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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Harness the power of Finance and Operations apps, and discover all you need for their implementation
Key Features
- Manage and plan different Dynamics configurations, designs, and products
- Learn how to manage projects for pre-sales and implementation using Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS)
- Discover various integration planning techniques, tools, and frameworks such as PowerApps and Power Automate
Book Description
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is a modern cloud ERP platform that adopts a mobile-first approach suitable for medium-to-large enterprises. This book covers the entire implementation process of Dynamics 365 Finance and Operation Apps, including post-implementation and business transformation.
The updated second edition starts with an introduction to Microsoft Dynamics 365, describing different apps and tools under it. You will learn about different implementation methodologies such as Waterfall and Agile, for your projects. We will cover various application components and architectures of Dynamics such as requirements processing, development, reports and analytics, and integration. With the help of tips, techniques, and best practices, you'll explore strategies for managing configurations and data migrations. As you read further, you'll discover development tools and processes in Dynamics for building customized solutions in Dynamics. The book will also demonstrate analytics and financial reporting options such as Power BI and Cortana Intelligence. Finally, you'll learn the importance of testing and explore various automated testing strategies.
By the end of this book, you will have gained the necessary knowledge to implement Microsoft business solutions with Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Apps.
What you will learn
- Understand the architecture of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Apps
- Implement Dynamics with confidence to manage finances in your business
- Get up to speed with different methodologies and support cycles of the Microsoft Dynamics architecture
- Explore best practices to analyze the requirements of your business
- Understand the technique of data migration from legacy systems
- Leverage the capabilities of Power BI to make informed business decisions
- Manage all your upgrades through One Version service updates
Who this book is for
This book is for consultants, technical managers, project managers, or solution architects who are looking to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations apps in their business. A basic understanding of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation process and software lifecycle is expected.
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Seitenzahl: 564
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
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Implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Apps Second Edition
Copyright © 2020 Packt Publishing
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Commissioning Editor: Kunal ChaudhariAcquisition Editor: Denim PintoContent Development Editor:Digvijay BagulTechnical Editor:Gaurav GalaCopy Editor: Safis EditingSenior Editor: Rohit SinghProject Coordinator:Francy PuthiryProofreader: Safis EditingIndexer: Pratik ShirodkarProduction Coordinator:Alishon Mendonca
First published: September 2017 Second edition: March 2020
Production reference: 1060320
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-78995-084-7
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Contributors
About the authors
JJ Yadav has 16 years of consulting experience working on ERP systems and implementations, and has been working since Axapta 3.0. He has worked with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations in multiple roles as a solutions architect, project manager, technical lead, and developer. JJ is currently in the Microsoft FastTrack elite team, helping customers in their Dynamics 365 journey and making them successful.
Sandeep Shukla is a founding partner of Real Dynamics and has over 16 years of consulting experience, working on ERP systems and implementations. He has worked on many successful Microsoft Dynamics AX/365 implementations for multiple customers and has experience of working in multiple domains, including multi-channel retail, supply chains, distribution, manufacturing, and warehousing. He has played key roles including project manager, solution/technical architect, technical lead, and developer, and has great experience in requirement gathering, integration to third-party applications, creating detailed functional and technical design documents, data migration, development, go-live planning/execution, post go-live support, and end user training.
Rahul Mohta is a founding partner of Real Dynamics and has more than 16 years of expertise in ERP consulting, implementation, and pre-sales, focusing on Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. Rahul has a diverse and rich experience working with customers and partners globally, enabling them to realize the full value of their future Dynamics platform. As a trusted advisor, he works in different roles across functional and technical domains.
Rahul's experience spans multiple regions and multiple domains (such as financials, supply chains, distribution, manufacturing, warehousing, retail, professional services, and more). He is also a worldwide trainer for Microsoft, imparting training to partners.
Yogesh Kasat is a founding partner of Real Dynamics and has led more than 20 full-cycle ERP implementations and upgrade projects, working closely with several CFOs to design solutions for better visibility into inventory levels, costs, and aging, as well as improving collection processes and reducing open accounts receivables. His experience with company splits and mergers enables him to design straightforward solutions with better support for shared services, budget planning, and financial reporting. Yogesh is also a Microsoft-recognized Fasttrack Solutions Architect.
About the reviewer
Deepak Agarwal is a Microsoft Certified Solution Expert (MCSE) and has been working professionally on Dynamics AX since 2011. He has had a wide range of development, consulting, and leading roles, while always maintaining a significant role as a business application developer.
He has been awarded as a Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) on business solutions six times in a row, and he has held this title since 2013.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Apps Second Edition
Dedication
About Packt
Why subscribe?
Contributors
About the authors
About the reviewer
Packt is searching for authors like you
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Disclaimer
Download the color images
Conventions used
Get in touch
Reviews
Introduction to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations
Introducing Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft Dynamics 365 salient features
Understanding Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps
Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations apps
Dynamics 365 Business Central
Dynamics 365 Commerce
Dynamics 365 Human Resources
Understanding Power Platform
Power Apps
Power BI
Power Automate
Common Data Service (CDS)
Microsoft AppSource
Exploring Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
What is Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations?
Highlights of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations deployment options
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations capabilities
Trial of Microsoft Dynamics 365
ERP implementation team structure
Implementation partner
ISV solution
Solution advisors
Summary
Methodology and Initiation
Why select a methodology?
Methodologies to choose from
The Conference Room Pilot methodology
Planning
Execution
Best practices in using CRP
The agile methodology
The waterfall methodology
Project deliverables
The planning phase
Requirements of the definition phase
The analysis phase
The design phase
The configure phase
The development phase
The testing and acceptance phase
The training phase
The go-live phase
The support phase
Comparative summary 
Project initiation
Project team composition
Project backbone
Project charter
Project plan
Ground rules for a project team
Kickoff meeting
FastTrack
Best practices in project initiation
Summary
Lifecycle Services (LCS) and Tools
LCS
LCS tools
Project-specific tools
Setting up a project in LCS
Tools for a solid project foundation
Methodologies
LCS projects
Project onboarding
Project users
Organization users and roles
Preview feature management
Usage profile/subscription estimator
Shared asset library
Asset library
SharePoint online
Ongoing day-to-day activities
Business process modeler
Cloud-hosted environments
Code upgrade
Configuration and data manager
Translation service
Alert service
Ongoing support
Issue search
LCS support options
Work items
Environment monitoring
System diagnostics
Updates
Summary
Architecture, Deployment, and Environments
Understanding architecture
Conceptual architecture
Deployment architecture
The cloud deployment architecture 
On-premises deployment architecture 
Understanding application components and architecture
Working with identity management 
Understanding the data layer components
Understanding the platform-layer components 
Understanding the application layer components
Understanding the client components
Browser client
Mobile app
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Unified Operations – mobile app
Office 365
Using LCS
Understanding development architecture 
Understanding integration architecture
Understanding security architecture
Understanding deployment options
Cloud
Local business data or on-premises
Comparing cloud and on-premises deployments  
Understanding cloud deployment and environment planning
Type of environment
Tier-1 - Development or Build 
Tier-2 - Standard Acceptance 
Tier-3, Tier-4, and Tier-5 environments
Production 
Project type and environments 
Finance and Operations standard cloud offer
Summary
Requirements and Process Analysis
Requirements scoping
Hierarchy of business processes and subprocesses 
Business goals
Business process
Subprocesses
The requirements of the business process
LCS BPM and Azure DevOps
Business process modeler
Understanding Microsoft Azure DevOps
BPM and Azure DevOps sync
Continuous reporting and Azure DevOps/VSTS
Requirement-gathering techniques
Listen
Lead
Negotiate
Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
Requirement segmentation and ownership
Analysis of requirements
Solution blueprint
Key decision log
Best practices in managing requirements
Summary
Configuration and Data Management
Explaining configuration management 
Planning configuration management
The golden configuration environment 
Managing data migration
Scoping the data migration
Common data migration areas
Planning data migration
Executing the data migration
Introducing data management tools
The data management framework
Data management concepts
The data management workspace
Data entities
Configuration data templates
Default data templates
Configuration data project
Data packages
LCS Project | Asset library | Data packages
Configuration data packages
LCS – configuration and data manager
Process data packages 
How these concepts come together 
Database operations
Cross-company data sharing 
Data management scenarios
Initial configuration in a blank environment
Data migration from legacy systems
Copying the company configuration within an existing environment
Copying data between environments
Ad hoc data loading
Best practices in managing configurations and data migration
Summary
Solution Planning and Design
Finding the right app for your business needs
Before choosing ISV solutions
After selecting the ISV partner
Understanding common product features
Personalization
Integrating with Office
Document handling
Using workspaces
Electronic Reporting 
Tax engine
Configurable business documents 
Batch framework
Workflows
Database logging
The Finance and Operations mobile application
Common Data Services, Power Automate, and Power Apps
The solution design document
Overview and objectives
Guidelines for the SDD
The functional design document
The fit-gap review session
Why write an FDD?
