There are some lovely infographics out there that showcase the multitude of apps within the D365 ecosystem, but the presentation can still leave ambiguity about how it all hangs together.
We thought we’d create an infographic that seeks to show the relationships in simple terms, with particular emphasis on D365 F&O, D365 CECustomer Engagement is the collective title of D365 first party apps built on CRM technology (Sales, Service, Marketing, etc). More, and D365 BC. We hope it’s useful to those new to our world, or who operate around the periphery of what we do.
And if you’re wondering why we don’t ever refer to F&SCMSupply Chain Management (SCM) is the centralised process of managing the flow of goods, services, and information, from production to consumption. More, we talk about that erroneous acronym in this post, “What’s in a name?“.
Here it is:
This work is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0. As per the licence, please feel free to download, re-post and re-use this infographic, but please do not modify it.
You’ve already (we hope) made the right decision to choose a Microsoft ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More solution – congratulations!
Both Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC) and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365 F&O) bring similar benefits in terms of playing nicely with the wider Microsoft ecosystem, which leads the world in OSOperating System, e.g. Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, ChromeOS More, Cloud, xRM(Anything) Relationship Management extends CRM to manage relationships beyond customers, e.g. assets, facilities, or equipment. More, Office, AIArtificial Intelligence is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems that mimic human intelligence. More, and modern workplace tools.
These two ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More systems cater to different business needs, and understanding their distinctions can help organisations make an informed decision. Let’s dive in…
Purpose and Target Audience
Companies House defines a small business as employing <50 people with <£6.5 million turnover and a medium business with <250 employees and turnover <£25.9 million. These figures help us to understand the target markets for each product:
D365 BC: Designed for small to medium-sized businesses, D365 BC offers a comprehensive solution for managing finances, sales, and customer service. It’s an all-in-one platform that streamlines operations and provides crucial insights.
D365 F&O: Geared toward medium to large organizations, D365 F&O is Microsoft’s most advanced ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More solution. Its focus is on steady business process transformation across various market segments, making it more attractive to businesses: in growth mode (organically or through M&A), and/or with large international operations, and/or seeking to diversify.
Competition
To help understand the different offerings, it is useful to compare with other platforms in the same tier, especially for those with experience of other platforms besides Microsoft:
D365 BC: Comparable in cost and functionality to:
Oracle NetSuite
SAP Business One
UNIT4 Business World
D365 F&O: Comparable in cost and functionality to:
Oracle ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More Cloud
SAP S/4HANA
Infor CloudSuite Industrial
General Functionality
D365 BC: While robust, it lacks some of the enterprise-level features found in D365 F&O. However, for smaller businesses with less complicated needs, this might be an advantage.
D365 F&O: Offers deep and comprehensive functionality, with multiple levels of configuration, making it suitable for companies that require an extensive ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More solution. It handles complex processes efficiently.
Scalability
D365 BC: Ideal for businesses with limited scalability requirements. It’s easier to implement and maintain.
D365 F&O: Scales well to handle hundreds of thousands of transactions. If your organisation anticipates significant growth, this might be the better choice.
Unsurprisingly, D365 BC is ~3 times cheaper than D365 F&O to license, commensurate with its tier and indicative of the depth of functionality:
D365 BC: Plans start at GBP 57.50 per user/month for the Essentials plan or GBP 82.20 per user /month for Premium. There is no minimum licensing requirement.
D365 F&O: Starts at GBP 147.90 per user /month for a full D365 Finance. D365 Finance Premium is GBP 246.60 per user /month. A separate D365 SCMSupply Chain Management (SCM) is the centralised process of managing the flow of goods, services, and information, from production to consumption. More licence is also GBP 147.90 per user /month, or can be “attached” to a D365 Finance licence for GBP 24.70 per user /month. Additional activity and team member licences are available for roles that need less functionality, but a minimum of 20 full licences is required.
Localisation support
D365 BC: Supports multiple companies (aka legal entities), but requires an additional database for each localisation, i.e. country.
D365 F&O: Supports hundreds of legal entities within one environment, with each able to be localised differently. This allows for global settings, automated intercompany transactions, and the ability to natively consolidate across any number of constituent legal entities, as required. This makes it better suited to clients with complex structures.
Human Resources
D365 BC: Allows for employee records, including contracts, qualifications, and recording absences.
D365 F&O: Includes full workforce management, leave & absence, performance management, skills and learning, and compensation & benefits, and more.
Implementation costs
We’ve covered licensing above, which gives a good indication of cost, but how about the cost of implementing?
D365 BC: Easier to self-implement, but partner implementation costs could range from as little as GBP 40k to GBP 2m; the former representing a simple client with basic finance needs, and the latter in the case of larger businesses, perhaps with an international presence, implementing multiple instances with extensive customisation.
D365 F&O: Rarely self-implemented, partner implementation would typically range from GBP 250k to GBP 30m. The former might be indicative of a general ledger setup and minimal additional features configured, which is arguably under-utilising the platform. The latter would represent a deployment to hundreds of countries, and would likely take place over five or more years.
