Change tracking in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (F&O) is a feature that allows you to track and synchronize data changes in specific data entities with external systems or applications. This feature is particularly useful in scenarios involving data integration or data migration. Here's a more detailed look at what change tracking entails:
Purpose: It's primarily used to ensure that external systems, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, Business Intelligence (BI) tools, or other third-party applications, remain synchronized with Dynamics 365 F&O without the need to perform full data exports.
How It Works: When change tracking is enabled on a data entity, the system keeps track of any additions, updates, or deletions made to the records in that entity. This tracking allows external systems to only pull the changes since the last synchronization, rather than having to re-import the entire data set, saving time and resources.
Types of Tracking:
No Tracking: Change tracking is not enabled.
All: Tracks all changes made to the records of the entity.
Custom: Allows for tracking changes to specific fields within an entity.
Performance Consideration: While change tracking is a powerful feature, it's important to use it judiciously as it can have performance implications, especially when enabled on large data sets or on multiple entities.
Configuration: Change tracking is configured within the Data Management workspace. You can enable it for each data entity as per your requirements.
Usage in Data Projects: In data management projects, you can specify whether to import or export only the data that has changed since the last execution, which is particularly useful for incremental data transfers.
How to enable disable change tracking:
1. Navigate to the Data Management Workspace: The Data Management workspace is where you can manage data entities and set up the configurations for data import/export.
2. Find the Data Entities Option: Within the Data Management workspace, look for the "Data entities" option.
3. Select the Entity for Change Tracking: From the list of data entities, select the specific entity for which you want to enable change tracking.
4. Configure Change Tracking: Once you have selected a data entity, you can enable change tracking by setting the "Change tracking" option to either:
None: Change tracking is not enabled for the entity.
All: All fields in the entity are tracked for changes.
Custom: Allows for specific fields within the entity to be tracked.
Save the Configuration: After configuring the change tracking options, ensure to save the changes.
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