Earlier in this chapter, we learned about the Microsoft Dynamics 365 offering and all available different components and options. Our focus in this book is primarily on Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. Throughout this book, we will be focusing on Finance and Operations as a product and will go through different phases of the ERP implementation cycle in various chapters. We will discover specific tools and techniques applicable to implement it successfully in organizations. In this section, you will learn a little more about Finance and Operations and its history and highlights.
Exploring Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
What is Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is a modern ERP system built for cloud-first with two decades of proven business functionalities. Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations may be a new name but it has been around for the last two decades. Finance and Operations, in the past, was known as Microsoft Dynamics AX and Axapta. Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operation is designed for midsized and large enterprise customers and is a multi-language, multi-currency enterprise resource planning solution. Finance and Operations is available in 138 countries and supports more than 40 languages and country-specific localization out of the box. On one side, the seamless integration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations with Office 365 takes productivity to a new level; on the other hand, out-of-the-box integration with Power BI, Cortana analytics, and machine learning takes the decision-making to another level.
Highlights of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations
The following topics describe the highlights of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations:
- Modern: Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is a modern, cloud-first, and mobile-first ERP solution. Microsoft has completely rewritten the technology platform and user interface from its previous version, Dynamics AX 2012. Just to name few advancements, the new version comes with cloud-first Azure deployment, modern HTML 5 client, mobile app, Power BI integration, and modern integration capabilities.
- Work anywhere, anytime, and on any device: The new user experience is optimized for multiple platforms and mobile apps. The clean, modern, and intuitive browser-based UI is a pleasure to use and easy to learn. All business logic is available any time, any place, on any device.
- BI: Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations brings the power of the cloud to light up the state-of-the-art business intelligence options such as Power BI, Cognitive Services, and artificial intelligence. Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations comes with a near-real-time operational data store called entity store for analytics and BI reporting. Entity store uses in-memory, clustered columnstore index (CCI) functionality that is built into Microsoft SQL Server to optimize reporting and queries. Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations comes with many out-of-the-box Power BI content packs from Microsoft and provides the ability for partners and customers to author their own Power BI content pack and distribute it through the marketplace.
- Productivity: Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations keeps productivity as the core of its product and user interface design. Integration with productivity tools such as Office 365 has taken things to a new level, and the ability for business users to use their favorite apps such as Excel to export, edit, and publish data back to an application has never been so easy. The new concept of workspaces takes productivity to a new level by providing information around a process. All of the dependencies and answers to questions about a given process are available through a single page. Task guides make it easier to onboard new staff and train them on the process with step-by-step instructions while minimizing the learning curve.
- Predictable and repeatable implementations: Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations brings Lifecycle Services (LCS) to the next level. With LCS, customers and implementation partners can manage their application lifecycle and move toward predictable, repeatable, and high-quality implementations. LCS is mandatory for any implementation project and allows customers and implementation partners to manage their implementation project from the project planning, deployment, and configuration, to monitoring and post-go-live support. LCS provides best practices and standards for implementation projects. With LCS, it has become very easy to manage and update Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations.
- Adaptable to any industry: Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is a very flexible solution out of the box. Any industry can use Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations due to its industry-standard features and flexibility to customize it to meet the needs of a particular industry. Microsoft is also learning from different industries and adding commonly used features to the standard product with each service update. Retail, manufacturing, distribution, public sector, finance, and IT are some of the industries where Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is used very frequently.
- Feature management: As part of a preview release, Microsoft releases some of the new features that are available only to targeted users. Features are added and updated in every release of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. The feature management experience provides a workspace where users can view a list of features that have been delivered in each release. By default, new features are turned off. Users can use the workspace to turn them on and view the documentation for them.
- Service updates: Microsoft has introduced the service update framework. With this framework, Microsoft has eliminated the tedious and painful task of upgrading the product every couple of years. Service updates enable customers to stay on top of newly coming updates to the product and adopt these updates easily through LCS. These service updates are continuous with new features and are released eight times per year. Customers may choose to get all eight of these service updates or just take the minimum required two service updates per year.
- Automated testing: Testing is a very big part of any product implementation. The same is true with Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations; Microsoft has released the testing tool RSAT (short for Regression Suite Automation Tool), which can be used to automate the testing to reduce the cost for the UAT process. Users can create test cases and feed those test cases to RSAT to perform automated testing. By automating the testing process, customers can save a lot of time and effort that was previously taken in the past versions of the product.
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations deployment options
In today's modern world, everyone is focusing on cloud solutions where you don't have to worry about the infrastructure and other on-premises deployment issues like in the past. Microsoft is no different, and lately, a lot of focus has been on providing a better solution to the customer, which can be sustainable and scalable using cloud technology.
Previous versions of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations used to be just on-premises, but with the evolution of cloud technology, it is also available with cloud deployment. Let's have a look at the following table:
Here, we see the comparison between cloud and on-premises deployment options for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations.
Use the following link to learn more about deployment options for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/fin-ops-core/dev-itpro/deployment/choose-deployment-type?toc=/dynamics365/finance/toc.json.
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations capabilities
Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations has great capabilities that can be used to improve your business processes. Using the built-in features, you can see how the use of Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations can make the user's life easier doing daily tasks. Dynamic 365 for Finance and Operations comes with many capabilities, and the following are some of the latest and greatest:
- Dynamics 365 Finance capabilities:
- Use AI to drive important financial decisions.
- Use powerful workspaces for faster decision-making.
- Use automation for your financial processes to reduce operational expenses.
- Use powerful localization to meet global financial complexity.
- Use Power BI for better reporting and analytics.
- Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management capabilities:
- Use powerful lean and intelligent manufacturing features to improve manufacturing operations.
- Use IoT intelligence for production performance.
- Use asset management to better maintain the assets.
- Use advanced warehouse management with the latest improvements.
- Use automation to streamline your supply chain.
Use the following link to learn more about Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations capabilities: https://dynamics.microsoft.com/en-us/finance-and-operations/capabilities/.
