Dynamics 365 Commerce Implementation

What is Dynamics 365 Commerce, and where does it sit?

Dynamics 365 Commerce is one of the finance and operations apps, the family Microsoft uses for Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Commerce and Human Resources capabilities. That position is the whole point of the product: the stores and online channels sell from the same product master, price lists and inventory that Supply Chain Management manages, and sales post to the same ledger Dynamics 365 Finance closes at month end.

For a retailer that has lived with a separate till system, a separate web shop and an ERP reconciled by spreadsheet, this is the difference between knowing stock and guessing it. It also means a Commerce project is never only a store project. Product data, warehouse replenishment, finance postings and customer data are all in scope from the first workshop, and the overview on the Finance and Operations page shows how the apps fit together.

How does Solzet implement Dynamics 365 Commerce?

We design from the shop floor and the order desk backwards. Discovery covers how stores open and close, how returns, exchanges and discounts are handled, how stock is replenished and counted, how online orders are fulfilled, and what finance needs from every sale. The back office is configured first, because a store can only sell what the product, pricing and assortment setup allows, and then one store goes live as a pilot before the rest follow in waves.

• Retail discovery: store operations, channels, returns, promotions, replenishment, fulfilment and finance postings.
• Back office design: product hierarchy, assortments, price lists, promotions and discounts, store and channel setup.
• A pilot store with real staff and real transactions before any wider rollout.
• Rollout in waves by region or store format, each with a checklist, training and floor support on opening day.
• Reconciliation of store sales, payments and stock movements with finance after every wave.

How do stores, stock and finance stay in one picture?

Because Commerce, Supply Chain Management and Dynamics 365 Finance share one platform, the integration work is mostly design rather than plumbing. Warehouse management and transportation in Supply Chain Management replenish the stores; store and online sales update inventory; statements from each store post to the ledger. Our job is to make the rules explicit: when stock is reserved for an online order, which warehouse serves which store, how a return in one channel affects stock in another, and how payments and cash differences are posted.

Migration follows the same order as the design. Products and their attributes, prices and assortments come first and are cleaned with the merchandising team, then customers and any loyalty or gift card balances that must carry over, then open orders and finally on-hand stock from a count close to the cutover of each wave. Every wave closes with a reconciliation finance signs.

When does Dynamics 365 Commerce need X++ or other extensions?

Retailers ask for a lot of local variations, and a good share of them are configuration: receipt layouts, discount rules, store settings and channel parameters. We extend when a requirement is real and stable and configuration cannot meet it, for example a fiscal or payment requirement in a specific country, a loyalty rule that is genuinely yours, or an integration with a marketplace or delivery partner.

Back office extensions in finance and operations apps are written in X++ with the Visual Studio extension, and the unified developer experience brings finance and operations and Power Platform developer tools together. Every extension is kept in source control, deployed through a pipeline and documented with its purpose and owner, so the next update does not turn into a weekend of store calls.

How does Commerce connect to Customer Insights and Customer Engagement?

Stores and online channels know what a customer bought; marketing and service teams need to know it too. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights can unify customer profiles from several sources, including the transactions that flow from Commerce through finance and operations apps, and use them for segments and journeys. Solzet implements Customer Insights as well, so the customer data model is designed once rather than twice.

For sales and service teams, dual-write is an out-of-box infrastructure that provides near-real-time, bidirectional integration between customer engagement apps and finance and operations apps through Dataverse, so customer accounts stay aligned in both. Where a CRM user only needs to read ERP data, finance and operations apps act as a virtual data source in Dataverse and expose entities as virtual tables without copying them. Our CRM and ERP integration page explains how we choose between the two.

Is Dynamics 365 Commerce or Business Central the better fit for a retailer?

Business Central fits small and mid-sized companies that want finance, inventory, projects and light manufacturing in one cloud system. Finance and Operations fits larger organizations with several legal entities, deep supply chain or production needs, or retail operations on Commerce. A retailer with a handful of shops and one warehouse is often well served by Business Central with a point of sale integration; a retailer with many stores, several countries or a serious online channel is the Commerce case. The industry view is on our retail and commerce page.

Who is this for, and who is it not for?

This service is for retailers and brands with many stores, several channels or several countries, who want stores, online sales, stock and finance on one Microsoft platform. Typical sponsors are retail operations directors, CIOs and finance directors who are tired of three versions of yesterday's sales. It also suits organizations already on Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management that want to bring their own stores onto the same platform.

It is more platform than a small retailer with a few shops, simple pricing and no plans to expand channels. That retailer usually gets more from Business Central, which Solzet implements with the same team. If you are already live on Commerce and stores are struggling, Solzet can audit your existing project and give you a stabilisation plan through our health check and technical audit.

What does Solzet deliver, and how does support work?

One team covers retail process design, back office configuration, X++ development, data migration, integrations, store rollout and support. The consultants who design the pilot store are the ones on the phone when the second wave opens. For Microsoft partners who need finance and operations consultants or X++ developers inside their own retail project, Solzet delivers white-label through our subcontracting service.

• A retail solution design for channels, stores, products, pricing, promotions, fulfilment and finance postings.
• A configured back office and a pilot store live on real transactions.
• Product, customer and balance migration with reconciliation per wave.
• X++ extensions and integrations in source control, each with an owner and monitoring.
• Customer data connected to Customer Insights and Customer Engagement where you need it.
• Store rollout checklists, training per role, opening-day support and an agreed support model afterwards.