Dashboards & Maintenance – Frequently Asked Questions

Modified on Fri, Oct 24 at 9:22 AM

Applies To: Work 365 (Dynamics 365 / Power Platform)
Audience: Billing Teams, Administrators, Finance Teams

Overview

This FAQ covers day-to-day maintenance of your Work 365 environment—how data syncs from Microsoft Partner Center, why certain steps remain intentionally manual, and how Billing Contracts, Subscriptions, and License Change Logs (LCLs) work together for accurate billing and reporting.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) Why do subscriptions from Partner Center have missing data?

Work 365 imports Subscriptions from Partner Center (Dataverse entities), but Billing Contracts are Work 365–specific and live only in CRM. Fields tied to contracts, pricing, taxes, or custom attributes won’t auto-populate during sync. Populate/validate these in Work 365 after the import.
See also: Work 365 vs. Dynamics Entities Overview.

2) Why isn’t this fully automated? Why is manual maintenance required?

Microsoft frequently updates Partner Center pricing, APIs, and programs (e.g., NCE). To protect billing accuracy, Work 365 requires admin validation at critical checkpoints so you can:

Confirm product/pricing mappings reflect the latest Microsoft changes.
Control contract cycles and customer exceptions.
Prevent billing errors introduced by upstream changes.

3) Why don’t subscriptions and billing contracts deactivate at the same time?

They’re separate entities with different lifecycles:

Entity	Source / Purpose
Subscription	Dataverse entity synchronized from Partner Center
Billing Contract	Work 365 entity that governs invoicing & revenue recognition

Deactivating a Subscription does not auto-deactivate its Billing Contract. To stop invoicing, deactivate/archive the Billing Contract as well.
See also: Managing Billing Contracts in Work 365.

4) Why should I enable Change Log Invoices (CLIs)?

CLIs let you bill mid-term changes (adds, reductions, price updates) before renewal—crucial for annual contracts.
Example: Annual contract renews in January; 5 licenses added in June → a CLI bills June–December now rather than waiting until next January.
See also: Scheduling License Changes with Work 365.

5) Why do License Change Logs (LCLs) drive the invoice?

The Subscription shows current state. LCLs record every change (quantity, price, effective date) and enable correct proration, audit history, and accurate invoice lines.
Example: Add 5 seats mid-cycle → LCL captures effective date and bills only the remaining term.
See also: Understanding License Change Logs.

Admin “Quick Checks”

After Partner Center sync: Review new Subscriptions for Account, Billing Contract, Price List, Sales Unit, Selling/Cost price.
Deactivation: When a Subscription is terminated/moved, deactivate the Billing Contract (or disable affected schedules) to stop invoicing.
Annual contracts: Ensure CLIs are enabled/used for mid-term changes.
LCL health: Monitor views for Awaiting / Merge Failed and Uninvoiced LCLs.

Best Practices

? Monthly sync review: Validate Partner Center imports and product mappings.
? Scheduled maintenance: Check dashboards/views for missing data or failed jobs.
⚙️ Coordinated deactivation: Deactivate both Subscriptions and Billing Contracts.
? Use CLIs for annuals: Capture mid-term changes promptly.
? Train billing staff: Ensure familiarity with how LCLs influence invoices and reporting.

Summary

Work 365 blends automation with intentional admin control to keep billing accurate amid Partner Center changes. Knowing how Billing Contracts, Subscriptions, and LCLs interact—and performing light, regular maintenance—delivers:

✅ Accurate synchronization and invoicing
✅ Strong auditability and compliance
✅ Reliable, predictable billing cycles