A practical guide to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365 FAQs)

Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations is Microsoft’s answer to ERP for larger and complex businesses. With embedded analytics and financial intelligence, it’s designed to not only monitor your financial performance in real-time, but also automate your business operations. It integrates and streamlines your business processes, including finance, manufacturing, and supply chain management.

Microsoft Dynamics ERP systems include two cloud ERP platforms.

1. One is Dynamics 365 Business Central or BC for the small to mid-size market (earlier on Prem Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Navision).

2. The other is Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (also known as F&O or Finance and Supply Chain or F&SCM) for the large to enterprise market (earlier on-prem Microsoft Dynamics AX or Axapta).

Both are fully featured, best in class applications with several common and exclusive workflows and functionality. There are key differences between Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. Walkerscott can help you decide, and implement, the Dynamics 365 application that suits your organization’s unique needs. You can read more about high-level differences between Microsoft’s two ERP products, see our Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central vs Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations Comparison Table.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is highly scalable and can grow with your business. Closer to home, organisations like Breville and Michael Hill to even Spark New Zealand the Australian Football League and many more have leveraged F&O for their digital transformation journeys.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is built on Microsoft Azure, one of the most secure cloud platforms in the world. It includes built-in security measures such as encryption, access controls, and auditing. Want to find out more? Go to article Data Security and governance-related considerations for Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can integrate with other Microsoft products natively, as well as third-party systems, through APIs and data connectors. It’s a common requirement to stitch data across systems to provide a seamless workflow for teams, and Walkerscott have deep expertise and IP in Azure integration to deliver this as part of the end-to-end project.

The implementation timeline can vary depending on the complexity of your business entities and processes and the level of customization and integration required. However, a typical implementation can take anywhere from six months to over a year.

We provide comprehensive support during the implementation process, including project management, training, and technical support. After implementation, we offer ongoing support and maintenance services. We recommend you consider the change management aspects of your project as well. Successful adoption requires people to adapt and embrace the change.

You can visit Microsoft’s website to find High-level information on the cost of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations.

The cost of Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations depends on several factors, including the number of users, and the specific modules you choose. Our licensing specialists can help you understand the modules and the functionalities and recommend the right approach.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations supports multi-company operations with intercompany transactions, making it an ideal solution for businesses with multiple entities or subsidiaries that may have a global footprint.

The decision on F&O vs Business Central (Microsoft’s other ERP product) likely comes down to the sophistication of multi-entity requirements i.e., if you are multi-jurisdiction then you may need to deploy multiple BC instances and it can get expensive and clunky from an operational perspective. Walkerscott will provide an impartial view of the correct product to leverage to suit your business, but high-level differences between Microsoft’s two ERP products can be found in our Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC vs Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O Comparison Table.

Microsoft releases regular updates for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, now on a quarterly basis. These updates include new features, improvements, and security patches. Walkerscott have a structured methodology in place to plan for, test and deploy these updates for all our customers as part of our Managed Services offerings. With an evergreen system with the latest functionality, you will never have to implement an ERP again.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations provides real-time visibility into your financial data, streamlines financial processes, and enables data-driven decision-making. F&O includes robust financial reporting tools, allowing you to generate accurate financial reports and gain insights from your financial data. Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes financial consolidation tools, allowing you to consolidate your financial data effectively and comply with financial consolidation standards.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations also includes powerful business intelligence and analytics capabilities, allowing you to gain insights from your data and make informed decisions. Microsoft Power BI reports and dashboards can be embedded within Finance and Operations to provide key insights within the operational workflow.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes robust manufacturing capabilities, including production planning, scheduling, and inventory management. Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can help optimize your supply chain by improving inventory management, streamlining procurement processes, and enhancing logistics and delivery. In-built business process automation across the different modules helps free up your team to focus on strategic tasks.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes features to help with regulatory compliance, including audit trails, compliance reporting, and data governance tools. Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can also handle tax calculations and reporting, helping you comply with tax regulations and requirements.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is highly customizable. You can tailor the system to fit your specific business processes and requirements. However, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Customisations introduce additional complexity and cost to implementation and support. You also miss the opportunity to align your new processes with best practices.

