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Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations – Deployment options Table of Contents Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations – Deployment options You can now deploy Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations in the cloud or on-premises. Cloud deployments offer a software system that is fully managed by Microsoft, while on-premises deployments as name suggests, are deployed locally within a customer’s data center.   Important: On-premises deployments of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations are NOT supported on any public cloud infrastructure, including Azure.   The following table provides a comparison of the capabilities provided by the two deployment options. Why cloud? Cloud deployments provide a cloud service that is easy to scale up or down as needed, as well as data centers that are fully managed by Microsoft. The time spent implementing Finance and Operations can be significantly shortened, fewer customizations may be required, and the costs of IT hardware and infrastructure are lower.   Cloud deployments include high availability, disaster recovery, sandbox environments, and application lifecycle management combined with cloud-based systems of intelligence, infrastructure, compute, and database services in a single offering. When needed, data failover in the cloud, automated deployment and continuous updates, and elastic compute capacity are available. A cloud deployment also provides data aggregation, financial reporting, and intelligence.   The cloud service provides customers with the greatest value, the broadest range of functionality, the best application lifecycle experience, the easiest and broadest integration with Microsoft Azure services, the best option for business insights and intelligence, and the most value for customers’ technology investments. Why on-premises? With an on-premises deployment, existing data center investments can be leveraged. Customers can also configure their enterprise preferences to meet their needs. The regulatory and compliance requirements of their business, Comply with data sovereignty rules in regions where there are no Azure Data Centers, or Ensure business continuity in areas with limited public infrastructure. A customer’s business data and processes are disconnected from the cloud and are stored and run locally in the customer’s or their partner’s data center. Some connectivity is required for system management and updates which are enabled through Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS), a cloud-based application lifecycle management service. Customer data that is related to the configuration and application customization may be stored in the cloud.   For customers who choose to run Finance and Operations in their own data center, the on-premises deployment option will have a similar user-interface and application functionality as other deployment options. However, customers must take on the following responsibilities: Stand up their own infrastructure. Configure their own high-availability and disaster recovery solutions. Stand up sandbox environments. Manage their infrastructure, including scheduling operating system updates. The additional costs to deploy and manage these capabilities might lead to higher deployment costs and a greater Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Tools for deploying the Finance and Operations software and updates will be available to partners and customers via Lifecycle Services. Unlike the cloud deployment option, Advanced Analytics and Azure Machine Learning services are not included in the on-premises deployment option. Talk to us regarding TCO comparison depending on your current and future state of your infrastructure. Features not implemented in on-premises deployments There are some features that have not yet been implemented and planned to be part of future releases. However, there are few features that are not intended for on-premise deployments. Features not yet implemented The following features have not yet been implemented in on-premises deployments. These features have not been deprecated. If these features are critical to your on-premises deployment, please let Microsoft know to help in prioritizing on the Dynamics 365 Application Ideas site.   Features not planned for on-premises deployments The following features are not intended for use in on-premises deployments. There are no plans to implement these features in on-premises deployments.   Author: Abdul Hafiz Enterprise Solution Architect Icon-linkedin Latest Posts You might also like:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations begin One Version era Table of Contents Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations begin One Version era Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations has entered the so-called One Version era, in which customers will say goodbye to traditional ERP upgrades and apply an ongoing and mandatory series of smaller updates to their systems on a monthly to quarterly basis.  Microsoft has made the case for the transition, hoping to convince current Finance and Operations (D365FO) customers that the new approach will benefit them in the long-run, and that Dynamics AX customers that upgrade will never have to endure another upgrade project in the future. This is in line with Microsoft Office 365 Upgrade philosophy.   The transition comes at a time when D365FO is growing and adapted at a far higher pace than ever before in the ERP product family.   Customer mix 30% Enterprise and 70% midsize. 77% are New Implementations vs. 23 percent Upgrades.   Functional usage in D365FO production environments Finance: 98 percent Supply chain management: 82 percent SCM Human capital management: 81 percent Warehouse Management: 63 percent Project Accounting: 16 percent   Another reason is due to improved upgrade and migration tools and the approaching end of life of various versions of AX.   The current model calls for customers to apply at least one update every three months, meaning a customer can skip two monthly updates but then must deploy the next one. For each update the customer can specify the week, day (Saturday or Sunday for most, but some industries like retail are opting for mid-week), and the time.   Another validation step for new updates will be the Release Validation Program, which brings customer-specific projects into an environment where they can be validated ahead of a release. Test results are checked by Microsoft and any defects are shared with the customer. This program requires sharing code and data with a team at Microsoft. Customer responsibilities and response The users historically have been unwilling to make frequent updates when they knew a system was working well, but One Version forces them to do just that. In theory, that risk from more frequent updates should be mitigated by two factors. First, early adopters will be getting these updates ahead of the majority of customers, and those teams should detect and report problems a month or more in advance of more conservative customers. Second, partners will be seeing the same update across all customers, meaning they should be able to predict the most common issues in any given month or quarter across all their D365FO clients.   The users did not raise significant concerns or questions in response to his guidance, which helped Microsoft propel in this direction at a faster pace. The business leaders have adopted to this model of SaaS and see the value in the long run.   Microsoft is also actively investigating customer needs and have engaged an independent consulting firm to report back to Microsoft on what customers say they need in various scenarios and industries (for example, FDA-regulated manufacturers, public sector regulations, ITAR compliance). Microsoft has already heard feedback from the community, which initially raised concerns, and is now in the process of adapting these principles. Author: Abdul Hafiz Enterprise Solution Architect Icon-linkedin Latest Posts You might also like: