Now Available to End Users: Performance Profiler for Dynamics Business Central 2022 Release Wave 1
With any software, no matter how simple or complex, you can experience performance issues. This is especially true for business systems that allow customizations and have add-ons available, as many ERPs offer. Typically, when this happens, you or whoever you use for technical support must track down and debug the offending code, if applicable. But this can be a long process because, depending on the length and complexity of the code, finding the code causing the problem can take time. However, with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, you now have the Business Central Performance Profiler. In short, this tool allows users and consultants to literally record every action taken during the process in which there are suspected performance issues and analyze the results. This is going to be a huge time saver for tracking down performance issues.
This isn’t the first performance tool that Microsoft has made available to help identify code that is impacting performance. However, that was more a developer tool. In Business Central 2022 Release Wave 1, the Performance Profiler is now available to any user or super user with access to it (“Analyze Performance”) from the Help & Support menu. This allows the BC user to easily record the process taken to encounter the performance issue and send a report pinpointing the place within the code where the slowdown occurred to a developer or support person, who can then analyze that code and begin debugging it or taking other action as appropriate. The recording includes not only the BC base code, but also code from any ISV add-on, extension, or custom app used in the process. It also identifies the methods that were called, how much time each method took, and so forth.
Results from the recording can be shared directly using OneDrive or downloaded. On the other side, the developer can upload the file in a local environment (there is also the option of looking at it within the user’s environment), and with the aid of a call tree that shows exactly what the user did, find the source of the slowdown.
Although using Performance Profiler does not help specifically with debugging, it speeds up the process by helping identify the code much faster, eliminating the need to go through possibly millions of lines of code. It also saves time because there is no need to set up a debugger, which can be time-consuming; an overview of what’s happening and which all extensions are impacting the performance of a particular piece of code is provided.
Another advantage of using Performance Profiler is that the end user (or someone in their organization) can do some troubleshooting before escalating. If the person analyzing the report has some development experience, they might be able to correct the problem. If not, they can at least find the source and get the ball rolling. For example, the resulting report can immediately tell whether the problem is within the base code or with an extension. If the former, then the next step is to put in a request to Microsoft (or the Dynamics Partner that provides support); if the latter, the party who wrote the code (ISV, internal developer, etc.) can be notified so they can start working the problem.
To learn more about Performance Profiler and see it in action, watch this brief video with ArcherPoint’s Saurav Dhyani.
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