business Central (Online Tenant)
• Business Central (On-Premise) via Direct SQL Connection 
• Business Central (On-Premise) via Web Service Connection

Business Central (Online Tenant) 

Step 1: Gather tenant and environment information 

From the Business Central portal navigate to Help and Support. 

 

Locate your Tenant ID and Environment name.

 

Step 2: Obtain web services access key

From the search icon navigate to Users

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 either:

• SUPER
• D365 FULL ACCESS

Next copy the Web Services Access Key 

 

Step 3: Install Extension

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

click Manage → Extension Marketplace

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

Step 4: Verify extension installation 

Click Manage and then Deployment Status

Verify that the status column has a value of completed.

 

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.

 

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

Input the following:

• API URL
• 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

Check the box for the desired companies and click OK.

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

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"

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

 

Business Central (On-Premise) via Web Service Connection

Step 1: Gather tenant and environment information 

Open the Business Central Administration Shell. Next, run the following cmdlet:

Get-NavServerInstance

Take note of the ServiceInstance property

Next, run the following cmdlet:

Get-NAVTenant -ServerInstance [ServerInstance]

Get-NAVTenant -ServerInstance 'MicrosoftDynamicsNavServer$BC160'

Take note of the Id property

 

Step 2: Download the .app file

Download the .app file, which can be found in the ZIP file attached to this article

 

Step 3: Publish the application 

Run the following cmdlet:

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 4: Verify application information

 Run the following cmdlet:

Get-NAVAppInfo -ServerInstance [ServerInstance]

Get-NAVAppInfo -ServerInstance 'MicrosoftDynamicsNavServer$BC160'

 

Take note of the Name, and Version properties.

 

Step 5: Synchronize

Run the following cmdlet:

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 6: Install app

Run the following cmdlet:

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

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

 

 

Step 7: Enable API Endpoint

If an API endpoint does not already exist in your BC environment, one will need to be configured.

For more information on how to enable API Endpoints see: Enabling the APIs for Dynamics 365 Business Central

 

Step 8: 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 Change to BC 365 Provider

Input the following:

• API URL
  • The API URL should not have a trailing forward slash 
• Environment name
  • The environment name should be empty 
• 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

 

Check the box for the desired companies and click OK.

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

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