Dynamics 365

Adoption Guide
Adoption Best Practices

Date 4-2-19
© Copyright Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Why does adoption matter?
In the era of digital transformation, dramatic change is the new normal. The most We’ve compiled an easy-to-follow how-to guide that walks you and your team, step-by-step,
successful companies are already reaping the rewards of digital transformation. through the best way to roll out Dynamics 365 to your organization. The insights we share come
Digital transformation enables organizations to attract the best talent, empower from our most successful customers, who have maximized the power of their investment, adopting
employees, and deliver innovative products and services all with streamlined multiple, integrated technologies that now form Dynamics 365. Throughout this guide you will find
operations – centered around exceptional customer experiences. Modern links to additional tools and resources as well as the Adoption Planning Workbook where you can
business applications drive improvements in data integrity and completeness that build your custom approach to adoption.
enable faster, better decisions and more effective actions. For organizations that
adopt digital transformation as a business strategy, the results are market
differentiation and competitive advantage. We created Dynamics 365 to meet Remember, you are not in this alone. There are many organizations who are currently launching
these evolving business needs. Dynamics 365 technologies and you can connect with them in the Microsoft Dynamics
community of experts and peers.

For many organizations, the prospect of embracing digital transformation is

daunting. Consumers have seen vast improvements in digital products and
lifestyle technologies in recent years, but most businesses have been slower to
change. That’s why we created the Dynamics 365 Adoption Guide.
The successful adoption of new technology requires behavior
change. And change can be hard.

It takes more than learning a new app. It's a fundamentally

different way of working.

This change is about people.

And we're here to help.
We know from experience
▪ The successful adoption of new technology requires
behavior change. And change can be hard.

▪ Change doesn't happen automatically. Most

employees don't want to use new technology rolled
out by their organization. 1

▪ CEOs matter. When the CEO was engaged, the

transformation project was more successful. 2

▪ Setting targets is key. A well-defined set of financial

and operational targets is a key component to
successful transformation. 3

▪ Learn from each other. Learning from co-workers is

one of the most effective ways to adopt new
technology. 4

1) Creating organizational transformations, July 2008, McKinsey

Quarterly, www.mckinsey.com
2) SharePoint End-User Study, Apr 2013, Microsoft Corporation
3) Microsoft 365 Usage Research, May 2016, Microsoft Corporation
4) CIO Executive Board Business Productivity Database
And we realize there are hurdles

Launching a new Employees continue to use Technical readiness and Your adoption approach
technology is more than technical solutions that are user readiness must go can accelerate or
a technical migration not deployed by IT hand in hand impede results

Resistance to change 80% of end users Plan, pilot and deploy Understand team
is a normal human admit to using their both readiness member personas in
behaviour that needs communication tool of activities together order to sell the value of
to be addressed choice the technology to users
Our successful customer
navigate adoption by…

Defining a vision
Companies were most successful when they had a clearly defined
vision and knew how the new technology would be used.

Getting leadership support

Successful projects obtained proactive support from senior
leadership to encourage new technology use.

Training end-users
Organizations used multiple training formats to engage
with employees across business units.

Raising awareness
Top performers used email, employee portals, posters, teaser
videos, and newsletters.
Our Adoption Framework guides We have created an easy-to-follow framework to guide you through the
adoption process. Each phase is broken into simple steps that guide you
you through the process and helps to the best practices, resources, and tools you need to build and deploy a
optimize results customized adoption approach.

Envision Onboard Drive Value

Identify and prioritize scenarios while Work with your key stakeholders to build Full-scale deployment and business
learning about available resources as and launch your adoption plan. Prepare success depend on usage and satisfaction.
you plan for rollout. This stage is critical your environment and test your adoption This requires planning through the
to your journey as you’re setting approach with Early Adopters. Use Envision and Onboard phases plus
business goals to measure success. feedback to make adjustments before ongoing operational excellence.
scaling to the business.

o Assemble Your Team o Build Your Adoption Plan o Monitor End User Adoption
o Define Business Strategy o Launch to Early Adopters o Measure and Report Usage
o Determine Readiness o Adjust Your Plan o Encourage Ongoing Engagement
Phase One: Envision

Envision
Identify and prioritize scenarios while
learning about available resources as
you plan for rollout. This stage is critical
to your journey as you’re setting
business goals to measure success.

o Assemble Your Team

o Define Business Strategy
o Determine Readiness
Who should be involved in
your adoption effort?

Transforming to this new way of working requires buy-in and “Access free Mott MacDonald developed a network of
support from across the business. We have identified four key technology champions by engaging the employees who
groups who will bridge technology and business outcomes that
matter to your organization.
are most interested and enthusiastic about the new
capabilities. The company made sure the champions were
Each group has a specific role in implementation and should be well trained and sent them out into the business to coach
engaged early and often. The next few pages will outline the and communicate with colleagues.”
specific role these team members will play.

1) Executive Sponsors

2) Success Owner

3) Early Adopters

4) Champions
How can Executive Sponsors drive
project success?

Executive Sponsors should: Ensure they understand the ABCs:

A
▪ Help the project team identify and prioritize their top business
needs. Active and visible participation

▪ Play a role in communicating the vision to leaders across the

organization.

▪ Actively participate in and use the Dynamics 365 capabilities to help

drive and reinforce adoption.
B Building a coalition with their executive peers

C
▪ Promote the adoption process. Studies show that 87% of successful
transformation projects had visible engagement by Executive Communicating directly with employees
Sponsors.
Who are Success Owners and
why are they important?

Success Owners ensure business goals are realized by

helping people use and get value from the new
Dynamics 365 solution.

Success Owners should:

▪ Identify and engage the right stakeholders.

▪ Translate the organization’s set business goals into

Dynamics 365 scenarios.

▪ Create an adoption plan to drive usage and realize

value from Dynamics 365.

▪ Ensure communications and training are successfully

implemented.
Who are Early Adopters?
Selecting the right participants for the Early Adopter
Program is key to gain valuable insights and inform the
organization-wide launch.

The list below describes the types of employee to include in

your program:

▪ Users from different lines of business and departments,

preferably those that work together on a project or
business process.

▪ Likely Champions or leaders who will become advocates

during the broad launch to the entire organization.

▪ Users who typically struggle with technology. It’s important

to understand and address their needs during launch.

▪ IT and help desk team members who will support users

during launch.

▪ Important: Leave out the CEO and upper management.

While it can be tempting to ask for the CEO’s involvement,
keeping them out of the Early Adopter Program provides
an opportunity to smooth out any issues before they are
exposed during the rollout.
Who are Champions?
Champions evangelize and help train their teams on the new
ways of working. They build awareness, understanding, and
engagement throughout the community.

Champion will:
▪ Create the groundswell of enthusiasm that grows
adoption.

▪ Build a circle of influence among their teams.

▪ Bring the new ways of working to life across teams.

▪ Identify business challenges and possible solutions.

▪ Provide feedback to the project team and sponsors.

▪ Reduce strain on core project team through active,

ongoing engagement.
Other team members to Many people throughout your organization will have important responsibilities
during the launch of a new technology. The chart below provides a summary of
include to adoption efforts those roles. We have created a template so you can identify and document
your team in the Adoption Planning Workbook

Focus Yammer network facilitation Department

Executive Sponsor Communicate high-level vision and values of Dynamics 365 to the company Executive Leadership

Success Owner Ensure the business goals are realized from your Dynamics 365 rollout Any department

Program Manager Oversee the entire Dynamics 365 launch execution and rollout process IT

Champions Help evangelize Dynamics 365 and manage objection handling Multiple departments

Training Lead Manage and communicate training content about Dynamics 365 IT or other

Department Leads
Identify how specific departments will use Dynamics 365 and encourage engagement Any department (management)
(Stakeholders)

IT Specialists Oversee all technical aspects of the rollout, including integrations IT

Communication Lead Oversee company-wide communications about Dynamics 365 Corp Communications, IT or other

Note: Though we recommend having each of these roles fulfilled throughout your rollout, you may find that you don’t require them all to get started with your identified solutions. The companion Adoption Team Member Role Details has complete descriptions.
Define your solution strategy

