Seven Indicators that a Dynamics 365 Project is Going to be Successful

Implementing a major system into an established organisation can be very tricky and there are, alongside many successful projects, many failures, overruns or difficulties when implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365. We have significant experience in the successful introduction and development of Dynamics 365 in major organisations and can, with some expertise, identify a number of indicators that a project is likely to be successful.

1.      You Have an Operating Model

When implementing Dynamics 365 there is a simple objective: capture the way that an organisation works and instantiate it within one or more Dynamics modules. Yet, staggeringly, plenty of organisations discover that they do not really understand themselves before embarking on an expensive and frustrating journey of building an electronic representation of their operating model.

Organisations that upgrade from a different ERM, CRM or ERM platform may find this simpler since they should be able to articulate their operations and processes through that existing platform. However, an upgrade to Dynamics 365, even from an existing Microsoft tool, is probably going to involve some kind of functional change – otherwise, why the upgrade? The greater the functional change, the greater the danger of difficulty or failure.

A Dynamics 365 project with a documented operating model is far more likely to succeed. The operating model, of course, needs to accurately reflect the scope of operations that the organisation conducts and the deeper the level of process capture, the easier it is to build those into the Dynamics system.

2.      The Transformation Purpose is Clear

Transformation will typically have a clear purpose – it is an expensive and high-effort activity and requires investment of capital and time. No organisation enters a platform transformation or Dynamics 365 project without an idea of what they want from it, but it is not always wholly or entirely clear. The driving force behind that purpose can have an impact on the likelihood of success.

Often the purpose is to escape a burning platform, move onto modern technology or to keep up with competitors in a market segment of niche. Sometimes the need is to adopt new features, improve operations or reduce the cost of operations or finance.

The organisation that enters a Dynamics 365 project in order to escape a burning platform is most in danger of a failed or tortuous project. Typically, such an organisation will under appreciate the complexities of switching platforms and focus far too much on a simplistic goal of “just get it to work”.

Maintaining parity with competitors is also a dangerous purpose. In this scenario, the Dynamics 365 project is likely to take more shape as it develops, from distinct unclarity at the start to taking some kind of form as the project develops and the organisation learns more about the technology.  This is an expensive way to approach a project and is a very risky approach.

The organisation that implements Dynamics 365 in order to access more powerful features is most likely to succeed since there is a determination of what needs to be changed. The success of this kind of project relies on the ability of the organisation to adopt change matching the new functionality.

The CFO that capitalises investment into a Dynamics 365 project that is based upon uncertain purpose may face a difficult future decision. Cancelling a project with heavy capitalisation becomes unattractive once the prospect of pulling those capitalised costs into a current balance sheet and may compel an organisation to pursue a project delivery that no longer has clear or relevant purpose.

3.      Stakeholders are Taking Responsibility

A Dynamics 365 platform encapsulates a collection of operational procedures into a digital model and therefore a project will encompass a number of different functions. Stakeholders are typically drawn from a number of different departments and functions, each with an interest in the successful delivery of the Dynamics 365 platform.

However, stakeholders can become real barriers where they are not invested in the project or see their responsibilities as simply taking delivery of the solution. Effective stakeholders are responsible for guiding the project, steering it towards a successful conclusion and to be successful in this endeavour they have a clear responsibility to be an active and useful part of every stage and phase.

Where a stakeholder is unable to articulate what they need from Dynamics 365 they are likely to become more of a barrier than an asset. A useful stakeholder will engage with the technology and work with the project team to determine what is required from the technology and how the various invariable small challenges are successfully navigated.

When a new platform is adopted there is always a fundamental dichotomy of precedence over form. An organisation can choose to tailor Dynamics 365 around its proprietary processes and functions, making the technology work in precisely the way that the organisation already functions. This works well for well-oiled prescriptive organisations that know exactly how they work at detail and Dynamics 365 is excellent at fitting around unique architectures and requirements. But this is expensive and stakeholders that are not engaged, able to work to define requirements and operating processes drive up the risk of failure to incredibly high levels.

Conversely, an organisation can take the view that they will operate the way that Dynamics 365 is natively configured to work. This is far easier in terms of technology configuration and many functions are already similar to the default Dynamics 365 setup. This does, though, require stakeholders to mould their functions around the software and it is not always easier to change people than it is to alter technology configuration. A stakeholder that is resistant to working with the software increases risks of failure.

In reality, there is always likely to be a mixture of both approaches. In either case, stakeholders that are fully engaged improve the likelihood of success enormously.

4.      The Realities of the Technology are Appreciated

Working with Microsoft 365 is a significant decision and comes with a number of implicit consequences. If the implications of investing in Dynamics 365 are understood and accepted then a transformation project has a far more positive outlook.

Adopting Microsoft 365 means that, in most cases, the organisation is buying into the Microsoft way of working. There are a lot of positives to this – Microsoft is a world leading organisation with an immensely robust and resilient architecture that underpins a very large number of global operations. From a Microsoft perspective cloud failure is not an option and their investment in ensuring continuity and security of operations is far greater than most people perceive.

This does mean that a Dynamics 365 project is never finished. By adopting the platform, an organisation is agreeing to ride the wave of changes, upgrades, releases and development that Microsoft have to continually conduct. There is a fundamental deal in place here, an unwritten contract – your core operations platform, a wide collection of cloud-based tools, will never become legacy, cannot turn into an unsupported burning platform and will remain current and relevant because our technology is continually updated.

The organisation that appreciates that they have entered this pact will be far more prepared and ready for change both during and after project delivery.

5.      There is Eagerness to Learn

It is always interesting to observe the users of new technology as it is delivered. Some people are wary, others keen. When staff in an organisation do not view a release of new technology as an overall benefit but see it as an unwanted encumbrance, this can cause major issues to the delivery of Dynamics 365.

The implementation of Dynamics 365 is often a major change that is designed to transform an organisation and add value through efficiency, agility or some other means and an organisation should be excited by that. If it proves difficult to engage user acceptance testers from the group of future users then it is likely that embedding the new platform will be significantly more difficult than where testers are keen to get their hands on the new system.

6.      Data is Straightforward and Well Understood

One of the most common causes of Dynamics 365 project angst is data. Extracting, converting and loading data can be highly complex and it requires deep knowledge of both the data architecture of source systems and Dynamics 365. Normally, an organisation only ever has technical ability in source systems and not Dynamics 365. Obtaining partner or contract data skills on a temporary basis is a common pathway.

However, this can sometimes be a straightforward exercise. Where the source systems have simple data structures that can easily be extracted into portable data containers, there is a strong signal of project success. Loading data into a Dynamics 365 platform can be simple and quick.

Where source data is not so simple then an enlightened Dynamics 365 project will identify this early and invest in data conversion. By extracting complex data into a series of conversion utilities, the data can be translated into a form digestible by Dynamics 365. This takes effort and investment, and it is not easy to adequately convert the form and structure of all data but once a conversion engine has been successfully created and tested, there is significant reason to be cheerful about the project.

Comprehension of the source data can often be surprisingly poor. Consider the organisation that has long used a legacy system but never needed to look under the hood of it or have gradually lost any competency they once had with that system. It does not bode well for a Dynamics 365 project if there is no understanding of the source data.

A successful project will make decisions early in the project lifecycle about what data is to be transferred, ported or scrapped. Designing the new Dynamics 365 platform can be challenging if there are no data parameters to work between.

7.      A Reasonable Value Proposition is Calculated

Any investment in Dynamics 365 is part of a value proposition. This means that the cost of developing and adopting the technology must, at some point in the future, be recouped via ongoing efficiencies, improved income or some other mechanism. Any investment in a new platform must ultimately result in a net-positive financial position. If this Is not clear then, similar to purpose, the sense of investing in the project must be questioned.

An organisation that is moving onto a Dynamics 365 platform but is unable to articulate where and when the return on the investment occurs is likely to have a troubled project, whereas clarity over value proposition allows everyone involved in the project to see clear targets.

Where Dynamics 365 is being developed ‘simply because it is good’ gives far poorer guidance to a project delivery team. Having a clear target informs both project budgets and architectures, allowing them to scale themselves to reasonable and appropriate sizes.

Balihans is a global technology consulting and digital solutions company that empowers businesses to innovate, grow, and thrive in the digital age. We are experts in introducing, developing and supporting Dynamics 365.

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