Without proper data management, your business would be like a kitchen with no recipe book and no shift plan—chaotic, full of mistakes, and incapable of scaling up. Data management in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations apps is the system that keeps your business information organised, accurate, and accessible to everyone who needs it. For the MB-920 exam, understanding this concept is crucial because it is the foundation upon which all other features of the system are built, and it powers the reporting, compliance, and automation that businesses rely on daily.
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A simple way to picture Data Management and Common Features in F&O
A Head Chef runs a busy restaurant kitchen. Orders come in from the dining room (new sales data entering the system). Ingredients need to be ordered from suppliers (procurement data), recipes must be followed exactly (business processes), and the kitchen team needs to know what to cook and when (workflow tasks). The Head Chef doesn't just cook; they manage the flow of information: which orders are priority, which ingredients are running low, and who is responsible for each station.
The Head Chef uses a master recipe book (the master data in Finance and Operations apps). This book contains every dish, its ingredients, and the exact steps to prepare it. When a new menu item is introduced, the Head Chef adds it to the recipe book. When a supplier changes the price of tomatoes, the Head Chef updates the ingredient cost in the book. This ensures every chef on the line works from the same accurate source. Without this central management, one chef might use too many tomatoes, another might use an old recipe, and the restaurant would serve inconsistent food. Similarly, in Finance and Operations apps, data management ensures everyone—from the warehouse to the finance team—works with the same, accurate information. Workflows are like the morning briefing, telling each station what their priorities are for the shift. Common features, like the inventory check at the end of the night, are the standard tools the Head Chef uses to keep everything running smoothly.
Data management in Finance and Operations (F&O) apps is the systematic process of defining, storing, protecting, and using data. Think of it as the digital backbone of a company. It covers everything from customer names and addresses (customer master data) to product prices (product data) and financial transactions (transactional data).
The core idea is that a business runs on data, and that data must be trustworthy. In a small company, you might keep customer details in a spreadsheet on your laptop. That works until you need to share it with a colleague, or when you accidentally delete a row. In F&O, all data lives in a central database (a structured collection of data stored electronically). This database is the single source of truth. Everyone—from the sales team in London to the warehouse in Sydney—sees the same, live data. When a salesperson updates a customer's address, the accounting department sees that change instantly for their invoice.
Now, what does 'Data Management' actually involve in F&O? It breaks down into a few key areas:
Master Data Management (MDM): This is the process of creating and maintaining the 'master data' of the business. Master data is the core data that does not change very often. It includes things like customers, vendors (suppliers), products, employees, and financial dimensions (categories like department or cost centre). MDM ensures this data is clean, complete, and consistent. For example, if a vendor is called 'Green Supplies Ltd', MDM ensures there isn't a second record called 'Green Supplies' with a different tax ID. Duplicates cause massive problems in payments and reporting.
Transactional Data Management: This deals with data that records an event or transaction. Think sales orders, purchase orders, inventory movements, invoices, and payments. This data is created every day and is often very high volume. Management here involves ensuring these transactions are recorded accurately and quickly, and that they can be traced back to the master data they relate to.
Data Import and Export: F&O is not an island. It must take in data from other systems (like an old accounting program) and send data out (like to a bank or a reporting tool). The Data Management workspace in F&O is a dedicated hub for this. You can use it to import a spreadsheet of new customer accounts or export a list of your current product inventory. It uses 'data entities' which are like specific, pre-packaged views of the data. A 'Customer' data entity contains all the fields needed to create a new customer record, making import reliable.
Data Archiving and Purging: Over time, systems get clogged with old data like closed sales orders from years ago. Data management includes strategies to move this old, infrequently used data to cheaper, slower storage (archiving) or delete it entirely (purging). This keeps the main system fast and manageable.
Security and Compliance: Data management also covers who can see and change what data. This is managed through role-based security. For instance, a warehouse worker can see inventory levels but cannot see the profit margin on a product. The accountant can see all financial data but cannot change a supplier's bank details without authorisation. This ensures the business stays compliant with laws like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which gives people rights over their personal data.
Workflows are a core feature that works hand-in-hand with data management. A 'workflow' is an automated process that routes a document or a task (like a purchase request for a new printer) through a series of approval steps. When a manager submits a travel expense, a workflow can automatically send it to their boss for review, then to the finance team for payment, and finally notify the employee when the money is transferred. Workflows enforce business rules and create an audit trail (a record of who did what and when). Before computer systems, these processes were done with paper forms and physical signatures. Workflows make them fast, trackable, and secure.
