Implementing Microsoft D365 F&O can be an incredibly demanding and stressful task.
Even the smallest mistake can cause serious implications down the road – we have seen it happen, but do not lose hope, we can help you!
Contracting ME CFO from the beginning, can help you limit your risk of failure and reduce costs.
When ME CFO is working for Microsoft Gold Partners (MSGPs), the MS Sure Step methodology is used for all full life cycle implementations including LCS, Azure and D365.
If ME CFO is not working with a MSGP, a different approach can be taken. It all depends on the phase of the implementation and if another approach fit your company better.
ME CFO D365 F&O Expertise areas / modules:
- Expert in General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Cash and Bank Management, Consolidations, Fixed Assets, Asset Leasing, Expense Management, Credit and Collections, Procurement and Sourcing, Tax Management, Avalara Certified (2024), Financial Report Designer/Managing reporter, CRM, Audit Workbench
- Strong working knowledge in Budgeting, Cost Accounting, Cost Management, Organization, Product Information Management, Inventory, Project Management and Accounting (PMA), Landing Cost
- Working knowledge in Power BI, Warehouse, Human Resource, System Administration, D365 BC (NAV)
D365 F&O implementation:
When ME CFO is implementing D365 F&O, the MS Sure Step methodology is used for all full life cycle implementations. We usually work as a D365 F&O Functional Lead on the FINANCE side:
- Performing the necessary analysis and consultation to identify business issues and opportunities, solution requirements, gaps and related benefits
- Leading project teams to deliver business solutions from project kick-off through project go-live
- Measuring delivery of solution against requirements, through ownership of deliverables and thorough review with clients
- Preparing and analyzing project plans and requirements documentation
- Building report with clients through effective communication, working sessions and status meetings
- Completing assigned tasks according to project schedule and communicating status to Project Manager
- Performing configuration, testing and implementation of Dynamics 365 F&O
- Training end-users on solutions
Rescue projects:
This methodology listed above will never be used on a rescue/recovery project.
ME CFO often receive rescue/recovery projects. Sadly, it often comes down to the implementation partner.
Most D365 recovery projects fail because companies throw resources at symptoms, not causes. They use the same consultants who created the mess in the first place and expect different results. They never properly reset stakeholder expectations. They promise quick fixes while hiding structural problems. They highlight easy wins while burying fundamental issues. Pouring money into a failing implementation without knowing why it is failing is the definition of insanity.
ME CFO believes a real recovery starts with “uncomfortable” conversations. Showing stakeholders exactly how bad things are, why they got that way and what real recovery looks like. Not the sugar-coated PowerPoint version – the messy, complicated reality.
This reset is not about making everyone feel good. It's about establishing a foundation of truth that can actually support recovery
Quality and speed:
The fastest way to implementation failure, is sacrificing quality for speed.
Your implementation partner is under pressure to hit milestones and you are on the legendary “Shinkansen” with no chance of stopping. In order to keep their invoices flowing, they are cutting corners. Every rushed testing cycle, every skipped validation, every "we'll fix it later" promise do not even save time. Problems are just pushed downstream where they are exponentially more expensive to fix.
Your go-live milestone means nothing if your system is unusable. A slightly delayed quality implementation delivers infinitely more value than a punctual train wreck. So do not let arbitrary deadlines drive your implementation into the ground. Quality and speed are not enemies – they are partners - but when they conflict, quality should win every time.
Remember, you are in charge of your implementation, not the implementation partner. If you feel you are losing oversight, it is always great hiring a consultant to be the gate-keeper for you. They already know what to look out for and can stop roadblocks before they happen.
Why you need a functional finance consultant:
More and more clients are looking for consultants with very strong finance backgrounds. Not only system knowledge, but consultants who really understands the processes behind it.
Your implementation partner configured the financial modules based on technical specifications, not financial operations. They know how the system works, but not how finance teams actually operate under pressure.
The results are predictable:
- Posting profiles that create unnecessary reconciliation work
- Financial dimensions that overcomplicate rather than enhance reporting
- Period-end processes that require manual interventions to complete
We see this pattern repeatedly. Organizations implement technically "correct" financial configurations that actually increase workload for finance teams. Technical consultants celebrate the perfect chart of accounts structure while finance teams quietly build Excel workarounds to get their actual jobs done.
Financial module success is not about technical elegance – it is about operational efficiency. The best configurations are not the most complex ones; they are the ones that work for your finance team and help them close the books faster and with greater confidence.
The solution requires a fundamental shift in approach. Financial module implementation must start with process efficiency, not technical capabilities. Every configuration decision should answer one question: "Does this make financial operations more efficient or more complex?" Often only consultant with finance experience can answer the question.
Successful financial implementations follow a clear pattern:
- Design posting profiles around reconciliation efficiency, not technical hierarchy
- Implement financial dimensions that simplify reporting, not complicate it
- Configure period-end processes that minimize manual intervention
- Create workflows that accelerate approvals rather than bureaucratizing them
- If your finance team is working later at month-end than they did before implementation, you do not have a training problem – you have a configuration problem
ME CFO follow the MS Sure Step methodology:
Source: Microsoft
Diagnostic:
- Evaluate a customer's business processes and infrastructure
- Assist the customer with their due diligence cycle, including ascertaining requirements and their fit with the solution, and assessing the resource needs for the solution delivery
- Prepare the project plan, proposal, and the Statement of Work
Analysis:
- Analyze current business model and finalize the Functional Requirements document
- Finalize the fit-gap analysis
- Develop the Environment Specification documentation
Design:
- Develop the Functional Design, Technical Design, and Solution Design documents
- Finalize the data migration design
- Establish test criteria
Development:
- Finalize configurations and setup of the standard solution
- Develop and finalize the custom code that is required to support the solution
- Conduct functional and feature testing of the solution
- Create the user training documentation
Deployment:
- Set up the production environment
- Migrate data to the production environment
- Conduct user acceptance test of the system
- Train users and finalize the user documentation
- Conduct go-live check and promote the system to production
Operation:
- Resolve pending issues
- Finalize user documentation and knowledge transfer
- Conduct a post-mortem of the project
- Provide on-going support (activities that continue through any future involvement with the customer after the project is closed)
The Sure Step methodology also provides guidance for the following areas:
Optimization:
- Leverage Review Offerings to determine proactively if the system is being designed and delivered optimally to meet the customer’s requirements
- Analyze the system to determine how it can be optimized for the best performance based on customer's needs
Upgrade:
- Assess the customer's current business processes and solution
- Document the requirements for new functionality
- Upgrade the system to new release—including the addition of new functionality, promotion of existing customizations that are required, and elimination of custom code no longer required
Before working with an implementation Partner , ME CFO can help clients with pre-implementation tasks, making sure the implementation starts on the right track.
The below is mainly financial services:
- Ensure to reconcile all accounts and minimize as much data as possible
- Create a new Chart of Account (CoA), which follows the CoA structure in D365
- Discuss departments, cost centers and financial dimensions
- Create a connection between the old CoA and new CoA
- Performing the necessary analysis internally, to make sure you already know what the MSGP’s expects and what is needed for the analysis phase
- A “need to have” and a “nice to have” list should also be created
ME CFO has helped clients where the entire implementation was a complete disaster due to no MSGP, nor ME CFO involvement and still going live. ME CFO can help configure a whole new entity or entities. Even if you did go-live, we try to fix as much as we can, so you can survive until a new legal entity has been configurated.
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