GS504 – Feature Lifecycle and Applicability Rules in Globalization Studio

Welcome back! In the earlier parts of this series:

• GS501 – What is Globalization Studio? explained the big picture.
• GS502 – Connecting to Dataverse Repository helped you understand the setup.
• GS503 – Getting Started with the Workspace gave you a visual walkthrough of each tile and section.

In this part, we’ll focus on something every D365FSCM architect must understand:

How a feature moves through its lifecycle and
How Dynamics knows when and for whom to run that feature.

🧠 What is a Globalization Feature?

Think of a Globalization Feature like a recipe for handling compliance automation:

• It defines how data should be transformed (via ER formats),

• It includes instructions for digital signing, storage, and submission, and

• It tells Dynamics when to run this process, based on your data (called applicability rules).

These features are version-controlled and can be published or deployed across environments making them ideal for ALM (Application Lifecycle Management).

🔁 Feature Lifecycle Stages

Every feature goes through these four statuses:

🧭 Tip: You can only edit features in “Draft” mode. Once deployed, changes require a new version.

🔨 Feature Setup – Building the Logic

Inside each feature, you define one or more setups depending on your scenario:

You can mix and match these setups inside one feature, depending on country needs or customer-specific requirements.

⚙️ Feature Components

When you open a feature in the Globalization Studio workspace, you’ll see tabs like:

Each component plays a role in building and managing your solution.

📌 Applicability Rules – Tell Dynamics When to Use It

Applicability rules are what connect your business data to the correct feature.

Let’s say:

• You sell in the UK and Italy,
• UK invoices need PDF, and
• Italy requires FatturaPA in XML.

You don’t want both features running all the time.

So you create rules like:

• LegalEntity = “ContosoUK” → Use UK invoice feature
• LegalEntity = “ContosoIT” and DocumentType = “Invoice” → Use Italian feature

These rules are built using dropdowns and logic (Equals, Begins With, etc.). You can even group them with AND/OR logic.

🇬🇧 Real Example: United Kingdom

Let’s say Contoso UK needs to:

• Generate PDF invoices,
• Add a barcode to the layout,
• Store it in Azure Blob.

You would:

1. Create a new feature called “UK Sales Invoice”
2. Add a processing pipeline: Format → Sign → Store
3. Set applicability rule: LegalEntity = “CONTUK”

Now, every invoice from CONTUK goes through this pipeline automatically.

🇩🇪 Real Example: Germany (Out-of-the-Box)

Germany requires XRechnung (public B2G invoicing format).

You would:

• Import Microsoft’s Germany XRechnung feature
• Deploy it to your environment
• Optionally clone it for customizations

Microsoft provides the formats and actions; you simply apply them with minimal config.

🔐 Security Setup Reminder

To access or deploy features using Dataverse, users must be assigned correct roles:

• Grant Create, Read, Write, Delete, Append, Assign on:
  • Globalization Features Index File
  • Electronic Reporting Configurations
  • ER Configuration Files

See Microsoft Docs – Assign Security Roles if needed.

🧩 Related Articles

• See GS505 – How to Create Your Own Feature from Scratch
• See GS506 – Understanding Processing Pipelines and Actions
• See GS513 – Configurable Business Documents (BDM) for modifying Word-based layouts
• See GS520 – Tax Calculation Service Basics

📘 Coming Up Next

In GS505 – Creating a Feature from Scratch, we’ll walk through building a real-world feature step by step—using Spain’s e-invoicing scenario as our example.
You’ll learn how to:

• Set up a processing pipeline
• Attach an ER configuration
• Define applicability for a specific legal entity
• Deploy and test your feature—all without custom code

📖 Continue reading: GS505 – Build Your First Feature →