Dynamics 365 Data

Model Workshop

24 August 2021
Data Model Workshop Agenda
Agenda Review data modeling best practice

Entity Relationship Diagram

Out-Of-the-Box versus Custom Entities

Entity Configuration
Option-Sets, Custom Entities & Localization
Security, Relationships and Performance
Format: 1 hour Microsoft Teams call
Attendees: Key stakeholders from the
customer and partner teams. Solution
architects, functional and technical leads
are mandatory

Fields: Alternate Keys, Calculated and Rollup

Auditing

External Data Display or Integration

User Experience
The Role of Success by Design
In Scope
• Provide findings and
recommendations following the
workshop presentation
• Highlight technical risks and
issues (including unrealistic
product expectations)
• Point out gaps that can result in
an unsuccessful implementation
• Identify data modelling practices
that are known to create
performance issues
• Point out best practices
Out of Scope
• Conduct field level analysis of the data
model
• Validate that data model will meet user
requirements
• Train configurators or system
administrators
• Conduct performance tests
• Conduct a configuration review
 Customer slide (please update)
Entity Relationship Diagram

Entity Diagram

Please copy/past your entity relationship diagram here or in another slide.

(please only include main entities that are relevant to your project, highlighting standard vs. custom entities)
 Customer slide (please update)
Out-Of-the-Box versus Custom Entities

Main OOB entities • List OOB entities here

Number of OOB entities: #

List custom entities (except for the ones you use • List custom entities here
as option-sets / referential data)

Number of custom entities: #

 Customer slide (please update)
Entity Configuration
Have you removed all unnecessary options before creating a
Yes/No
new entity?

Are you leveraging OOB capabilities instead of creating new

fields (e.g. “Sending email”, or creating an “Activity Entity” for Yes/No
native party list fields, etc.)

Do you use N:N relationships? Yes/No

Instead of N:N relationships, have you considered bridge

Yes/No
custom entities?

Do you take advantage of field mappings in your entity

Yes/No
relationships?

Do you use a single publisher for your customization and a

Yes/No
custom prefix?

Do you use custom entities for licensing reasons? Yes/No

 Customer slide (please update)
Option-Sets, Custom Entities & Localization

Are you making sure to always prefer global option-sets

instead of entity-specific ones?
Yes/No

Are you using custom entities to replace option-sets?

Yes/No

How are you managing metadata and/or data localization?

Do you leverage “Whole number” attributes of format

“language” to filter records based on the user’s language?
Yes/No
 Customer slide (please update)
Security, Relationships and Performance
Have you considered using User/Team owned vs
Organization-owned entities? Yes /No

Have you reviewed relationships within your data model and

their impact on security? (E.g. the Reparent behavior can Yes /No
create implicit sharing)

Do you use Field-Level Security? Yes /No

Have you considered moving sensitive data to a

Yes /No
separate entity?

Do you track or have naming conventions for sensitive PII

Yes /No
fields (e.g. for GDPR)

Are you aware of a 4TB technical limitation for Common Data

Yes /No
Service Database storage and designing accordingly?
 Customer slide (please update)
Fields: Alternate Keys, Calculated & Rollup

Yes /No
Are you using Alternate Keys?

Yes /No
Are you using Calculated Fields?

Yes /No
Are you using Rollup Fields

Have you verified the min / max length or values of each of Yes /No
your fields was coherent with business requirements as well
as with any data integration or data mapping?

Yes /No
Have you considered using Date Only or Time-Zone
independent date fields?
 Customer slide (please update)
Auditing

Have you configured auditing?

Yes/No

Do you periodically delete Audit Logs?

Yes/No

Do you have a process in place to periodically clean log data?

Yes/No

Do you have a process in place to periodically archive

transactional data?
Yes/No
 Customer slide (please update)
External Data Display or Integration (1/2)
Do you copy external data in Dynamics 365 entities?
Yes/No

Have you considered leveraging Canvas Power Apps to

display external data? Yes/No

Have you considered leveraging the Power Apps Component

Framework to display external data? Yes/No

Have you considered leveraging embedding Power BI tiles to

display external data? Yes/No

Do you use Virtual Entities?

Yes/No

Have you considered using Export to Data Lake if you need

Dynamics data for external BI purposes? Yes/No
 Customer slide (please update)
External Data Display or Integration (2/2)

Please detail

Add info
 Customer slide (please update)
User Experience

Have you excluded unused fields and relationships

from search?
Yes/No

Have you prefixed unused fields (e.g. “ZZ field“) to make sure
they appear at the end of list?
Yes/No

Have you adopted consistent naming convention for

metadata to simplify UX?
Yes/No

Have you adopted a consistent procedure for managing

metadata (adding new fields, etc.) to avoid conflicts and
duplicates? Yes/No
Thank you.