Discover
Process workshops, data audit, and a fit-gap against the standard product.
Phase 2 · Evaluate
Architecture · Design and assurance
Dynamics 365 Solution Design & Architecture
Architecture-led guidance for Dynamics 365 programmes, from the first blueprint through integration, data migration, testing, training and go-live. Design it right, before you build it.
Overview
Architecture-led guidance for Dynamics 365 programmes, from the first blueprint through integration, data migration, testing, training and go-live. Design it right, before you build it.
Capabilities
Solution blueprint, target architecture and fit-gap
Data model, security and compliance design
Integration and data migration strategy
Environments, ALM and release pipelines
Quality assurance, testing, training and cutover
Independent design assurance at blueprint, build and go-live
How a design engagement runs, from discovery to hypercare
Five Success by Design phases, with three review gates so that risks are found while they are still cheap to fix.
Start Programme planned or under way
- Solution architect Discover Requirements, solution approach and environment strategy are agreed, and requirements are reviewed for clarity, testability and ownership.
- Solution architect Initiate Scope, workstreams and the solution blueprint are set, with traceability from requirement to design to test. Control point
- Delivery team Implement Build, integrate, migrate and test, with peer reviews, health checks and implementation reviews on data model, security, integration, ALM and testing. Control point
- QA and training Prepare UAT, role-based training and cutover rehearsal, with entry and exit criteria and performance results.
- Business Go-live readiness review The final check on cutover, support and the risks still open. The business signs the go / no-go against the runbook criteria. Control point
- Support lead Operate Hypercare and stabilisation, then handover to support, with a roadmap for the next phase of enhancements.
Result A design the build follows, and a launch that is already rehearsed
Our approach
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Design
Solution blueprint, integration map, and the extensions we will actually need.
Deploy
Configuration, migration rehearsal, role-based training, UAT and phased cutover.
Support
Hypercare, managed services, client portal, scheduled optimisation reviews.
Why architecture comes first
A Dynamics 365 implementation is a business transformation. The data model, integration pattern, security design, test approach and training plan are hard to change once the build is under way. We settle them early, in the open, with the people who will live with them, and we stay through go-live.
Scope that drifts: requirements without a blueprint turn into custom build nobody planned for
Integrations that surprise: late discovery of connected systems derails testing and cutover
Launches that stall: untrained users and an unrehearsed cutover undermine trust on day one
Four layers, one blueprint
The blueprint covers the whole solution, from the work people do to how a release is shipped.
Business processes and user experience: the work people do, and the screens they do it in
Dynamics 365 applications: Finance, Supply Chain, Commerce, Human Resources, Business Central and Payroll
Data and integration: the record, the interfaces, and what moves at cutover
Security, environments and lifecycle: who can see what, where it runs, and how a release is shipped
Eight design disciplines
Each discipline is designed on its own and tested against the others, so the solution holds together across Finance, Supply Chain, Commerce, Human Resources, Payroll and the Power Platform.
Solution blueprint and target architecture, reviewed against Success by Design
Functional mapping and fit-gap: each gap closed by configuration, extension, a product or a process change
Data model and information design for Dataverse and for Finance and Operations, with master data, ownership and retention decided up front
Security and compliance: role, data and environment security designed against your regulatory and audit obligations
Environments and ALM: topology, source control, release pipelines and solution layering
Performance and scale: volume, concurrency and growth modelled early
Analytics and AI readiness: reporting, Power BI and Fabric foundations, and the data discipline Copilot and agents depend on
Design assurance: independent architecture reviews at blueprint, build and go-live
Aligned to Success by Design
Success by Design is the guidance behind Microsoft FastTrack for Dynamics 365. We work to every phase of it: Discover, Initiate, Implement, Prepare and Operate. Where a programme is enrolled in FastTrack, we work with its Solution Architects.
Three review gates run through the phases: the Solution Blueprint Review, topic-specific Implementation Reviews, and the Go-live Readiness Review.
Security: least privilege by design
Security is designed as layers, from who can sign in to which field a user can see. We define the model during blueprint, build it with the solution, and test it before anyone logs in for real.
