Overview
This D365 Implementation is a comprehensive project designed to transition business operations from legacy systems, such as Solomon (SL), into a unified Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations environment. The project was managed by a Gold Partner in North America and encompasses global operations across the USA, Canada, Greece, United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Technical Approach
• Extensibility vs Overlayering: To ensure seamless future upgrades, the project strictly follows an extensibility model rather than overlayering standard code. Development must adhere to SOLID principles to ensure code is easy to maintain and extend.
• Preferred API Patterns: The project prioritises Asynchronous Batch Data APIs for high-volume integrations, such as Workday and Concur, to manage performance. OData is reserved for real-time, low-volume record updates.
• Decoupled Connector: Built in a separate language, this component handles low-level RESTful API calls to integrated systems.
• Staging Tables: Data from integrated systems is first landed in a staging table (either in middleware or within D365). This allows for data validation and error handling before the information is committed to the target D365 tables.
• Integrator Module: Custom business logic—such as calculating hourly equivalents for salaries or handling intercompany cross-charges—resides in a dedicated "Integrator" module.
• Data Management Framework (DMF): The Integrator module is hooked into the standard D365 DMF to utilise standard processing and error-logging capabilities.
Key Components
The implementation included the following primary areas of operation:
• Accounting and Finance: Includes General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Budgeting, Cash and Bank Management, Fixed Assets, and Intercompany/Multi-currency accounting.
• Project Management: Covers Project Management Financials, Budgeting, Job Costing, Subcontracting Management, Forecasting, and Revenue Recognition.
• Supply Chain: Including Procurement and Sourcing, Product Information Management, and Warehousing.
• Other Core Areas: Reporting and Business Intelligence, Role Level Security, and HR/Payroll Integration.
Key Integrations
A significant portion of the project scope involved integrating D365 with third-party applications to ensure seamless data flow:
• Workday: Integration for Worker Master Records, Positions, and Time Entry.
• Adaptive: Exporting actuals from D365 to Adaptive for business management.
• AEG: Exporting employee, project, and transactional data to a third-party professional services application.
• TTR: Automating the monthly import of updated Sales Tax Codes.
• Concur: Loading journal information and expenses into D365.
• Banking & AP: Integration with SK Global Treasury Banking Suite and KnowledgeLake for AP automation.
Challenges & Solutions
The energy services firm's D365 implementation project addressed several critical operational pain points, primarily focused on automating manual processes, eliminating data silos, and ensuring system scalability for future upgrades.
The main pain points and their corresponding solutions included:
1. Manual Data Entry and Inefficiency
A major challenge in the legacy environment was the reliance on manual data handling, which was prone to error and time-consuming.
• Tax Code Updates: Tax codes are updated constantly by authorities; previously, this was a manual task. The project addressed this by automating monthly loads from TTR into D365 via the SK File Hub to ensure "transactional correctness".
• Financial Dimensions: In the legacy system, financial dimensions often had to be input manually or defaulted from general customer profiles. The new design automatically copies dimensions from settled invoices directly into payment journals.
• HR Onboarding: Manually keeping worker records in sync across systems was inefficient. The project established Workday as the "source of truth," with nightly automated pulls into D365 for worker master records and positions.
2. Labour Costing and Time Integration Issues
Managing timecards and labour costs across different platforms created reconciliation difficulties.
• Actual Labour Costing: The energy services firm required a way to cost projects based on actual salary equivalents rather than static rates. The integration now brings the hourly equivalent of a worker's salary directly from Workday to cost projects accurately.
• Correction Cycles: A significant pain point was the process of posting time, followed by manual corrections and reposting. The project introduced automated rules in the integration staging area to identify original time blocks and create necessary negations/reversals automatically.
3. Inadequate Reporting and Document Customisation
Standard system outputs did not meet the specific needs of different business units or management tools.
• Solar Business Needs: Standard D365 invoices lacked the specific warehouse details, logos, and tracking numbers required by the Solar unit. The project provided a customised Sales Order Invoice format triggered specifically for the Solar business unit.
• Business Management Data: The energy services firm uses Adaptive software for business management but lacked seamless communication from their ERP. The project included a dedicated export of actuals to Adaptive, leveraging modified data entities to include contract and budget values.
4. Complex Intercompany and Multi-Currency Operations
Charging labour and costs across the firm's various legal entities was technically complex.
• Cross-Company Charges: Employees often charge time to projects in different legal entities. The system now automatically retrieves exchange rates and manages "due-to/due-from" accounting for intercompany resource sharing.
• Global Scalability: To support entities in the USA, Canada, Greece, UK, and Ireland, the project implemented intra-unit accounting, allowing individual business units to have their own P&Ls and balance sheets while remaining under a unified structure.
5. High Maintenance and Difficult Upgrades
Customisations in legacy systems (like Solomon) often involved "overlayering" code, which made updates difficult and expensive.
• Extensibility Model: The project addressed this by strictly following an extensibility-first development strategy. By using extensions instead of overlayering standard code, the system remains "upgrade friendly" for the long term.
Results
Implementation of D365 F&O successfully transitioned global business operations from legacy Solomon (SL) systems to a unified cloud environment across the USA, Canada, UK, Greece, and Ireland. The project automated core workflows, including monthly tax code updates and actual labour costing through a decoupled Workday integration, to ensure transactional accuracy. The solution provided a sustainable and "upgrade-friendly" platform for long-term scalability.