A retention-grade Dynamics 365 archive engineered for SOX, IRS, HIPAA, GDPR, FINRA, SEC 17a-4, FDA 21 CFR Part 11, and EU SAF-T. Immutable storage, signed retention metadata, tamper-evident audit log, pre-built regulator extracts. Compliance-mode WORM available.
General cloud archives serve analysts. Compliance archives serve auditors and regulators — and the design requirements are fundamentally different.
A general Dynamics 365 archive answers questions like 'what was our revenue in FY2021 by product?'. A compliance archive answers questions like 'prove to the SEC examiner that this 2019 broker-dealer transaction record has not been modified since the trade date', or 'produce for the German tax authority a SAF-T extract of every accounting transaction in FY2020 with a chain-of-custody signature', or 'demonstrate to the GDPR regulator that personal data for this data subject has been cryptographically erased while preserving record integrity for everyone else'.
These requirements drive design choices that a general archive doesn't make. Immutable object versioning to satisfy SEC 17a-4 WORM. Signed retention metadata per record so policy-driven expiration is auditable. Tamper-evident audit logs retained for the longest applicable retention period (often longer than the underlying data itself). Sensitive-field masking by default. Cryptographic erasure with proof. Customization catalog preservation as audit evidence — because SOX auditors increasingly want to see the X++ extensions and Power Automate flows active on the day a contested transaction was approved.
Syntra ETL's Dynamics 365 compliance archive is the platform that delivers all of this, across the full D365 product family (F&O, Business Central, Customer Engagement) and across the major regulatory regimes (SOX, IRS, HIPAA, GDPR, FINRA, SEC 17a-4, FDA 21 CFR Part 11, EU SAF-T, CCPA). Most customers deploy in compliance mode by default — the additional controls have negligible operational overhead and substantial evidence value.
The controls and capabilities that take a general archive from 'queryable' to 'regulator-ready'.
S3 Object Lock, Azure Blob Immutability Policies, GCS Bucket Lock, or OCI Retention Rules — configurable per data domain. Governance mode (admin override) or compliance mode (no override, satisfies SEC 17a-4 strict interpretation).
Every archived record carries a signed retention policy stamp — domain, jurisdiction, retention period, hash signature, signing timestamp. Policy-driven expiration is auditable; nothing is ever 'lost' without a recorded reason.
Every record creation, modification, access, masking event, and erasure event logged immutably with user, timestamp, query text, fields touched. Audit log itself retained for the longest applicable retention horizon.
SSN, bank account, salary, customer PII, payment card data, PHI fields masked by default. Role-based unmask with explicit logging and approval workflow. Dataverse column-sensitivity metadata inherited automatically.
Record-level cryptographic redaction. Personal fields erased; non-personal fields retained; cryptographic proof of erasure available for data subject and regulator. Reversibility grace period configurable; post-grace erasure is mathematically irreversible.
SOX evidence packs, EU SAF-T (Germany/France/Portugal/Poland/Romania/Norway), IRS payroll extracts, FINRA exam responses, HIPAA disclosure logs, FDA 21 CFR Part 11 inspection sets. Each signed and timestamped for chain-of-custody.
Compliance posture is established at deployment time and validated by independent assessment. Typical timeline: 8–12 weeks including third-party validation.
Workshop with compliance, legal, internal audit, security, and data privacy teams. Identify every regulatory regime in scope (SOX, HIPAA, GDPR, FINRA, SEC 17a-4, FDA 21 CFR Part 11, EU SAF-T, state-specific tax, industry-specific). Map each regime to D365 data domains (F&O Financials, F&O Payroll, F&O Inventory, Dataverse Contact, Dataverse Account). Output: a regime-by-domain retention matrix with policy ownership.
Storage mode selection (governance vs compliance WORM), immutability policies configured per domain, retention metadata schema signed off, sensitive-field masking rules defined, IdP integration for role-based access (typically Microsoft Entra ID for D365 customers), erasure workflow designed including grace-period policies.
