Forum Discussion

PPDynMGR's avatar
PPDynMGR
New Member
1 year ago
Solved

ADF suitable as interface replacement?

Hi, I'd really like to get some opinions here.   ADF is mainly mentioned for data movement for analytical purposes. Would ADF be suitable as replacement for a classical interface (via API custom...
  • v-sdhruv's avatar
    1 year ago

    Hi PPDynMGR ,

    Azure Data Factory is good for data pipelines, especially for batch ETL processes. However, when it comes to operational, near-real-time, bidirectional syncs that APIs :

    • ADF supports limited event-driven or low-latency integration unless paired with services like Azure Functions.

    • It’s primarily batch-oriented—great for overnight or periodic loads, but less ideal for real-time sync requirements between your ERP and Dataverse environments.

    Comparing it to data flows-
    Power Platform Dataflows are even more suited to analytical or read-only data ingestion:

    • They don’t natively support incremental or real-time updates as robustly as ADF or a proper integration framework.

    •  Costs can escalate if you scale out with multiple refreshes, complex transformations, or premium connectors.

    •  Limited transformation and orchestration options compared to ADF or custom-built API integrations.

    For more details about licenses you can visit -

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/dataflows/what-licenses-do-you-need-in-order-to-use-dataflows

    Hope this helps!