Mastering Microsoft Dynamics 365 Implementations

Introduction xxvii Chapter 1 • Stages of an Implementation Overview 1 What Is Microsoft Dynamics? 1 The Client Journey 2 Implementation Methodologies 5 Waterfall and Sure Step 5 Agile and Scrum 7 Triple Constraints 8 The Bottom Line 9 Chapter 2 • What to Do Before You Begin a Project 11 Identify Your Project Team and Stakeholders 11 Executive Sponsor 12 Project Owner 12 Business Process Owner(s) 13 Project Manager 13 Core Team and a Core Team Lead 14 Subject Matter Experts 14 IT Resources 15 Time Commitment by Role 17 Identify Your Processes in Scope 18 Clean Up Your Data 19 Identify Your “Master” Data 19 Develop Naming Conventions 20 Identify System Owners 20 Find and Resolve Duplicates and Incorrect Data 20 Define Your Success Metrics 21 Possible Benefits 22 Building Your Business Case and Securing Funding 23 How Much Should an ERP Project Cost? 24 Costs to Include in Your Calculations 24 Capitalizing Costs 25 Contingency 27 Return on Investment (ROI) 27 Gaining Approval 28 The Bottom Line 29 Chapter 3 • Four Keys to Consider When Buying an ERP or CRM Solution 31 Selection Process 31 Selection Consultant 32 Decision Maker 33 The Four Keys 33 Fit 34 Platform 35 Implementer 39 Cost 41 Building Your Scorecard 44 The Bottom Line 45 Chapter 4 • How to Evaluate and Buy Business Application Software 47 Buying Process Steps 47 Qualification Stage 48 Discovery and Demonstration Stage 49 Selecting Your Vendor 51 Leadership or Board Approval 54 Moving Forward 54 The Bottom Line 54 Chapter 5 • Organizing Your Team for Success and Project Governance 57 RACI 57 Your Project Team 58 Your Partner’s Implementation Team 59 Executive Sponsor 60 Engagement Manager 60 Project Manager 60 Solution Architect or Solution Delivery Manager 60 Functional Consultant or Consultants 61 Technical Consultant 61 Development Lead and Developers 61 Integration Architect 61 Data Migration Specialist 62 Project Governance 62 Project Communication 62 Resource Loading 62 Project Schedule 66 Document Repository 67 Budget Tracking 68 Change Requests 68 Project Management Plan 68 The Bottom Line 69 Chapter 6 • Sprints and Tools Needed to Run Your Project 73 Definition of a Sprint 73 Length of a Sprint 74 Start and End of a Sprint 74 Delivering Value in a Sprint 74 Backlog 75 Project Backlog 75 Sprint Backlog 76 Allocating Work to Team Members 76 Sprint Success Rate 76 Sprint Meetings 77 Sprint Planning 77 Sprint Review 77 Sprint Retrospective 78 Stand-up Meetings 78 Work Definitions 79 Epic 79 Feature 79 User Story 80 Requirement 80 Research Task 80 Design Task 80 Development Task 81 Test Task 81 Other Task 81 Test Case 81 Test 81 Bug (Defect) 81 Risk 81 Issue 82 Change Request 82 Code and Changesets 82 Azure DevOps 82 DevOps Fields 82 Progress Reporting 83 Analytical Views 83 The Bottom Line 84 Chapter 7 • Change Management Throughout Your Project 87 Success Criteria 88 Use of Satisfaction Surveys 89 Nine Steps to Change Management 90 Leadership Alignment 90 Organization Evaluation 91 Outline Your Business Process Change Steps 92 Develop a System Vision that Provides Benefits to All Stakeholders 92 Communicate Effectively 92 Maximize the Team’s Time in the New System 94 Train Effectively 94 Set Realistic Expectations for the System Just After Go-Live 94 Support Your Team Members After Go-Live 95 Steps to Business Process Change 95 Importance of Adoption 96 The Bottom Line 96 Chapter 8 • Organizing Your Business by Processes 99 Common Language Businesses Speak 99 Operations 100 Sales 100 Finance and Administration 100 Standard Processes 100 Process Hierarchy 102 Process Category 102 Process Group 103 Process 103 Sub-processes, Tasks, Activities, and Requirements 104 Discovering Your Processes 104 SIPOC 104 Core Team Members 106 Rounding Out Your Scope 106 The Bottom Line 106 Chapter 9 • Independent Software Vendors—Filling Gaps and Managing Partnerships 109 The Purpose of ISVs 109 Hosting Providers 110 Private Hosting 111 SaaS-Style Hosting 111 Industry ISVs 111 Deciding If You Need an Industry ISV 112 Functional ISVs 113 Missing Functionality 113 Advanced Features 113 Missing Connector 113 Automation 114 Reporting Extensions 114 Deciding If You Need a Functional ISV 114 Working with ISVs 114 Budgeting for ISV Solutions 115 Implementation Partner or Customer Managed 115 Buying the ISV License or Subscription 115 Implementation of ISV Products 116 