Unified D365 Finance Provisioning Explained

Introduction

Microsoft is redefining how Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management (D365 Finance & SCM) environments are provisioned, developed, and maintained.

D365 Finance & SCM applications are no longer deployed as isolated ERP systems. They are now native, cloud-based applications running on Microsoft Dataverse, fully integrated with the Power Platform and administered through a unified management interface.

This evolution delivers significant improvements in:

Environment provisioning
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)
Developer productivity and integration

D365 Finance & SCM as a Native Power Platform Application

With the unified administration experience:

D365 Finance & SCM runs on Dataverse
Power Apps, Power Automate, Copilot Studio, and ERP workloads share the same environment
Administration is centralized

This means:

No separate ERP infrastructure to manage
No fragmented administration tools
A single, consistent Power Platform environment for all components

Prerequisites

Before setting up a unified D365 Finance & SCM environment, ensure the following prerequisites are met.

System Requirements

Local machine with at least 20 GB of free disk space
Stable, high-quality internet connection

Azure Configuration

An Azure application registration in Microsoft Entra ID
A valid client secret associated with the application

Security and Permissions

The user performing the setup must have Power Platform Administrator rights
Permissions can be assigned via the Microsoft 365 Admin Center: https://admin.microsoft.com/

Power Platform Environment

The target environment must already exist and be accessible
At least 1 to 1.5 GB of free Dataverse capacity
The user must have either System Administrator or System Customizer roles

Role assignment path

https://make.powerapps.com: Power Apps > Environment > Advanced Settings > Security > Users
User > Manage Security Roles > Assign System Administrator / System Customizer

Development Tools

Visual Studio 2022 (Professional or Enterprise)
SQL Server Express / LocalDB (installed by default with Visual Studio)
DGML Editor installed in Visual Studio

Provisioning a Unified D365 Finance & SCM Environment

Power Platform Admin Center (PPAC)

Access the Power Platform Admin Center and navigate to: Manage > Environments

Create a New Test Environment

Create a new environment
Enable Dataverse
Select an ERP template (Finance, Supply Chain Management, or Project Operations)
Save the environment

Within the newly created environment:

Go to Resources > Dynamics 365 apps
Install Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Platform Tools (mandatory prerequisite)
Install the Finance and Operations Provisioning App

Installation Options:

Enable Developer Tools for X++ to support X++ development
Optionally include demo data for testing and validation purposes

⏱️ The installation process typically takes around one hour

PowerShell Provisioning (Recommended for DevOps Automation)

PowerShell is the preferred approach for automation and CI/CD pipelines.

Required Module Installation: Install-Module Microsoft.PowerApps.Administration.PowerShell -Force

Environment Provisioning Script (Example)

Add-PowerAppsAccount -Endpoint prod

$Location = “France”

$Region = “francecentral”

$EnvName = “prw-USE-DEV01” # Max 20 characters

$TemplateMetadata = @”

{

“PostProvisioningPackages”: [

{

“applicationUniqueName”: “msdyn_FinanceAndOperationsProvisioningAppAnchor”,

“parameters”: “DevToolsEnabled=true|DemoDataEnabled=true”

}

]

}

“@ | ConvertFrom-Json

New-AdminPowerAppEnvironment \

-DisplayName $EnvName \

-EnvironmentSku Sandbox \

-Templates “D365_FinOps_Finance” \

-TemplateMetadata $TemplateMetadata \

-LocationName $Location \

-RegionName $Region \

-ProvisionDatabase

This automation handles:

Activation of development tools
Deployment of demo data
Post-provisioning ERP configuration
Consistent, repeatable environment creation