Identity and access: Microsoft Entra ID sign-in, multi-factor authentication, conditional access and licence assignment
Environment security: who can reach each environment, plus data loss prevention policies and admin separation
Role-based access: security roles, business units and teams in Dataverse, and duties and privileges in Finance and Supply Chain
Record and field control: hierarchy and sharing rules, field-level security and restricted views for sensitive data
Data protection and audit: auditing, retention, encryption options and the evidence your compliance team will ask for
Persona-based roles, segregation of duties, a joiner-mover-leaver process, managed service identities, role testing in UAT and periodic access review
Integration and data migration
Every connected system, data flow, direction, volume and owner is catalogued early, and the pattern is chosen per interface on its merits: real-time APIs, events, batch, dual-write or virtual tables. Data migration runs through five steps: scope, profile, cleanse and map, rehearse, and cut over.
Dataverse, Power Automate and Azure integration services matched to the workload
Error handling, retries, throttling and service limits designed in from the start
Alerting, logging and clear ownership for every interface after go-live
Named data owners and agreed quality thresholds for every entity
A legacy history strategy for each set of records: migrate, archive or retire
Mock loads, reconciliation reports the business signs off, and a rollback plan for the final load
Environments, ALM and governance
We design the environments, the release pipeline and the decision-making structure before the first line of configuration is written. The architect is the design authority, and a change to scope or design is written down before anyone builds it.
A typical release path of Develop, Build, Test, UAT and Production, sized to the programme, the regions and the data-residency need
Source control and branching, solution layering and packaging, automated build and deployment
A design authority, a decision log, change control, and steering reports tied to review findings
Quality assurance, testing and training
Testing finds defects. Quality assurance stops them being designed in. We set the quality plan at the start, apply it at each gate, and give the steering group evidence.
Test levels from unit and integration through system, performance and user acceptance, with scenarios traced back to the functional map
Role-based learning paths, super-user and trainer networks, and guides and sandboxes timed to land before go-live
A deployment runbook with tasks, owners, durations and dependencies, mock go-lives, and clear go / no-go criteria
We measure and report requirement coverage by test, defect trend, test pass rates, data reconciliation variances, open risks and go-live readiness criteria
The project team
Each engagement is staffed from a set of specialist roles, sized to the scope and the phase, and one architect stays accountable end to end.
Solution Architect, Programme Manager and Business Analyst
Functional, Technical and Integration Consultants
Data Migration Lead and Security Architect
DevOps / ALM Engineer, QA and Test Lead
Training and Change Lead, and Support and Hypercare Lead
How we engage
Start where you are and go as deep as you need.
Architecture assessment: for programmes already planned or under way, a review of the current design, the risks surfaced and a prioritised remediation plan. A fixed price, quoted within five working days of scoping
Solution blueprint: for programmes about to begin, joint workshops produce the target architecture, the fit-gap decisions and the plan the implementation team builds from. Discovery first, then the blueprint phase at a fixed price
Architect on retainer: a named architect acts as design authority through delivery, guarding the blueprint and signing off changes as the programme evolves. Retained by the month, for the length of the programme
What you keep
Whatever the engagement, you keep the design.
Solution blueprint and functional map
Integration and data migration strategies
Testing and training strategies
Security and permissions model
Cutover plan and go-live criteria
Quality plan and review findings
Frequently asked questions
What is Dynamics 365 solution design and architecture?
It is the work done before and alongside the build: the solution blueprint, fit-gap, data model, security design, integration and data migration strategy, environments and release pipeline, and the test, training and cutover approach. The aim is to settle the decisions that are hard to change once the build is under way.
Do you work to Microsoft's Success by Design?
Yes. We work to every phase of Success by Design: Discover, Initiate, Implement, Prepare and Operate. Where a programme is enrolled in Microsoft FastTrack for Dynamics 365, we work with its Solution Architects.
Can you review a programme that is already under way?
Yes. An architecture assessment reviews the current design, surfaces the risks and gives you a prioritised remediation plan, at a fixed price quoted within five working days of scoping.
What do we have at the end?
The solution blueprint and functional map, the integration and data migration strategies, the testing and training strategies, the security and permissions model, the cutover plan and go-live criteria, and the quality plan and review findings.
How do we start?
Book a design workshop. For a programme about to begin, discovery comes first and the blueprint phase is then a fixed price.