Simba D365 BC ODBC Data Connector

Query Dynamics 365 Business Central With Standard SQL

Dynamics 365 BC, Now SQL-Native

Dynamics 365 Business Central, or Business Central for short, holds the financial and operational backbone for mid-market businesses across the Dynamics ecosystem: customers, vendors, items, sales and purchase orders, GL entries, journals, and the company structure that ties them all together. The Simba D365 BC ODBC Data Connector gives your product a direct SQL connection to that data through the Business Central API, so the builders shipping reporting, analytics, and integration features can stop hand-coding REST calls and start treating Business Central like any other database in their stack. Under the hood, the connector translates standard SQL into native Business Central API calls, handles authentication with Business Central, scopes queries to the right company and environment, and returns results as relational tables that Power BI, Tableau, Excel, Logi Symphony, and your own application code can read out of the box. Cloud and on-premises deployments share the same SQL surface, so a product built on this connector works whether your users run Business Central SaaS, Business Central On-Premises, or a mix of both.

What Adds Up When You Build on Business Central

Each Release Wave Rewrites the Integration

Dynamics 365 Business Central ships a major release every six months. APIs evolve, endpoints shift, and deprecated fields get retired. Integration code from one wave needs maintenance the next, and that compounds over the life of a product.

The Cloud Move Killed Your Direct SQL Path

When customers moved Business Central to the cloud, the direct SQL access that NAV-era reporting depended on went away. Your product can no longer plug into the database. Whatever data your features need has to come through the API, every time.

Multi-Company Setups Fork Your Integration

Every Business Central customer who runs multiple companies adds more tenant configuration, more auth tokens, and more environment URLs to your integration. Code that ships clean for one customer needs branches and special cases for the next.

A SQL Layer That Outlasts the Next Release Wave

Standard SQL Over the Business Central API

The connector translates standard SQL into native Business Central API calls. Your team writes SELECT statements; the connector handles authentication, pagination, response mapping, and the schema shifts that come with each release wave.

Embed BC Access Without Owning the Plumbing

ODBC is a standard your platform already speaks. Connect your reporting engine, embedded analytics, ETL pipeline, or custom code to Business Central without writing the REST calls, paging logic, or schema handling yourself.

Multi-Company BC, One Integration Surface

Company-scoped connections handle each customer's tenant and company structure through the same connector. Add a new Business Central customer, single or multi-company, on cloud or on-premises, without forking your code for every environment.

Operational Data Across Business Central

The connector opens financial, sales, purchasing, and inventory data across Business Central to BI tools, ETL pipelines, embedded apps, and custom code through standard SQL.

Customers
Vendors
Items
Sales Orders
Sales Invoices
Purchase Orders
GL Entries
Companies
Dimensions
Need access to additional Business Central entities? Contact us to discuss your requirements.

Features

SQL Access to Business Central via ODBC: Connect to Business Central using SQL queries from analytics applications like Microsoft Excel, Power BI, Logi Symphony, QlikView, Tableau, and more, through the ODBC interface.
Native Business Central API Integration: Translates SQL into native Business Central API calls, eliminating the need for custom REST integration code or third-party replication.
ODBC 3.80 Compliant Connector: Provides 32- and 64-bit ODBC 3.80 compliant connectivity for standardized integration with your existing analytics and reporting tools.
Automatic Schema Mapping: Maps Business Central objects into relational tables that BI and analytics tools can read out of the box, with no manual schema modelling required.
Modern Microsoft Authentication: Authenticates against Business Central using current Microsoft authentication standards, supporting both DSN-based and connection string workflows.
Company-Scoped Connections: Scope each connection to the correct Business Central company and environment, keeping multi-company customers cleanly separated.
Cloud and On-Premises Support: Connect to Business Central SaaS and on-premises deployments through the same ODBC surface, with no code changes when your users switch.
Modern Encryption: Connections use modern TLS encryption to protect credentials and query traffic in transit.
DSN and DSN-Less Connection Support: Use a traditional DSN or pass a full connection string at runtime, with configuration options accessible through both the UI and key-value pairs in the string.
Configurable Logging: Tune log level, log path, maximum number of log files, and maximum file size to fit your operational and compliance requirements.
Flexible Licensing Options: Offers simple per-host licensing (server or desktop) with the same cost regardless of processors or cores. Departmental, enterprise, and worldwide licensing are available on request.
OEM Licensing Options: OEM licensing is available for organizations that want to embed or redistribute the technology as part of their own commercial software, appliance, platform, or bundled solution. This option is designed for partners who need licensing aligned to their product packaging, deployment model, and customer distribution requirements.

Specifications

Compatible with Dynamics 365 Business Central API: Fully compatible with the current Business Central API surface.
32- and 64-Bit Application Support: Works seamlessly with both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.
ODBC 3.80 Compliance: Adheres to the ODBC 3.80 specification for standardized database connectivity.
Unicode Support: Fully supports Unicode for international character sets and data.
Enhanced Security Measures: TLS encryption for connections, scoped authentication, and configurable connection behavior to fit governed enterprise environments.

Frequently Asked Question

Why does Business Central release a major update every six months?

Microsoft puts every Dynamics 365 product on the same six-month release schedule, with major updates in spring and fall. Each release can add new API endpoints, retire old ones, or change field shapes, so anyone with code that talks to Business Central ends up doing maintenance on Microsoft's schedule, not their own.

Can I still query the Business Central database directly in the cloud?

No. Business Central in the cloud is multi-tenant, so Microsoft doesn't let outside tools touch the database directly. Everything has to go through the API, and the driver translates SQL into those API calls, so you write queries instead of REST code.

What's the difference between integrating with Business Central cloud and on-premises?

On-premises Business Central lets you connect to SQL Server directly, but the cloud version routes everything through the API. The driver uses the same ODBC interface for both, so your code looks the same whether the customer is on cloud, on-prem, or running a mix.

How does the driver handle customers running multiple companies?

Each connection points at a specific company and environment, so a customer running three companies gives you three connections to query against, one per company. You add a new customer the same way you added the first, no special branching in your code.

Why use this driver instead of Microsoft's native Business Central connectors?

Microsoft's connectors work well if you're an end user pulling your own company's BC data into Power BI or Excel. This driver is for the opposite case: you're shipping a product to many BC customers, your code must handle different tenants, and you need standard SQL instead of a Microsoft-only path.

Do I need to rebuild my integration each time Microsoft pushes a new Business Central wave?

Usually not. The driver tracks the schema, endpoint, and authentication changes that come with each Microsoft release, so the SQL you wrote against last wave keeps working against this one.

Simba D365 BC ODBC Connector Documentation and Resources

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