Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance

Finance App overview

Fuel business growth with cutting-edge machine learning capabilities. Built-in intelligence delivers a competitive edge, from supply chain execution to personalised customer experiences. The industry-leading Power BI embedded as the native business intelligence gives real-time visibility across the entire organisation.

Finance deployment options

The choice of deployment options gives you the flexibility to start on one scenario and change later. From full cloud to cloud + edge to local business data, you can move in either direction depending on your organisation’s business needs.

Local business data

Run business processes on-premises, with local transactions and data storage, without replication of any business data to the Microsoft cloud. You have the choice to turn ON or turn OFF cloud synchronisation of business data. If cloud synchronisation is turned OFF, no business data leaves the trustee’s boundaries. For this deployment scenario, the application servers and SQL database will run in your own (or partner hosted) data centre.

• Disconnected data center
• Local data residency
• Capitalise HW investments
• Single instance only

Cloud + Edge

Gives you complete control when your mission-critical business processes need uninterrupted execution. Cloud + edge combines a central cloud node with local application services and business data that is stored locally. The cloud connection ensures a single view of the business across the local instances and offers embedded Power BI, intelligent analytics and machine learning in business processes. The cloud instance also provides the local installation with data failover in Azure, automated deployment and continuous updates.

• Cloud - Microsoft managed
• Edge - Customer managed
• Multiple local workplaces
• Local data residency in addition to cloud

Cloud

Take full advantage of the power of Microsoft Azure cloud with embedded Power BI, intelligent analytics and machine learning in business processes. Azure cloud is the industry leader in compliance, security and privacy. Your organisation retains complete ownership and control of your data at all times.

• Fully managed by Microsoft cloud service
• Systems of intelligence
• Planned multi instance federation
• Elastic scale out

Why choose Dynamics 365?

Preferred vendor

A survey asked 6,700 enterprise decision-makers worldwide about their ERP purchasing intentions. More than half chose Microsoft Dynamics as their preferred next investment.

Companies earning $50m to $1bn.

Companies earning $1bn or more.

Lower costs

Research by Panorama Consulting identified Microsoft Dynamics as the Tier 1 ERP solution with the lowest total cost of ownership.

Market share

In the manufacturing industry Microsoft Dynamics has greater market share than other Tier 1 ERP vendors.

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Dynamics 365 for Finance capabilities

Financial Management

The efficiency of financial operations is key to enabling the strategic planning of any business, both large and small. For an organisation operating across continents there are a multitude of regulatory requirements with which to comply. A growing business needs a versatile and scalable enterprise resource planning solution that can grow with it.

Finance and Operations offers a comprehensive financial management solution, supporting multiple languages and currencies, that gives businesses total control and visibility. It allows the automation and integration of all financial processes, including accounting, budgeting, risk management, procurement, and analysis and reporting.

Functionality including:

• General ledger
• Bank management
• Accounts payable
• Accounts receivable
• Fixed assets
• Cost accounting
• Intercompany accounting and shared services support
• Country-specific capabilities
• Budgetary control
• Compliance and internal controls
• Financial reporting

Human Capital Management

A business is nothing without the people who drive it forward. An efficient human resources (HR) function is key to keeping employees happy, motivated and productive. Attracting, training and monitoring the very best people is essential for the growth and success of every business.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a whole pack of features in the Talent module. Talent provides role-based, personalised dashboards that make it easier for HR professionals to focus on their specific jobs. It provides intuitive tools to manage key performance indicators and inspire collaboration, empowering employees at every level to deliver outstanding customer experiences.

Functionality including:

• Organisation administration
• Recruitment and selection management
• Development and performance administration
• Skill mapping
• Training
• Employee self-service portal
• Travel and expense
• Benefits administration
• Absence management
• Time and attendance
• Compensation management

Procurement and Sourcing

In today’s commercial environment, demands on distributors have never been higher. With increasing supply chain complexity, tougher competition and clients continually raising the performance bar, the procurement and sourcing function must respond to meet the challenges.

Finance and Operations offers detailed process management, giving businesses the flexibility to decide exactly how much functionality will be used. From vendor management to purchase requisitions to purchase orders, it provides tools specifically designed to enable easy modification and optimisation of procurement and sourcing business processes.

Functionality including:

• Procurement workflows
• Procurement reporting
• Purchasing policies and signing limits
• Category management
• Indirect procurement (catalogue and non-catalogue)
• Vendor self-service portal
• Vendor management
• Request for quotations (RFQ)
• Agreements
• Trade agreements (vendor)
• Direct procurement

Production

Whatever an organisation’s mode of manufacturing – discrete, process, lean or mixed – controlling production costs and optimising resource use is key to increasing operational efficiency and maximising margins. Real-time insight and tracking of processes at each step of the manufacturing life cycle is critical to the execution of optimal production strategies.

Production in Finance and Operations provides the rich functionality and adaptable feature set to drive your business forward. The production modules include tools to handle material flow, to plan and execute routes and operations with great flexibility, and to monitor production costs easily and accurately.

Functionality including:

• Production reporting
• Production costing
• Lean manufacturing
• Inventory dimensions for process manufacturing
• Shop floor control
• Production orders
• Routing
• Product configuration
• Production bill of materials (BOM)
• Subcontracting
• Resource management
• Production scheduling and sequencing
• Material and capacity planning

Project Management and Accounting

Planning, initiating, organising, controlling, motivating. People, materials, services, data, financials.

Keeping on top of a project involves juggling many balls. Without detailed, yet accessible, reports that give you an accurate picture of your accounting, billing, and project processes, project costing can easily get out of control.

Project Management and Accounting in Finance and Operations includes a powerful set of tools for managing complete projects, allowing you to assign resources, create and monitor budgets, and manage direct and indirect costs. Real-time information enables the prioritisation of tasks to quickly resolve issues, and the automation of processes increases efficiencies so your project can be completed on time and on budget.

Functionality including:

• Reporting
• Interoperability with Microsoft Project
• Project budgeting and cost control
• Revenue recognition and work-in-progress (WIP)
• Grant management
• Project quotations
• Project accounting and invoicing
• Project time and expense
• Project resource and schedule management
• Work breakdown structures

Business Intelligence (BI) and Reporting

Timely, accurate and relevant information is essential for the optimal functioning of every organisation. If you can see what is going on in the workplace in real time, you can pinpoint inefficiencies and fix them, and you can identify and take advantage of opportunities.

Finance and Operations business analytics, intelligence, and reporting features deliver the right information to employees wherever and whenever they need it. Whether accessing data on the office PC, or mobile with a tablet or phone, Microsoft's BI solution puts secure and actionable information at your fingertips. Customisable analysis tools and flexible reporting functions, integrated with the Microsoft platform, enhance sharing, collaboration and the decision-making process.

Functionality including:

• More than 800 standard reports
• Real-time BI dashboards
• Natural language querying
• Touch-enabled native apps for iOS and Android
• Integrate using open, standards-based REST API
• Combine with Microsoft Power Platform to automate workflows

Supply Chain Management

Ensuring you have the right stock or raw materials in the right quantities and at the right time is just one of the critical elements in delivering your clients an exceptional service. Total visibility throughout the entire supply chain delivers you the critical insight needed to identify inefficiencies and keep your operation running smoothly.

With the Finance and Operations Supply Chain Management (SCM) capability, organisations, whether single or multisite, can seamlessly integrate sales and procurement functions with logistics, production, and warehouse management. SCM provides real-time control and access to data that delivers concrete savings. Multiple control and business intelligence systems enable the optimisation of processes, from minimising inventory waste to management of returns.

Functionality including:

• Intercompany
• Forecasting
• Master planning including order promising
• Returns management
• Product management of goods and services
• Quality management
• Shipping carrier interface
• Multisite warehouse management
• Inventory management

Service Management

Continually evolving customer demands, ever-changing service requirements, constantly increasing performance expectations – just some of the challenges faced by customer service managers.

Service Management in Finance and Operations can be used to establish service agreements and service subscriptions, handle service orders, and manage and analyse the delivery of services to customers. Service orders, contract details, and repair histories can be easily accessed to quickly respond to customer queries. Integration with Financials allows managers to monitor and control exact costs for service orders and improve service profitability.

Functionality including:

• Service agreements
• Service orders and contracts
• Service calls and dispatching
• Repair management
• Service subscriptions
• Performance reporting
• Customer feedback management

Sales and Marketing (CRM)

Customers are better informed and more discerning than ever before. Purchasing decisions are often made before even stepping foot outside of the home. Salespeople require effective tools and insight to help them focus on customer priorities and build engaging and trusted relationships.

With the sales and marketing capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX, your people can drive sales productivity and deliver superior customer experiences. Dynamics AX includes powerful tools to help you take full advantage of social media to identify and create opportunities. Real-time customer and competitive intelligence gives your sales team the information they need to gain strategic advantage.

Functionality including:

• Sales and marketing reporting
• Commerce Services
• Case management
• Sales management
• Lead and opportunity management
• Marketing automation
• Sales agreement
• Trade agreements (customer)
• Sales force automation

Speak to a Dynamics 365 for Finance expert

If you're considering Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, or just want more information, we're happy to answer all your questions.

Dynamics 365 for Finance

Modern platform

• Analyse system performance in real time with rich telemetry and diagnostics, to preempt issues and streamline processes.
• Utilise all business logic any time, any place, on any device, through a clean, modern and intuitive browser-based UI that is a pleasure to use and easy to learn.
• Avoid cost and risk, and minimise deployment time, by modelling and testing the system in the Azure-based Lifecycle Services portal providing end-to-end application management.

Connected operations

• Support processes across the supply chain by combining best-fit manufacturing processes into a unified solution.
• Accelerate delivery of finished products with advanced warehouse and logistics management.
• Take advantage of real-time and predictive analytics to identify issues and improve production processes.

Streamlined processes

• Minimise costs by synchronising logistics across sites, warehouses, and transportation modes.
• Automate procure-to-pay and order-to-cash to streamline processes from purchasing to delivery.
• Reduce operational costs across business geographies with financial process automation, encumbrance, budget planning, budget control, and three-way matching.

Adaptable platform

• Adapt the application to changing needs with no-code visual editors and flexible tools for building web and mobile apps.
• Reduce the cost and complexity of operating a global infrastructure with the trusted Microsoft cloud platform providing state-of-the-art security and compliance.
• Benefit from enterprise grade Service Level Agreements, round-the-clock tech support and built-in disaster recovery to protect data and workloads without the additional costs of a data centre.