What Do You Do?

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Some law of human nature demands that any two strangers, gathered for a sufficient period of time, will eventually ask – whether from genuine curiosity or to evaluate relative status –  “What do you do?”

I never know what to say.

“I am a Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Functional Consultant.”

I’m met with a blank stare.  I’ve said words and communicated nothing. 

Only once have these particular words been sufficient. I was on a plane.  The woman next to me lit up. “Oh! I’m a Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Functional Consultant too!”.  She paused, “…How do you explain it to your family?”

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What Do You Call A Dinosaur…?

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I’m a simple man. I like simple things…like dinosaur puns.

Dinosaur puns are a formula: [some oddly-sepecific premise phrased as a question] = [some regular thing] + [some dinosaur-soundy thing]. Know what’s good at formulas?
Computers.

I was curious how well ChatGPT would generate dinosaur puns. Would they be funny?
(Separate existential thought: are any of them funny?)

Some of the puns below are “original”, some are GPT or GPT-inspired.
Can you tell which are which?

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D365 Finance | Filter for Blanks

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Use “” and the “is exactly” filter. This video could have been a blogpost. This blogpost could have been a tweet.

That said, this video contains a few extra nuggets that may be of use – how to create a listpage view that filters for blanks. How to use Power Query to report on records with blank values.

Hope you enjoy.

Some Concepts:

  • Filter for blanks (use “” and “is exactly” filter)
  • Add field to listpage
  • Create view from filtered listpage
  • Open in Excel
  • Use Power Query to create filtered view of data
  • Use Power Query to track changes to source data
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Still Early

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When we found out we were pregnant, we did all the things.

Luana put the pregnancy test in a box. She set up a hidden camera and recorded my surprise opening it, learning our lives would change.

We printed out a bunch of signs. My brother took pictures of us holding them on the grass in the front yard.  We turned the pictures into a slideshow for Luana’s mom in Brazil:

“Hey Mom… Happy Mother’s Day… We Love You… and… Guess What? …YOU… are going to be… a GRANDMA!”

We booked a pregnancy announcement photoshoot.  We dressed up and hiked to a field below this hill at sunset. The day turned out cloudy, but we took these lovely pictures surrounded by little yellow flowers. Pretty flowers.  They bloom here every spring.  I think they’re called mustard flowers, but they didn’t smell like mustard. I don’t know.

When we found out we were pregnant, we scheduled our 8-week appointment with the doctor to confirm the pregnancy.

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D365 Finance | Connect Directly to D365 Data with OData and Power Query

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Welcome to the matrix!

In this video, we look at how D365 data entities work with OData, how to find the entities available to you through OData, and how to connect to those entities using Power Query in Excel.

Some Concepts:

  • OData
  • OData in D365
  • Connecting to OData in Excel through Power Query
  • Data entity names are case sensitive and likely need dataareaid (legal enitity) defined.

Some References:

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D365 Finance | Supercharge Excel Add-in with Power Query

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In this video, we look at a simple example of how Power Query can supercharge your reporting abilities for values brought into excel via the data connector.

I’ve found Power Query to be a great tool for efficiently combining data that lives across two different D365 data entities. It is a fantastic tool for data migration or analysis in general.

Some Concepts:

  • Pivot Tables
  • Refreshing Data
  • Connecting Data to Power Query
  • Merging Two Data Sources in Power Query
  • D365 Relationship Between Projects, Project Contracts, and Sales Currency
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D365 Finance | Excel Add-in Reports with Formulas

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In this video, we look at using formulas within the excel data connector.

As an excel user, you should be familiar with formulas. Perhaps you frequently take D365 data into excel to perform some external lookups or comparisons. Formulas can be written into your D365 excel-connected experience, so that your dependent formulas refresh when you refresh your connection.

Some Concepts:

  • Using Excel Data Connector Add-in for D365
  • Adding Formulas to Connected Output
  • D365 list-page grouping and totaling
  • CountIf() and VLookup() formulas in Excel
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On Gender Reveal Parties

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I know gender reveal parties are controversial.

Sometimes they cause cringey TikTok videos. Sometimes they start California Wildfires.

Gender is a social construct. My children should be free to explore and discover its interfluidity in their own time. We should really call them sex reveal parties (though the sex reveal happens in the pregnancy announcement – amirite?)

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D365 Finance | Excel Add-in Data Connector from Scratch

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In this video, we look at building a master data report using the excel data connector.

Building the report from scratch instead of relying on the “open in excel” template experiences helped me better understand the connections made using the tool.

Some Concepts:

  • Using Excel Data Connector Add-in
  • Why Does Edge Open My Excel Download File In a New Tab First?
  • Getting Dynamics Connector Add-in for Excel
  • Connecting to Dynamics environment through Dynamics Connector
  • Creating Report Across Multiple Data Entities in One Excel Table
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