Dynamics 365 and Oracle Financials, with a faster way to pay

The problem

The organisation manages the people and suppliers it pays in Dynamics 365. The money lives in Oracle Financials. Every payment needs a supplier record in Oracle that matches the one in Dynamics.

The two systems weren't properly connected, so supplier details were kept in more than one place and drifted apart. When a payment went wrong it was hard to see where.

What was done

• Made Dynamics the place supplier details start. Every create and update goes across to Oracle.
• Defined the vendor create and update payloads Oracle expects and mapped them from Dynamics. One shape for new suppliers, one for changes.
• Put the calls to Oracle in an Azure Function App, not in plugins. Plugins run inside the user's save and have a time limit. A call to a finance system doesn't belong there. The Function App handles the call, retries and logging, and Dynamics stays quick for the user.
• Built the faster payment process on top, so a payment only goes ahead once the supplier matches on both sides.

The result

Supplier details are entered once, in Dynamics, instead of in both systems. A payment can't run against a supplier that's out of sync. If a call to Oracle fails, it's logged in one place with the payload attached, so someone can see what broke and fix it.

More on how I approach this kind of work on the Dynamics 365 integrations page.

Tech used

Dynamics 365 CE, Dataverse, C#, Azure Function App, Oracle Financials.