Delivery guide:

Needs Assessment
Workshop for
Dynamics 365
Business Central
 September Delivery guide: 2
2022 Needs Assessment Workshop for
Dynamics 365 Business Central

Contents
Needs Assessment for Dynamics 365 Business Central
among SMB customers description.................................. 3

Purpose of the guide............................................................. 4

Target customer..................................................................... 4

Structure of the workshop................................................... 4

Prepare phase ........................................................................ 5

1. Get familiar with the workshop agenda, templates,
and use case scenarios 5

2. Determine BANT, sponsor, and invite list 7

3. Conduct a discovery exercise 8

4. Choose an approach for the envisioning exercise 9

5. Select an approach for proving the business value 11

6. Assemble your team and refresh your skills 11

7. Customize the activity execution template (.pptx) 12

Deliver phase..........................................................................13
1. Discovering (or validating) pain points 13

2. Identifying key use case scenarios 13

3. Helping the customer envision a better way 13

4. Making the case for the business value 14

5. Providing recommendations for next steps 14

Document phase...................................................................15
 September Delivery guide: 3
2022 Needs Assessment Workshop for
Dynamics 365 Business Central

Needs Assessment for Dynamics 365 Business Central

among SMB customers description
This four-to-six-hour workshop helps partners demonstrate the benefits of replacing the manual
paper-based systems or disparate line of business (LoB) applications that a Small or Medium Business
(SMB) customer is currently using for finance, accounting, operations, and HR functions with
Dynamics 365 Business Central.

The Needs Assessment workshop guides partners through uncovering the most pressing challenges
and opportunities for innovation, showcasing the business benefits of Dynamics 365 Business
Central, and proving the value to the customer. The final deliverable for the customer includes three
slides which are also required for the proof of execution. These three slides capture the workshop
participants, recap the challenges and opportunities for the business, and identify the top 3-5
initiatives prioritized by the customer.

To prepare for the workshop, partners need to plan how best to complete and validate discovery
activities based on their existing relationship with the customer, customize the workshop materials
provided by Microsoft, and invite the right stakeholders to the conversation.
 September Delivery guide 4
2022 Needs Assessment Workshop for
Dynamics 365 Business Central

Purpose of the guide Target customer

The Needs Assessment is one step in a The ideal customer for this workshop tends
multiple step sales cycle that includes to meet the following criteria:
pre-sales and post-sales activities specially
• SMB customers (unmanaged)
designed for SMBs looking for a modern
business management solution. It is • Customers with > 25 and < 300 seats​
intended for partners to use with SMB leads
• Existing Microsoft customers
that have already been qualified but are still
early in their decision-making process.
Structure of the
workshop
The activity includes three phases for the
partner to work through: prepare, deliver,
and document. The following sections
describe best practices for helping you
complete each phase specific to this activity
The purpose of the activity is to understand and includes links to tools and resources
where a prospective SMB customer is in your team can use to ensure a successful
the decision-making process and align the engagement. Be sure to review all sections
business needs to the solution value—with thoroughly before you start, as you may
the ultimate goal of turning a cool lead choose to perform different steps in
into a warm or hot lead. Once the business different phases, and you will want to tailor
needs are well understood, and if the the activity to best meet the needs of your
customer is not ready to purchase yet, you customer and your team.
may choose to offer another of the pre-
sales activities (proof of concept, pilot) or
a technical assessment to help further the
sales cycle.
Resources, trainings, and call scripts to
help you build your Dynamics 365 Business
Central practice can be found here.
 September Prepare phase 5
2022

Prepare phase
During the prepare phase, you’ll vet the customer to ensure they’re well qualified for the workshop,
assemble your team to deliver the workshop and confirm they have the right knowledge and skills.
Based on what you learn, you will need to customize the workshop materials.

1. Get familiar with the workshop agenda, templates, and

use case scenarios
Read through the delivery guide and agenda, review the activity execution template (.pptx) file
filling out any discovery information you already have, review the common use case scenarios for
Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Common use case scenarios for Dynamics 365 Business Central

1. Order to cash 15. Reconcile bank accounts
2. Procure to pay 16. Consolidations
3. Make to stock 17. Customer portal on Power Pages +
4. Produce to production order Dynamics 365 Business Central*

5. Quote to cash (using Business Central and 18. Supplier portal on Power Pages +
Outlook) Dynamics 365 Business Central*

6. Quote to cash (using Business Central and 19. Purpose build apps on Power Platform +
Dynamics 365 Sales) Dynamics 365 Business Central*

7. Opportunity to quote 20. Power Virtual Agents + Dynamics 365

Business Central (to check the status of the
8. Manage your inventory
order through chat, to check the inventory
9. Setting up a new company
through chat)*
10. Automate Accounts Payable
21. Invoice recognition with AI Builder +
11. Customer Approval process Dynamics 365 Business Central*
12. Intercompany 22. Direct delivery scenario*
13. Enter a sales order from a mobile device 23. Cost accounting*
14. Drop ship sales order
*scenarios that do not have pre-recorded demos available
 September Prepare phase 6
2022

As you review the agenda, flip through the Workshop Execution Template at the same time and
tailor both to meet the needs of your particular client.