Full D365 F&O + BC + Dataverse extract with compliance-mode metadata applied. Every record carries signed retention stamp. Customization catalog (X++ AOT, Power Platform inventory) preserved alongside data. Hash signatures captured per record and per partition.
Pre-built regulator extracts validated against jurisdiction-specific schemas (US SOX evidence pack, EU SAF-T for in-scope countries, FINRA exam response, HIPAA disclosure log, FDA 21 CFR Part 11 inspection set, IRS payroll extract). Sample extracts produced and signed off by compliance team.
Optional third-party validation: SOC 2 Type II readiness assessment, HIPAA BAA execution, FedRAMP readiness review, ISO 27001 alignment check. Customer's external auditor invited to validate the SOX evidence pack workflow.
D365 tenant moves to read-only or decommissioned. Compliance archive is now system of record for retention. Operational runbook delivered to compliance and security teams. Annual control attestation calendar published.
One archive, multiple regulatory postures, evidence ready when the auditor or examiner shows up.
7-year retention from fiscal close. Financial records + supporting customization catalog + controls evidence. Pre-built SOX evidence pack: trial balance reproduction, AP/AR voucher detail, role assignment snapshot, X++ extension catalog for the relevant period.
7-year federal payroll retention (longer in some states). Pre-built IRS Form 1099 reproduction, W-2 reproduction, payroll-tax-by-jurisdiction extracts. SAF-T-style structured outputs where state requires.
6-year PHI access log retention. BAA available. PHI fields masked by default, role-based unmask with logging. Disclosure log pre-built for accounting-of-disclosures requests.
Per-domain retention policy enforcement. Record-level cryptographic erasure with proof. Subject Access Request (SAR) workflow with full audit trail. Cross-border transfer controls.
Compliance-mode WORM with no override. Tamper-evident audit log. Pre-built examination response extracts. 3–6 year (or lifetime) retention per record category.
Validated system status. Electronic signature support. Immutable audit trail. Time-stamped sequence of events. Inspection-ready record reproduction in human-readable form.
A Dynamics 365 compliance archive is a retention-grade store of D365 data and metadata engineered specifically to satisfy regulatory and audit obligations — SOX 7-year financial-record retention, IRS 7-year payroll retention, HIPAA 6-year PHI retention, GDPR retention-and-erasure rules per data domain, FINRA 6-year broker-dealer record retention, FDA 21 CFR Part 11 for life-sciences electronic records, SEC 17a-4 for broker-dealer records, and the various state and country-specific tax authorities. It's distinct from a general cloud archive in that every design choice — schema preservation, immutable object versioning, signed retention metadata, audit-grade access logging, sensitive-field masking, customization catalog preservation, and erasure-with-proof workflows — is driven by regulator and auditor evidence requirements rather than by analytical convenience.
SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) requires that financial records and the supporting evidence that produced them be retained for 7 years for publicly traded companies. For Dynamics 365 F&O customers, this means LedgerJournalTrans, GeneralJournalAccountEntry, VendInvoiceJour, VendInvoiceTrans, CustInvoiceJour, CustInvoiceTrans, MainAccount, financial dimensions, posting layer detail, and the controls evidence (who posted what, when, under what role) must all be retrievable for 7 years from the close of the relevant fiscal year. SOX auditors increasingly request not just the data but the customization catalog: 'show me the X++ extensions active on the day this invoice was approved'. The Syntra compliance archive ships SOX-aligned defaults: signed retention metadata, immutable storage, full read-log, customization-catalog preservation, and pre-built SOX evidence packs.
GDPR Article 17 grants data subjects the right to have personal data erased, even from archived records — but the regulation also requires that erasure be performed in a way that preserves the integrity of remaining records and that the erasure itself be auditable. The Syntra compliance archive supports record-level redaction with cryptographic proof: when an erasure request is received, the impacted record (typically a Dataverse Contact, an F&O HcmWorker, or a CustTable record) has the personal fields cryptographically erased in place; non-personal fields are retained; a tamper-evident erasure log records the user, timestamp, and impacted record; the cryptographic proof can be presented to the data subject and to the regulator as evidence of compliance. Erasure is reversible until a configurable grace period expires, after which it becomes mathematically irreversible.
