Background
VanArsdel, Ltd. is a company that uses Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil in an on-premises environment. The company implemented the solution by using Sure Step 2012. VanArsdel, Ltd. plans to upgrade to Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, and Dynamics 365 Commerce using Proseware, Inc. as the implementation partner.
VanArsdel, Ltd. has implemented 13 other software systems for customer management and sales.
Current Environment
Methodology
VanArsdel, Ltd. deploys a proprietary methodology named VanPMP. The company plans to use VanPMP for all software implementations. The company uses a standard project template for all new implementations.
Solution
Microsoft Power Apps is used by the sales team to enter sales orders. The orders are then integrated with the current Dynamics AX 2012 R3 instance asynchronously once every hour. All sales orders are invoiced through the invoicing batch process at the end of the day. Sales are used for all business-critical scenarios.
The external systems include 12 integrations, such as Microsoft Power Platform, Office 365, Azure, and third-party systems.
One of the automated accounts receivable import integrations, named integration 1, generates revenue in a business-to-business (B2B) scenario that is supported by sales orders. The integration runs every night and is always the first integration to be tested.
All regression testing is completed manually.
Security
The company uses Dynamics AX 2012 R3 in all the countries/regions in which they operate.
Because VanArsdel, Ltd. operates within the United States, the company must comply with government financial compliance standards. Government compliance requires that VanArsdel, Ltd. manufacturing divisions must not be able to approve purchase orders. Manufacturing managers must not be able to access data in other manufacturing sites. The manufacturing divisions belong to a single legal entity with multiple sites.
Requirements
Licensing
The implementation requires the following Dynamics 365 licenses:
1. 120 Supply Chain Management licenses
2. 60 Finance licenses
3. 50 Commerce licenses
Methodology
The implementation must use the VanArsdel, Ltd. proprietary methodology for the Dynamics 365 implementation. The methodology in the project template must use the Microsoft-recommended approach.
Progress must be tracked in a central location for VanArsdel, Ltd,, Microsoft, and Proseware, Inc. to view.
VanArsdel Ltd. requires a sample methodology in Lifecycle Services (LCS).
The project must coordinate project dates in the methodology with any required Microsoft touchpoints to ensure that the project is on track and implemented according to best practices.
Solution
The sales order entry Power Apps integration must be configured by using out-of-the-box solutions.
Integrations
The company has the following integration requirements:
1. Four integrations must run asynchronously.
2. Eight integrations must run synchronously.
3. The integrations must be able to run after applying updates to the system.
All items must have their own item pricing. Each item must have an MSRP and a selling price that is determined based on the date and location.
Testing
The user reporting test case needs to be reviewed by using the same process in the test environment.
The Regression suite automation tool (RSAT) must be used to automate every critical scenario. All other testing must be performed manually.
Integration 1 must be deployed first. All data must be created and tested in the correct sequence to ensure that pricing is applied correctly to the item.
Security
Dynamics 365 must be rolled out incrementally by country/region. The implementation must go live in the United States first, and then continue to the other countries/regions over the next 12 months.
VanArsdel, Ltd, must assign access to new users based on the site of the users.
VanArsdel, Ltd. requires that Proseware, Inc. perform the following:
1. Objective
1. Determine the software licensing costs for the system based on the contracted costs determined during the start of the project.
2. Objective
2. Audit the security roles for users in the manufacturing division.
Issues
Some users report that too many fields are displayed when the users create records in the Dynamics 365 AX 2012 R3 instance. These fields often prevent users from being productive.
Statement of work concerns Before the project kickoff, several of the VanArsdel, Ltd. IT team members had concerns after reviewing the statement of work. The primary concerns were raised by the following team members
1. An administrator named Admin1 reports a performance impact on multiple large integrations with the Dynamics 365 AX 2012 R3 implementation.
2. An administrator named Admin2 reports a concern with environment management with the global rollout.
All concerns must be reviewed and scheduled with all solution architects in workshops.
Testing
The Dynamics 365 AX 2012 R3 instance experiences frequent issues due to users running reports for an extended period of time on the same Application Object Server (AOS) service. A user named User1 reports a delay retrieving the same report in Dynamics 365.