Adopt vs adapt
I talked about the principle of adopt vs adapt recently. It’s a worthwhile consideration when comparing platforms, since maintaining customisations come with an additional overhead:
D365 BC: Cheaper and with less out-of-the-box functionality, complex requirements are more likely to involve more customisation (i.e. bespoke development) or ISVsAn Independent Software Vendor is a partner that builds, deploys, and sells industry-specific solutions. More. For this reason, the D365 BC recruitment market sees much higher demand for technical resources, and there are almost 5,000 ISV products in Microsoft AppSource for D365 BC.
D365 F&O: Whilst more expensive, the deeper functionality means comparatively less customisation work; additional implementation time is instead spent on documentation, configuration, and testing that long list of recorded requirements has been met. For this reason, the D365 F&O recruitment market sees much higher demand for functional resources, and there are only a little over 600 ISV products in Microsoft AppSource for D365 F&O.
Conclusion
Ultimately, your choice depends on your business needs, objectives, and future vision.
If you are seeking a comprehensive ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More solution, D365 F&O is the way to go. For smaller businesses with simpler requirements and smaller budget, D365 BC is a super product. If in doubt, reach out to experts in both platforms to properly assess which system aligns best with your organisation’s needs.
D365 BC and D365 F&O are powerful tools that can transform your business processes, but choose wisely, else you may buy cheap, buy twice, or either way, spend more than you need to!
P.S. My gut tells me this topic needs more coverage in future, so please share your thoughts below and stay tuned.
Licence prices are RRPRecommended Retail Price More and are understood to be correct at the time of writing (March 2024). Please note that CSPCloud Service Provider More and EAEnterprise Agreements are signed directly with Microsoft More licensing models differ, and discounts may be available for bulk orders, or different bodies, e.g. educational, government, or charity. ↩︎
Repeat after me, “Power Platform is not the sole preserve of D365 CECustomer Engagement is the collective title of D365 first party apps built on CRM technology (Sales, Service, Marketing, etc). More consultants!”
I still find it necessary to remind our good friends in the D365 CECustomer Engagement is the collective title of D365 first party apps built on CRM technology (Sales, Service, Marketing, etc). More camp that although Power AutomatePower Automate is Microsoft’s service for creating automated workflows between apps, streamlining repetitive tasks. More, Power Apps, and Dataverse, owe their origins to the D365 CRMCustomer Relationship Management is a technology used to manage interactions with existing and potential customers. More/xRM platform, they are now for everyone. Equally, it has been hard to draw D365 F&O consultants into the Power Platform, as it’s historically perceived as “something the CECustomer Engagement is the collective title of D365 first party apps built on CRM technology (Sales, Service, Marketing, etc). More folk deal with”.
Imagine my delight when I learnt about the recent release of “Extending Dynamics 365 Finance and Operation Apps with Power Platform“, by Adrià Ariste Santacreu, and got hold of an early copy. During a recent period of ill-health confined to bed, I had a great opportunity to review this fantastic new book from cover to cover.
As I mention in my own bio, I’ve been working with F&O since the first SaaSSoftware-as-a-Service is a subscription-based model for accessing software applications over the internet, hosted on remote servers. More version, and with Power Platform since 2019. I view most subject matter – including this book – primarily through a user-focused lens, and with that in mind, I’d definitely recommend this book to both functional and technical users interested in extending the functionality of D365 F&O.
The book starts with a solid introduction to all components, ensuring freshers are brought up to speed, whilst aligning understanding for the more experienced. Part 1 concludes with a chapter covering deployment and configuration. It does so in sufficient detail to make it easy to follow, with relevant screenshots, and important considerations clearly highlighted out in callout boxes. Later on, Part 4 does a great job of building on this area, exploring the necessary elements of Applicated Lifecycle Management, i.e. keeping the lights on!
Some users may be tempted to skip past these sections for the “good stuff” in Part 2, but it’s important background knowledge to understand or consolidate. Even if you’re not involved in these aspects of deployment, it will always help if, for example, you need to signpost system administrators to fix underlying configuration.
As alluded to, Parts 2 and 3 are where the exciting bits happen, especially for those of us that really enjoy fixing our customer’s challenges – seeing the smiles on their faces when (i) you tell them that you can fix a problem they have, and (ii) when they see that fix working for real! Adrià gives us some great practical examples, all detailed step-by-step, and covering use cases such as augmenting workflow approvals; embedding Power Apps; and applying custom AIArtificial Intelligence is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems that mimic human intelligence. More models. There is lots of food for thought, and the selected examples offer a great baseline for solving other problems in equally creative ways.
Generally, the content is well broken down, with plentiful screenshots, code boxes, lists, and callouts. The author avoids extensive prose and maintains an approach throughout that us easily digestible to the modern reader.
The test your knowledge sections struck the right balance between consolidating knowledge and making you feel like you haven’t been listening! The author’s passion for the subject certainly comes through. Although he and I connected on LinkedIn, I don’t know him personally, but it’s quite obvious why he is multiple MVP awardee.
The risk with anything MS-related in print is their penchant for frequent name changes. Case in point, Virtual Agents has already been renamed CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More Studio since publication. Hopefully there aren’t too many such changes to come too soon…
Although much of the subject matter can inevitably be found online with a lot of digging around, the structure of the book makes it a very handy reference guide and especially in print, it provides a welcome break from the screens we are all otherwise glued to, day in, day out.