Project management aspects of design
Things to know before writing an FDD
Dos and don'ts
The technical design document
Guidelines for the TDD
Things to consider while writing TDDs
Summary
Integration Technologies, Planning, and Design
Basic web integration concepts
RESTful APIs
SOAP APIs
SOAP versus REST
JSON message format
OData protocol
OAuth authentication model
Event-driven architecture 
Learning about the integration architecture
Integration concepts in Finance and Operations
Data entities
What is a data entity?
OData services
Querying or browsing an OData endpoint
Consuming OData services
Client application registration and setup
Creating a project, adding libraries, and generating an OData service proxy
Authentication and OData service call
Custom services
Business events 
Business events catalog 
Business events endpoints 
Business events processing 
Available business events and extensibility 
Benefits and use cases 
Data feeds 
Dual-writes 
Data management and the batch data API
Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 integration 
Integration scenarios and planning
Integration scenarios
Integration requirements
Synchronous or asynchronous?
Integration strategy 
Integration middleware/messaging services
Logic Apps 
Power Automate
Event Hub, Event Grid, and Service Bus 
Azure Storage/Azure Data Lake 
Recurring integrations scheduler
Integration design and development
Developing a high-level conceptual design
Selecting the right integration technology
Defining field mapping
Developing, configuring, and testing
Best practices and recommendations
Summary
Customization and Extension
Understanding solution architecture and development concepts
Programming language 
Compiling exclusively in .NET CIL
Language enhancements 
Unit of compilation
Integrated development environment (IDE)
Development IDE in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
Development environment architecture 
Programming concepts
Models
Packages
Packages and models on disk
Models and packages in Visual Studio
Overlayering
Extensions
Understanding the development environment
Version control
Branching strategies
Development machines
Cloud development environment
Local development environment
Application Explorer
Application Explorer views
Filtering the Application Explorer
Working with elements 
Tools Addins for Visual Studio
Creating a new model to start the customization process
Extension capabilities 
Project
Creating a new project
Adding new or existing elements to the project
Import/export project
Development planning
Be agile
Establishing the code review process
Development process 
Conceptualization
Create or extend the data model
Create or extend business logic
Create or extend the user interface
Form patterns
User interface extensibility
Control extensibility
Reporting and analytics
SQL Server Reporting Services (SRSS)
Power BI
Security
Security for custom objects
Acceptance test library (ATL) resources 
Learn and improve
Build and continuous updates
Automated build
Continuous updates
Guidelines and best practices
Summary
Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Reporting
Gathering reporting and analytics requirements
Reporting scenarios and tools
Operational reporting
Operational workspace
Inquiry pages and exporting to Excel
Operational SSRS reports
Analytical workspaces for operational reporting
Regulatory and tax reporting
Exploring ER
Business/commercial documents
SSRS business documents
Business document management
Financial reporting
Row definition
Column definition
Reporting tree definition
Report definition
Analytical reporting
Analytical Power BI reports
Analytics data strategy and data integrations
Using the Entity store
Bring your own database
Moving from relational databases to Azure Data Lake
Learning about fundamental Azure data technologies
Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (ADLS)
Common data model folder (CDM folder)
Azure Data Factory
Azure Synapse analytics and SQL On-Demand
Entity store in Azure Data Lake
Replacing BYOD and the Entity store in Data Lake using data feeds
Best practices in analytics and information insights
Summary
Testing and Training
The importance of testing
Types of testing
Feature testing
Testing of custom-developed features
Testing of standard and ISV solution features
System integration testing
Process/system testing
Data migration testing
Integration testing
Performance/load testing
User acceptance testing
End-to-end testing
