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When two or more companies use some of the same master data, you can synchronize the data rather than add it manually in each company. For example, synchronizing data is useful when you're setting up new subsidiary companies.
Master data includes settings and non-transactional information about business entities. For example, customers, vendors, items, and employees. The data provides context for business transactions. The following are a few examples of master data for a customer:
You set up synchronization in the subsidiary companies. Using a pull model, subsidiaries pull the data from the source company that they need to do business with them. After you set up synchronization and synchronize data for the first time, you're all set. Job queue entries update coupled records in the subsidiaries when someone changes data in the source company.
You can synchronize data only from the source company to the subsidiary companies in a pull fashion. Subsidiaries can't push data to the source company.
Note
Although it's possible, we don't recommend that you set up bi-directional synchronization. That is, synchronizing data from the source company to the subsidiaries, and from the subsidiaries to the source company. Synchronizing data in both directions can lead to conflicts or unwanted overwrites.
The following are requirements for setting up synchronization.
Note
The Team Member and Internal Administrator licenses let you access but not modify records, so they can't be used to set up the synchronization. The Delegated Admin license doesn't let you schedule background tasks, so you won't be able to complete the setup.
The first steps are to specify the company that will be the data source and enable synchronization. Subsidiary companies pull data from the source company.
Note
When you enable synchronization, Business Central creates and schedules the job queue entries that synchronize the data. It might look like the entries immediately sync the data, but that isn't the case. The created job queue entries only sync coupled records, and at this point you haven't set that up yet. Synchronization starts after you Enable or disable tables and fields and Synchronize for the first time.
The next step is to enable tables and fields for synchronization.
To save time, Business Central provides a list of tables that businesses often synchronize. By default, these tables are enabled for synchronization. You can modify, disable, or delete them as you see fit. As an extra time-saver, some fields on the tables are already disabled because they probably aren't relevant for the subsidiary.
Note
If one or more extensions are installed in the source company, when a subsidiary sets up synchronization the Synchronization Tables page includes tables from the extensions, and you can access their fields. However, if the source company adds an extension after synchronization is set up, each subsidiary must manually add the tables. To learn more about adding tables, go to Add or delete tables from the synchronization tables list. To learn more about extending Business Central, go to Developing extensions in Visual Studio Code.
Tip
The Table Filter field is helpful for controlling what to synchronize for a table. You can set up filters to synchronize only when certain conditions are met. For example, you can add filters that specify that you synchronize only vendors in a certain region. Or, customers that use a certain currency.
If the subsidiary already has data in their tables, another good way to set criteria for synchronization is to set up match-based coupling. To learn more about matching, go to Use match-based coupling.
Tip
A fast way to enable or disable multiple fields at the same time is to select them in the list, and then use either the Enable or Disable actions.
You can specify the data to synchronize for a table by matching records based on criteria. On the Master Data Management Setup page, choose the Match-Based Coupling action to open the Select Coupling Criteria page. You can define the following criteria for your matching:
When you're ready, on the Master Data Management Setup page, choose the Start Initial Synchronization action. On the Master Data Initial Synchronization page, choose the type of synchronization that you want to use for each table.
If you already have records in both the source and the subsidiary companies, and you want to match existing records, choose the Use Match-Based Coupling action. Business Central matches records in the subsidiary company with records in the source company. The matches are based on matching criteria that you define. For several default tables, Business Central has already matched existing records by using their primary key, but you can change that if you want. You can also let the synchronization create new records in the subsidiary for records in the source company that the subsidiary doesn't have. To learn more about matching, go to Use match-based coupling.
If you choose Run Full Synchronization, synchronization creates new records for all records in the source company that aren't coupled yet. For example, this option is useful in the following scenarios:
After you choose the option to use, choose the Start All action to start the synchronization.
While synchronization is running, the Job Status column on the Master Data Initial Full Synchronization page shows the status of each job queue entry. Press F5 on your keyboard to update the status.
Tip
Tables synchronize in a predefined order. If synchronization get's stuck on a table, select the table and then choose the Restart action to get it going again.
To access details, such as the number of records that are inserted or modified, choose the value in the Job Status column to open the View - Integration Synchronization Jobs page. For records that were inserted, you can choose the number in the Inserted column to access more details about the new records.
Important
Although tables that contain transactional data are available in the list, such as tables that contain ledger entries, you shouldn't choose them. Synchronization works only for tables that contain non-transactional data.
Note
If you delete a record in the source company, it isn't also deleted in the subsidiary. This helps prevented unwanted loss of data. The subsidiary can decide to delete the table if they want.
If you're setting up several subsidiaries that use the same or similar synchronization settings, there's a time saver. Set up one subsidiary company and then export its setup to an .xml file. The file contains the entire setup, including table and field mappings and filter criteria. You can then import the file to the next subsidiary. To import or export a setup, on the Master Data Management Setup page, use the Import or Export actions.
Events
Mar 31, 11 PM - Apr 2, 11 PM
The ultimate Power BI, Fabric, SQL, and AI community-led event. March 31 - April 2. Use code MSCUST for a $150 discount. Prices go up Feb 11th.
Register todayTraining
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