HIPAA covers protected health information (PHI) and applies to D365 customers in healthcare and life sciences (where D365 F&O is used for provider operations, supply chain, finance, and HR for protected populations). The Syntra compliance archive supports HIPAA-compliant deployment with a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA), encryption at rest and in transit, role-based access with full read-log, sensitive-field masking for PHI fields, and 6-year retention defaults. Customers in HIPAA-regulated industries typically combine HIPAA controls with the longer SOX retention (7 years) for a unified 7-year retention horizon that satisfies both regimes. PHI access is logged with the access-log itself retained 6 years per HIPAA requirements.
FINRA Rule 4511 and SEC Rule 17a-4 require broker-dealers to retain records in a non-rewritable, non-erasable format (WORM — Write Once Read Many) for periods ranging from 3 to 6 years, with some categories requiring lifetime retention. The Syntra compliance archive supports SEC 17a-4-aligned deployment via immutable object versioning, S3 Object Lock (or Azure Blob Immutability Policies, GCS Bucket Lock, OCI Retention Rules), tamper-evident audit logs, and signed retention metadata. The deployment can be configured for governance mode (rewrite blocked but admin override exists) or compliance mode (rewrite blocked with no override possible, satisfying the strictest WORM interpretation). Pre-built FINRA examination response extracts are available.
Yes. EU jurisdictions require SAF-T (Standard Audit File for Tax) — a structured XML extract of accounting transactions for tax inspection. Germany, France, Portugal, Romania, Poland, Norway, Lithuania, and others have varying SAF-T schemas. The Syntra compliance archive ships pre-built SAF-T generators for the major jurisdictions, sourced from archived MainAccount, LedgerJournalTrans, GeneralJournalAccountEntry, VendTable, CustTable, and InventTable. Each generator emits compliant XML matching the current jurisdiction-specific schema version, with signed hash and timestamp for chain-of-custody evidence. The archive itself retains data per the longest applicable EU retention window (10 years for German finance records, 7 years for Polish records, etc.).
Yes. FDA 21 CFR Part 11 governs electronic records and electronic signatures in FDA-regulated environments (pharmaceutical, biotech, medical devices). The Syntra compliance archive supports 21 CFR Part 11-aligned deployment: validated system status, electronic-signature support via IdP integration, immutable audit trail of every record creation/modification/access, time-stamped sequence of events, role-based access with mandatory authentication, and copies of records produced in human-readable form for FDA inspection. Customers in FDA-regulated industries typically combine 21 CFR Part 11 controls with SOX retention for a unified compliance posture that survives both FDA inspection and SOX audit.
A general Dynamics 365 cloud archive prioritizes accessibility, query performance, and storage economics. A compliance archive adds: (1) immutable storage with WORM enforcement, (2) signed retention metadata per record with policy-driven expiration, (3) tamper-evident audit log retained for the longest applicable retention period, (4) sensitive-field masking by default with explicit role-based unmask, (5) GDPR-style erasure with cryptographic proof, (6) customization catalog preservation as audit evidence, (7) pre-built regulator-specific extracts (SOX evidence packs, SAF-T, FINRA exam responses, IRS payroll extracts, HIPAA disclosure logs, FDA inspection sets), and (8) customer- or third-party-attested compliance posture (SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA BAA, FedRAMP, ISO 27001). Most enterprise Dynamics 365 customers deploy in compliance mode by default and treat general-archive features as a free-with-purchase add-on.
30-minute call. Walk through your regulatory regime mix (SOX, HIPAA, GDPR, FINRA, FDA, SAF-T, industry-specific), D365 product mix, and target retention horizon — leave with a compliance-mode deployment plan and a regulator-readiness timeline.