To wrap up, I would reiterate that this book is invaluable for those starting out with Power Platform or those looking for a prompt on how to approach certain challenges. All F&O consultants need to learn Power Platform – for a long time it has not been the sole preserve of CECustomer Engagement is the collective title of D365 first party apps built on CRM technology (Sales, Service, Marketing, etc). More consultants and as Microsoft’s road map ticks on, it will gain more and more precedence.
TL;DR? This is a well-structured book, with accurate and relevant content, presented clearly and concisely. I highly recommended it for any D365 F&O user with even just a passing interest in customisation!
A version of this review has also been published on the Amazon UK website: https://packt.link/dGftJ
Generating insights from F&O, is one of the single most important activities you will likely be undertaking once Live. It may well be the primary driver for adopting an ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More solution in the first place, facilitating a more data driven organisation, leveraging a consistent and comprehensive version of the truth. Whilst most people will initially think of Power BIPower BI is a cloud-based suite of business intelligence and analytics tools that lets anyone connect to, visualise, and analyse data with greater speed, efficiency, and understanding. More dashboards and management reports, there are many ways you can leverage F&O to extract information adhoc, or more frequently to get the data (and insights) you need. This series of posts will explore each of the options in turn, starting with a birds eye summary of all available options. Not all reporting needs to be about insights though, sometimes you just need to get a list of records or transactions, so we will start small with simple data extraction and build from there.
Standard Views
The quickest and simplest option available, with literally hundreds if not thousands of standard views across records and transactions alike, standard views make a great first option. My colleague Paul Sinnott has provided a great summary of Filtering in D365 F&O which uses an example of the “all suppliers” view.
Standard Enquiries
Various specialised enquiry screens are available, providing filters, parameters and options to generate quick ad-hoc information. Examples of these include the Trial Balance enquiry within the General Ledger, and Project Statement within the PMA module. These enquiries often exist for frequently enquired data, often with an interactive drill through capability.
Standard Reports
Hundreds of standard, parameterised reports exist across all modular areas. These are typical paginated reports we are all familiar with, and exist for printing, non-interactive distribution or storage as part of accounting records such as the Customer ageing report shown below.
Office Integration (Excel Data Connector)
Often accompanying the Standard Enquiries is the ability to “Open in Excel” which provides a refreshable, personalisable and updatable Excel spreadsheet. These can be refreshed independently using the pre-installed Dynamics 365 Excel Data Connector Add-In, providing a great option for getting information out quickly.
Analytical Workspaces (Power BI Embedded)
Role based workspaces are often accompanied by an Analytical workspace (Analytics tab), providing embedded and interactive Power BIPower BI is a cloud-based suite of business intelligence and analytics tools that lets anyone connect to, visualise, and analyse data with greater speed, efficiency, and understanding. More reports with multiple pages and charts. These Power BIPower BI is a cloud-based suite of business intelligence and analytics tools that lets anyone connect to, visualise, and analyse data with greater speed, efficiency, and understanding. More reports provide an excellent foundation off the shelf, which can be used to tailor more personalised dashboards.
Financial Reporter
The Financial Reporter provides a dedicated and accounts aware tool for users to producing interactive and paginated financial statements from income statements (P&L) to balance sheets. The Financial Reporter provides the ability to fine tune the definition of columns, rows, filters and financial amounts, using familiar excel-like formula to define as many varieties of report as required, an example of the reporting output is shown below, which includes interactive capabilities.
Business Performance Analytics
Microsoft provides a foundation of Power BIPower BI is a cloud-based suite of business intelligence and analytics tools that lets anyone connect to, visualise, and analyse data with greater speed, efficiency, and understanding. More based reports, and supporting data models designed to give you more power when combining third party data sources, and enriching your data with AIArtificial Intelligence is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems that mimic human intelligence. More and other advance capabilities, as well as enhanced capabilities for off the shelf reporting. This additional module makes it easier to move into more advanced Power BIPower BI is a cloud-based suite of business intelligence and analytics tools that lets anyone connect to, visualise, and analyse data with greater speed, efficiency, and understanding. More based analytical scenarios, whilst building on top of a strong and productised foundation.
Power Query (Power BI / Excel)
Power BIPower BI is a cloud-based suite of business intelligence and analytics tools that lets anyone connect to, visualise, and analyse data with greater speed, efficiency, and understanding. More and Excel share the ability to leverage Power Query Editor to extract information directly from F&O using the Open Data (ODataOpen Data Protocol is an open protocol that allows the creation and consumption of queryable and interoperable Web service APIs in a standard way. More) API’s. Whilst this might seem quite technical, my colleague Mike Pearsall has written an excellent post about extracting a Trial balance using OData in Excel from F&O.
Azure Synapse Link for Dataverse
Whilst Business Performance Analytics provides means to start a more advanced analytical journey. Organisations with their own Enterprise Data Strategy and more advanced internal capabilities, may want to leverage a more tools based approach for ultimate flexibility. Azure Synapse link for Dataverse can be leveraged using the native connectors between F&O and Azure Data Lake Gen2 storage which is part of Synapse. This is a much more advanced topic to cover, and will likely be the subject of its own series of posts, but its worth mentioning at this time.