Manage Your ISV Projects Closely 116 Microsoft’s AppSource Marketplace 117 Product Listing 118 Services Listing 118 The Bottom Line 119 Chapter 10 • Factors for a Successful Project Kickoff 121 Pre-Kickoff Meeting Activities 121 Checklist 121 Expectations for the Meeting 124 Outing 124 Kickoff Meeting Content 124 Executive Overview 125 Introductions and Role Review 125 Expectations for Team Members 126 Project Management and Communication Plan 126 Project Schedule 126 Resources 126 Navigation Overview [Optional] 127 Wrapping Up 127 Executive Message 127 Expectations for the Project Team 128 Time Commitment 128 Decision-Making 129 Power of Positivity 129 The Bottom Line 130 Chapter 11 • Designing the Software Collaboratively 133 Joint Application Design Concept 133 Joint Process Design and Other Design-Related Definitions 134 What Is a Joint Process Design (JPD) Session? 134 Happy Path 136 “As-Is” vs “To Be” 136 Joint Process Design Iterations 137 JPD1 137 JPD2 139 JPD3 140 JPD4 140 Keys to Successful JPDs 140 JPD Output 141 SIPOC 142 The Bottom Line 143 Chapter 12 • Requirements Gathering and Staying “In the Box” 145 Staying in the Box 145 Customization vs In-the-Box Examples 146 Requirements 147 Out-of-the-Box Fields as Requirements 147 Requirements Link to Processes 148 Functional vs Non-functional Requirements 149 Verifying Requirements 150 Writing Good Requirements 150 Requirements Tips 150 Fit/Gap Analysis 151 Fit/Gap Spreadsheet 152 Trade-Offs 153 The Cost of Customizations 154 Cloud vs On-Premise Software 155 The Bottom Line 155 Chapter 13 • Conference Room Pilots 157 The Purpose of a Conference Room Pilot 157 How to Organize CRPs 158 Common Elements of CRPs 159 CRP Agenda 159 Logistics 160 Issues and Questions 160 CRP Roles and Responsibilities 161 Session Leader 161 Helper/Expert 162 Business Process Owner 162 Users/Students 162 Who Not to Invite 163 CRP Place in the Overall Schedule 163 Can You Do a CRP on One Process Group at the Same Time That You Do a JPD? 164 Entrance Criteria 164 CRP vs UAT 166 How They Are Similar 166 How They Are Different 166 What to Do Between CRP and the End of the Create Stage 167 CRP Goals 168 The Bottom Line 168 Chapter 14 • Dealing with Challenges Mid-Project 171 Managing the Project Status 172 Status Report 172 Colors on a Status Report 173 Managing Your Budget 175 Project Pulse 177 Risks and Issues 177 Risk Register 178 Issues vs Bugs 179 Common Project Challenges 179 The Bottom Line 183 Chapter 15 • Customizations vs Configurations and How You Manage Them 185 Customizations vs Configurations 185 Customization 185 Configuration 186 Integration 186 Master Data 187 Metadata 187 Personalization 187 Reference Data 187 When to Customize vs Configure 188 Why Choose to Customize 188 Tracking Configurations 188 Configuration Tracker 189 Gold Environment 189 Lifecycle Services 189 Functional Design Documents 190 Overview 190 Modification 190 Testing 190 Development Quotation 191 Revision and Sign-off 191 Updates 191 Design Complete 191 The Development Process 192 Develop the Solution 192 Unit Test 192 Code Review 193 Functional Testing (Part 1) 193 Finishing Up 194 After Code Complete 194 Deploying the Code 194 Functional Testing (Part 2) 194 Preparing for CRP and UAT 195 The Lifecycle of a Customization 195 Managing These Tasks 195 Wrap-Up 196 The Bottom Line 197 Chapter 16 • Data Migration—Early and Often 199 Data Migration Plan 200 Proactive Cleaning 200 Before the Kickoff 201 Data Migration Tool 202 Iterations 203 Extract 206 Finding the Data 206 Extraction Tools 206 Transform 208 Mapping the Data 208 Mapping Tools 208 Transforming Mapped Data 209 Load 210 Order of Operation 210 Load Time 210 Validating the Data 210 Technical Validation 211 Business Validation 211 Functional Validation 212 Go-Live Iteration 212 The Bottom Line 213 Chapter 17 • Environment Management and Deployments 215 Types of Environments 216 Developer Environments 216 Build 217 Test 217 Sandbox 218 Production 219 Environment Plan 220 Types of Releases 220 Frequency of Code Moves 222 Populating Configurations and Master Data 222 Deploying Code 223 Application Lifecycle Management 223 Environment Flow Using DevOps 224 Rollback 224 Security 225 Definitions 225 How Best to Manage 226 The Bottom Line 227 Chapter 18 • Testing 229 Definitions 229 Types of Testing 230 Common Testing Terms 231 Pre-Deploy Stage Activities 232 Testing Strategy 232 Unit Test and