Continuous update testing
Automated testing strategies
Test automation features in Finance and Operations
RSAT
RSAT prerequisites
Azure DevOps Test Manager
Windows configuration
RSAT and Selenium
RSAT configuration
RSAT test case execution
Acceptance Test Library
Data task automation
SysTest framework
Task recorder-based (Coded UI) testing
PerfSDK
Integrating a test with a build process
Test-planning guidelines and recommendations
Test planning and scenarios
User acceptance test (UAT)
Planning
UAT kickoff 
Execution
Sign-off
End-to-end test planning and execution
Execution and real-life examples
Training
Training and the help system
Modern clients and navigation concepts
In-product help
Business process modeler (BPM)
Task recorder and task guides
Documentation website
Planning and executing training
Training plan
Training preparation
Training environment
Change management
Summary
Managing Go-Live and Post Go-Live
Learning about the production environment and responsibilities 
Understanding cloud deployment
Looking at the on-premises deployment option
Understanding go-live activities
Exploring the organization's readiness to go-live
Sign-offs
The decision to go live
Business contingency planning
Understanding go-live planning and execution
Planning
Executing a release
The importance of communication
Learning about post go-live support
Glancing on resources for support
Understanding support tools and LCS
Learning about production environment support with Microsoft
Integrating support analytics with monitoring and diagnostics
Best practices in post go-live support
Summary
One Version Service Updates
Exploring One Version
Principles of One Version
Update availability
Update early adoption
Service updates
Quality updates
One Version service update FAQs
Understanding feature management
The feature management workspace
Turning on a feature
Turning off a feature
Check for updates
Summary
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Leave a review - let other readers know what you think
Preface
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based business application platform consisting of purpose-built intelligent applications that unifies ERP and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Part of Dynamics 365, Finance and Operations is a modern cloud-based ERP platform that helps you manage financials, manufacturing, and supply chain operations in a medium to large organization.
This book is written from the perspective of the ERP implementation team, encompassing everything required to achieve a successful implementation of Finance and Operations apps. You will deep dive into various aspects of Finance and Operations implementation and learn about best practices, architecture, tools, life cycle management, deployment, support, and maintenance.
This second edition is updated with the latest developments in Finance and Operations applications and technology. The book starts with an overview of Finance and Operations applications, life cycle services, implementation methodologies, application architecture, and deployment choices.
As you progress, you'll learn about requirement and process analysis, integration planning techniques, configuration and data management, as well as custom solution design and customization. This book demonstrates analytics and financial reporting capabilities and integration with Power BI and Azure Data Lake.
Toward the end of this journey, you'll understand the importance of testing and training and go-live planning. Managing predictable and continuous updates through One Version is the final takeaway from this book.
Who this book is for
This book is for consultants, technical managers, project managers, or solution architects who are looking to implement Microsoft Dynamics Finance and Operations Apps in their business. A basic understanding of the ERP implementation process and software life cycle is expected.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Introduction to Dynamics 365 Finance andOperations, introduces you to Microsoft Dynamics 365 and shares details of various applications. This chapter also describes Finance and Operations basics, core capabilities, deployment options. It describes using AppSource which is one of Microsoft portals to find ISV independent software vendor solutions as well list of partners who could help customers implement Dynamics 365. It also describes how to sign up for a free trial and the ERP implementation team structure.
Chapter 2, Methodology and Initiation, shares information on various implementation methodologies, such as CRP, Agile, and Waterfall for selection, implementation, and maintenance of Finance and Operations.
Chapter 3, Life Cycle Services (LCS) and Tools, introduces Life Cycle Services (LCS) and tools and how they are used to manage your application life cycle from project on-boarding to the implementation and operation of the project.
Chapter 4, Architecture, Deployment, and Environments, explains the Finance and Operations application components and architecture, as well as deployment choices such as cloud and on-premises deployment. It also covers cloud deployment and various aspects of environment planning.
Chapter 5, Requirements and Process Analysis, explains the need for capturing requirements well in SMART (short for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) format. This chapter also covers requirements, processes, solution blueprints, and emphasizing the needs of business process and various other aspects of managing the scope of the project.
Chapter 6, Configuration and Data Management, helps you explore configuration management and data migration, data management tools, data management frameworks, data management scenarios, and best practices in managing configurations and data migration.
Chapter 7, Solution Planning and Design, helps you plan and execute functional design and technical design. It also contains tips and tricks with real-life examples of design patterns—both good and bad—to support best practices.
Chapter 8, Integration Technologies, Planning, and Design, covers integration planning and the integration tools and frameworks available in Finance and Operations, as well as best practices for integration design.
Chapter 9, Customization and Extension, helps you explore the things that you need to know before starting development, during development, and after development, such as the development environment, tools, technical concepts, build and versioning strategies, the development process, frameworks, best practices, and automated build and deployment processes.
Chapter 10, Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Reporting, covers the BI and reporting scenarios and tools. The chapter also covers how to use Azure Data Lake and Azure Synapse Analytics to define the analytics data strategy and integrations. It also explains the best practices in analytics, business intelligence, and reporting.
Chapter 11, Testing and Training, helps you understand the new features and techniques of testing. It also takes you through different testing scenarios and shows the readers some of the best practices in testing and training.
Chapter 12, Managing Go-Live and Post Go-Live, helps you to plan for a successful go-live and explains how you can support a production environment.
Chapter 13, One Version Service Updates, explores Finance and Operations One Version through topics such as update availability, update early adoption, service updates, quality update, and feature management.
To get the most out of this book
To get the most out of this book, you need to have a basic understanding of the ERP implementation process, IT project management, and software development life cycle. In addition, you should have access to the LCS portal and the development environment of Finance and Operations.
Readers who are part of ongoing implementation projects and have access to organization LCS projects and development or sandbox environments will get the most out of this book.
Readers who are not part of ongoing implementation projects can sign up for the Dynamics 365 Trial edition and deploy a demo development environment on the Azure portal via LCS. To try out the code discussed in the book, you must also have Visual Studio Professional or Enterprise license.
Software/Subscriptions required
URLs
Sign up to the Dynamics 365 Trial
https://trials.dynamics.com
Access to LCS
https://lcs.dynamics.com/v2
Azure portal subscription
https://portal.azure.com/
Visual Studio Professional or Enterprise Edition
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/
Office 365 trial
https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?&activetab=tab:primaryr2
If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code via the GitHub repository (the link is in the next section). Doing this will help you avoid any potential errors related to copy/pasting of code.
Disclaimer
All views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this book belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author's employer, organization, committee, or other group or individual.
Download the color images
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Conventions used
There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.
Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Feature testing, also known as function testing, is the standalone testing of individual features performed by the QA resources or business analysts."
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Introduction to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations
Every organization needs a system of records to manage data, control it, and use it for their growth. This often leads to embracing business applications for managing their resources well and to keep improving the business process. With cloud computing providing so many benefits, such as flexibility, efficiency, security, and more uptime, organizations are now looking to go for digital transformation to move from on-premises business applications to cloud-enabled business applications.