Partner… Consider these questions to drive the conversation:

with your core team to refine your objectives

Identify…
the important business objectives and challenges and start to How the solution relates to the organization’s broader
recognize areas of opportunity to improve work processes strategy, goals and objectives

Host a workshop… How it impacts the experience and work delivered by the
to delve deeper into current challenges, strategies and goals.
Include department leads, lines of business, IT and other stakeholders
stakeholders who can help brainstorm how Dynamics 365
can be used in your organization. How its inclusive of the broader holistic processes,
product or customer lifecycle
Identify your Scenarios
What is a Scenario? Explore what’s possible
Scenarios cover the ways your people will use Dynamics 365
to address business challenges and achieve organizational,
The Dynamics 365 Content Library is a collection of
cultural, tangible or individual adoption outcomes
recommended use cases to showcase ideas on how to use
Why are Scenarios important? the products to your best advantage in a way that’s
relevant to you.
▪ They allow teams to understand how Dynamics 365 can
help them achieve more. Access the free webinars, ebooks, analyst reports and
more in our content library to learn how Dynamics 365 can
▪ They act as input and validation of Dynamics 365
optimize your company.
awareness messaging.

▪ They support awareness and readiness activities by

putting products in context; people will know when and Get started: explore.dynamics.com
how to use them.
Create scenarios for multiple You can use the worksheet below to document business
scenarios for specific departments and then capture your
teams and departments scenarios in the Adoption Planning Workbook.

I’ll know this is

As someone in… I want to… Using… successful when…
(Team) (Description of what (Specific application of
(Solutions success
I want to do) the technology)
measure)

As someone in… I want to… Using… I’ll know this is successful

Sales Management have a single view of customers that Dynamics 365 for Sales to centrally when…
provide insights about our relationship store and share a single version of My sales team can easily
and ways that we can add more value customer relationship data that also collaborate and share customer
to the customer without inconsistent surfaces insights that my team can use insights that accelerate the
data in different systems. to engage more deeply. number and close rates of deals.
Define your success criteria
Champions evangelize and help train their teams on the
new ways of working. They build awareness,
understanding, and engagement throughout the
community.

Champion will:
▪ Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that
should improve based on adopting various business
scenarios.

▪ Establish KPI benchmarks and users’ Dynamics 365

knowledge.

▪ Choose criteria to help you show leadership the

impact your Dynamics 365 solution is having on the
organization.

▪ After rollout, use the end user surveys to measure

satisfaction and progress against your benchmark.

View sample KPIs in the Adoption Planning Workbook.

Establish KPI Benchmarks Choose criteria to demonstrate the impact of your Dynamics 365
implementation against each success measure. We have provided ideas
below and scorecard templates in the Adoption Planning Workbook for you
to effectively track and report success.

Success measure Method Example goal

Quantitative New revenue from existing customers increasing from

Cross-sell & Up-sell Dynamics 365 Sales 15% to 20%
Capture & share cross-sell opportunities for related products with • Improve Revenue per Customer
cross-department sales teams, customer 360 with AI-based • Improve Up-Sell Opportunities
recommendations • Increase Order Value / Attach Rate
• Create up-sell leads

Quantitative 60% of customer cases resolved in (first) one call

Cost to Serve Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Increase efficiency of agents serving customers with a more • Lower cost channel shift
productive user experience, using lower-cost channels such as Bots • Increase first-time resolution
and increased self-service • Reduce resolution times
• Increase service efficiency

Quantitative Increase gross margin from 50% to 60% by increasing

Dynamics 365 Finance output with existing production facilities
Increase Production Capacity • Increased Plant Utilization
Increase production output with pre-emptive issue avoidance • Reduce Downtime Costs
and increased visibility and insight to feed improved capacity • Optimize production plans
planning • React faster to production issues
• Minimize setup/change-over times
• Optimize long-term capacity
Determine your Readiness factors
organization's readiness
There are key factors that will help you understand how prepared
What is Readiness? your organization is for the transition to Dynamics 365

Willingness and preparedness of your users and your

organization to move to Dynamics 365
Clear vision for the company shift
Why are Scenarios important?
▪ Every organization approaches change differently, Clear vision for the induvial shift
depending on region, work style, professional profile, and
other elements of the organization.

▪ Determine how receptive (or not) your users are likely to be Amount of overall change required
to changing the way they work and adopting new technology.

▪ You will need to create a rollout plan that reflects the Executive alignment
readiness of your organization.

Resistance is normal. Anticipate and plan ahead! Use the Adoption Planning Workbook to assess your organization
Phase Two: Onboard

Onboard
Work with your key stakeholders to build
and launch your adoption plan. Prepare
your environment and test your adoption
approach with Early Adopters. Use
feedback to make adjustments before
scaling to the business.

o Build Your Adoption Plan

o Launch to Early Adopters
o Adjust Your Plan
Drive awareness through end user
engagement

Success Owners ensure business goals are realized by helping

people use and get value from the new Dynamics 365 solution.

Communications
▪ Identify and Deploy a variety of tactics

▪ Focus on the “What’s in it for me?”

▪ Tailor plan to company and culture

▪ Send out communications

Engagement Events
▪ Engage Executive Sponsors to kick off launch

▪ Staff events with IT and Champions

▪ Distribute banners and leaflets

▪ Place demo booths in cafeteria/foyer

▪ Host online events for remote offices

Communicate value to the
business through scenarios

Delivering Value

Report and build on wins

Review scenarios and determine the best use cases to Identify

and prioritize
be utilized for the organization-wide launch. Scenarios scenarios
will help inform the communications plan by:

▪ Translating core scenarios into uses that solve real business problems
Measure
▪ Determining which scenarios make sense for the company to promote and share success
in its Dynamics 365 launch

▪ Using the resources associated with each scenario to implement email

announcements and training activities
Plan
and execute
Incorporate success stories What makes a good success story?
Success stories are often just as valuable as quantitative
measures when demonstrating Dynamics 365 success. Time. The story should begin with a time marker so the
audience knows when it happened.
Throughout the rollout, project team members and
Champions should identify examples that demonstrate cross-
Characters. The story should feature names, so the audience
functional collaboration and teamwork and share them by
using Yammer or Teams.
knows who was involved.

Leverage these examples in your communications to generate

excitement and demonstrate the impact of Dynamics 365. Events. The story should recount the events that took place.

Visuals. The audience should be able to picture what happened.

Create launch events How to choose your launch events
The following are some resources, ideas, and Consider your goals for using Dynamics 365. How can your
tactics to help create an effective Dynamics 365 launch event support your business objectives?
solution launch:
▪ Planning Team and Champions wear T-shirts featuring the
name of the Dynamics 365 solution. Consider your company culture. What types of activities will
resonate with your leadership and your employees?
▪ Dynamics 365 solution banners, posters, and leaflets
displayed throughout the offices.

▪ Demo booths in cafeteria/foyer to showcase the various

Consider your time and resources. Can you mix and match
Dynamics 365 solution tools and features, and to provide activities to plan something that suits your needs and fits into
hands-on experience. your schedule?

Consider existing company events. Is there an upcoming

company event near the roll-out of Dynamics 365 that could
incorporate your launch?
 Ensure staff are considered when putting together the
messaging to help them identify, “What’s in it for me?”

Pick a mix of activities including email, posters and physical

events, and plot them along the project timeline.

Schedule events where people can experience the products

and ask questions.
Develop your communication
strategy
Tailor activities for driving awareness to company and culture.
Develop a communications strategy that will generate
awareness and excitement before the launch and share usage
success after launch. Consider the following best practices
when building your approach: Having a leader send out a communication announcing
Dynamics 365, hosting a launch event, or sharing the benefits
during an all-hands meeting will go a long way in validating its
importance and getting everyone on board with using the new
technology.

Complete the Communications Assessment and use the

planning template in the Adoption Planning Workbook.
Build your training strategy
Focus on the why
Make sure employees know why the change is happening,
what’s in it for them, and why they’re being asked to change.

Use real work scenarios

Use tasks or business processes that are familiar to your
audience to draw them into learning how to use the
technology.

Use multiple formats

Training end users should take on multiple forms to
accommodate different learning styles, geographical barriers
and resource constraints.

Reinforce
Make the training stick with reinforcement options like on-
demand training, lunch and learn sessions, and new
employee training options.
Consider training best practices

When you are putting together your training program, take into consideration:

The current productivity tools you are running

If you are currently running a productivity system, you may need to spend an increased effort in the training stage, as it will require
a change in behavior.

The technology literacy of the staff

You need to understand how tech-savvy your staff are when planning your training program. This will help to determine how easily
they will pick up new ways to work.

The current change programs

It is important to understand what other programs are currently running in the business, so do not overwhelm or confuse your staff.

Training preferences of your staff

It is important to understand the best way to deliver training to your organization, whether it be in person, through assisted or
unassisted online tutorials, or other methods.
Align your training strategy to Design your training strategy to scale with your launch. Start with the
groups that will champion Dynamics 365, then prepare IT, before
the launch plan
launching to the broader organization.

Core Team IT Preparation Business Groups Ongoing Engagement

▪ Managers ▪ Administration course ▪ Auditorium Training ▪ Lunch & Learn

for IT resources
▪ Early Adopters ▪ Online/On-Demand ▪ Tips and Tricks
▪ Formal accreditation Training
▪ Change Champions
▪ Brown Bag sessions
▪ Executive Sponsors

Use the Adoption Planning Workbook to assess the training needs of your organization and build your approach to training.
 Access free online training resources to help launch your Dynamics 365 solution.
Access learning and training Microsoft Learn provides step-by-step guided learning by job role and product, including
resources videos, tutorials, and hands-on learning resources.

Check in with Microsoft Dynamics community of experts and peers. Get answers by
posting questions in the forums, reading blog and how-to articles, and watching videos.

Dynamics 365 Dynamics 365 Dynamics 365

Microsoft Learn
Webinars Tutorials YouTube Channel

Primary destination for Dynamics Product-based training to help Get up and running quickly with Discover how Dynamics 365
365 learning with videos, ready people to use the services the basic info you need to be can help you grow your
tutorials, and hands-on learning. and apps effectively. productive right away. business.
Build a sustainable Champions Community
Success Owners ensure business goals are realized by helping people
use and get value from the new Dynamics 365 solution.

Champions:

Should be formally trained to increase

their depth and breadth of knowledge.

Should be encouraged and empowered

to guide, teach, and train their peers.

Need consistent positive reinforcement

that affirms the impact of their efforts.

Need a clear plan to execute.

Incorporate Champions Community into the launch plan

Identify/Prioritize Create & execute a Measure, share success,

Identify key stakeholders
Adoption business scenarios success plan and iterate
Approach

Dynamics 365 early adoption program with champions Identify and launch additional solutions
Business
Scenarios Highlight and share success

Organization-wide launch: communications,

Organize and develop Champions Community training, events, success stories
Communications
and Training Inform stakeholder Identify champions Execute Champions Community

Supervise licensing, security and governance discussions Support global launch

IT and
Governance
Build and launch your Early Why is this program important
Adopter Program strategy
Identify pitfalls. Gather initial feedback and identify potential
An Early Adopter Program gives your organization early stumbling blocks to help shape your final launch plan.
insights that will help you bring Dynamics 365 to life for all
users. Think of it as a dry run, among a representative group,
Collect feedback. Get feedback from users on the identified
that will help you prepare for full-scale launch.
goals and scenarios for your Dynamics 365 implementation.
Working with Early Adopters lets you test your ideas and collect
feedback that will help your project team bring that “WOW”
factor to your full, organization-wide launch. Solve problems. Troubleshoot potential issues with a smaller
group of users prior to an organization-wide launch.

Recruit Champions. Develop a pool of potential enthusiasts

to recruit from. These individuals will help colleagues adopt
Dynamics 365 once the full rollout takes place.
Use Early Adopter feedback to
adjust your adoption approach

Success Use feedback from Early Adopters to revisit your

communications, training, and feedback plans. Adjust your
overall approach based on the input received.

