Implementing Custom Business Events

Introduction to Custom Business Events

Custom Business Events in Microsoft Dataverse provide a powerful mechanism for extending the platform’s native event framework to support organization-specific scenarios. These events enable developers to create tailored notification systems that align precisely with unique business processes while maintaining the reliability and scalability of the Dataverse platform.

Understanding the Event Architecture

Core Components of Dataverse Events

1. Native Platform Events

• Record operations (Create, Update, Delete)
• System events (User login, Solution import)
• Workflow and process events

1. Custom Business Events

• Application-specific occurrences
• Complex business process milestones
• Cross-entity operations

1. Event Consumers

• Plugins
• Power Automate flows
• External systems via webhooks
• Azure Event Grid subscribers

Event Propagation Model

Dataverse employs a publisher-subscriber pattern where:

• Events are raised by platform operations or custom code
• The event execution pipeline processes synchronous and asynchronous handlers
• Subscribers receive notifications based on filtering criteria

Designing Custom Business Events

When to Implement Custom Events

1. Complex Process Milestones

• Order fulfillment completion
• Contract approval workflows
• Multi-stage opportunity progression

1. Cross-Entity Operations

• Account hierarchy changes
• Related record synchronization
• Bulk data transformations

1. System Integration Points

• ERP synchronization triggers
• BI dashboard refresh signals
• External system notifications

Event Design Considerations

1. Payload Design

• Essential data inclusion
• Reference vs. full data
• Security context preservation

1. Trigger Conditions

• Explicit invocation points
• Conditional firing logic
• Error handling requirements

1. Consumer Requirements

• Synchronous vs. asynchronous needs
• Response time expectations
• Error handling capabilities

Implementation Approaches

Method 1: Plugin-Registered Events

public class OrderApprovalPlugin : IPlugin
{
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        var context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));

        // Business logic
        if (order.StatusCode == OrderStatus.Approved)
        {
            var eventService = (IServiceEndpointNotificationService)serviceProvider
                .GetService(typeof(IServiceEndpointNotificationService));

            var eventData = new RemoteExecutionContext(context);
            eventService.Execute(new EntityReference("serviceendpoint", endpointId), eventData);
        }
    }
}

Method 2: Custom API with Event Trigger

// Custom API definition in solution
public class PublishContractEvent : IPlugin
{
    public void Execute(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        var context = (IPluginExecutionContext)serviceProvider
            .GetService(typeof(IPluginExecutionContext));

        // Validate input
        var contractId = (Guid)context.InputParameters["ContractId"];

        // Publish event
        var eventProps = new ParameterCollection {
            {"ContractId", contractId},
            {"EventTime", DateTime.UtcNow}
        };

        context.OutputParameters["EventPublished"] = true;
    }
}

Method 3: Power Automate Integration

1. Create a Custom Connector for your event API
2. Configure trigger conditions in Flow
3. Implement error handling and retry logic

Advanced Implementation Patterns

Pattern 1: Composite Events

graph TD
    A[Opportunity Won] --> B[Check Approval Threshold]
    B -->|Above Limit| C[Raise Executive Approval Event]
    B -->|Below Limit| D[Raise Standard Processing Event]

Pattern 2: Event Chaining

// In a plugin handling the first event
var nextEvent = new Entity("new_businessevent");
nextEvent["new_previousid"] = currentEventId;
nextEvent["new_triggertime"] = DateTime.Now.AddHours(2);
service.Create(nextEvent);

Pattern 3: Compensating Events

// In a Flow handling order processing
if (orderProcessingFailed) {
    patchRecord(
        'new_businessevents',
        eventId, 
        {'statuscode': 2, 'new_compensationrequired': true}
    );
}

Security and Compliance

Event Security Model

1. Authentication

• Shared secrets for webhooks
• OAuth for external systems
• Platform context for internal handlers

1. Authorization

• Field-level security
• Business unit filtering
• Role-based subscription

1. Auditing

• Event creation logging
• Delivery success tracking
• Payload inspection capabilities

Compliance Considerations

1. Data Residency

• Event storage locations
• Cross-border data transfer

1. Retention Policies

• Event log purging
• Archive strategies

1. GDPR Implications

• Personal data in payloads
• Right to erasure implementation

Performance Optimization

Scaling Strategies

Technique	Implementation	Impact
Event Batching	Combine related events	Reduces throughput
Payload Minimization	Send references only	Decreases latency
Priority Handling	Tag critical events	Improves SLAs
Consumer Throttling	Rate limit subscribers	Prevents overload

Performance Testing Approach

1. Baseline Metrics

• Event propagation time
• Maximum throughput
• Consumer processing speed

1. Load Testing

• Gradual ramp-up
• Sustained peak loads
• Failure point analysis

1. Optimization Targets

• 95% of events processed in <1s
• 0.01% error rate at peak load
• Linear scaling characteristics

Monitoring and Troubleshooting

Monitoring Framework Components

1. Event Dashboard

• Volume trends
• Failure rates
• Consumer lag

1. Alerting Rules

• Abnormal volume detection
• Processing delays
• Consumer failures

1. Diagnostic Tools

• Plugin trace logs
• Event payload inspection
• Consumer health checks

Common Issues and Resolutions

Symptom	Root Cause	Resolution
Events not firing	Registration error	Validate plugin steps
Missing payload data	Security filtering	Adjust field permissions
Consumer timeouts	Resource constraints	Scale consumer capacity
Duplicate processing	Network retries	Implement idempotency

Integration Patterns

Azure Event Grid Integration

// Registering an Event Grid subscription
var subscription = new EventGridEvent(
    "custom-event",
    "NewContractApproved",
    new ContractApprovalEvent(contractId),
    "1.0");

eventGridClient.SendEventAsync(subscription);

Power Platform Integration

1. Power Automate Triggers

• Instant cloud flows
• Scheduled follow-ups
• Approval workflows

1. Power BI Streaming

• Real-time dashboards
• Operational analytics
• KPI monitoring

1. Virtual Agent Integration

• Proactive notifications
• Contextual assistance
• Process guidance

Lifecycle Management

Versioning Strategy

1. Backward Compatibility

• Additive changes only
• Deprecation timelines
• Consumer notification

1. Testing Framework

• Contract tests
• Consumer simulations
• Canary deployments

1. Documentation Standards

• Event catalog
• Payload schema
• Sample implementations

Retirement Process

1. Impact analysis
2. Consumer notification
3. Parallel running period
4. Final decommissioning

Best Practices and Recommendations

Design Principles

1. Single Responsibility

• One purpose per event type
• Focused payloads
• Clear naming conventions

1. Loose Coupling

• Minimal consumer assumptions
• Self-contained payloads
• No processing order dependencies

1. Observability

• Correlation IDs
• Timestamps
• Source identifiers

Implementation Checklist

1. [ ] Defined event taxonomy
2. [ ] Security review completed
3. [ ] Performance testing plan
4. [ ] Monitoring configured
5. [ ] Documentation published

Future Evolution

Upcoming Capabilities

1. Enhanced Filtering

• Attribute-level conditions
• Complex logical operators
• Dynamic subscription

1. Improved Tooling

• Event designer UI
• Testing harness
• Debugging enhancements

1. Advanced Patterns

• Event sourcing support
• CQRS integration
• Saga pattern facilitation