Shannon Mullins
- Jun 29, 2023
- 4 min read

Getting Started With Dynamics 365 Business Central Telemetry

Updated: Oct 14, 2023

There are so many benefits to using Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Applications Insights with Telemetry. Here are some of the major benefits:

Review and determine the cause performance issues
See all system and application errors with detailed analysis
Review application usage
Review user access and behaviors

This feature is mostly free (just a small, typically less than $10 a month Azure spend) to all Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud users, partners, app developers and business analysts.

ALSO READ:

→ Dynamics 365 Business Central's Solutions for Inventory Tracking

→ Multiple Company Management with Business Central

→ Dynamics 365 Sales CRM: A Better Alternative to Salesforce?

This is a step-by-step guide to getting started with Telemetry

Tips: I recommend you start by having your partner that manages your Azure environment or an internal Azure admin readily available to assist. You will also need someone with Business Central Admin Center access and access to a Power BI Pro free trial or Power BI Pro License.

Step One: Get started (set up Azure Application Insights)

If you don't already have one, get a subscription to Microsoft Azure.
Sign in to the Azure portal.
Create an Azure Application Insights resource by following the guidelines at Workspace-based Application Insights resources. Tip: You can use the same Azure Application Insights resource for multiple tenants and their different environments. For more information, see Create an Application Insights resource.
Depending on your Business Central version, get the Connection String or Instrumentation Key of the Azure Application Insights resource. You can copy this information from the Overview page for resource in the Azure portal. You will need this for Step Two.

Step Two: Enable telemetry on environments

Once you have the resource and its connection string or instrumentation key, you can enable your tenants to send telemetry to your Azure Application Insights resource.

For online environments:

For Business Central online, you can enable telemetry on environments either from the admin center or by using the the admin center API. To use the admin center, complete the following steps. For information about using the admin center API, go to Put AppInsights key.

From the admin center:

In the Business Central administration center, select Environments, and then select the environment that you want to change. Important: The next steps require a restart to the environment, which is triggered automatically at the end of this procedure. Plan to do this during non-working hours to avoid disruptions.
On the Environment page, the Application Insights Key field shows if the environment already uses application insights. To enable telemetry, choose the Define caption, and then, in the Set Application Insights Key pane, choose the Enable application insights field and enter the instrumentation key in the Instrumentation Key field.
Choose the Save button.

Step Three: Get the App on App Telemetry

To install or update the app for app telemetry, go to https://aka.ms/bctelemetry-isv-app and select Get it now.

You'll first have to sign in to Microsoft AppSource using your Power BI account name and password, if you aren't already signed in. Follow the online instructions to get the app installed in Power BI.

Important: You will need a Power BI Pro License to view and use the reports. You can always try Power BI Pro for free for 30 days.

Once installed, the Dynamics 365 Business Central App Usage app appears under Apps in Power BI. A workspace with the same name is also installed for configuring the app.

To open the app, from the navigation pane, select Apps > Dynamics 365 Business Central App Usage.

By default, the app shows sample data in the reports. This sample data enables you to demo the app to prospective customers without having to show data from existing customers.

After the app is installed, you can connect it to an Azure Application Insights resource to view actual data instead of the sample data.

Get the Application Insights resource's application ID. To connect the app to an Azure Application Insights resource, you'll need its Application ID. You can get this ID from the Azure portal as follows:
1. Sign in to Azure portal.
2. Open the Application Insights resource, then select API Access.
3. In the API Access page, copy Application ID to the clipboard.
In Power BI, open the Dynamics 365 Business Central Usage app, the select Connect your data.
On the Connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central Usage page, fill in the Application Insights application id with the ID you copied from the previous step. In the Lookback period box, select the number of days back in time you want to show. Other information on the page is optional. For more information, see Configure the app.
Select Next and wait while your credentials are checked.
Select Sign in and connect, then enter a valid name and password for accessing the Application Insights resource, if asked. Note Keep the Authentication method set to OAuth2. If you get the error The OAuth authentication method isn't supported for this data source, check if the application ID is correct; that's usually the root cause for that error.