{"id":109166,"date":"2017-04-24T02:35:41","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T09:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/another-look-at-the-common-data-service\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T08:14:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T15:14:32","slug":"another-look-at-the-common-data-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/another-look-at-the-common-data-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Another look at the Common Data Service (Previous Version)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi folks!<\/p>\n

We announced the General Availability of the Common Data Service in this blog<\/u><\/a> back in November 2016. We explained that the Common Data Service enables powerful data storage and modeling, offers a data access layer with support for importing and exporting data, and comes with out-of-the-box data management experiences in familiar applications such as Outlook.\u00a0 Well, now we\u2019re back again – this time with a much more concrete view of what you can do with the Common Data Service, as well as an update on several exciting features that have been released and a description of things to come over the next few months.\u00a0 So here we go!<\/p>\n

What is the Common Data Service?<\/h1>\n

As we talk with customers about how they do their work and solve their problems, we keep finding ourselves asking the same question: Wouldn\u2019t life be easier if everything just worked together?<\/strong>\u00a0 More and more, customers are needing to take on significant work to tie together multiple apps, services and solutions so their users are able to get their work done.\u00a0 That\u2019s where we come in:<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s Common Data Service brings together your business data in one place so you can focus on the things that matter: building apps, finding insights and automating your business processes.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

With CDS, gone are the days where you need to invest in elaborate (and expensive!) systems to tie together multiple, disparate systems so your users can use and build the apps and experiences they need.\u00a0 We do that all heavy lifting for you!\u00a0\u00a0And what\u2019s more, we have taken on the work to light up the full range of Microsoft\u2019s ecosystem against your data that lives here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s get more concrete. The CDS team\u2019s goal is to deliver on 3 things to our customers:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    The CDS is the focal point<\/strong> for your data<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    The CDS is a great place to build<\/strong> and manage your apps<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    It just works<\/strong> with other Microsoft services<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We\u2019ll explore each of these in depth below, talk about what\u2019s available now, and share a sneak peek at some of what\u2019s coming!<\/p>\n

    The focal point for all your data<\/h2>\n

    One of the biggest benefits of building with the Common Data Service is that we do all the heavy lifting of bringing your data together in one place for your users and applications<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you\u2019re already using other Microsoft services like Dynamics 365 for Sales or Operations, or even Azure Active Directory and Office 365, we\u2019re making it so that your data just shows up in the Common Data Service.\u00a0 Not only does this data show up without you needing to invest time, effort or infrastructure, the data from across these services are automatically fully integrated and related as appropriate in our data model!\u00a0<\/p>\n

    At the core of the Common Data service is an extensible data model (we call this the \u201cCommon Data Model\u201d) that is shared by all your apps built on the CDS<\/strong>.\u00a0 The data model starts with a set of commonly used business entities that we automatically provision for you.\u00a0 These entities are\u00a0well understood by business app developers the world over, and we work hard to ensure that these entities are as broadly applicable as possible. For example, we automatically make available entities for managing Customers, Employees, Products, Accounts, Sales Orders and Sales Leads.\u00a0There are many more entities in the Common Data Model, and you can learn about them here<\/u><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    If these entities don\u2019t meet your needs, you can extend them or even create brand new ones.\u00a0 The entities you create or extend can be shared by any apps that are also using the CDS.\u00a0 This means all your company\u2019s apps are able to build on one another, providing the best, most consistent experience for your users.\u00a0 What’s more –\u00a0you don’t need to be burdened with connecting to each of the other applications you want to share data with.\u00a0 The fact that all apps are using the CDS means that data from those apps are available for your app to use without any additional work on your part!<\/p>\n

    We have significant on-going investments in our core data model and services over the coming months including:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \n

      Data integration capabilities <\/strong>that automatically sync in data from our 1st<\/sup> party services like Dynamics 365 for Sales and Operations with just a few clicks.\u00a0 We\u2019ve just launched an initial preview of these capabilities in the past month through our Prospect to Cash<\/em> integration features. \u00a0Soon we\u2019ll be back to talk about how we are enabling you to bring in data from across Microsoft and even non-Microsoft sources too!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    2. \n

      Many new entities <\/strong>from a variety of areas including Customer Engagement, Project Management, Incident Management, Service Management and Human Resources.\u00a0 We\u2019re also working with partners throughout the industry to enable exciting new scenarios when we bring data together across business domains – expect to hear more on this very soon!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    3. \n

      Multiple Dynamics 365 applications<\/strong> and offerings that are built on this Common Data Service.\u00a0 These apps build on the CDS, so the data that\u2019s used by those apps are available for you to build your own apps against.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The CDS\u2019s goal in this space is to make it so customers don\u2019t need to take on significant investment to enable their users to use and build apps that are operating on a single, centralized set of data. And these features get us there.<\/p>\n

      A great place to build and manage apps<\/h2>\n

      Our investments in the Focal point for data<\/strong> space means your data is now in CDS.\u00a0 We recognize that this is only meaningful if you can use <\/em>the data!\u00a0 So we\u2019ve made it as quick, easy, and reliable as possible<\/strong> for your app creators to create, distribute and manage apps <\/strong>with the CDS.\u00a0<\/p>\n

      We\u2019ve done lots of work to enable the whole spectrum of app creators to be able to build apps with our service!<\/p>\n