Topic Description Time

Kickoff Introductions – teams and roles 30

minutes
Review agenda and set expectations on outcome of workshops

Validate current [Here, you can either reflect key findings from pre-workshop discovery/research 90
state and or explore the current state and challenges through a minutes
challenges guided discussion]

External drivers: Industry pressures, customer expectations, and

competitor forces

Internal pain points: Process inefficiencies, operational bottlenecks, critical

gaps in data/insights

Business impact: Effect on the bottom line, employee productivity, KPIs

Deep dive into How it works today 30-60

key scenarios minutes
Opportunities for improvement

How it affects people and the business

Identify key Identify top 1-3 scenarios to improve current state of accounting, finance, 30
scenarios for operations, HR and alleviate pain points minutes
exploration

Envision a [Pick one method you will use to showcase each key scenario identified above] 60-90
better way minutes
High-level look at product functionality using 16 pre-recorded demo videos
(est. length 2-6 minutes each): aka.ms/bizcentral/salestools

Live demo of Business Central run by partner using sample data pre-loaded in
the trial instance

Tailored demo preconfigured by the partner that shows Business Central and
relevant ISV components

Migration assessment to start prioritizing use cases

 September Prepare phase 7
2022

Topic Description Time

Assess the value [Pick one method you will use to prove the value] 30
to the business minutes
Use the profitability calculator to help the customer understand the value of
Dynamics 365 Business Central

Create a detailed proposal for a small scale implementation in which partner

considers ISV integrations

Share customer success stories—look for ISV team

Provide a quick Dynamics 365 and Power Platform 30

solution overview minutes
Dynamics 365 Business Central

The Microsoft Cloud

Conclusion Review of key challenges/opportunities 30

minutes
Top initiatives identified for improvement

Options for next steps

2. Determine BANT, sponsor, and invite list

Before you show up for the workshop, you will want to assess whether the customer has the budget,
authority, need, and time (BANT) to make the Needs Assessment workshop viable and valuable
to your team. And you will want to identify a project sponsor that has the authority to make the
purchase and to pull the right people into discussions.

A best practice is to try to involve team members at both the manager and user level, so you can talk
tie systems experiences back to business outcomes.

Workshop participants:

• Project sponsor at executive/ decision-making level

• Managers for internal F&O teams (ex. Finance, Accounting, HR, Operations)

• Team members that use the systems everyday

 September Prepare phase 8
2022

3. Conduct a discovery exercise

Note: You may perform these activities before or during the workshop
Discovery is a key component of any Needs Assessment Workshop, however it can be part of the
prepare or deliver phase depending on what works best for you and your customer. Some partners
choose to do discovery before the in-person workshop and validate discovery findings at the
beginning of the presentation to build consensus. Others choose to do the discovery work in the
workshop itself. Microsoft materials provide guidance for either approach.

The discovery exercises help you uncover your prospect’s pain points even when they don’t know
what they are. This may involve interviewing decision makers to understand current state of the
business, identifying challenges and opportunities, and/or observing end users to understand the
user experience.

First step is to determine if a business management solution will help the customer solve important
challenge(s) or open up new opportunities they want to explore. You can do that through a phone
call, pre-engagement questionnaire, or in-workshop discussion in which you ask leading questions
such as:

• What accounting/ finance/ operations/ • Where do you see the biggest business
HR issues does your team wrestle opportunities within next few years?
with today?
• What strategic goals are you
• How does the process work today? heading for?

• How do see these activities impacting • Where you see the improvements /
business outcomes? development areas for IT to support
strategic goals?
• How do you measure success in these
areas? If you currently don’t use metrics • What are the key challenges / limitations
to track progress, what’s stopped you? you are now facing?

• Of these issues, which is most pressing? • What other the competitive advantage
Why? your competitors have and you are not
able currently to offer?
 September Prepare phase 9
2022

New to Business Applications for SMB customers? The Dynamics 365 SMB Script offers conversational
guidance on qualifying new opportunities, and the Dynamics NAV and GP Migration guide helps vet
existing customers for Dynamics 365 Business Central online.

During the conversation, share some of the most common use case scenarios with your customer
and ask them which ones they would like to work through during the workshop. Identifying a
short, prioritized list of key use case scenarios is critical to the workshop.

4. Choose an approach for the envisioning exercise

One of the main objectives of the Needs Assessment workshop is to showcase how Business Central
handles the key use case scenarios identified through your discussion and helping customers
envision a better experience for themselves. This involves developing a thorough understanding of
current processes today and using an envisioning exercise to showcase the improved process with
Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Choose which approach you will use for your envisioning exercise:

• High-level look at product functionality using 16 pre-recorded demo videos (estimated length
2-6 minutes each): aka.ms/bizcentral/salestools

• Live demo run by your team using sample data pre-loaded in the trial instance, access a demo
environment here Microsoft Customer Digital Experiences: cdx.transform.microsoft.com

• Tailored demo preconfigured by your team that shows ISV components and
Dynamics 365 Business Central

• Migration assessment to start prioritizing use cases

 September Prepare phase 10
2022

Considerations for choosing your approach:

If your customer If your team Then you might be right for

Is new to Dynamics 365 and uses Is coming from MW or Azure and High-level look at Dynamics 365
mostly manual, paper-based doesn’t feel comfortable doing a Business Central functionality using
processes today. live demo. pre-recorded demo videos.

