Microsoft Dynamics 365 Development Services

Dynamics 365 in the Microsoft ecosystem

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a family of business applications: Business Central for small and mid-sized companies’ finance and operations, Finance and Supply Chain Management for larger enterprises, and Sales and Customer Service for CRM. Its strength is integration with Microsoft 365, Teams, Power BI and the Power Platform.

Most organisations need some extension to fit their processes — custom fields and pages, specific approval workflows, integrations with industry systems or reports in the format management expects. We build these the Microsoft-recommended way so upgrades stay smooth.

Problems we solve

• Processes handled outside Dynamics in spreadsheets
• Integrations with eCommerce, WMS or banks missing
• Reports that require exports to Excel
• Approvals by email rather than in the system
• Legacy customisations blocking upgrades

What’s included

Extending without breaking upgrades

Business Central in the cloud is updated by Microsoft regularly. Extensions written in AL against published APIs and events survive these updates; direct modifications do not exist in the cloud model. We follow Microsoft’s extension guidelines, test against preview releases and keep extensions in source control with automated builds.

Moving from NAV, GP or AX

Many companies still run Dynamics NAV, GP or AX on-premise. Microsoft has announced end of support for several of these products, and moving to Dynamics 365 in the cloud reduces infrastructure and upgrade burden. Migration involves converting or rebuilding customisations as extensions, migrating data and retraining users — a project we plan in phases around your financial calendar.

Business Central or Finance & Operations?

Keeping customisations upgrade-safe

Dynamics 365 updates regularly. We build customisations as extensions rather than modifying base code, use events and APIs, and keep extensions in source control with automated builds. This keeps upgrades predictable and avoids being stuck on old versions.

Power Platform and integrations

• Power Apps for task-specific apps on Dataverse
• Power Automate for approvals and notifications
• Power BI for reporting across Dynamics and other data
• Azure services for heavier integration and custom logic
• Integration with e-commerce, CRM and banking — see ERP integration

Common Dynamics 365 projects

• Extensions for industry-specific processes such as project costing, production or rentals
• Integration with e-commerce platforms, shipping carriers and banks
• Data migration from older ERP or accounting software
• Custom reports and Power BI dashboards
• Approval workflows and document automation
• Performance tuning and upgrade support for existing implementations

We work alongside your Microsoft partner or internal team where needed, focusing on the development and integration work that requires engineering skills.

Questions to answer before you start

We confirm the starting point before proposing work:

• Which Dynamics 365 application and version are you on?
• Which customisations already exist, and are they extensions?
• Which partner or team manages the environment today?
• Which integrations and reports are required?

AL extensions, plugins and Power Platform: what goes where

Choosing the right layer keeps upgrades smooth: heavy business logic belongs in proper extensions with tests, while simple approvals and notifications are better in Power Automate where business users can see them.

Lifecycle and DevOps for Dynamics 365

• Source control for all extensions and Power Platform solutions
• Automated builds that compile and run tests on every change
• Sandbox environments for development, testing and user acceptance
• Release notes checked against Microsoft’s update waves before each major update
• Deployment through pipelines rather than manual uploads
• Documentation of every extension, its purpose and its owner

Microsoft updates Dynamics 365 continuously. A disciplined lifecycle means updates become routine instead of a quarterly emergency.

Typical delivery for a Dynamics 365 extension project

1. Fit-gap review1–2 weeks

   Confirm which requirements standard features already meet, which need configuration and which need development.

2. Design1–2 weeks

   Extension design, data model changes, integration contracts and security roles.

3. Build in sprints2–8 weeks

   Extensions, integrations and Power Platform components with automated tests.

4. UAT and deployment1–2 weeks

   Testing by key users in a sandbox, then deployment to production in an agreed window.

Timelines are typical for focused extension projects; full implementations are planned with your implementation partner or as a separate engagement.

Questions to settle before you start

• Who is your Microsoft licensing partner, and are licences in place for every user type?
• Which environments do you have, and who administers them?
• Which customisations exist today, and are they documented?
• What integrations and reports must keep working through the change?
• Who in the business will own testing and sign-off?

See also ERP integration, ERP migration and low-code development.

Security roles and data access

Dynamics 365 security is powerful but easy to get wrong. Over-permissive roles create audit and fraud risks; overly restrictive roles push users to workarounds. We design roles around duties and test them with real user scenarios.

• Roles based on job functions, not individual people
• Segregation of duties for sensitive processes such as vendor creation and payments
• Field-level and record-level security where needed
• Regular review of who holds administrator rights
• Testing every role in a sandbox before production

Reporting and analytics on Dynamics data

Many Dynamics projects end with reports exported to spreadsheets. Instead, we build Power BI models on top of Dynamics data, using supported export options so reporting does not slow down the live system. Finance, operations and sales then work from the same definitions of revenue, margin and stock value, refreshed on a schedule that suits each report.

Business Central and Shopify, e-commerce and EDI

Many Business Central customers sell online or trade with large retailers. Standard connectors cover common scenarios, while custom integrations handle complex pricing, multiple warehouses, B2B portals and EDI documents such as purchase orders, advance shipping notices and invoices. We help you decide when a standard connector is enough and when a tailored integration will save manual work.

• Orders flow into Business Central with correct customers, taxes and shipping
• Stock and prices update in the store from Business Central
• Shipments and tracking numbers return to the sales channel
• Exceptions such as unknown products are flagged for review rather than lost

Related services

Part of ERP development. See also ERP migration, Power Platform low-code and Azure.

This page is part of ERP Development Services — see the full overview for related services, approach and pricing.