HaloITSM Guides
Documentation to assist with the setup and configuration of the HaloITSM platform
Dynamics 365 Business Central Integration
Registering an Azure Application
To use the Business Central integration, you are required to register an application in your Azure Active Directory. To do this, open your Azure portal and select App registrations > New registration. Give your application a sensible name, and ensure that supported account types is set to "Single tenant".
To finalise your application registration, you must register a redirect URI. Although this step is optional at the time of submission, a redirect URI is required for the integration to work successfully. The redirect URI should be entered in the following format: {Web App URL}/azure/auth. For example, if your Halo application url is https://app.haloitsm.com, your redirect URI would be https://app.haloitsm.com/azure/auth as shown below.
Once the application has been registered successfully, navigate to the Certificates & secrets tab. Register a new client secret using the available options. Once created, keep a copy of this secret somewhere safe, as it is not obtainable again once you leave the application.
The final step to configuring an application in Azure is to add API permissions so that your app can access resources in Business Central. Navigate to the API permissions tab, where you will see that you have the permission User.Read by default. This permission can be removed as it is not required. Select Add a permission and choose Dynamics 365 Business Central from the list of available APIs.
Select Delegated permissions and then select both user_impersonation and Financials.ReadWrite.All. Click Add permissions to add these permissions to your application.
Enabling the Integration
To enable the Dynamics 365 Business Central integration, navigate to Configuration > Integrations, and enable the module using the plus icon in the top right hand corner of the Business Central menu icon. Once the module has been enabled, click the menu icon to begin configuring it.
Authorisation in Halo
When opening the module for the first time, you will see three fields that must be populated. The first of these is your Azure domain. The second is the ID of the application that you have just registered in Azure, which can be found on the overview tab of the application in the Azure portal. The third option is your client secret which was generated earlier.
Click the authorize application button to begin the authorization process. You will be redirected to the Microsoft login screen, and upon a successful login, you will be redirected back to the Business Central module. Your application and authorisation details have now been saved. To clear these details or make changes to your application configuration in Halo, click the Disconnect from Application button.
Note that if you make changes to your application in Azure, such as changing the API permissions or your client secret expires and you have to generate a new one, you will need to disconnect from your application in Halo and re-complete the authorization process.
Add a Web Service
Now that the authorization process has been completed, you will notice that the Business Central module in your Halo application has lots of new configuration options displayed. The first section is for storing web service details from Business Central.
For Halo to manage fixed asset data in Business Central, a web service needs to be published in Business Central, as this is not created in Business Central by default. To do this, navigate to Web Services (search for web services in the search bar if unsure) and press the New button to register a new web service. In the Object Type column, select Page from the drop down. Then, choose 5600 in the Object ID column, which is the object ID for the fixed asset card. Give your service a sensible name such as FixedAssetCard, and check the publish box once you are happy with your configuration.
Once published, the OData V4 URL column will be populated. Copy this value into the field in Halo to complete this part of the configuration.
Fixed Assets in Halo
Next you need to decide what defines a fixed asset in Halo. The main step to this is to choose an asset type for fixed assets to be assigned to. In the example below, an asset type has been created with the name Fixed Assets.
Below this, you have the option to map fields from Business Central to asset fields in Halo. Click the plus icon in the top right hand corner of the table to add a new record. Business Central fields can be mapped to existing Halo asset fields, or you can choose to create new fields automatically when doing your next import. These field mappings are used to determine the details of a fixed asset when they are imported from Business Central, and also when fixed assets are created in Business Central from Halo.
Note that although it is possible to have a text field automatically created during your next import from Business Central, it is advised that you don't do this for Business Central date fields, as these require a very specific format when an asset is being created in Business Central, and this will be correctly maintained for you if the Halo field has a type of "Date". If you would also like any of your fields to not allow manual text input, and instead you would like your technicians to choose from a drop down list when creating the assets, then these fields will also be manually configured. Configuration of asset fields is not covered in this guide.
Importing Fixed Assets
To import fixed assets from Business Central into Halo, a site must be chosen for the assets to be assigned to. The assets can be moved after you complete the import should you wish. Once selected, you can open the importer screen using the Import Fixed Assets button.
Should any of your configuration be invalid, an error message will be displayed on the importer screen.
Creating Fixed Assets in Business Central
Whenever a fixed asset is created in Halo, it can be created automatically in Business Central. This functionality can be enabled by turning on the setting shown below.
When the fixed asset is sent to Business Central, Business Central performs it's usual validation checks to check that the data being passed is correct. For example, if a depreciation start date is chosen, you must also choose a valid depreciation end date. If there are any issues creating the fixed asset in Business Central, then an error message will be displayed on your screen, as shown below where an invalid depreciation method has been chosen.
In this scenario, a button will be made available at the top of the asset so that you can attempt to create the asset again in Business Central once you have made the necessary configuration changes to the asset.
Once the asset has been successfully created in Business Central, this option will no longer be available.