✏️ Explanatory Question

What is the Customization Analysis Report (CAR) in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations? Why is it required for solution certification, how often should developers run it, and how do you generate it using xppbp.exe?

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Answer with Explanation

D365 F&O • X++ INTERVIEW

The CAR Report (Customization Analysis Report) in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations

Question 40 — What the CAR report is, why it's needed for certification, and how to generate it.

Interview Question

What is the Customization Analysis Report (CAR) in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations? Why is it required for solution certification, how often should developers run it, and how do you generate it using xppbp.exe?

Model Answer (Short)

The Customization Analysis Report (CAR) is a tool that analyses your customization and extension models and runs a predefined set of best-practice rules against them. It is one of the requirements of the solution certification process and is produced as a Microsoft Excel workbook. Every developer should run the CAR report regularly (e.g. weekly) to ensure code quality and that all best-practice warnings and errors are addressed. It is generated from the command line using the xppbp.exe tool located in the packages bin folder.

Detailed Explanation

What the CAR report does

  • Analyses your customization and extension models.
  • Runs a predefined set of best-practice rules against them.
  • Is a requirement of the solution certification process.
  • Produces the results as a Microsoft Excel workbook.

When & why to run it

  • Run it regularly (e.g. weekly) throughout development.
  • Ensures code quality and that all BP warnings/errors are addressed.
  • Helps you catch issues before the certification / Go-Live check.
KEY IDEA
xppbp.exe → runs BP rules on models → Excel CAR report

Prerequisites (Rule 5)

  • A development environment with the packages / bin folder available.
  • The xppbp.exe tool (in c:\packages\bin or I:\AosService\PackagesLocalDirectory\bin).
  • The model and package/module names you want to analyse.
  • A writable report output location.

Command — Generating the CAR report

Run xppbp.exe from the development environment's packages bin folder:

xppbp.exe -metadata= -all -model= ^
          -xmlLog=C:\BPCheckLog.xml ^
          -module= ^
          -car=

Argument breakdown

Argument Purpose
-metadata Path to the local packages (metadata) folder
-all Run all best-practice checks
-model The model to analyse
-xmlLog Path for the XML log output
-module The package/module the model belongs to
-car Output location for the CAR (Excel) report

Example — a concrete invocation

xppbp.exe -metadata=I:\AosService\PackagesLocalDirectory ^
          -all -model=AbcModel ^
          -xmlLog=C:\BPCheckLog.xml ^
          -module=AbcPackage ^
          -car=C:\Reports\AbcModel_CAR.xlsx

Points the interviewer wants to hear

  • CAR runs a predefined set of BP rules on customization/extension models.
  • It is required for solution certification.
  • Output is a Microsoft Excel workbook.
  • Run it weekly to keep code quality high and fix BP issues early.
  • Generated via xppbp.exe from the packages bin folder.

Likely Follow-up Questions

  • Why is the CAR report required for certification?
  • What format is the CAR report produced in?
  • Where is the xppbp.exe tool located?
  • How does running CAR relate to the Go-Live best-practice check?

Key Takeaway

The CAR report runs a predefined set of best-practice rules against your models and is a certification requirement, delivered as an Excel workbook. Generate it with xppbp.exe and run it weekly to keep code quality high and resolve BP issues before Go-Live.

D365 F&O Interview Series — Question 40 of many
← Previous What are the rules for method variables in X++? Cover casing, the use of underscores, where variables should be declared, and why all development must be in English.