Partners and Partner Groups

As a master data administrator,
I want to register a subscriber company that lives on the same Business Central tenant,
so that record data is transferred directly in memory without any file storage.

Steps:

1. Open the Global Master Partner List and choose New.
2. Enter a unique ID that matches the subscriber company's Partner ID in their Global Master Setup.
3. Set Data Exchange Type to Database.
4. Look up or type the Company Name — the system verifies the company exists on this tenant.
5. The Description is auto-filled from the Company Name; adjust if needed.
6. Assign one or more Data Templates using Assign Data Templates.
7. Clear On Hold to activate the partner. The system validates the Company Name before allowing this.

Result: The partner is active and included in the next exchange run.

As a master data administrator,
I want to set up a partner that uses a BC File Account connector (e.g. SharePoint or SFTP) to share IC files with a subscriber on a different tenant,
so that master data can cross tenant boundaries without an Azure Blob Storage subscription.

Steps:

1. Create a new partner record, enter the ID and Description.
2. Set Data Exchange Type to External File Account.
3. In the External File Account section, click the select link to open the file account picker and choose the account.
4. The Account Name and Connector type are displayed read-only; confirm they are correct.
5. Enter the subscriber's Company Name (informational, required before taking off hold).
6. Use Upload test file → Download test file → Delete test file to verify storage access.
7. Assign Data Templates, then clear On Hold.

Result: IC files for this partner are written to the selected file account for the subscriber to pick up.

As a master data administrator on an installation that still uses the original Azure Blob Storage setup,
I want to register a partner with direct Azure Blob Storage credentials,
so that IC files are written to and read from the named container.

Prerequisite: Import Method on the Global Master Setup must be set to Azure Blob Storage.

Steps:

1. Create a new partner, enter ID and Description.
2. Set Data Exchange Type to Azure Blob Storage.
3. Enter Azure Blob Storage Account Name, SAS token, and Container in the Azure Blob Storage section.
4. Enter the subscriber's Company Name.
5. Optionally use the Test BLOB Storage Connection actions to upload, download, and delete a test file.
6. Assign Data Templates, then clear On Hold.

Result: IC files are stored in the specified Azure Blob Storage container.

As a master data administrator,
I want to connect to a subscriber company on a separate Business Central Online tenant using a registered Entra application,
so that master data is pushed directly via the Business Central API without shared file storage.

Steps:

1. Ensure a GM Tenant Connector Code is already configured with the correct Microsoft Entra tenant ID, Client ID, and Client Secret.
2. Create a new partner, enter ID and Description.
3. Set Data Exchange Type to Web-service.
4. Enter the subscriber's Environment Name (e.g. Production).
5. Enter the subscriber's Company ID (the GUID of the company in their environment).
6. Select the Tenant Connector Code that holds the Entra credentials.
7. Use Test Web Service Connection to confirm authentication and verify that the subscriber company returns the expected Partner ID.
8. Assign Data Templates, then clear On Hold.

Result: The master can authenticate to the subscriber tenant and push data via the GMDS API.

As a master data administrator,
I want to assign specific data templates to an individual partner,
so that only the selected datasets are synchronised with that subscriber.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Card for the relevant partner.
2. Choose Assign Data Templates in the process bar.
3. A picker lists all templates owned by this master that are not yet assigned to this partner (directly or indirectly via a group). Templates whose members already cover this partner through a group are excluded automatically.
4. Select one or more templates and confirm the assignment dialog.
5. The Assigned Data Templates counter on the card reflects the new total.

Note: A partner cannot be assigned the same template both directly and as a member of a group that already holds that template.

As a master data administrator,
I want to remove the On Hold flag from a fully configured partner,
so that record data starts flowing to the subscriber on the next exchange run.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Card.
2. Confirm the Data Exchange Type is set and all connection fields are filled.
3. Confirm at least one Data Template is assigned.
4. Clear the On Hold checkbox.
5. The system validates the required fields for the transport type. If anything is missing, a specific error message identifies the field to fix.
6. Save the record.

