Wouldn’t it be amazing to have all your important business data in one place?
We think so too. And the answer may very well be Microsoft’s Common Data Service (CDS).
So, what is CDS? Simply put, CDS is designed to bring all relevant data together in one place ‒ for all users and applications. From an economic standpoint, this would logically save significant investment, enabling users to build and use apps that operate on a single, centralized set of data. And, it affords more time to focus on other priorities, like critical automation of business processes.
Microsoft designed their CDS to meet 3 goals:
- To be the focal point for all your data
- To be an excellent data platform to support apps and flows
build into Microsoft Dynamics 365 - To work well with other Microsoft services
CDS is the focal point for data
For those using Microsoft services (e.g., Dynamics 365 for Sales or Operations), we’re pleased to learn that the relevant data is linked so that it automatically shows up in the CDS – without any effort or time spent on the data transfer. And, it will be 100% integrated: CDS provides an extensible data model (the “Common Data Model”) that is shared by all your apps built on the CDS data.
CDS supports app creation (and data management)
According to Microsoft, CDS enables the entire spectrum of app creators to be able to build apps – everyone from those creating an app for the very first time, to professional developers.
CDS integrates with other Microsoft services
One of the most attractive reasons for building with the CDS is the integration, enabling users to maximize productivity. They are working with out-of-the-box integrations and in-market Outlook add-ins, with many more exciting features to come in the months ahead.
We like CDS, and we think you should too
From Pipol’s point-of-view, Microsoft CDS offers clear advantages, by automatically bringing together data from across the Dynamics 365 family into an integrated data model in the CDS. They’ve designed it to be easy, quick, and reliable so that app creators can create, distribute, and manage apps with the Power apps flow based upon data from CDS. And, other services throughout Microsoft can understand the data in the CDS without you doing any more work. Finally, it has incorporated enhanced security capabilities.
We think CDS looks like a winner.
We encourage you to read the full Microsoft blog post here, and share your comments and feedback: