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Writing About Dynamics

Table of Contents

CRM #

  • What is CRM? Customer Relationship Management. This is a term that has been around since this software debuted. Microsoft rebranded this concept as Customer Engagement for their platform.
  • Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement is the umbrella term for CRM.
  • When writing about Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement, you can use the umbrella term if you’re talking about CRM functionality in general.
  • When writing case studies or content specific to a certain product you need to use that product name.

Examples #

Yes No
  • All companies need CRM functionality to help with their sales and customer service functions.
  • All companies need Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement to help with their sales and customer service functions.
  • If your sales team needs to track leads, they can rely on Dynamics 365 Sales
  • If your sales team needs to track leads, they should buy CRM
  • If your sales team needs to track leads, they should buy Dynamics 356 Customer Engagement

Each of these products have very different purposes and functionality. They can all be purchased independent of each other.

  • Dynamics 365 Sales
  • Dynamics 365 Customer Service
  • Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (formerly Marketing)
  • Dynamics 365 Field Service
  • Dynamics 365 Project Operations

On-Prem Solutions #

  • Dynamics GP, Dynamics SL, Dynamics NAV, and Dynamics AX are all on-premises solutions
  • On-premise is not the correct term. It should always be written as either on-prem or on-premises
  • These are legacy solutions. None of them are cloud based.
  • If a client or business has any of these products “in the cloud” that means they have moved where they are stored from their own servers to a hosted server database such as Azure.
  • This should be clarified in any content you’re writing so we do not confuse anyone. These are not cloud products and they are deployed completely differently than a cloud solution such as Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Examples #

Yes No
  • On-prem users should consider moving to the cloud.
  • Companies with their software on-premises should move to the cloud.
  • Dynamics GP is a legacy solution.
  • Dynamics GP can be hosted on Azure.
  • If your business is using on-premise software you should consider the cloud.
  • Dynamics 365 GP Online is a legacy solution.
  • Dynamics GP is an online product.

ERP #

Dynamics 365 Business Central #

  • Business Central is the midmarket ERP solution. It includes functionality for finances, warehouse management, inventory, and more. It also includes some CRM functionality.
  • Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management
    • This solution was initially called Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, which many would shorten to F&O. While we still talk using that terminology, we should write it as the actual product name.
    • When referring to the enterprise solution as a whole, you can say Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management
    • Dynamics 365 Finance is an individual product
    • Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is an individual product
    • ou buy, license, and deploy each of these individually. So when writing a case study about a company deploying one or the other, you only need to refer to the product they have in place, not both.

Upgrades #

  • On-Prem solutions were a one-time purchase of the software. Every year, the company would pay an annual enhancement fee to stay current on the software. This meant they got access to upgraded software when available, but they still needed to work with a partner to execute and implement the upgrade. These upgrades took significant time to deploy and the client had to pay a partner to deploy the upgrade. These releases happened every few years.
  • If an on-prem client didn’t pay their annual enhancement, they still could use the software for as long as they wanted. They just were not able to update the system with new releases, bug fixes, or tax table updates.
  • All D365 applications are cloud based. Companies do not buy the software, instead they pay licensing fees per user per month. There are 10 releases to the software each year – eight minor and two major releases. The two major releases happen in April and October and are referred to as Wave 1 and Wave 2. These updates are automatically pushed into each system, but we recommend that companies do testing prior to the release live date.
  • If a D365 client doesn’t pay their bill, they lose access to the system.

Microsoft 365 #

  • Microsoft 365 is the umbrella term for the productivity apps formerly called Office 365. These apps include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, Sharepoint, Exchange, Publisher, and Access.
  • Clients can purchase different levels of licensing that gives them access to different products. Plan information can be found here.
  • When referring to the productivity suite, use the term Microsoft 365.
  • When talking about specific products that a client is using, use that product name
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