Result: The partner is active and will be included in the next scheduled or manual data exchange.

As a master data administrator,
I want to trigger an immediate data push to a specific partner,
so that the subscriber receives the latest master data without waiting for the job queue.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Card or select the partner in the Global Master Partner List.
2. Choose Transfer Record Data in the process bar.
3. Confirm the prompt. Optionally confirm a second prompt to stop on the first error (useful for diagnostics).
4. The system processes all assigned templates in sequence, creating IC file logs and — for file-based transports — sending them to the partner's storage.
5. Check the Subscriber IC Files action to review the outcome.

Prerequisite: The partner must not be On Hold, and Master Exchange Record Set must be enabled in the Global Master Setup.

As a master data administrator,
I want to create a Partner Group to manage a set of subscriber companies collectively,
so that I can assign templates once and distribute data to all members together.

Steps:

1. Open the Global Master Partner Groups list and choose New.
2. Enter a unique Code — this cannot match any existing Partner ID.
3. Enter a Description.
4. The Status defaults to Under Development, which is required for adding templates and members.

Prerequisite: Skip File Split must be disabled in the Global Master Setup (the system validates this when creating a group).

As a master data administrator,
I want to add individual partners to a group that has no overlapping template subscriptions,
so that those partners receive data through the group from now on.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Group card; Status must be Under Development.
2. Choose Assign Partners in the process bar.
3. The Add Members to Partner Group wizard opens. Review the introduction and choose Next.
4. Click the selection link to open a picker. Only partners with Embed Record Set enabled, a valid Company Name, and no conflicting template subscriptions are shown.
5. Select one or more partners and choose Next.
6. Optionally specify a template company and creation time (relevant when the new companies were copied from a template company, to reduce initial exchange volume).
7. On the final step, choose a finishing action:
   • Review the partner group setup — no status change.
   • Set status to Pending Update — queues the update for background processing.
   • Handle updates and set status to Release — processes all pending updates immediately.
8. Check the Add members and execute the finalizing task checkbox and choose Finish.

As a master data administrator,
I want to remove a partner from a group,
so that it stops receiving data through the group subscription.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Group card; Status must be Under Development.
2. In the Partner Group Members subpage, select the member to remove.
3. Choose Remove Member.
4. If no data has been exchanged with this member yet, a confirmation removes it immediately.
5. If data has already been exchanged, the Remove Partner Group Member dialog appears:
   • Optionally check Set the new data templates Subscribers to Obsolete to also send a deletion signal to the subscriber company for each template.
   • Choose Yes to confirm removal.
6. The member's partner group updates are cleaned up and the member row is deleted.

As a master data administrator,
I want to assign data templates to a partner group,
so that all current and future members automatically subscribe to those templates.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Group card; Status must be Under Development.
2. Choose Assign Data Templates in the process bar.
3. A picker lists templates not already assigned to this group that do not conflict with the existing members' direct subscriptions.
4. Select one or more templates and confirm.
5. Partner Group Updates are automatically created for every existing member, representing the pending exchange work for the new template.

Note: The system prevents assigning a template if any member is already a direct or indirect subscriber to that template under another assignment.

As a master data administrator,
I want to release a Partner Group so that data flows to all its members,
so that the group becomes active and is included in scheduled data exchange.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Group card.
2. The group must be Under Development with at least one member and at least one template assigned.
3. To release directly, change Status to Released — this is only allowed when no unhandled updates exist.
4. If there are unhandled updates (e.g. because members were just added), first set Status to Pending Update.
5. Choose Handle Updates to process all pending updates: the system creates Partner Group File Logs, splits them into Subscriber IC File Logs per member, and sends them.
6. After all updates are handled, the status automatically transitions to Released.
7. Alternatively, use the Handle updates and set status to Release option in the Add Members wizard to do steps 4–6 in one action.

As a master data administrator,
I want to inspect the file logs produced when a partner group exchanges data,
so that I can track what was sent, when, and whether any errors occurred.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Group card or the Global Master Partner Groups list.
2. Choose Partner Group File Logs in the Navigation bar.
3. The Partner Group File Logs page shows one row per template per release run. Key columns:
   • Entry No. — unique sequence number.
   • GM Data Template Code — which template the files cover.
   • File Creation Start / End — when the file set was generated.
   • No. Of File Lines — data volume in the file.
   • Handled — whether the log has been split into member IC file logs.
   • Update — whether this log was created specifically to catch up new members.
   • Error Text — any error recorded during file creation.
4. To drill into the Subscriber IC File Logs for a specific group file log, choose Subscriber IC Files in the Navigation bar.
5. If a log is not yet handled, use Transfer Record Data on the file log page to re-trigger file creation and sending.

As a master data administrator,
I want to migrate partners that are already individually subscribed to templates into a partner group,
so that I can manage those subscriptions collectively going forward.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Group card; Status must be Under Development.
2. Ensure the group is already assigned to at least the templates you want to migrate.
3. Choose Convert and assign Partners in the process bar.
4. The Convert and assign partners wizard opens. Review the explanation: only partners that are directly subscribed to one or more of the same templates as the group are eligible; their direct subscriptions to those templates will be removed and the group subscription takes over.
5. On the selection step, click the link to open the picker. Select the partners to convert.
6. On the finishing step, choose an action (Review / Pending Update / Handle and Release) and enable the Add members and execute the finalizing task checkbox.
7. Choose Finish.

Result: The selected partners become group members. Their previous direct template subscriptions for the overlapping templates are replaced by the group subscription, and Partner Group Updates are created to ensure continuity — data already sent is not re-sent.

As a master data administrator,
I want to verify that a file-based partner's storage account is reachable and writable,
so that I can confirm the transport is correctly configured before activating the partner.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Card for a partner with Data Exchange Type set to External File Account or Azure Blob Storage.
2. In the Storage Connection action group, choose Upload test file and confirm. The system creates a small test file in the storage account.
3. Choose Download test file and confirm. The test file is retrieved — a successful download confirms read access.
4. Choose Delete test file and confirm. The test file is removed from storage.
5. If any step fails, review the error message and check the account credentials, SAS token validity, or connector configuration.

As a master data administrator,
I want to inspect which member/template combinations are pending a catch-up exchange,
so that I can monitor and troubleshoot the Pending Update phase.

Steps:

1. Open the Partner Group card or the Global Master Partner Groups list.
2. Choose Partner Group Updates in the Navigation bar.
3. The Partner Group Updates page lists one row per partner/template combination that is pending or has been handled. Key columns:
   • Subscriber Partner ID — the member needing the exchange.
   • GM Data Template Code — which template.
   • Last Data Exchange — the starting point for the catch-up, based on when the member joined or when the template was assigned.
   • Handled — whether the update has been processed.
   • Partner Group File Log No. — the file log that was created when this update was handled.
   • Error Message — any error recorded during handling.
4. The Unhandled Partner Group Updates and Failed Partner Group Updates counters on the group card summarise the state at a glance.
5. To process unhandled updates, set the group status to Pending Update and then choose Handle Updates, or use the job queue which picks up all Pending Update groups automatically.

As a master data administrator,
I want to run the Transfer Record Data report filtered to a specific partner or partner group,
so that I can push data to a subset of subscribers without triggering a full exchange.

Steps:

1. Search for Global Master Create and send Subscriber File Log in the tell-me bar (the Transfer Record Data report).
2. On the request page, apply filters:
   • GM Data Template Code — limit to one or more specific templates.
   • Subscriber Partner Type — choose Partner or Group.
   • Subscriber Partner ID — enter the partner or group code.
3. Run the report. It processes all matching, non-held subscriber rows in template-sequence order.
4. Partner Group Updates for any Pending Update groups are handled automatically before the main loop.
5. Review errors in the Subscriber IC File Log or Partner Group File Logs after the run.