Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O : Unified Developer Experience (UDE) Setup Guide

A complete step-by-step walkthrough: from zero to deploying code in your UDE environment.

What is UDE?

The Unified Developer Experience (UDE) replaces the old Cloud Hosted Environments (CHE) managed in LCS. Development now runs locally on your machine via Visual Studio 2022, connected to a cloud environment provisioned through the Power Platform Admin Center (PPAC) no more babysitting Azure VMs.

Phase 1 Prepare Your Toolkit

Step 1.1 Assign Required Admin Roles

Go to admin.microsoft.com and assign these three to your admin/service account:

• Power Platform Administrator
• Dynamics 365 Administrator
• Finance or SCM license

Pro tip: Use a dedicated admin/service account — not a personal one. Avoids disruption when team members change.

Step 1.2 Check Storage Capacity

UDE environments live inside Dataverse. Before creating one, verify you have enough capacity.

Where: PPAC → Licensing → Capacity

Check these three storage types:

Note: Microsoft merged FO and Dataverse storage in December 2025.

Step 1.3 Set Up Visual Studio 2022

Install the following components in order:

Step A Modeling SDK & DGML Editor

• Go to: Tools → Get Tools and Features → Individual Components
• Search for and install: Modeling SDK and DGML editor

Step B .NET Desktop Development Workload

• In the same installer, switch to the Workloads tab
• Install: .NET Desktop Development

Step C Reporting Services Projects Extension

• Go to: Extensions → Manage Extensions
• Search: Microsoft Reporting Services Projects 2022+
• Download and run the VSIX installer

Step D Power Platform Tools Extension

• Go to: Extensions → Manage Extensions
• Install: Power Platform Tools for VS
• After install: Tools → Options → PowerPlatform Tools → General → enable all checkboxes

Step E Verify Local SQL Connection

• Open SSMS
• Connect using server name: (localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB
• Authentication: Windows Authentication
• Confirm connection works before moving on

Phase 2 Provision the UDE Environment in PPAC

Sign in to PPAC and click the New button. Configure the basic settings as below:

Step 2.1 Create the Environment Shell

Click New and fill in:

Click Next.

Step 2.2 Configure Dataverse

Click Save. Wait 1–2 minutes.

At this point you'll only have a CRM URL. The F&O URL comes later.

Step 2.3 Install Platform Tools

• From environment details: click Dynamics 365 apps under Resources
• Click Install app → select Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Platform Tools
• Wait: ~10–15 minutes

Step 2.4 Install the Provisioning App ⚠️ Critical Step

• Click Install app → find Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations Provisioning App
• Click Next and configure:

Click Install. Wait: ~60–90 minutes.

Without checking "Enable Developer Tools", Visual Studio cannot connect to your environment.

Step 2.5 Verify Both URLs Are Active

Once done, your environment details page should show:

• Environment URL: https://yourcompany-ude1.crm.dynamics.com
• Finance and Operations URL: https://yourcompany-ude1.operations.dynamics.com

Both must be active. Your UDE environment is ready.

Step 2.6 Create a Custom Solution (Recommended)

• Go to make.powerapps.com
• Select your new environment
• Click Solutions on the left → create a new solution

This makes it easier to package and move objects later. Skip if you want to use the default Microsoft solution.

Phase 3 Copy Data Into Your Environment

A dev environment without data isn't useful. Use one of two methods:

Option A — PPAC Copy (UI)

• In PPAC, open your source environment → click Copy
• Choose copy type:
  • Everything — full copy (data + customizations + schema)
  • Customizations and schema only — structure only, no transactional data
• Select target environment → click Copy

⚠️ The target environment will be completely overwritten.

Option B PowerShell Script

# Install module once (run as Administrator)
Install-Module -Name Microsoft.PowerApps.Administration.PowerShell

# Sign in
Add-PowerAppsAccount -Endpoint prod

# Set environment IDs (from PPAC)
$sourceEnvId = "your-source-env-id"
$targetEnvId = "your-target-env-id"

# Build copy request
$copyRequest = [PSCustomObject]@{
    SourceEnvironmentId = $sourceEnvId
    CopyType = "FullCopy"
    SkipAuditData = $true
    ExecuteAdvancedCopyForFinanceAndOperations = $true
}

# Execute copy
Copy-PowerAppEnvironment -EnvironmentName $targetEnvId -CopyToRequestDefinition $copyRequest

Transactionless Copy (TLC): Copies master data, config, and customizations — skips historical transactions. Useful for a clean dev environment.

Phase 4 Connect Visual Studio to Your UDE

Step 4.1 Initial Connection

• In Visual Studio: Tools → Connect to Dataverse
• In the Power Platform Tools window: click Login
• Enter your CRM URL (not the F&O URL!)
• Authenticate and select your custom solution → click Done

Step 4.2 Download Metadata

• A dialog will prompt to download missing metadata — click OK
• What happens:
  • Platform metadata (several GB) downloads locally
  • Cross-reference database is created in LocalDB
  • VS extension for F&O is configured

Monitor progress in: Output window → FinOps Cloud Runtime

Step 4.3 Configure Metadata Path

After download, set your custom metadata path for your custom model. Reference metadata stays in the default location.

Phase 5 Source Control Setup (TFVC / Azure DevOps)

Step 5.1 Connect to Azure DevOps

• Go to: View → Team Explorer → Manage Connections
• Under "Hosted Service Providers" → click Connect next to Azure DevOps
• Select your organization and project → click Connect

Step 5.2 Map Workspace Folders

• In Team Explorer: click Workspaces → Edit
• Map your source control folders to local folders
• Set Location, File Time, and Permissions

Step 5.3 First Build and Sync

• Get the latest version of your code from source control
• Build in dependency order:

ISVModel1 → ISVModel2 → ISVModel3 → YourCustomModel

• After building: Extensions → Dynamics 365 → Synchronize Database

Phase 6 Deploy, Debug, and Database Access

Step 6.1 Deploy Your Changes

Option A Deploy Project Only (quick iterations)

• Right-click your project → Properties
• Set Deploy changes to online environment to True
• Build the project — changes auto-deploy

Option B Deploy Entire Model

• Extensions → Dynamics 365 → Deploy → Deploy Models to Online Environment
• Select models to deploy
• Check DBSync if database changes are included

Step 6.2 Debug Configuration

• Extensions → Dynamics 365 → Options → Debugging
• Enable: Debug items in the solution and items in specific packages
• Select packages to load symbols for:
  • ApplicationFoundation
  • ApplicationPlatform

• Set breakpoints → Extensions → Dynamics 365 → Launch Debugger

Debugging is fast in UDE because Visual Studio runs locally.

Step 6.3 JIT Database Access (SSMS)

To access the cloud DB directly from SSMS:

• Go to: Tools → SQL Credentials for Dynamics 365 FinOps

• Fill in:
  • Reason: e.g. "Testing" or "Data validation"
  • SQL User Role: Writer (INSERT/UPDATE) or Reader (SELECT only)
  • IP v4 Address Range: Your IP or CIDR range

⚠️ JIT access is valid for 12 hours only. Unlike LCS, it does not support multiple individual IPs — use a CIDR range instead.

Key Takeaways

References

• Microsoft Learn — Unified Admin Experience for F&O
• Anthony Blake — Dynamics 365 F&O: Configure Visual Studio for Unified Development
• Alex Meyer — My Experience Moving D365FSC Development From CHE to UDE
• Adrià Ariste — D365 ALM Guide
• Aurélien — Dynamics 365 FinOps Unified Developer Experience
• Radha Krishna M Ramisetty - Goodbye LCS: Setting Up the Unified Developer Experience