Electronic Reporter (ER)
Electronic reporter can be used to create highly configurable file outputs, these file outputs whilst traditionally for data interchange, such a remittance advice or BACS file export. Could provide a suitable solution for extracting a tailored file for use in onward reporting chains. This is certainly a more advanced option, requiring a high level of technical knowledge, so we will leave this one for last in terms of onward exploration.
Summary
There are a myriad of ways to extract information from F&O, and I highly expect you will only use a few of the above options on a regular basis. In the remaining posts on this topic, we will explore each of the reporting options in more detail and discuss the relative benefits of each, providing insight and context for how to extract the information you need.
The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) is a tax framework in the United Kingdom. Under CIS, contractors who hire subcontractors for construction work are required to deduct money from their payments to subcontractors. This deducted amount is then passed on to the UK tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), serving as advance payments toward the subcontractor’s tax and National Insurance (social security) contributions.
This critical piece of tax legislation forms part of the UK globalisation feature set in D365 F&O and there’s a reasonable chance it will crop up as a requirement on a UK implementation.
We’ve noticed there’s a lack of comprehensive end-to-end instructions (with screenshots) for setting up CIS in D365 F&O, so here is a step-by-step guide for configuration, master data, and running transactions. Starting with a bit of background…
What are the rules?
If any organisation both (i) pays subcontractors and (ii) has spent over £3 million on construction work in the past 12 months, it must register with HMRC as a Contractor in the scheme. The rules also apply to businesses based outside the UK, if they engage in construction work in the UK.
Subcontractors do not have to register with the scheme, but the deductions applied are higher if they do not. Currently, the deduction rate for registered Subcontractors is 20%, whilst for unregistered Subcontractors it is 30%.
Ensure a record has been created for HMRC, similar to the screenshot below
This is separate to the entry you will have under Tax authorities for HMRC, albeit probably linked to the same Supplier account
Under Tax > Setup > Withholding tax > Ledger posting groups
Create a posting group. The example shows one group for all withholding tax, but if different main accounts are used for different withholding taxes (e.g. CIS, RCT), then create multiple posting groups
Assign the corresponding main accounts from the business’ chart of accounts
Under Tax > Setup > Withholding tax > Withholding tax settlement periods
Define the periods, likely the same as the financial periods
Create the codes to be applied to suppliers. We’ve just done one in this example, but ideally there should be two, based on the current rules: 30% (for unregistered subcontractors) and 20% (for registered subcontractors)
Click Values on the Action pane
Define the value for the tax code that you’ve just created, in this case, 20%
You can apply different values with future effective dates in this form, when the rules inevitably change in future
Under Tax > Indirect taxes > Withholding tax > Withholding tax groups
Create a new withholding tax group for all CIS-related codes, allowing you to keep your codes organised
Add the withholding tax code(s) that you created in step 5 above
Setting up master data correctly
With configuration in place – hopefully you won’t need to touch this until any rules change – we can turn our attention to setting up our master data. Quick reminder – master data is things like customer, suppliers, and products.
Under Purchase ledger > Suppliers > All suppliers
Create your subcontractor. Hint: they probably won’t be called “CIS Supplier”!
Ensure that in the Invoice and delivery FastTab, the switch for Calculate withholding tax is set to Yes and that you have selected the Withholding tax group for CIS
In the Construction industry scheme FastTab, populate the Company registration number (CRN) and Unique tax payer reference (UTR)
Once the subcontractor’s status has been verified with HMRC, set the Verification date and populate the Verification number fields
Under Tax > Indirect taxes > Withholding tax > Item withholding tax groups
Ensure a group is created for CIS
Under Product information management > Products > Released products
Create any items or services that are subject to CIS
Ensure that in the Purchase FastTab, the switch for Calculate withholding tax is set to ‘Yes’ and that you have selected the Item withholding tax group for CIS
Under Procurement and sourcing > Procurement categories
Create any categories for services that will not be captured as released products
Ensure that in the Item VAT groups FastTab the switch for Calculate withholding tax is set to ‘Yes’ and that you have selected the Item withholding tax group for CIS
Running a CIS-dependent transaction
That’s everything in place that we need to run CIS within the business, so now let’s prove it works!
Under Procurement and sourcing > Purchase orders > All purchase orders
Create a PO with your CIS subcontractor and CIS item(s)
Under the Line details FastTab, in the Setup tab, check that the Withholding tax groups have auto-populated
Approve, issue and manage your PO as normal from here
Under Purchase ledger > Invoices > Pending supplier invoices
Once the service has been delivered and the supplier invoice has been received, you should see check that the Withholding tax groups have auto-populated again, under the Line details FastTab, in the Setup tab
Under Purchase ledger > Payments > Supplier payment journal, you’ll be ready to process the payment of the supplier
When you click Settle transactions, just above the Grid view, you’ll see a dialogue box like the one below
Note the blue information banner informing you that withholding tax has been calculated
Select the Withholding tax tab to view what has been calculated
Click OK to return to the main Supplier payments form
Click Post
Await confirmation that the operation has completed successfully
..
Getting the reports you need
The last things we need are (i) our statement to subcontractors, to inform them of their monthly withholding tax deductions, and (ii) a summary of all CIS transactions within the business, to settle with HMRC.
