I wanted to share our experience implementing a dynamic MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for cost accounting in D365 10.0.43. We’ve been running this for three months now and the compliance and audit improvements have been remarkable.
The key benefit is having a consistent analytics layer that sits on top of our cost accounting module. Instead of multiple teams building their own queries and reports with inconsistent definitions, the MCP server provides standardized cost allocation queries, variance analysis, and audit trail access.
What really impressed our audit team is how the MCP server inherits D365’s existing security permissions. When a cost accountant queries through the MCP interface, they only see data they’re authorized to access based on their D365 role. No separate permission management needed.
The dynamic audit logging has been a game-changer. Every query, data access, and analysis run through the MCP server gets logged automatically with user context, timestamp, and data scope. Our compliance reports now show exactly who accessed what cost data and when.
Has anyone else explored MCP servers for ERP analytics? I’m curious about other use cases beyond cost accounting.
The inherited permissions aspect is crucial for compliance. We’ve looked at several analytics tools that require maintaining separate user access controls, which becomes a nightmare for audit trails. If the MCP server truly leverages D365’s role-based security, that’s a huge advantage. Does it support dimension-based security too? We have cost centers restricted by business unit and geography.
Yes, Kevin. It respects all D365 security including financial dimensions. If a user’s role restricts them to specific cost centers or business units, those same restrictions apply when they access data through the MCP server. The server authenticates against D365 and pulls the user’s security context, so dimension-based security works automatically. We tested extensively with our internal audit team before rolling out.
Exactly that, Maria. We had the same problem - finance calculated product costs one way, operations used different overhead allocation methods, and management reports showed conflicting numbers. The MCP server defines canonical calculations for things like standard cost variance, absorption rates, and activity-based costing allocations. When anyone queries cost data through the MCP interface, they get results based on these standardized definitions. It’s eliminated the ‘which report is correct’ debates in our monthly reviews.
I’m intrigued by the audit logging capabilities. Our auditors constantly request reports showing who accessed sensitive cost data during month-end close. Currently we have to piece together information from D365 audit logs, Power BI access logs, and Excel file shares. If the MCP server centralizes this, it would save hours of audit prep time. Does the logging capture the actual queries executed or just high-level access patterns?