Regression Tests 233 Developing Test Cases 234 UAT Entrance Criteria 235 UAT Exit Criteria 236 UAT Sessions 236 Purpose 236 Additional Benefits of UAT Sessions 237 UAT Roles and Responsibilities 237 Executing Your Test Plans 238 Tips for the Sessions 239 Post UAT Testing 240 Issues List 241 Process Sign-Offs 241 Scenario Recaps 241 The Bottom Line 242 Chapter 19 • Training for All 245 Learning During Interactive Sessions 246 JPDs 246 CRPs 246 UAT 247 Learning Modalities 247 In-Person, Classroom Style 248 Remote, Synchronous Training 249 Asynchronous 251 Building Your Training Content 251 End User Training Content 251 Product Help Content 252 Microsoft Learn 253 Recording Sessions 253 Task Recorder 253 How Much to Document 254 How to Manage and Distribute Your Content 254 Learning Management Systems 255 Building Your End User Training Schedule 255 Pre-Training Learning 256 Train the Trainer 256 Synchronous Sessions 257 Advanced Concepts 257 Testing Users’ Knowledge 257 Office Hours 258 The Bottom Line 259 Chapter 20 • Going Live 261 Go-Live Criteria 261 Cutover Plan 262 Bug Criteria 262 Data Migration and Security Criteria 263 Support Readiness 264 Training Review 264 Communication Plan 265 Go-Live Scorecard 265 Mock Cutover and Final Week Activities 266 Disaster Recovery 267 System Setup Before Cutover 267 Go/No-Go Meetings 268 When to Have It 268 Voting Criteria 268 Meeting Agenda 269 Order and Outcome of the Votes 269 Next Steps 270 Live Cutover 270 Impact of the Cutover Start Timing 271 Completing Cutover Activities 271 Rollback Plan 272 Acknowledge the Team 272 The Bottom Line 272 Chapter 21 • Hypercare 275 Go-Live Support 275 Day 1 276 Week 1 276 Project Change Champions 277 Prioritizing Issues 277 Weeks 2–4 278 First Month End 278 Duration of Hypercare 279 Role of HelpDesk 279 Sample SLA 280 Project Team Support 280 Support Levels 281 Refer Users to Training 283 Making the Transition to HelpDesk Later 283 Post Go-Live Releases 284 Planning for Future Releases 285 Hotfix Release 285 Scheduled Releases 286 Project Team Transition 287 Rolling Off the Project Team 287 Documentation 288 Expectations of Support 288 After the Transition 289 The Bottom Line 289 Chapter 22 • Support and Enhance Your Project 291 Support After Hypercare 291 Extending the Transition from Consulting to Support 292 Engaging Your Partner for Support 292 Microsoft and ISV Support Plans 294 After Action Review 295 Who to Invite 295 How to Run the Meeting 296 What to Do with the Feedback 297 Ongoing Releases 297 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Release Cadence 297 Release Testing 297 When to Schedule Your Releases 298 What to Include in Releases 299 Future Enhancements 299 New Functionality 299 Usability 300 Guardrails 301 Business Intelligence 301 Incorporating Dynamics Data into Your Daily Business 302 Integrations 302 Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence 302 Calculating Return on Investment 303 ROI Checkpoints 304 The Bottom Line 305 Chapter 23 • Bringing It All Together 307 Align Stage 307 Define Stage 308 Create Stage 311 Deploy Stage 313 Empower Stage 314 Additional Resources 315 The Bottom Line 315 Appendix • The Bottom Line 317 Chapter 1: Stages of an Implementation Overview 317 Chapter 2: What to Do Before You Begin a Project 318 Chapter 3: Four Keys to Consider When Buying an ERP or CRM Solution 320 Chapter 4: How to Evaluate and Buy Business Application Software 322 Chapter 5: Organizing Your Team for Success and Project Governance 323 Chapter 6: Sprints and Tools Needed to Run Your Project 325 Chapter 7: Change Management Throughout Your Project 326 Chapter 8: Organizing Your Business by Processes 328 Chapter 9: Independent Software Vendors—Filling Gaps and Managing Partnerships 329 Chapter 10: Factors for a Successful Project Kickoff 331 Chapter 11: Designing the Software Collaboratively 332 Chapter 12: Requirements Gathering and Staying “In the Box” 334 Chapter 13: Conference Room Pilots 335 Chapter 14: Dealing with Challenges Mid-Project 337 Chapter 15: Customizations vs Configurations and How You Manage Them 338 Chapter 16: Data Migration—Early and Often 340 Chapter 17: Environment Management and Deployments 341 Chapter 18: Testing 343 Chapter 19: Training for All 344 Chapter 20: Going Live 346 Chapter 21: Hypercare 347 Chapter 22: Support and Enhance Your Project 349 Chapter 23: Bringing It All Together 350 Glossary 353 Index 369