D365 Configurable Business Documents offers a license-free output management solution for small businesses with limited requirements. The solution is partially integrated with business processes and workflows through Print Management.

Configurable Business Documents for Dynamics 365, also known as CBD, was released in October 2019 and is an extension of ER (Electronic Reporting). It comes with multiple reports consisting of ER formats and ER data models as their data source, which can be further customized through Microsoft Word or Excel.

Built on top of the Electronic Reporting Framework (ER), the reports were originally created as an alternative to SSRS reports.

In the absence of centralized knowledge and support, Microsoft Configurable Business Documents acts as an open source for programmers with a global community and all the benefits this brings.

What functionality does Configurable Business Documents D365 support?

Configurable Business Documents is partially integrated with business processes and workflows, but only through Print Management. Production reports such as Production Route Maps, Production Pick List, etc. are not supported by Print Management and therefore not supported by CBD.

In addition, the solution offers document management and document template setup with version control.

Microsoft Configurable Business Documents offers a license-free Output Management solution for small businesses with limited requirements when it comes to designing and distributing business documents from D365 F&SCM.

Any requirements that are not met by standard functionality in Electronic Reporting Framework and Excel/MS Word require X++ coding to meet them.

Learn more about Microsoft Configurable Business Documents for Finance and Supply Chain Management.

Electronic Reporting

Configurable Business Documents is often referred to as Electronic Reporting (ER), and is a powerful output management tool used for configuration of electronic business document formats e.g. invoices, purchase orders, quotes etc. It’s currently supporting TEXT, XML, JSON, PDF, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and OPENXML spreadsheet formats. Other formats are supported by an extension interface.

With Electronic Reporting D365 you can effectively leverage electronic reporting capabilities in Dynamics 365 to streamline your reporting processes and ensure compliance with regulatory standards. However, D365FO electronic reporting is primarily used by companies with simple business needs, including financial documents such as bank statements, order confirmations, and invoices.

The software can be used by companies with complex needs, but it’s not recommended by Tabellae. When developing electronic documents, tailored customizations frequently arise to accommodate the individual requirements of the company, and the amount of needed resources and coding experience/hours is often overwhelming  – despite the fact that the solution is marketed as code-free.

Read more about our output management software recommendations from one of our CBD/Electronic Reporting specialists, Malte Slot Lauridsen.

How to use D365 electronic reporting

At Tabellae, we are skilled with Configurable Business Documents / Electronic Reporting (ER). We have a dedicated department to this area, and they have gained experience with everything from how to set up and configurate electronic documents to how to map data and test the configurations to verify that they generate the expected output.

Have you experienced trouble with Electronic Reporting in D365? Then stay tuned! At our YouTube channel you can soon learn Electronic Reporting in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations online, e.g.:

• Create dynamic header and footer together with the ER Format Designer
• Create page numbering in the ER Format Designer
• Use company logo on your ER documents
• Change Microsoft “horisontal total section” to a “vertical range”

Alternatives to Configurable Business Documents D365

At Tabellae, we also work with other software than  for document management.

See the differences and similarities between various document management solutions and get a quick overview of whether you can make do with a simple solution like Configurable Business Documents.

For a more technical comparison of software options, download our Comparison Guide, which compares the functionality of the most common document management solutions on the market.