Setting up a Dynamics HR/Finance/Supply Chain/Operations environment/project

 

How do you get your Sandbox up and running for Dynamics HR/Finance/Supply Chain/Operations?

Well firstly you'll need to log on and create a project on Lifecycle Services.  That's LCS for short.  LCS enables you to control, administer and manage your Dynamics project.

https://lcs.dynamics.com/

Once you've done this you can progress through the initial onboarding tasks:

For the Project Overview you'll need your supporting partner (or their MPN number).  Complete the details here with information on the solution you are migrating from,  the geo-region you are using for information governance. Microsoft also like to know the overall vision and goals the project.  Everyone should know what success looks like.  Finally you should estimate the final number of subscriptions needed for go-live, so go ahead and put this in at the bottom of the form.

 

The next part is the project scope.  This requires a considered approach.  It's best to have discussed your Environment Strategy before going into this part, but it's simple in it's operation.  Here we just need to tick the boxes for what will represent the technical solution scope, and if you are unsure, there's some convenient links to Microsoft Learn on the right of the page to guide you through.

Next who are the awesome people you'll be working with?  This goes into the section that defines your team.  Make sure you've considered the security.  Zero Trust is a strong approach.

 

In the next section (Define Milestone Dates) you'll need to define your project dates, so draw these down from your agreed internal dates.  After this it's time to link yourself up to DevOps, sounds scary, but this magical tool will make you stronger if it's set up well.  Providing you governance and IT control while also linking to support and task management by business process. 

Next you'll be guided to the next actions and checks for success.

Finally LCS will check if you've completed everything before you can move forward.

When you are ready, next you'll go through some decisions on the Azure infrastructure to use, before you finally get to deploy your environment.  Make sure to not include the Demo data if this is a blank environment.

 

Happy deploying!

About the writer:

Gareth Jones is CEO and Founder of Lightrise Consulting (www.lightriseconsulting.com) a specialist Microsoft Partner providing business answers and solutions to improve ESG and people experiences.