Under Purchase ledger > Payments > Supplier payment journal
From the Action pane, select Print > Statement to subcontractors
In the dialogue box, check the date criteria are correct, then click OK
The system will produce the Subcontractor statement for you to action accordingly
So you’ve chosen to implement D365 F&O and now you want to choose a partner. One of the first questions you will likely ask prospective partners is “Have you done this before?”
It’s a fair question, you would never instruct a builder to build you a house extension if they have never done any building work before (DIY enthusiasts and worried partners aside), but when you are choosing an implementation partner, could there be a risk with placing too much emphasis on referenceability?
When it comes to ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More implementation partners you are ultimately paying for skills (i.e. people). There will of course be benefits such as accelerators, which Jason Newbatt did a great series on (Do Accelerators really make your project faster? (Part 1), and delivery assets that will increasing the likelihood of success when it comes to your delivery, but ultimately it is the project team that carries the greatest importance, e.g. put a toddler into a Formula 1 racing car and you would be naïve to expect the same results as Lewis Hamilton.
Disclaimer: I neither condone, nor am I aware of, any partners using, or having used, toddlers for ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More implementations.
Consider this scenario (incoming football analogy); Manchester City (arguably) dominated European football in the 2022/23 season. However, during the summer transfer window their 4 best players leave the club for a competitor and they are unable to replace them before the season starts. They still carry the name Manchester City Football club and they have the many accolades to reference, but would you expect the same results on the pitch?
Much like this football scenario, when considering F&O implementation partners who have successfully implemented before, it’s key to note that it is primarily the people who delivered that success. A small turnover of experienced personnel could result is a notable loss of skills and expertise.
To be clear, I am not encouraging businesses to ignore a partner’s customer references. However, I believe deeper exploration is more beneficial and would provide a far more accurate assessment of their credentials. Try and understand who it is you would be dealing with on a day-to-day basis, not only for skills and credentials, but for personality and team fit.
Pull the curtain back on the sales show and request engagement with the prospective project team. In the absence of this, ask to meet some of their other employees, or request CVs/role profiles of likely candidates, so that you can get a greater feel as to their competencies.
Choosing the right implementation partner is one of, if not, the most important decisions you will make on your ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More transformation journey. Should you really be simplifying a critical competency assessment down to a binary yes/no decision?
It occurs to me that hard-working HR teams must deal with a lot of repeat business, with questions like: Where do I find my P60? How much can I claim for a bike in the cycle-to-work scheme? What’s my annual leave balance? Why do I need to submit this form for parental leave? And given that HR is a cost centre, not a profit centre, it’s harder to justify additional costs.
There’s now a much easier way to help colleagues to help themselves, without the need for additional people to handle the routine noise. I’m talking about AIArtificial Intelligence is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems that mimic human intelligence. More and specifically, CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More Studio.
First things first
Before I could get started with this, I needed some content to “feed” the chatbot. Rather than use any genuine policies, I drafted a simple example, based on UK statute, with the help of Bing:
Now it was time to setup the chatbot, so I navigated to CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More Studio, formerly known as Power Virtual Agents, hence the URL: https://web.powerva.microsoft.com/
A wizard guides you through the initial process – just choose a name that describes what your chatbot will do (see steps 1-3 below).
Once this is complete, you can begin to add data for the tool to utilise. In our example, we’re using a file, so I clicked ‘Add files’ and uploaded out sample (see steps 4-7 below).
Next you need to configure your AIArtificial Intelligence is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems that mimic human intelligence. More tools, plugins and content type. When dealing with specific information, it’s best to discourage creativity, so opt for a content moderation type of “High” (see steps 8-9).
In this case, I used the simple question, “How much maternity leave am I entitled to?”. The sample policy does not use the words “entitle” or “entitlement”, but CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More infers the meaning of the question and provides an accurate break down for the employee asking the question.
A screenshot of Copilot Studio showing the sample query and response
And… there’s nothing to stop you embedding to your new CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More from within D365 F&O, such as on your employee self-service dashboard – see steps i-iii for how I did this!
A screenshot showing an HR Copilot embedded on the Employee self-service dashboard in D365 F&O
Step i: The Personalisation menuStep ii: Choose to add a websiteStep iii: Provide a name and your Copilot URL
Step-by-Step Gallery
Here is a series of screenshots of all the steps followed to create, upload and publish the chatbot:
Step 1: Creating your CopilotStep 2: Patience is a virtueStep 3: A reminder of the name changeStep 4: Ready to createStep 5: Add filesStep 6: Uploading our sample fileStep 7: File upload completeStep 8: Enable AI featuresStep 9: Choose AI content typeStep 10: Save your changesStep 11: PublishStep 12: PublishingStep 13: PublishedStep 14: Test it outStep 15: Deployment options
Note: The featured image on this post, depicting a team undergoing training on a Damage Repair Instruction Unit (DRIU), is Crown copyright. Crown copyright images can be re-used with attribution for non-commercial purposes only, under the terms of the Open Government Licence.
A phrase made popular by Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek, “Make it so” has its origins in the British Royal Navy, as an order to proceed as planned. Indeed, it is still used to this day! ↩︎
The adoption of a modern day tier 1 ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More system such as Dynamics 365 F&O has numerous advantages when it comes to the streamlining and standardisation of the technology stack. However, when users move from many single purpose systems to one which can manage the entire end to end business operations, it can be overwhelming. Role based access controls (RBAC), more commonly referred to as ‘user security roles’, can be tailored to manage this to an extent, but the breadth of features that remain leave the opportunity for greater navigational efficiency.