Common features in F&O are the standard tools you use every day. They are not specific to one department but are used across the whole system. For example, the 'Search for page' feature lets you find any screen by typing its name. The 'Navigation bar' (the menu at the top), the 'Action pane' (the strip of buttons for the current page), and the 'Workspaces' (personalised dashboards) are all common features. The 'Inbox' in the navigation bar notifies you of tasks assigned by a workflow. The 'Filters' and 'Sort' options on any list are another common feature, letting you quickly find a specific transaction among thousands. These features are designed to make the system intuitive and efficient for all users, regardless of their specific role.
Identify Your Data Sources
Before using the Data Management workspace, you must understand where your data lives now. Is it in Excel spreadsheets, an old accounting system, or a cloud service? Identify the master data (customers, vendors, products) and transactional data (open sales orders, outstanding invoices). This step is essential for planning the import strategy and choosing the correct data entities.
Clean and Standardise Your Master Data
Raw data from spreadsheets is often full of errors: typos, duplicate records, incomplete fields. In this step, you use tools like Excel to remove duplicates, fix formatting issues (e.g., standardising phone numbers), and fill in missing mandatory fields (like a Tax ID). Clean data is critical because 'garbage in, garbage out' applies directly—bad master data leads to failed invoices and mis-shipments.
Map and Import Data Using the Data Management Workspace
Open the Data Management workspace and create an 'Import' project. Choose a data entity (e.g., 'Customer'). Then, map the columns from your source file (like 'Customer Name' in your spreadsheet) to the fields in the target data entity. The system previews the data and allows you to run a test import to check for errors. Only after fixing all errors do you run the final import. This step ensures the data lands in the correct fields within the F&O database.
Configure a Workflow for a Key Business Process
Identify a business process that requires approval, such as a purchase requisition. Navigate to the Workflow section in F&O. Create a new workflow of the 'Purchase requisition' type. In the workflow designer, define the steps: when a requisition is submitted, if the amount is under £500, it auto-approves; if over £500, route to the department manager. Publish the workflow. This automates the approval logic and creates an audit trail.
Personalise Your Workspace for Daily Efficiency
As a user, you can customise your own view. For instance, on the 'All sales orders' list page, you might want to add the 'Delivery date' column and hide the 'Sales order status' column. You do this by using the personalisation toolbar (usually a gear icon or right-click option). Save the personalisation. This step makes the system more efficient for you personally without requiring IT help or affecting others.
Set Up a Recurring Integration for Regular Data Updates
Suppose you receive a daily file from your warehouse system (a CSV of stock movements). In the Data Management workspace, create a 'Recurring data job'. Select the appropriate data entity (e.g., 'Inventory on-hand'), define a schedule (every night at 10 PM), and point to the source location (a shared folder or FTP site). This step automates the daily data refresh, eliminating manual entry and ensuring inventory levels are always current.
Consider Sarah, a Supply Chain Manager at 'EcoGadgets', a company selling sustainable consumer electronics. EcoGadgets is moving from a collection of spreadsheets and a basic accounting program to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations apps. Her first job is data management.
Sarah starts by cleaning up her master data. She has a spreadsheet with 500 suppliers, but many are outdated or have incomplete information like missing tax IDs. She uses the Data Management workspace to create a 'Supplier' data entity import job. She maps the columns from her spreadsheet (Supplier Name, Phone, Email, Tax ID) to the fields in the F&O Supplier entity. She runs a test import and finds 20 errors—duplicate names and invalid VAT numbers. She fixes these in the original spreadsheet and re-imports. This ensures her new system starts with clean, reliable data.
Next, she sets up a workflow for purchase order approvals. Currently, any team member can place an order, often costing the company money without proper checks. She configures a purchase requisition workflow: when an employee submits a request for new monitors, the system checks if the cost is under £500. If yes, it goes straight to the procurement team for purchase. If over £500, it automatically routes to the department head for approval. If over £5,000, it goes to the CEO. The workflow logs every step. This is a real-world application: automating a business rule that was previously manual and error-prone.
Sarah then needs to integrate data from their inventory system. She learns about the 'Recurring integrations' feature. She can set up an automated job that every hour, picks up a file from a shared network drive (containing new stock movements from their warehouse scanner system) and imports it into F&O. This removes the need for manual data entry.
Finally, she uses common features daily. She pins her most-used pages (like 'All purchase orders') to her navigation bar. She uses the global search to quickly jump to the 'Inventory management' workspace. She relies on the 'Inbox' to see pending approval tasks created by the purchase order workflow she built. Without mastering these common features, Sarah would be slow and inefficient. With them, she manages the entire supply chain data flow from one central, reliable system.
The MB-920 exam is very specific about what it asks you to remember regarding data management and common features. It is not a technical implementation exam. It tests conceptual understanding and the ability to distinguish between related but different terms.
Here are the exact areas you must master:
- Data Management Concepts: The exam will test your understanding of the Data Management workspace. It will ask what it is used for (importing, exporting, and data entity management). Be clear that 'data entities' are the key concept—they are reusable packages of data fields for a specific business concept (like 'Customer' or 'Product'). Do NOT confuse a data entity with a database table; a data entity is a business-friendly view. - Workflow Concepts: You will be asked to identify the purpose of a workflow (to automate business processes and route documents for approval). A common trap is confusing a workflow with a 'batch job' (which is for scheduled background processing of data, like generating invoices at midnight). Workflows are about human approval steps and task routing. Know the components: workflow types, tasks, approvals, and decision elements. The exam may ask: 'You need an expense report over £1000 to be approved by a manager. What should you use?' The answer is a workflow. - Common Features: The exam lists several 'common features' and you need to know what each one does. - Navigation: 'Search for a page' (global search), Navigation bar, Action pane, Navigation pane (the menu on the left). Know which is which. - Workspaces: Know they are personalised pages showing a role-based overview. A warehouse manager has a different workspace than an accountant. - Inbox: Know this is for workflow tasks and notifications, not email. - Personalisation: The ability for a user to change their own view (add fields, change column order) without needing a developer. This is a key common feature. - Power BI Tiles: The ability to embed reports from Power BI (Microsoft's analytics tool) directly into workspaces. - Queries and Filters: The ability to filter data on any list page without writing code. - Traps to watch for: - The exam will present a scenario where you need to move data from an old system into F&O. A wrong answer might suggest custom development. The correct answer is to use the Data Management workspace and data entities. - They will ask about 'building a custom approval process'. The correct answer is to use a workflow, not to write code in Microsoft Visual Studio. - They will ask about 'changing the layout of a page for a user'. The correct answer is 'Personalisation', not 'Configuration' or 'Development'. - They might confuse 'Master Data' with 'Transactional Data'. Master data is relatively static (customer list). Transactional data is created daily (sales order). Be ready to tell the difference. - Key definitions to memorise: - Data Management workspace: Central hub for data import/export using data entities. - Data entity: A reusable, standardised set of fields representing a business concept. - Recurring integrations: Automated, scheduled data import/export jobs. - Workflow: Automates a business process by routing documents through approval or task steps. - Workspace: A role-centric dashboard for a user. - Personalisation: User-level customisation of a page view.
Data management in Finance and Operations apps ensures all business data is consistent, accurate, and available from a single source of truth.
The Data Management workspace is the central hub for importing and exporting data using reusable data entities.
Workflows automate business processes by routing documents and tasks through approval or action steps, enforcing business rules.
Master data, like customer and product records, is static and foundational, while transactional data, like sales orders, records daily activity.
Personalisation allows individual users to customise their page layout, view, and fields without affecting other users.
Workspaces are role-centric dashboards that provide a focused overview of tasks and metrics for specific job functions.
Data entities are business-friendly views of data from multiple underlying database tables, designed for efficient data import and export.
Cleaning and managing master data before importing it into F&O is critical for avoiding errors and ensuring system reliability from day one.
These come up on the exam all the time. Here's how to tell them apart.
Workflow
Requires human interaction for approvals or tasks before the process moves to the next step.
Creates an audit trail of who approved what and when.
Used for processes requiring business logic and manual decision-making (e.g., expense approval).
Batch Job
Runs automatically in the background without any human input.
Does not create a detailed audit trail of individual human decisions (only execution logs).
Used for data processing or time-sensitive tasks (e.g., posting invoices at midnight).
Master Data
Relatively static, changes infrequently (e.g., customer name, product description).
Defines the core business entities and is reusable across many transactions.
Must be maintained carefully because errors here affect many downstream processes.
Transactional Data
Dynamic, created every day (e.g., sales order, payment, shipment).
Records an event or action that happened at a point in time.
Dependent on accurate master data to be valid (you cannot create a sales order for a non-existent customer).
Data Management Workspace
Designed for importing and exporting data in bulk using data entities.
Allows mapping of source columns to target fields.
Supports recurring integration schedules for automated data transfer.
Regular Page (e.g., 'All Customers')
Designed for viewing, creating, and editing individual records manually.
Limited to showing data that is already in the system.
Does not provide import/export functionality or field mapping tools.
Personalisation
Performed by a single user for their own view only.
Does not require administrator rights; any user can do it.
Does not affect the underlying data or the layout seen by other users.
Configuration
Performed by an administrator or developer for all users.
Changes the default behaviour or appearance of the system for the entire company.
Affects the data model, business rules, or global page layout.
Workspace
A role-centric dashboard displaying key tasks, KPIs, and quick links for a specific job.
Usually contains 'tiles' (summaries), 'lists', and embedded Power BI reports.
Provides a snapshot of the user's current workload and performance metrics.
Navigation Pane
A hierarchical menu on the left showing links to all system modules and pages.
Used to navigate to any page in the application by expanding modules.
Static list item, not a dashboard—it does not display data or reports.
Mistake
Workflows and batch jobs are essentially the same thing because both run in the background.
Correct
Workflows are designed for human interaction (approvals, tasks) and require a person to act before moving to the next step. Batch jobs are automated processes that run entirely without human input, like posting a set of invoices or calculating depreciation overnight.
The word 'automated' is misleading. Beginners hear 'automated' and think 'no human needed'. Batch jobs are truly no-human, but workflows manage human tasks; they automate the routing, not the decision itself.
Mistake
Data entities are just another name for database tables.
Correct
A data entity is a business-friendly view of one or more underlying database tables. It is designed for import/export and often combines data from multiple tables into a single logical object (like a 'Customer' entity also pulling address from an address table). A database table is the raw technical storage.
The word 'entity' sounds technical. Beginners hear 'table' in the context of databases and assume they are synonyms. The exam tests the distinction, so it is a common point of confusion.
Mistake
Personalisation is the same as configuration because both involve changing system behaviour.
Correct
Configuration is done by an administrator or developer and affects all users (e.g., changing the currency format for the whole company). Personalisation is done by a single user and only affects their own view (e.g., moving a field to a different location on the screen just for them).
Both change how the system looks or behaves. The difference—scope of impact (one user vs. everyone)—is subtle but important for exam questions that ask 'which feature allows a user to...'.
Mistake
The workspace is the same as the navigation pane.
Correct
The navigation pane is the left-hand menu that contains links to all system modules (e.g., Accounts payable, Sales). A workspace is a role-specific dashboard page that provides an overview of key tasks and performance indicators for a user's job function (e.g., the 'Accountant' workspace shows pending invoices and financial KPIs).
Both are part of the user interface and help with navigation. Beginners lump them together. The exam asks specific questions about the purpose of a workspace compared to other navigation elements.
Mistake
Recurring integrations are the only way to get data into F&O apps.
Correct
Recurring integrations are a powerful method for automated, repeated imports, but the Data Management workspace also supports one-time, manual imports from files (Excel, CSV, XML) via data entities. There are also OData APIs (Open Data Protocol, a standard way to expose data over the internet) for real-time integration.
Beginners hear one term ('recurring integration') and assume it covers all scenarios. The exam tests your knowledge of the Data Management workspace as the primary tool for import/export tasks, not just scheduled ones.
Reveal each answer, then mark whether you got it right. Score 60%+ to unlock the next chapter.
A data entity is a business-focused representation of data, designed specifically for importing and exporting information. It can pull data from one or more underlying database tables and present it in a simple, flat structure. A database table is the raw technical storage layer where the system actually saves the data.
Yes, the Data Management workspace supports importing from Excel, CSV, and XML file formats. You map the columns from your file to fields in a data entity, and the system handles the rest.
You use the Workflow feature. Go to the module you need (e.g., Accounts payable), open the workflow editor, create a new workflow of the 'Purchase order' type, and configure the conditions and approval steps. No coding is required.
No. If you use the Personalisation feature to move a tile or change a view, it only affects your personal version of the workspace. Other users will still see the original layout created by the administrator.
A reusable data job lets you define an import or export project once (including the file mapping and source settings) and then execute it repeatedly without redefining everything. This is particularly useful for standard monthly reports or daily data feeds.
No. Workflows are designed to be configured by business users or functional consultants using a graphical designer. You simply drag and drop steps and define conditions, all without writing code.
The Navigation pane is the menu on the left side of the screen. It lists all the main modules of the system (like Sales, Finance, Procurement), and you can expand each module to see the specific pages and reports available.
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