As someone deeply involved in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365FO), I often encounter questions about telemetry data—its impact on performance, its differences from audit trails, and its overall utility. Recently, Alex Meyer published an enlightening FAQ on this topic, and I’d like to share some key takeaways and my reflections.
Performance Impact: Minimal and Efficient
A common concern is whether enabling telemetry affects system performance. Alex clarifies that D365FO integrates with Azure Monitor using an asynchronous architecture. This “send it and forget it” approach ensures that telemetry data is sent without waiting for a response, resulting in negligible performance impact. In fact, a custom telemetry event was tested and found to execute in just 1 millisecond.
Telemetry vs. Audit Trails: Understanding the Difference
It’s essential to distinguish between telemetry and audit trails. Telemetry provides usage data—such as which forms users access—while audit trails track specific changes made by users, including old and new values. Both are valuable, but they serve different purposes in system monitoring and compliance.
Events Tracked by Telemetry
D365FO’s telemetry capabilities are extensive. They include:
- Form runs (page views)
- User sessions
- X++ exceptions (failures)
- Data Management Framework (DMF) errors
- Warehouse events
- Custom traces and metrics
This breadth allows for comprehensive monitoring of system usage and performance.
Object Usage Capture: What’s Included
By default, telemetry captures menu item display usages, as these are extended from the FormRun class. However, it doesn’t capture menu item outputs or actions due to the lack of a centralized extendable point for these objects. This limitation is important to consider when analyzing user interactions.
Cost and Data Retention
Telemetry data is stored in Azure Monitor, which encompasses Application Insights and Log Analytics. Costs vary based on the selected tier and region. For example, in the East US region, the Basic or Auxiliary tiers have a default retention policy of 30 days, while the Analytics Log tier offers 90 days. Retention periods can be adjusted at the workspace or table level via the Azure Portal or PowerShell.
Final Thoughts
Alex Meyer’s article provides valuable clarity on D365FO telemetry. Understanding these insights helps us leverage telemetry effectively for system monitoring and decision-making. For a deeper dive, I recommend reading the full article here. D365FO Telemetry Data FAQs – Alex Meyer