An image depicting an artist personalising a computer interface
There is already a great navigational walkthrough series in the process of being published by Mike (Navigating the D365 F&O interface (Part 1)) that I would highly recommend you read, but in this post I’ll look at some of the user/team specific personalisation’s that can be created to increase operational efficiency.
Favourites
Much like your web browser favourites you able to mark your commonly navigated menu paths to enable that single click navigation. Unsurprisingly, the method of marking a favourite in D365 F&O mirrors that of the Microsoft Edge browser experience and presents you with a ‘star’ designation. Simply selecting this on your common menu paths will add it to your favourites section on the navigation pane:
The D365 F&O navigation pane with the ‘Add to Favourites’ option highlighted
A view of the D365 F&O navigation pane with the ‘Favourites’;’ section highlighted
Saved Views
Unless records are specifically configured to be hidden, e.g. with the customisation of system security roles, it is highly likely that you will be presented with forms of data which may not be entirely relevant to your primary area of responsibility. Examples of this could be an Accounts Payable clerk with ownership of particular suppliers or a supply chain administrator with responsibility to maintain a particular product sub-set.
I covered off the basic filtering and sorting of data sets in a previous post (Filtering in D365 F&O), but once you’ve mastered that you need to be able to save your queries for future use. Wherever you have the option to filter and sort data you will be presented with the system’s ‘default view’. Once you have applied your filters or any other personalisation, you’ll notice that you the default view becomes appending with an Asterix. An example of this on the ‘Released Products’ form can be seen below when filtering for only service type items:
An unsaved personalised view of the ‘released products’ form
To save this as a query for the future so that you don’t have to repeatedly specify your personal preferences again, simply select the view and choose the ‘save as’ option:
In image highlighting the ‘save as’ option for views
I’d recommend a meaningful description as you may apply multiple queries to a single data set, as can be seen in the screenshot above. However, other options presented to you are ‘pin as default view’, which allows you to specify the view as your primary view when landing on the form, and ‘Legal entity access’, which allows you to specify which legal entities this view should be available to you in. The default is ‘All’:
An image displaying the user options when saving a personalised view
Personalising the grids
So we’ve covered off how you can easily access your frequently used data sets and system records but, in many cases, this presents users will a large data set with which to interact. It may be that the columns of data provided are not relevant or that you would benefit from additional attributes being surfaced. In either case these can be easily tailored by selecting ‘Options> Personalise this page’:
A view of the ‘released products’ form with the ‘personalise this page’ option highlighted
Note – it is also possible to personalise the page by first right clicking on a column heading, selecting personalise xxxx, and then choosing ‘Personalise this page’.
The personalisation tool bar
In the personalisation view you are able to:
Select – this action allows you to select a table element (column) and apply specific actions such as hiding, required, skip, or lock.
Hide – this action allows you to select the columns you wish to hide from the view. Multiple columns can be selected with this method which can make it more efficient that managing it with the ‘Select’ action
Require – Allows you to specify particular data fields as compulsory for data entry. Note – This doesn’t allow a user to deselect those which are already required by default.
Add a field – allows you to select another data column from a data set with a direct table join to the data being queried. It also allows you to add a custom field, which we’ll cover in a future post.
Move – Allows you to select a column and drag it to re-order the columns. Note – this action can be also done directly from the UI without entering the personalisation pane.
Skip – When interacting with forms of data, users can ‘tab’ to navigate horizontally across the data set. This option allows you to specify columns which should be skipped when performing that action.
Show in header – When opening a record users are presented with numerous fast tabs including ‘header’. The header section can be personalised to display the pertinent record information. This option allows users to perform that action from the record list.
Lock – This action allows users to select configurable and editable fields to be locked so that no changes can be made.
Interacting with personalisations
The most common form of interacting with your personalisations is within the specific forms. However, there are other ways in which users can further benefit from personalisations.
One of the primary ways is by embedding personalised data queries within common workspaces. To do this select ‘Options>Add to workspace’:
An image of the ‘released products’ form with the ‘Add to workspace’ option highlighted
Note – the personalisation must be a saved view, before this option is available.
When adding to a workspace you are able to add it as a tile (a), a list (b) or a link(b):
An image of a workspace highlighted the personalisation display options
Another neat feature, with tiles that have record counts, allows you to further summarise your personalised view onto the main D365 F&O home page providing you with quick access key data sets across a broad range of business processes. To do this right click on the tile you wish to surface, select to personalise and then ‘pin to dashboard’:
An image of the personalisation pane for a workspace tile
An image of the D365 F&O home page with the workspace tile count pinned to the workspace summary
Stating the obvious; personalisations are unique to an individual so how these the tools above are leveraged will vary from user to user. It is often the case that users may have an opening position of what they would like to personalise. However, as ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More system is no different to the rooms of a house when considering large scale renovation, it is often best to live with the standard for awhile so that you understand what features and areas it is that you interact with most commonly on a day to day basis, before tailoring it to your preferences.
