How to Activate Financial Dimensions in D365 FO Without Entering Maintenance Mode

    

 

 

If you’ve spent any time in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365 FO), you already know the main account is just the starting point for financial tracking.

To further track the transactions in these accounts, you can add segments and in D365 FO, these segments are known as financial dimensions.

For example, an expense account might include financial dimensions named:

Department – to track which part of the organization spent the money
Cost center – to see where costs are accumulating
Purpose – to understand the reason for the expense

These dimensions act like smart tags for your financial data, making it easy to filter, slice, and report without cluttering your chart of accounts. They help you view your finances from multiple angles by department, project, location, customer, and more.

The only catch? When you try to activate a new financial dimension in D365 FO right away, the system displays this error message:

“The activation of dimensions is only allowed when the system is in maintenance mode. Maintenance mode can be enabled in this environment by running maintenance job from LCS or using Deployment. Setup tool locally.”

This process of putting the system into Maintenance Mode and activating dimensions is mostly done by developers or system administrators, since it involves running maintenance jobs via Lifecycle Services (LCS) or using local deployment tools both of which require technical access and expertise.

But here’s the good news: there’s a simple trick that lets you activate a financial dimension instantly, without Maintenance Mode, and without changing any data. In this post, I’ll walk you through it step-by-step.

 

Step-by-Step: Activate a Financial Dimension Without Maintenance Mode

 

1. Create the Financial Dimension

Go to: General Ledger > Dimensions > Financial Dimensions.
Click New.
Enter the Name and Value for your new dimension.
Save.
At this stage, your dimension will show as Inactive.

📸 [Newly created inactive financial dimension]

 

2. Duplicate Your Browser Tab

Keep your Financial Dimensions page open.
Open a new tab in your browser to perform the Data Management steps.

3. Navigate to Data Management

In the new tab, go to:
System Administration > Workspaces > Data Management.

4. Create an Export Job

Click Export.
Enter a Job Name (e.g., DimensionActivation_Export).
Add the entity Dimension Attribute Activation.
Save.

📸 [Export job setup with Dimension Attribute Activation entity]

 

5. Export and Download

Run the export job.
Once complete, download the file (it will be in Excel format).

📸 [IDownloading export file]

 

6. Import Back Without Changes

Create a new Import job in Data Management.
Add the Dimension Attribute Activation entity again.
Upload the exact same Excel file you just downloaded (do not edit it).
Run the import job.

📸 [Import job setup]

 📸 {Refresh Import Job. Please note that it may take a few minutes for the process to succeed.}

7. Verify the Activation

Return to your original Financial Dimensions tab.
Refresh the page.
Your dimension should now be Active , no Maintenance Mode needed.

  📸 [Activated financial dimension]

Why This Works

By exporting and re-importing the Dimension Attribute Activation entity without changes, you’re essentially nudging D365 FO to refresh the activation status all without taking the system offline.

Pro Tips

Ensure you have the correct security role (e.g., System Administrator) before performing these steps.
While this method is safe, it’s best to do it during a low-activity period.
If the import fails, check your entity mappings in Data Management for errors.

 

Conclusion:

Financial dimensions are one of the most powerful tools in D365 FO for making sense of your financial data. And now, you know how to activate them on the fly without downtime, without disruption, and without the hassle of Maintenance Mode.