To fulfil the multi-site, multi-language, and multi-country requirements of businesses, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and operations is the best option. It has advanced functionality and is a single source application for numerous activities.
So when everything is becoming cloud-based and digital, it is time to get new technology by AX 2012 to D 365 upgrade.
Upgrading from Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to Microsoft Dynamics 365 involves many steps. So, let us read further about what it entails.
The process of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to Dynamics 365 upgrade
The process of upgrading Dynamics AX 2012 to Dynamics 365 involves the following steps:
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Analyse
This phase allows you to identify the efforts you need to put in while upgrading Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to Dynamics 365. You can follow this process before buying the Finance and Operations version and make an intelligent purchase decision.
Sign up for an LCS trial and append the upgrade methodology
Lifecycle services (LCS) is an azure-based portal that enhances project implementation predictability and quality.
Here, you need to sign up for an LCS project, or if you’ve already signed up, you will have to add an additional project. Now, set the methodology to upgrade Dynamics AX 2012 to Dynamics 365.
Run the upgrade analyser
The analyser tool identifies the tasks you need to do and it makes your journey smoother and more cost-effective.
- Data cleanup: It allows you to determine the data you can remove or reduce by running a cleanup process. In addition, it will also provide an explanation of the impact of the clean up process, and you can choose whether you want to clean or not.
- SQL configuration: It reviews the SQL configurations and suggests optimisations.
- Deprecated features: It analyses the features you are using and are not available in D 365. As a result, you can analyse the gaps in the functionalities.
In this step, you should install a pre-upgrade checklist and enter the data required for the upgrade procedure.
Run code upgrade estimation tools
This process takes code from AX 2012 and converts it into new formats. Moreover, it also gives feedback about issues in it which needs to be resolved.
For this, you can export your code from Ax 2012 and upload it to the LCS code upgrade tool. It will modify the code format and provide insights into issues.
Deploy a demo environment
Demo environments contain demonstration data and standard code. It lets you examine new features. Additionally, you can also perform a fit gap analysis of standard processes in AX 2012 that might have been updated and altered in Microsoft Dynamics 365.
You can either download these environments as a virtual machine or deploy them in Azure.
Create a project plan
Microsoft provides a template for the project plan in the upgrade methodology. It uses outputs from the previous steps. Moreover, it also contains testing details like various resource assignments, cutover testing, functional test pass iterations, and data upgrade testing.
With this project plan, you can comprehend the cost and time of the upgrade.
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Execution
In the execution process, you need to buy the Microsoft Dynamics 365 application, and it must have the resources that can work on the upgrade.
Switch to LCS implementation project
Now you will only require the project plan you created in the analysis phase.
With Dynamics 365, you will also get details about how to sign up for the LCS project. It is different from the public preview project and has features like:
- It supports the employment of Sandbox and Production type of environments.
- The Microsoft team maintains those environments.
- All DevTest and demo environments should be deployed on Azure.
Also Read: What is E-Invoicing and Its Benefits? | E-Invoicing KSA
Identify the project as AX 2012 upgrade
To ensure that the sandbox infrastructure is compatible with the upgrade, identify the project as AX 2012.
For that, you will be guided through a project onboarding wizard when you sign in to the LCS project. Here, in the project scope section, you can identify your project as an AX 2012 upgrade.
Perform preparation tasks
Your Dynamics AX system administrator and database administrator shall complete the tasks that the upgrade analyser tool discovered. The tasks are also documented in your upgrade project plan.
Perform code upgrade
Here, you should complete the tasks planned during the analysis phase, and now, code change should be frozen, except for emergency changes.
Data upgrade
Now you can upgrade your data, and the first upgrade will happen in the development environment. Hence, you can debug issues immediately, adjust the code, and rerun the upgrade.
Now, when data upgrade is done in the development environment, you can upgrade data in the sandbox environment. Here, users can test business processes through upgraded AX 2012 data and code.
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Validate
In this phase, you will verify and validate your upgraded code and data. It also prepares your software for go-live.
Cutover testing and planning
It has two major workstreams:
- Technical workstream: You will set a downtime limit, and the technical workstream will have to tune its data upgrade procedure to meet that limit.
- Functional workstream: You need to undergo several configuration tasks here, and they should be quantified and documented. Moreover, a resource should also be provided to them to meet the downtime limit.
Functional test pass
It will be an extensive test of all business processes that involve D 365, and it will check if there are any loopholes.
Pre-go-live
This checklist minimises the chance of errors before going live on Dynamics 365.
Go live
As of now, you would have successfully completed upgrade testing in a test environment and a test cutover. Hence, it is time to make the shift.
Now your Dynamics AX 2012 will be turned off, and Dynamics 365 will be turned on.
Final words!
The stages discussed above are not exclusive and might differ for each project. Nevertheless, the upgrade to a cloud-based system will provide numerous benefits.
It is suitable for all business operations and also has features to comply with the rules of e-invoicing in KSA.
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