Who wants this software?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based software platform that allows an organization to integrate its processes into a single, integrated platform. Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) provides applications to help manage customer relationships, including D365 Sales (used to manage the sales cycle), D365 Marketing (used to manage marketing campaigns), D365 Customer Service (used to manage customer information and services), and D365 Field Services (used to manage and assist technicians’ schedules and appointments).

There are also two Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. One of these applications is called Business Central (BC). This is a small- and medium-business version of an ERP system that is suited for a company with around 100 to 250 users. The application consists of three modules:

• A Finance and Operations module based on a previous application called Microsoft Dynamics NAV
• A sales module
• A marketing module

The enterprise edition of their ERP application is called D365 Finance and Supply Chain Management. This application is made up of several modules, including Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, inventory management, and asset management. Other enterprise applications include Project Ops for project operations and financial management, Human Resources to manage all users from a human resources perspective, and Commerce, which is used to manage both brick and mortar and online retail stores. Microsoft is also in the process of preparing other tools that will be released in the near future to cover areas such as intelligent order management, Microsoft Supply Chair Center.

Now that an organization has selected D365 Finance and Supply Chain Management, its next step is to find an implementation partner. Microsoft has many different partners who can do the deployment, but you want to find one that will not only do the work for a customer but also become a partner in the deployment of their system. By becoming a partner, the consultants have a vested interest in deploying the best system possible.

As a part of the selection criteria when picking a partner, you need to check out their work and references. One of the things that the customer needs to find out is whether the partner is eligible for Microsoft’s architectural support process called FastTrack for Dynamics 365: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/fasttrack/

Success by Design is a methodology that prioritizes communication between Microsoft and the partner to provide a successful project. There are specific requirements that both the customer and partner must meet to be eligible to take advantage of FastTrack. We will take a detailed look at FastTrack in Chapter 2.