Talk to Your Data: Instant Insights with Copilot

Talk to Your Data: Instant Insights with Copilot

Why export to Excel just to answer a simple question?

The "Chat with Finance & Operations Data" feature allows users to interrogate their ERP data using natural language. Instead of building complex filters or running reports, you can simply ask Copilot questions about your data, and it retrieves the answer from the live system.

What it does:

A user can type a question into the sidecar, such as:

• "Show me all customers in the 'Wholesale' group who have invoices overdue by more than 30 days."

• "What is the total inventory value for item X001?"

Copilot interprets the intent, translates it into a query (using the underlying Dataverse Virtual Entities), and presents the results instantly in a card or grid view.

Key Benefits:

• Democratized Data: Users don't need to know table names or SQL logic to find information.

• Speed: Answers in seconds rather than minutes of navigation.

• Actionable: Users can click through from the chat response directly to the record.

Technical / Developer Input:

For Copilot to "see" your custom X++ tables, they must be exposed as Dataverse Virtual Entities.

X++ Snippet: If you are developing a custom entity and want to ensure it is visible to the Virtual Entity integration (and thus Copilot), ensure the DataManagementEnabled property is true and the Entity Key is correctly defined.

Code snippet

// In your X++ Data Entity property sheet:
// IsPublic: Yes
// DataManagementEnabled: Yes
// PrimaryKey: EntityKey

// To programmatically check if a specific Virtual Entity is available in Dataverse (pseudo-code logic):
if (Microsoft.Dynamics.Platform.Integration.DataEntity.VirtualEntityMetadata::isEntityAvailable("MyCustomEntity"))
{
    info("Entity is ready for Copilot consumption.");
}

Official Microsoft References:

• Feature Guide (Verified): Chat with finance and operations data

• Release Plan (Verified): Experience enhancements to chat with Copilot

Using Dynamics 365 Finance Data in Copilot Studio

This video demonstrates the technical foundation of connecting Dynamics 365 Finance data to Copilot Studio, which powers these conversational data experiences. 

Using Dynamics 365 Finance Data in Copilot Studio - YouTube

Scott Gaines · 5.5K views