At Walkerscott, we take a different approach to the delivery of solutions. Rather than implementing all the customisations requested by users based on their old approach, we rapidly deploy the product to our clients, then conduct a ‘Fit Gap Analysis’ which will allow us to implement core, minimal customizations as part of the project, and engage users to ensure that they have a good understanding of how to use the solution. This then influences further customizations and ensures customisation requests are well-informed and based on actual use of the product.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes forecasting and budgeting tools, allowing you to plan for the future and make data-driven decisions. For more advanced functionality, we recommend leveraging best-in-class independent software vendors (ISVs) like Solver that have deeply integrated their products into the Dynamics platform. You can find more information about the ISVs that Walkerscott recommend here.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can integrate with Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service, providing a unified solution for managing your customer relationships. Walkerscott have deep expertise in deploying these solutions for our customers and can recommend the right approach to enabling an end-to-end system bridging your Prospect to Quote, Order to Cash and Case to Resolution workflows. Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can also integrate with Dynamics 365 Field Service, providing a unified solution for managing your service and maintenance operations, with advanced resource scheduling optimisation capabilities.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations has its own Retail module and can integrate with Dynamics 365 Commerce, providing a unified solution for managing your e-commerce and retail operations, allowing you to deliver unified, personalised, and seamless buying experiences for customers and partners across traditional and emerging channels.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can be configured to support non-profit operations. Walkerscott can deploy it along with Microsoft’s industry Cloud for Nonprofit solution that provides key functionality including donor and donations management, membership management, and volunteer engagement.

Walkerscott extend Microsoft’s Cloud to deliver an end-to-end solution for the Nonprofit industry. We have also built our own ‘Klevr’ solutions that solve real problems for our customers’ industry, specifically designed to accelerate business transformation initiatives using Dynamics 365. Klevr Grants facilitates the end-to-end lifecycle of a Grant, across funds processing and Contractual / Financial Management, all on the Dynamics platform.

While Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations doesn’t natively include construction-related data models, it can be (and is often) customized to support construction operations, leveraging the robust project management, cost management, and contract management functionalities within the product.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is designed to be user-friendly, with an intuitive interface and easy-to-use tools. Walkerscott also provide Dynamics 365 training to ensure your team can effectively use the system.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is accessible on mobile devices, allowing you to manage your business processes on the go.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations is built on Microsoft Azure, which offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. It also includes disaster recovery and backup capabilities to ensure your data is always safe and accessible.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can handle complex pricing and discount structures, allowing you to manage pricing strategies effectively.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations provides real-time visibility into your inventory, streamlines inventory processes, and helps optimize inventory levels.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can optimize your logistics and delivery processes, improving delivery times, reducing costs, and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can streamline your order management processes, improve order accuracy, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can optimize your production planning processes, improving production efficiency and reducing costs.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes asset management capabilities, allowing you to track and manage your assets effectively.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes project management capabilities, including project planning, resource management, and project accounting.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes contract management capabilities, allowing you to manage your contracts effectively and comply with contract management standards.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations can streamline your procurement processes, improve supplier management, and enhance purchase order management.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations has an in-built HR module, providing a unified solution for managing your workforce.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes an expense management module, allowing you to manage your expenses effectively and reduce costs.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes risk management tools, allowing you to manage your risks effectively and make data-driven decisions.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations provides real-time visibility into your cash flow, helping you manage your cash flow effectively and make data-driven decisions.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes revenue recognition tools, allowing you to recognize revenue accurately and comply with revenue recognition standards.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations provides real-time visibility into your costs, helping you manage your costs effectively and make data-driven decisions.

Yes, Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes lease management capabilities, allowing you to manage your leases effectively and comply with lease accounting standards.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes credit management tools, allowing you to manage your credit effectively and reduce credit risk.

Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations includes accounts payable and receivable management tools, allowing you to manage your payables and receivables effectively and improve cash flow.