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Sentinel 1.5 | Preview

Use managed extensibility of data models

2026 Release Wave 1 · Tax

Score 55/100 · MediumImpact MediumSwiss relevance LowGenerally Available

Dx365 Analysis

Our interpretation — not a Microsoft statement

What is changing?

Business performance analytics is gaining a governed method for adding customer-specific fields and additional Fabric-based data structures to its analytical model. This concerns analytics modelling; it does not extend the Finance transactional schema or change tax calculation logic.

Business performance analytics primarily relies on the delivered analytical models. Fields introduced through Finance extensions, tax customizations, or proprietary applications are not automatically available in those models. Customers commonly address such gaps by building separate Fabric or Power BI models, adding transformation logic, or joining extracted Finance data with other datasets. These approaches increase ownership, reconciliation, refresh monitoring, and upgrade-testing effort.

Based on the limited release-plan description, administrators or analytics makers should be able to use predefined extension points, including reserved fields and model structures, to map additional data into Business performance analytics. The capability is expected to require both explicit enablement and an appropriate Microsoft Fabric license. The precise mapping tools, supported sources, capacity limits, refresh behaviour, and lifecycle controls are not yet clear.

Why it matters

This could reduce the need to create an entirely separate analytical model whenever standard Finance analytics omit a custom field or supplementary dataset. It may be useful where management reporting combines Finance transactions with extension fields, operational systems, or customer-specific tax classifications. Benefits will depend on whether the managed extension points cover the required entities and remain supportable through updates.

Who is affected?

Dynamics 365 Finance solution architectsBusiness performance analytics administratorsMicrosoft Fabric architects and administratorsPower BI developersFinance and tax reporting leadsData engineersSecurity and compliance administratorsApplication lifecycle management teams

Consultant impact — Medium

Adoption is optional, but using it will require data-model design, Fabric licensing and capacity review, field mapping, security assessment, validation of refresh and reconciliation, report regression testing, and updated technical documentation. Existing custom Fabric or Power BI solutions may need a fit-gap assessment rather than immediate replacement. Projects not using Business performance analytics are unlikely to require action.

  • Confirm that Business performance analytics and the necessary Microsoft Fabric licensing are available in the target environment.
  • Enable the preview only in a non-production environment after reviewing preview-use restrictions.
  • Inventory custom Finance fields and external datasets currently missing from analytical reporting.
  • Define ownership, security classification, and reconciliation rules for each added field or dataset.
  • Test data completeness, refresh timing, dimensional relationships, row-level security, and report results.
  • Review deployment and version-control procedures for mappings across development, test, and production environments.

Swiss relevance — Low

The capability does not appear to alter Swiss VAT, statutory reporting, payment formats, banking connectivity, or other localization behaviour. It may still help Swiss customers include bespoke VAT attributes, local management dimensions, or data from Swiss-specific applications in analytics, but that is a generic modelling use case rather than a Swiss requirement.

What should customers do now?

  • Treat the August 2026 preview as an evaluation point, not a production commitment, and verify the published schedule closer to release.
  • Select one contained reporting gap as a proof of concept, such as adding a customer-specific tax classification to an existing analytical report.
  • Compare the managed approach with the current custom Fabric or Power BI architecture on maintainability, security, performance, and reconciliation effort.
  • Do not retire existing analytical pipelines until supported sources, model limits, deployment behaviour, refresh handling, and upgrade compatibility have been demonstrated.
  • Include Fabric specialists in design reviews; this is not solely a Finance or Tax configuration feature.
  • Monitor documentation for licensing, regional availability, supported data types, security boundaries, and the transition from preview to general availability.

Release Radar score — 55/100 (Medium priority)

The feature could be valuable for customers already using Business performance analytics and Fabric, particularly those with extensive Finance extensions. However, it is optional, has no direct effect on core Finance or tax processing, offers limited Swiss-specific value, and currently lacks enough implementation detail for firm planning. The stated preview and general availability dates of August and September 2026 also leave time before production adoption.

Assumptions, not Microsoft-confirmed facts

  • The analysis assumes that the managed extension points apply to the Business performance analytics semantic or analytical model, not to the underlying Finance application tables.
  • The release-plan information does not establish which proprietary or Fabric-hosted source types will be supported.
  • It is not clear whether reserved fields can be renamed, strongly typed, reused across models, or promoted between environments through standard application lifecycle management.
  • No conclusion can yet be made about data latency, historical backfill, incremental refresh, relationship constraints, or performance limits.
  • The feature's placement under Tax does not by itself indicate any change to tax determination, settlement, filing, or localization functionality.
  • The supplied status says Public Preview while the supplied preview date is August 2026; the actual availability status and schedule should be checked in the current release plan and target tenant.

Microsoft information

Quoted from the release plan

The managed extensibility of data models in Business performance analytics enhances its business value by giving customers the flexibility to seamlessly integrate data from Dynamics 365 extensions and proprietary sources. With this feature, you can perform more comprehensive and customized data analysis, so decision-making processes include all relevant information. By enabling easy integration of extra data, businesses gain deeper insights, improved accuracy in reporting, and tailored analytics that meet specific business needs. This adaptability drives better strategic planning, operational efficiency, and supports continuous growth and innovation.

By incorporating placeholder fields and empty star schemas, you can map your unique fields for customized and tailored analytics. This approach allows businesses to extend the Business performance analytics model to meet specific needs, facilitating deeper insights and more relevant reporting. When you enable this feature within Business performance analytics and a customer's Microsoft Fabric license, it extends the Business performance analytics data model for Dynamics 365 finance and operations to conform to additional data sources in Fabric. Ultimately, managed extensibility fosters a highly adaptable analytics environment, supporting personalized decision-making and driving business growth through tailored data integration.

Change history

Differences detected between scans

  • status01 Sept 2026

    The release status moved from Public Preview to Generally Available.

    Public Preview
    Generally Available
  • added12 Aug 2026

    Microsoft added this feature to the Dynamics 365 Finance release plan.

    —
    Public Preview
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