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The Current State in the Dynamics 365 Landscape

The Role of Functional Consultants​

Functional consultants are the bridge between a company's needs and Dynamics 365 capabilities. They understand what the business wants and figure out how to make it happen within the Dynamics 365 landscape.

For example, a consultant may work with a company's sales team to design an automated lead assignment process within Dynamics 365, determining which fields are necessary and how the records will flow through the system.

The Challenges of Functional Consultants​

Customization Challenges & Developer Dependency:​

Functional consultants excel at mapping a company's operational processes into Dynamics 365, but they may hit a wall when they need to create a custom advanced functionality, to integrate with their workflow where dynamics dont offer it out of the box. For instance, consider a scenario where a business wants to offer tiered discounts to customers based on the volume of products they purchase — the more a customer buys, the bigger the discount they receive. This discounting system should also be flexible enough to easily change for different promotions or seasons.

In this scenario, the consultant is clear on the 'what' and 'why' but needs a developer to handle the 'how'. This is where a tool like Flux Logic can bridge the gap, allowing the consultant to build this sort of discounting system without having to write the code themselves or wait for a developer’s schedule to clear up.

The Changing Business Landscape:​

The modern business environment is increasingly dynamic, with changing regulations, evolving customer expectations, and rapid technology advancements. This creates a constant pressure on consultants to adapt Dynamics 365 configurations swiftly and accurately.

Transparency Struggles:​

Consultants may not have a clear line of sight into development progress, which can lead to misunderstandings with clients and stakeholders. For example, a consultant might promise a delivery date based on expected development timelines, but when development falls behind due to unforeseen issues, the consultant might not be aware until it's too late to adjust expectations.

How FlowOn Logic Helps Functional Consultants​

Enabling Functional Consultants to Take the Lead​

Scenario 1️⃣: Tiered Approval Workflow for Expense Claims

  • Current State: A company needs to establish a tiered approval workflow for employee expense claims. This workflow has different approval paths based on claim amounts. However, Dynamics 365's native workflows fall short in handling such complex, tiered approval processes.

  • Consultant's Challenge: The consultant understands the business process but faces limitations with Dynamics 365's built-in features.

  • Developer's Role: A developer is required to write custom code to create this complex approval process.

  • Implications: Developing this requires significant time, testing, and deployment. Mistakes in the code can disrupt business operations.

  • How FlowOn Logic Could Help: With FlowOn Logic, the consultant can use 'Flows Logic' or 'Blocks Logic' to directly construct this intricate approval process. They can define different approval paths based on claim amounts without any need for coding.

Adapting to Dynamic Business Environments​

Scenario 2️⃣: Custom SLA Monitoring and Alerting

  • Current State: A customer support center needs to monitor their Service Level Agreement compliance. This includes sending alerts and escalating issues when specific time thresholds are not met.

  • Consultant's Challenge: The consultant knows the business requirements for SLA monitoring but faces limitations in Dynamics 365's native features.

  • Developer's Role: A developer must create custom plugins or scheduled jobs to monitor ticket statuses, times, and trigger alerts.

  • Implications: Developing this solution is complex, time-consuming, and errors can lead to SLA breaches, potentially resulting in penalties for the company.

  • How FlowOn Logic Could Help: FlowOn Logic enables the consultant to set up 'Flows Logic' to continuously monitor ticket statuses based on defined SLA rules. It can trigger alerts and escalations as needed, allowing the consultant to precisely implement and adapt complex SLA monitoring rules without writing any code.

What's Next?​

Curious to explore how FlowOn Logic's features allow you to build your entire system independently, from start to finish? Learn More