Transform enterprise operations with Dynamics 365.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations is an enterprise resource planning platform for mid-sized and large organisations. It covers financial management, supply chain, manufacturing, warehouse management, procurement and project accounting in a single system.

It is designed for organisations operating multiple legal entities, currencies and reporting standards. Microsoft now sells its capability as two products — Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management — though the platform is still widely referred to as F&O.

An implementation typically covers analysis of current processes, design of the target process and data model, configuration of the standard product, any extensions required where standard functionality does not meet a genuine requirement, integration with surrounding systems, data migration from the previous system, testing including user acceptance and performance testing, training, and cutover to live operation.

It is normally delivered in phases rather than as a single event — by entity, by module, or by business unit, depending on where the risk sits.

Yes. Migration from AX 2009 or AX 2012 to D365 F&O is a distinct type of engagement, because the platform architecture changed substantially. Customisations written by overlayering must be re-implemented as extensions, and integrations built for the older platform generally need to be rebuilt.

The work begins with an assessment establishing what carries across, what must be rebuilt, and what should be retired rather than migrated — which is often a significant proportion.

Customisation is extending D365 F&O with new code where a genuine business requirement is not met by standard functionality or configuration. On F&O this is done through the extension model rather than by modifying Microsoft’s code, which is what allows Microsoft’s regular service updates to be applied without rework.

Sound practice is to exhaust configuration first. Every extension adds testing effort at each subsequent update, and that cost compounds over the life of the system.

Support typically covers resolving issues raised by users, monitoring integrations and batch processing, regression testing ahead of Microsoft’s service updates, applying configuration changes as the business changes, developing small enhancements, and advising on new requirements.

The distinction that matters most in practice is whether support includes only fixing what is broken, or also absorbing ongoing change. We would recommend agreeing that explicitly at the outset.

It depends on scope — the number of legal entities, which modules are in scope, how much integration and data migration is involved, and how much process redesign is being done alongside. We will give you a specific estimate after scoping rather than a range here that would not mean anything.

What we would say generally: phasing shortens the time to first value considerably, even when it does not shorten the overall programme.