This article offers a detailed, first-person account of the city of Redmond's journey from Microsoft Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365.
Originally published in H1 2018 D365UG/AXUG Magazine
The city of Redmond, Washington started its Microsoft Dynamics AX journey in 2009 in response to an invitation from Microsoft to become a Technology Adoption Partner. We teamed with them to address functionality gaps in Microsoft Dynamics AX which precluded widespread use of the product in the public sector. The city became a model for functionality and a launch Partner who would showcase Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 as a successful public sector ERP solution. With our move to production on July 5, 2011, we became the first public sector Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment in addition to the first client in general to deploy the soon-to-be-released 2012 product upgrade.
That pioneering approach is not typical of local government. Usually our search for large software systems starts with a bureaucratic selection process that requires at least three referenceable clients who have gone before us and have been using the software for a long period of time. Government tends to be risk-averse, especially when it comes to implementing new technology. Our experience is that being a frontrunner in the adoption of new technologies comes with an added layer of challenges, but in the end, it is very rewarding. This is particularly the case with Dynamics as we see the direction Microsoft is taking with the D365 product suite.
And the city of Redmond is at it again. As we continue to update and increase our utilization of functionality in our Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 environment, we do it with the understanding that a full transition to D365 is the target. We’ve begun working toward that goal by considering how we can better leverage the product’s inherent functionality and move away from complex configuration decisions and unnecessary customizations.
At the same time, we’re identifying creative opportunities to take advantage of the D365 platform and bring the richness of its UI to our end Users even before we complete a full transition of our current 2012 environment. One of the ways we’ve done this is with the deployment of the D365 Budget Planning module in February of this year. While the remainder of our finance and operations functionality remains in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, when it came time to retire the city’s legacy budget planning tool, we took advantage of the ability to implement the Budget Planning module as a standalone D365 component, creating a hybrid environment between AX 2012 on-premises and D365 Budget Planning in Azure. The robust Data Import and Export Framework (DIXF) in D365 provides the level of integration necessary for sharing data between those environments.
Notable improvements to the budget planning functionality between AX 2012 and D365, coupled with the feature-rich UI of D365, made our choice to begin an early transition an easy one. It doesn’t take much time working in D365 before being in AX 2012 feels like a bit of a setback. The improvements in the UI make the product easier to use and support increasingly efficient business operations. Improved search and filter capabilities, faster and more efficient navigation, recent places links, personalized workspaces, improved task recorder functionality, and one-click feedback to Microsoft are just a few of the UI improvements that make us want to shorten the schedule for a complete transition to the new product. The easy access to integrated Office products along with the data import and export framework allows us to export, modify, and import data, and assists us in analyzing and affecting large sets of data effectively and efficiently. maintenance.
The hybrid model requires that a large amount of data consumed by the budget planning process is converted from AX 2012 to D365. Using DIXF, our chart of accounts, advanced rules, projects, and employee data are brought across to D365. The inability to integrate employee data from a third-party HR system was one of the hurdles that stopped us from deploying the Budget Planning module in AX 2012, so this was a big win. Another piece of functionality lacking in AX 2012 that prevented us from deploying budget planning was the ability to publish a complex formal budget document. While this functionality is still not as straightforward as we would like it to be, Microsoft and Tyler Technologies are continuing work toward a budget narrative text editor solution that can be neatly pulled into a published budget report. This functionality is paramount to our successful use of the product. The feedback we received from other Users as we showcased our budget planning deployment at Summit last year echoed this, and Microsoft was listening, so our confidence in a solution is high.
Although one of the most significant changes for the city with the deployment of D365 is the move to the cloud, we certainly aren’t new to the cloud computing concept. While we’ve not used hosted cloud technology for major applications until more recently, our technology environment has been completely virtualized in a hyper converged, virtual server platform for quite some time. The “cloud” itself isn’t really a deterrent for this change. We’ve become comfortable with cloud-based computing through studying the experiences of others, learning from our own experiences, and working to clarify and mitigate risks through the service levels and protocols documented in our service agreements.
Moving to the hosted D365 environment brings with it a whole new way of interacting with our systems as well as our implementers. Microsoft’s Life Cycle Services (LCS) collaboration portal provides the framework for a guided implementation process. While this tool was somewhat of an optional component of the AX 2012 environment, its use is required in the deployment and management of D365. Through our FastTrack engagement, Microsoft technical resources were available to help walk us through a guided implementation plan in LCS. They supported us in workshops and ensured the necessary steps were taken to bring our deployment configuration into the production environment. The LCS portal provides us with a location to document and manage our system’s configuration, track changes, provide an audit trail, and communicate with Microsoft for support needs. This has been an opportunity for us to put an increased level of structure around the management of our Microsoft Dynamics environments by enforcing standard protocols for working with them. As a new tool, our use of it continues to improve and evolve over time. We’re working to get multiple staff familiar with LCS so that our in-house knowledge is deeper. In addition, the benefits of the repeatable processes that are made possible through LCS create efficiencies in the support of our Microsoft Dynamics environment. We like what we see in LCS and suggest that familiarity with it prior to a transition to D365 is beneficial.
And in the end, it’s just another rollout of a critical business system that comes with great challenge and great reward. What made the most significant difference with this deployment was not the business solution itself, but instead the User adoption of the business solution even before knowing to what degree it would accommodate our budget planning requirements. To avoid some of the tough User buy-in issues experienced with other software implementation efforts, the city put a change management strategy in place which tasks core business owners with the responsibility of championing the solution throughout the organization with the belief that User adoption, regardless of the implementation outcome, will mirror the attitude of the team who is implementing it. We’ve found this to be true as we continue to socialize a positive message and roll the product out to the remaining end Users.
What’s next on our horizon? We’re considering a deployment of the point of sale functionality in D365, maybe Talent, and we know we have a lot of work ahead of us in preparation for a complete transition of all modules to D365 by early 2020. Above all of that, we’ll continue to proactively respond to the subtle shifts in product direction and stay open as opportunities to improve upon our Microsoft Dynamics deployment present themselves.