Dynamics 365 is a cloud service offering from Microsoft, combining several business needs into a single, scalable, and agile platform, allowing organizations to bring in this much-needed digital transformation.
This chapter will introduce you to Microsoft Dynamics 365 and share the details of various apps, solution elements, buying choices, and complementary tools. We hope you will get an insight into the various tools, offerings, and options provided by Microsoft in Dynamics 365. This may help you in your business transformation initiatives and solution and platform evaluation, spanning customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and business intelligence (BI).
Let's explore the topics we are going to cover in this chapter:
What is Microsoft Dynamics 365?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps
Exploring Power Platform
Complementing/supporting tools with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations apps
App source
Introducing Microsoft Dynamics 365
In the business application world, business leaders are always looking for a better business process automation to achieve digital transformation. The biggest challenge to achieve this is having various applications trying to work together to solve business process automation.Microsoft, for the past several years, has been focused on solving this problem by building intelligent applications infused with AI and analytics capabilities; these applications are built for a very specific purpose but, at the same time, can talk to each other and exchange data seamlessly.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the next generation of intelligent business applications in the cloud offered by Microsoft. It enables end-to-end business processes driven by unified navigation, has a core user experience in how these applications look and feel, and allows seamless integration with each other. Microsoft Dynamics 365 further extends Microsoft's commitment to being a cloud-committed company bringing in world-class business apps together in their overall cloud offering. These Dynamics 365 applications can be independently deployed. A customer can start with what they need, and as the business demands, they can adopt additional applications. Since its inception, Microsoft is making continuous efforts to make it better each day.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 has gained a lot of traction since its inception, and more and more companies are now adapting the applications from the Microsoft Dynamics 365 suite. Let's now explore the key deciding factors for adopting Microsoft Dynamics 365 in your organization's digital transformation journey, with the help of its usage benefits and salient features.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 salient features
What makes Microsoft Dynamics 365 stand apart from its competition and an enabler for organizations lies in its features, capabilities, and offerings.
Here's a quick glance at the salient features of Dynamics 365:
A cloud-driven, browser-based application
Seamlessly integrated with Office 365, all out of the box, to increase productivity and stand apart from others
Built-in intelligence for predictive analysis and decision-making support
Quick-to-adapt and easy-to-use business applications
Releveled and revolutionized the traditional approach toward business solutions
Easy to adopt new updates released by Dynamics 365 team
Dynamics 365 is the next generation of intelligent business applications in the cloud (public and private) as well as on-premises, expected to transform how businesses use technological solutions to achieve their goals.
Understanding Microsoft Dynamics 365 apps
The Microsoft Dynamics 365 approach to business applications unifies Microsoft's current CRM and ERP cloud solutions into one cloud service with new purpose-built business applications that work together seamlessly to help you to manage specific business functions.
Let's now get an insight at a high level into the various apps available in the Dynamics 365 family. Let's look at some of these apps, along with Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations.
Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Dynamics 365 Customer Service is an omnichannel solution to unify the way customers and prospects experience your business. There are several dashboards in Dynamics 365 for customer service as well. The following screenshot depicts one of the dashboards:
Users can create consistency and loyalty at all touchpoints across various experience channels such as self-service, peer-to-peer service, and assisted service. It also proactively addresses issues by detecting the customers' intent and social sentiment.
Expect an increase in CSAT (short for Customer Satisfaction) and retention by providing personalized and consistent engagements and proactive addressing of service issues.
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations apps
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is now available as two separate products as Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management (SCM) for licensing purposes. These two products are collectively called Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations apps. If the customer buys licensing for both Finance and SCM, then they will get all of the features that were previously available in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations.
For the purposes of this book, we will call the product Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations.
Microsoft has done a complete re-architected Dynamics AX and introduced cloud-based Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations to the world. Microsoft offers users an interface that is so natural to use that they just use it with an accelerated adoption, thereby raising productivity. Since the first release in July 2017, Finance and Operations, has gone through various updates, and introduced various new features and processes, which we will learn about later in this book.
The fact that it works seamlessly anywhere on any device and on any platform is among the key features that make Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations very attractive to implement.
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations offers a wide variety of role-specific dashboards and workspaces to make work life easier for folks using it day in and day out. The following screenshot shows a dashboard that comprises several workspaces in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations:
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is a very flexible application, and it can be used for many scenarios as needed by any organization. Some examples are the following:
Enterprise
: An end-to-end solution that looks after the financials and core operations for a company
2-Tier Subsidiary
: Solution that handles the financials and operations for subsidiaries or business units and integrates with the headquarters ERP
Operational workloads
: Manages specific business functions/workloads of business and integrates with corporate systems
It would be very nice to get a glimpse of all workloads available in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, suggesting their core functionality. The following diagram shows a full-suite visual for various workloads:
As shown in the preceding diagram, there are several modules/capability areas spanning different workloads, namely, vertical, horizontal/operational, and administrative.
We will be getting into the details of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations throughout this book; however, there are a few key features that are in line with other D365 business apps, as follows:
Full-suite business management solution
Multiple industry capabilities, namely, retail, distribution, manufacturing, public sector, and service industries; all built in a single solution
Availability in 18 countries/markets with local compliance met and local language support
Choice of deployment—in the cloud or on-premises
Elevate business financial performance
Run smarter with connected operations
Automate and streamline supply chain process
Innovate with a modern and adaptable platform
Simplify configuration of your regulatory services
Several new navigation concepts are introduced in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, and the following are the key ones:
The following screenshot shows the navigation page:
The following screenshot shows workspaces and various tiles used within workspaces in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations user interface:
Let's move on to the next app that Dynamics 365 offers!
Dynamics 365 Business Central
Dynamics 365 Business Central is an accounting application offering from Microsoft, but it is more than accounting software. It is a comprehensive business management solution for small and midsized organizations that automates and streamlines business processes.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central also has dashboards similar to the role-driven dashboards in other Dynamics 365 apps:
Dynamics 365 Commerce
Earlier a part of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Commerce is now separated as its own application as part of the Dynamics 365 product portfolio. Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Commerce provides an intelligent platform to enable retailers to combine the best of digital and in-store to deliver personal, seamless, and differentiated customer experiences by empowering people and capturing insights to drive growth.
The following screenshot depicts a Dynamics 365 Commerce solution:
Dynamics 365 Human Resources
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Human Resources was an earlier part of the Finance and Operations and is now a separate SaaS-based independent offering out of Dynamics 365. Dynamics 365 Human Resources brings your human capital management to the cloud for a mobile, employee-focused, strategic HR approach that helps you to find and hire the right people, nurture success, and deliver high-impact, sustainable results.
The following is a talent solution dashboard showing various modules and capabilities:
Microsoft is trying to make use of the Dynamics 365 suite easier by providing access to various tools that work very seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics 365 business applications. These tools complement the Microsoft Dynamics 365 suite to make it more personalized and easy for information consumption and informed decision making. Let's have a look at these complementary tools in the following section.
Understanding Power Platform
Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Automate are all backed by the best-in-class cloud services for enterprise developers and IT professionals to quickly extend capabilities for Power users and scale to enterprise-wide manageability easily at any time.
Let's have a visual overview of additional apps/services/tools that could be utilized to measure information, act upon the task, and automate as much as possible. The following screenshot shows the Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Automate appsand how easy it is to build on top of it:
Let's now explore all of these tools one by one.
Power Apps
Microsoft has provided the Power Apps service, which can be used to build the new web/mobile apps that can connect to business data. It is the foundation to build any web/mobile application on top of Dynamics 365 solutions without writing any significant code.
Power Apps is a very strong tool that can be used in many ways; some are as follows:
Building new apps
Automate process
Connecting data between various applications
AI builder
Creating new portals
Let's have a glimpse of a sample mobile app built in no time and ready for use by the business. The following screenshot shows an app built on top of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations and its data entities:
