Microsoft Dynamics

What Is Microsoft Dynamics?

Microsoft Dynamics is Microsoft’s family of business applications covering ERP and CRM functionality. The product line has evolved through acquisitions and rebranding, with Dynamics 365 being the current cloud-based platform.

Current Dynamics 365 products:

• Business Central: SMB ERP (formerly NAV/Navision)
• Finance: Enterprise financial management
• Supply Chain Management: Operations and logistics
• Sales: CRM and sales automation
• Customer Service: Support and service management
• Marketing: Marketing automation

Legacy products still in use:

• Dynamics GP (Great Plains)
• Dynamics NAV (Navision)
• Dynamics AX (Axapta)
• Dynamics SL (Solomon)

Dynamics 365 Business Central

The most popular Dynamics ERP for mid-market companies:

Core capabilities:

• Financial management
• Sales and purchasing
• Inventory and warehouse
• Project management
• Manufacturing
• Service management

Key strengths:

• Native Microsoft integration (Office, Teams, Power Platform)
• Familiar Windows-like interface
• Flexible customization via extensions
• Strong partner ecosystem
• Reasonable price point for mid-market

Dynamics 365 Finance

Enterprise-grade financial management:

Features:

• Global financial management
• Multi-entity consolidation
• Advanced budgeting and forecasting
• Revenue recognition
• Credit and collections
• Expense management

Best for:

• Large enterprises
• Complex multi-national operations
• Heavy manufacturing environments

Microsoft Integration Advantages

Dynamics benefits from Microsoft ecosystem integration:

Office 365

• Excel Add-ins for data editing
• Outlook integration for workflows
• Word templates for documents

Power Platform

• Power BI for reporting
• Power Automate for workflows
• Power Apps for custom applications

Azure

• Cloud infrastructure
• AI and ML services
• Data lake integration

Teams

• Collaboration on records
• Approvals and notifications

Dynamics Challenges

Product complexity: Multiple products with overlapping functionality

Migration paths: Moving between Dynamics versions can be difficult

Customization debt: Heavy customizations complicate upgrades

Reporting: Built-in reporting often insufficient; Power BI required

Partner dependency: Many implementations require partner support

Cost complexity: Licensing can be confusing and expensive

Dynamics Integration with Go Fig

Go Fig connects to Dynamics products for enhanced analytics:

What Go Fig extracts:

• General ledger transactions and balances
• Customer and vendor data
• Sales and purchase orders
• Inventory levels and movements
• Project data and costs
• Custom fields and tables

How it helps:

• Combine Dynamics data with other sources
• Build reports beyond Power BI capabilities
• Deliver data directly to Excel
• Create dashboards without Power Platform skills
• Enable AI analysis of Dynamics financial data

Dynamics Reporting Options

Option	Pros	Cons
Built-in reports	Included, simple	Limited customization
Account Schedules	Flexible financial reports	Finance-specific only
Power BI	Modern visualization	Requires setup, licensing
Excel integration	Familiar interface	Manual, no automation
SSRS	Powerful	Technical skills needed
Go Fig	Excel-native, automated	External tool

Choosing Between Dynamics Products

Business Central if:

• Mid-market company ($10M-$500M revenue)
• Standard business processes
• Want Microsoft integration
• Budget-conscious

Dynamics Finance if:

• Enterprise scale
• Complex global operations
• Heavy manufacturing/supply chain
• Willing to invest in implementation