Consider bringing your Early Adopters into the Dynamics

365 Champions group so they can continue to support their
peers through the transition.
Phase Three: Drive Value

Drive Value
Full-scale deployment and business
success depend on usage and satisfaction.
This requires planning through the
Envision and Onboard phases plus
ongoing operational excellence.

o Monitor End User Adoption

o Measure and Report Usage
o Encourage Ongoing Engagement
Track KPIs and end user adoption

If your organization is not meeting its KPIs, explore whether there are issues
around adoption.

Satisfaction surveys can help you understand your users’ knowledge of and
sentiment toward the new Dynamics 365 solution. The results can provide
insights into the rollout and potential ideas about how to fine tune your
adoption plan:

▪ Circulate a baseline survey to users before the new

solution is rolled out, to gather insights about the
existing processes.

▪ Conduct a survey halfway through your launch to

gather data about users’ experiences with the solution.

▪ Create new awareness or training content to address

any outstanding needs that arise.

▪ After rollout, use a final survey to assess user

satisfaction. You can release this survey 90 days after
launch, and then in quarterly increments to help
measure user adoption, satisfaction and productivity.
 Customer Engagement Sample Metrics
Access reports and tracking tools
Dynamics 365 provides reports available to indicate your
current user engagement levels for the different parts of the
service.

You can view Common Data Service for Apps analytics right
from the Power Platform Admin center to quickly view adoption
and user metrics for your organization.

Refer back to these reports to measure against your

success criteria and identify areas for improvement.

Continue to track KPIs using your customized scorecard in the

Adoption Planning Workbook.
Increase adoption over time with ongoing activities
Determine remaining Dynamics capabilities to Quarterly review of next projects involving
leverage.
Dynamics, incorporating new features delivered.
▪ Review Dynamics Release notes for new features

▪ Work with CSM on your Heatmap for Dynamics capabilities

Join the D365UG User Group for Dynamics 365. Share success stories showing how people are using
Dynamics 365 in innovative and impactful ways.
▪ Independent member-driven education, networking, events

▪ Post questions, find answers, learn, connect with peers

Host additional engagement events like town hall meetings

Learn how PowerApps can extend your Dynamics solution.
or lunch & learns to drive end-user engagement.
▪ Enables non-technical users to build custom extensions

▪ Drive more value and user engagement

Create a Yammer group or Teams channel to continue Set challenges and run competitions to celebrate how
conversations on best practices and new features. people best use Dynamics 365 to work differently.
Remember these proven
strategies when driving
deeper engagement

Reward people for changing their work

behaviors – cultural evolution is critical
to adoption.

Define examples and patterns workers

can relate to.

Provide training to help workers get

the most value from the new tools.

Continue to find your Champions -

advocates for change within the
business - including executives,
managers, and admins.
Microsoft is here to support you Bookmark these resources to continue driving end user engagement
throughout your adoption journey.

Dynamics 365 Dynamics 365 Dynamics 365

Community Complete Docs Content Library Product Websites

Dynamics experts and peers in Documentation, blogs, release Access the free webinars, Product specific websites for
the community. Get answers by notes and complete resources ebooks, analyst reports and additional details.
posting questions in the forums, for admins, developers and IT more in our content library to
reading blog and how-to professionals. learn how Dynamics 365 can
articles, and watching videos. optimize your company.
What’s next?

Now that you have reviewed the Dynamics 365 Adoption Guide and learned the critical steps for successful technology
adoption, it’s time to get to put your knowledge into practice.

Click through to the Adoption Planning Workbook to find customizable worksheets and templates that will help you
create your own plan and put it into action. We’ve compiled useful suggestions to help you to assemble your team,
create your adoption strategy, and launch your Dynamics 365 solution in your workplace.

Remember, you are not in this alone. Many organizations are currently adopting Dynamics 365 technologies. You can
connect and share what works and what doesn’t in Microsoft Dynamics community of experts and peers.
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notice.

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