How to compare setup between two legal entities in D365
Two companies, one environment, the same process, a different result. The cause is almost always a setup difference, and the hard part is not fixing it but finding it.
Start from the symptom
D365 F&O has hundreds of setup pages per company. Comparing all of them by hand is not realistic, so start where the symptom points:
| Symptom | Compare first |
|---|---|
| Posts to a different account | Inventory posting, customer and vendor posting profiles, item groups |
| An order behaves differently | The module parameters: Accounts receivable, Accounts payable, Inventory and warehouse management, Warehouse management |
| Different or missing numbers | Number sequences and their references |
| The warehouse works differently | Wave and work templates, location directives, mobile device menu items |
| Planning gives other results | Coverage groups, master plans, master planning parameters |
Data that is shared between companies, such as products (not released products) and units, is the same on both sides by definition. Only company-specific setup can differ.
Method 1: two browser tabs side by side
The D365 address contains the company: cmp=BE01. Open the same page in a second tab and change that part to the other company, then put the two tabs next to each other. This is the fastest way for a single parameter page, and the slowest for anything with more than a screen of values: on a parameters page with ten tabs, a difference on tab seven is easy to miss.
Method 2: Export to Excel, per company
For setup in a list or grid, such as posting profiles, use Open in Microsoft Office › Export to Excel in each company and compare the two workbooks, for example with a lookup on the key column. It works well for lists. It does not work for parameter pages, which are one record spread over many tabs and fields, not a grid.
Method 3: Data management export
For a wider comparison, use data entities. In the Data management workspace, create an export project with the entities for the setup you want (you can add them by module), export it, switch to the other company and export again. Company-specific entities export the data of the company you are in. Then compare the files.
Do not use Copy into legal entity to compare. It exists to copy setup from one company into another: records that already exist in the destination are updated.
Method 4: Config Diff
Config Diff is a browser extension we built for exactly this comparison. It reads 345 standard D365 F&O configuration areas in both legal entities, lines them up and shows only what differs, with a summary per module first. It also handles the traps below: company IDs are matched instead of reported, values that daily work changes are shown but not counted, and a difference you mark as intended stays accepted next time, with your note.
It only reads, never writes, and the comparison runs in your browser. It covers standard setup; ISV and custom setup is not in its catalog, so compare those by hand or one entity at a time. The same extension compares two environments, such as UAT and production, or an environment against a saved snapshot.
The traps that make a comparison lie
- The company column itself. Every company-specific record carries its company ID. Compared naively, every single row differs. Leave the company field out of the comparison.
- Values that daily work changes. The next number of a number sequence, last run dates and counters always differ between a busy company and a quiet one. They are not setup differences.
- Names that should differ. A posting profile can point to the same account in both companies but under a different description, or to an account with the same number that means something else in the other chart of accounts. Compare what the value means, not only the text.
- Records that exist on one side only. A lookup on the key finds rows that differ, but a missing record is a difference too, and often the important one.
- Differences that are meant to be there. Country-specific tax, localisation features and legal requirements are supposed to differ. Write down which differences are intentional, so the next comparison does not raise them again.
After the comparison
Fix differences in a test environment first, then in production, and keep the list of intentional differences with the project documentation. When many companies should share the same setup, it is worth asking whether it should be company-specific at all: cross-company data sharing can keep reference data such as payment terms identical across companies.
Menu names and behaviour can differ between D365 versions and your own setup. Check in your environment before you act.