Unlocking AI Agents in Dynamics 365 ERP: A Deep Dive into the New MCP Server Tools (Part 2)

 


Unlocking AI Agents in Dynamics 365 ERP: A Deep Dive into the New MCP Server Tools (Preview)

The era of AI agents in ERP is here. With the introduction of the Dynamics 365 ERP MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, developers and architects now have a bridge between natural language prompts and concrete actions within Finance and Operations (F&O) apps.

But how does the agent actually "drive" the application?

The magic lies in the Agent Orchestration layer, which uses a specific set of tools to translate a user's intent (e.g., "Filter the vendor list by New York") into technical commands the ERP understands. In this post, we’ll break down the standard toolkit available in the preview and explore how developers can extend these capabilities with custom code.

The Standard Toolkit: Interacting with Forms

The majority of the tools in the MCP server are designed to simulate user interactions. They allow the agent to navigate menus, fill out fields, and manipulate grids just like a human user would.

Here is the breakdown of the available tools: 

Navigation and Form Management

  • open_menu_item: Opens menu item.

  • find_menu_item: Find a menu item.

  • close_form: Close form.

  • save_form: Saves form.

  • open_or_close_tab: Open or close a tab on the form.

Control Interaction

  • click_control: Select a control or a subelement of a control on the form. Clicking on a subelement of a control is done through the actionId.

  • set_control_value: Set the value of a field.

  • open_lookup: Open a lookup control on the form.

Grid and Data Manipulation

  • filter_form & filter_grid: Applies filters to forms or specific grids to narrow down data.

  • select_grid_row: Highlights a specific row in a grid.

  • sort_grid_column: Reorders grid data based on a column.

Beyond the UI: Invoking Application Code

While the form interaction tools cover millions of potential actions, sometimes an agent needs to bypass the UI. Perhaps the business logic isn't exposed on a form, or the process is too complex to navigate screen-by-screen.

This is where the Application Code Tools come into play.

The MCP server provides two powerful tools that break the standard pattern:

  1. find_actions: Searches for available actions that the agent can invoke.

  2. invoke_action: Directly triggers a specific action.

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