To coin a phrase from Voltaire “with great power come great responsibility”. Personalisations can be a powerful tool when it comes to unlocking efficiency in your day to day business operations, but used incorrectly, they can create inefficiencies such as; challenges with cross training, blockers with support etc. Correct training and administration (which I’ll cover soon) of user personalisations should be a baseline consideration for all D365 F&O implementations.
If you’ve used ChatGPTGenerative Pre-trained Transformer is an AI model by OpenAI that generates human-like text. More, Bing, or Google Bard – or any of the multitude of AIArtificial Intelligence is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems that mimic human intelligence. More tools that have flooded the web this past year – you’ve no doubt appreciated how much time and effort can be saved by using them smartly.
Imagine having this kind of functionality at your fingertips when using D365 F&O. Perhaps you’ve forgotten how to complete a process, or maybe you’re looking to do something new. Imagine asking simple question and getting a straightforward answer based on your companies’ data.
Copilot has landed
The extensive functionality of D365 F&O necessitates user training and experience – that’s to be expected with with any comprehensive ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More or line of business system. However, it’s not always practical to chase a super-user around the office, submit a helpdesk ticket to your friendly Microsoft support partner, or trawl Internet forums looking for the answer.
Instead, Microsoft CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More provides in-product AI-based help streamlines access to information.
Two versions of the logo for Microsoft Copilot, depending on usage
Set up
You’ll need environment administrator privileges to do this, so this step isn’t for your average user.
Once your sandbox environment has platform update 10.0.38 or later deployed, the next steps are to (1) get the Dataverse link setup for D365 F&O and (2) install the F&O CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More solution in LCSMicrosoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS) is a portal that simplifies and standardises the implementation and maintenance processes for D365. More. If you don’t, you’ll get prompted to do so in the Feature management workspace.
A screenshot of the Feature management workspace in D365 F&O, highlighting the preview of Copilot functionality
What is it like?
Technically, CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More in D365 F&O is in public preview, so in other words, beta testing phase, meaning it’s early days. To that end, I wasn’t expecting too much from it – and besides, I am always mindful of the risk of AIArtificial Intelligence is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems that mimic human intelligence. More confabulation, hallucination, or bias. This always has to be expected when using LLMsA Large Language Model is a sophisticated mathematical representation of language, based on extensive data, enabling computers to generate human-like text. More.
A screenshot of D365 F&O showing the Copilot pane prior to engaging in “conversation” with the AI
I tried throwing some basic questions and the initial responses were acceptable:
I asked, “Where do you find purchase orders?”
CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More suggested the Purchase orders page, which whilst not incorrect, I thought it might’ve been better to say ‘All purchase orders’. It would’ve been even nicer to have been provided with a contextualised link, i.e. https://[ENVIRONMENT_URL]/?mi=PurchTableListPage
I asked, “Can I filter out Invoiced purchase orders?”
CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More suggested I use the Advanced sort and filter dialogue (SysQueryRangeUtil), via the keyboard shortcut. This probably isn’t the easiest option vs a grid column filter, but it’s certainly not wrong. Step 3 didn’t exactly help a user to identify the correct field (i.e. Purchase order status) or criteria, so that could have been much better.
A screenshot of Copilot running in D365 F&O
I decided to try a few HR questions – this time it didn’t do so well:
I asked, “Where can I find a list of colleagues in the system?” – deliberately avoiding use of the terms workers or employees – to see how it would deal with synonymous language.
It’s safe to say CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More lost the plot here! It signposted me to the Customer definitions data entity, with a link to the Microsoft Learn article about data entities. Of course, I was hoping to be sent to Workers in the Human resources module, or at the very least, the Global address book.
I asked, “How can I change the current position of a worker?”
I reverted to F&O terminology here, but CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More gave me an incomplete list of steps, including taking me via Mass hire projects, which any HR user worth their salt would tell you is not necessary to change an employee’s position!
A second screenshot of Copilot running in D365 F&O
Conclusion and other considerations
It’s very easy to see the potential of CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More for D365 F&O, but it’s a bit early to rely on it in a production environment, in lieu of more traditional forms of training. That’s fine, because it’s still in public preview, with no set date for becoming GAGeneral Availability is the stage when software, or specific functionality, is considered stable and fully operational, tested and approved, and is available for public use. More yet. Nonetheless, it’s an exciting glimpse of what’s to come, adding to the list of reasons why D365 F&O trumps the competition in the ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More market.
One last thought. Any HR manager reading my third prompt might have experienced mild palpitations, along the lines of, “$#@%!, does AIArtificial Intelligence is a field of computer science dedicated to creating systems that mimic human intelligence. More in ERPEnterprise Resource Planning software is used by businesses to manage day-to-day activities. More mean everyone can suddenly see all of our sensitive company data?”
There should be little concern in this regard, because even as CopilotMicrosoft Copilot is an AI companion that assists with tasks like coding, writing, generating images, and answering questions. More begins to have access to more data within the system (i.e. not just acting as an interactive help guide), it will inherit the security roles and permissions of the system, in the same way as the Microsoft Dynamics Office Add-On, for example. You shouldn’t need to worry about a forklift driver in your warehouse logging in and requesting access to all of your payroll data.
It makes perfect sense when you think about it, assuming you still have your physical head of course.
Provide a customer with a consistent customer experience (CX), enabling commerce wherever they are, on a channel of their choosing; digitally, physically or somewhere in-between, when it comes to Mixed Reality. Offering a consistent set of products, prices, offers and rewards, can only be achieved efficiently in one logical way, adopting a headless, scalable and open commerce architecture. Which is exactly what Dynamics 365 Commerce has to offer.
What exactly is headless commerce?
Imagine you have just started a new online store, being able to provide your clients with that endless aisle of goodness. You have probably selected a commerce solution that has a built-in set of product, pricing and inventory management capabilities to get you started. In this traditional e-commerce situation, your front-end website is the “head” and the back-end (the engine behind the scenes) is the “body”. The two parts are tightly connected, any changes or updates to the back-end are tightly coupled to the front end, such as adding a new style of product.
Now you want to offer a dedicated mobile app, which gives you a slightly smoother shopping experience, perhaps an account and order management capability, loyalty program and a faster payment mechanism. You do your research and find a pre-integrated mobile application that links to your existing commerce solution, no development required. Congratulations, you are now an omni-channel retailer (barely, but let’s just skirt over that for the sake of the explanation).
Time passes, you are successful and want to open a brick and mortar store. You do some more research, and find the solution you want for the stores doesn’t quite integrate out of the box, but that’s ok, you have funding set aside as a result of your new success, and don’t mind spending extra to get some of the in store capabilities you wanted, including that collect in store capability that is almost expected at this point.
Little did you know, you have started your journey on a technical rabbit hole that goes deeper than Alice in Wonderland. Spending time in meetings deliberating how to synchronise pricing information between the new Point of Sale (POS) and eCommerce solution, and what pricing mechanisms are common to both systems, allowing you to attempt the same pricing in store and online. It’s a painful experience, but you get there in the end, even if you have a few not quite perfect collect-in-store processes as a result.
Now, picture a scenario where the front-end can operate interchangeably with the back end by design, like changing the head on a Lego figurine. This is where headless commerce comes into play.
In a headless architecture, the presentation layer (the “head”) is decoupled from the business logic and data management (the “body”). This separation allows for unparalleled flexibility and agility, enabling businesses to adapt quickly to changing market trends and customer expectations.
Isn’t omni-channel the same as headless?
Headless commerce is the technology foundation to offer not only seamless omni-channel experiences, but unlimited commerce experiences. Whether your customers are browsing your website, using a mobile app, engaging on social media, or shopping in mixed reality, the headless architecture ensures a consistent and delightful experience across all touchpoints. Headless commerce goes one step further than traditional omnichannel by presenting the underlying business logic layer, to any technology that wishes to interact with it, using well defined technology standards.
Traditional omni-channel systems don’t always expose the underlying mechanism to create new channels, you are therefore beholden to the software platform to bring out an offering for your channel of choice. Often the software provider themselves is tackling the challenges integrating several components behind the scenes, especially when they have grown by acquisition. Whilst this might work for typical and long established channels, it constrains your ability to innovate on your own terms, and creates a closed market of software offerings which commoditise each channel of engagement. Can you create that unique experience for your customers on a platform that has limited options for extensibility? maybe. Can your software vendor release new channels of engagement quickly? maybe, maybe not.
Headless commerce is the ability for you to either use the platforms first party option, ISVsAn Independent Software Vendor is a partner that builds, deploys, and sells industry-specific solutions. More, or extend / create something entirely unique using the same unrestricted access to the business logic, to either build an entirely new channel of engagement, or connect operational, fulfilment, logistical or otherwise technologies, to create a unique and differentiated customer experience like no other.
Inconsistencies in pricing, promotions, assortments, inventory, and any other technical challenge borne of not having a consistent a centralised set of business logic (such as buy online and return in store), are no longer a limitation of your systems, and instead are only limited by your appetite for growth.
Dynamics 365 headless commerce to the rescue
Microsoft know a thing or two about architecture, and they certainly put their technical eggs in the right basket with Dynamics 365 Commerce.
Since it was originally developed for Dynamics AX, originating as Axapta Retail by LS Retail (who are still market leaders today and operate as an ISVAn Independent Software Vendor is a partner that builds, deploys, and sells industry-specific solutions. More for Business Central), Dynamics 365’s retail capabilities have undergone significant transformation into a headless commerce platform, rebranding twice:
Once as Dynamics 365 for Retail, where Microsoft used the headless commerce capabilities to power several eCommerce providers such as Sana, Episerver, Sitecore and more alongside a native and web based Point of Sale, each powered by the headless capabilities.
Secondly as Dynamics 365 for Commerce, where Microsoft introduced their own eCommerce platform, built on top of the headless engine and more.
In conclusion, headless commerce might sound like a tech buzzword term, but in reality, it’s a transformative approach that allows businesses to stay agile, responsive, and ahead of the competition. With Dynamics 365 Commerce and the open capabilities of headless architecture, combined with the Dynamics 365 customer experience platform, the future of e-commerce is not just about selling products – it’s about crafting seamless and unforgettable journeys for every customer, regardless of how, when, or where they choose to engage.
. As per the licence, please feel free to download, re-post and re-use this infographic, but please do not modify it.