Can relate to a standard Dynamics Is comfortable navigating Interactive Q&A during a live demo
365 Business Central experience Dynamics 365 Business Central and by the partner walking through
and does not require a highly has the knowledge base to answer a Dynamics 365 Business Central
customized implementation to see questions in real time. trial instance using the sample data
the value for their business. provided by Microsoft.

Currently has Microsoft NAV/ GP Has experience with migrations Using the workshop to dig deeper
or SL legacy installation and is and understands the complexities into migration assessment and
contemplating migration to the of moving customers from ROI of moving to Dynamics 365
cloud (customer may or may not on-premise to Dynamics 365 Business Central online
have taken a migration assessment Business Central
ahead of workshop)

Is very familiar with Dynamics 365 Has experience spinning up Next-level exploration* to paint the
Business Central and is either ready tailored demo environments. picture of providing a complete
to buy or has specific concerns solution using ISV components
related to using it in their unique with Dynamics 365 Business
environment. Central.

*Note: for this approach, customers need to be open to sharing sample data and providing a technical contact to answer questions before the workshop.
 September Prepare phase 11
2022

5. Select an approach for proving the business value

The second main objective of the workshop is to help prove the business value of the
implementation. You can choose the approach that best suits your team and your customer or use
all three:

• Use the profitability calculator to help the customer understand the value of Dynamics 365
Business Central

• Create a detailed proposal for a small-scale implementation including ISV integrations, which
may take the form of one of the following:

a. Show specific requirements that can only be supported by a configuration

(per tenant extension)

b. Provide generic requirements that can be supported by using an extension via AppSource

c. Offer fixed price /fixed scope /fixed time offers

• Share customer success stories from Microsoft stories for Dynamics Business Central

6. Assemble your team and refresh your skills

Once you know how you’ll conduct the workshop, you can start to assemble your team. Start by
thinking through who needs to be involved from your side. It’s likely that you will want to include a
sales specialist in the prepare, deliver, and document phases. However, you might choose to bring
in a technical support team to help during the discovery exercises and to help identify the key use
case scenario. If someone from your side has experience with the customer’s industry, they should be
included in the team as well.

Looking to brush up on Dynamics 365 Business Central? The Business Central in a day workshop
(on‑demand) offers an excellent foundation for learning how to pitch the value of the solution.
 September Prepare phase 12
2022

7. Customize the activity execution template (.pptx)

Hidden slides in the customer template provide guidance about how to use them most effectively.
Spend some time thinking about how you will talk to each slide and work through it in the
workshop. Remove any that are unnecessary for your activity.

You can further tailor the workshop and the deck by requesting customer artifacts related to the use
cases, such as invoice templates, order forms, accounting fields, industry-specific workflows, etc.
 September Deliver phase 13
2022

Deliver phase
Conducting the workshop for the customer defines the deliver phase. The workshop execution
template includes different slides that you can use as a framework to structure this phase, however
all workshops consist of four main components that help the customer move from a cool/warm lead
to a warm/hot lead.

1. Discovering (or validating) 2. Identifying key use case

pain points scenarios
The purpose this exercise is to write out The objective of this section is to define
the biggest problems the customer faces the key use case scenario(s) that describe
in business management and get them to the processes or systems an organization
verbally agree with your assessment. By identifies as its biggest challenge/ area
leading with the issues/opportunities they for opportunity. Key use case scenarios
wrestle with, you increase the likelihood help translate the business pain points
that they will continue to listen and into well-defined activities that Dynamics
trust you. 365 Business Central addresses. While the
scenarios are similar across organizations,
the way organizations or teams approach
them today widely vary. It is up to the
partner to understand the current systems,
processes, and challenges when proposing
a use case scenario.

3. Helping the customer

envision a better way
The objective of this section is to help the
customer envision a better way for their
business to work through Business Central
and the Microsoft Cloud.
 September Deliver phase 14
2022

4. Making the case for the 5. Providing recommendations

business value for next steps
The purpose of the business value exercise Immediately following the workshop, you
is to showcase high-priority transformation will want to provide actionable next steps
scenarios and bring to light the product for your customer. As a best practice, you
strengths and proof points around specific may want to include up to three options
customer challenges you heard during that provide immediate, mid-range, and
discovery. The key is to lead the with long-term options for starting and growing
the One Microsoft value proposition, their digital environment. Including the
and why Microsoft Cloud, tease out the scope and timeline for each option will
challenges and needs of the customer, and make it easier for the customer to decide
demonstrate how Business Applications and plan a course of action.
and specifically, our Dynamics 365 Business
Central product, can help them solve Depending on the customer’s propensity
their challenges. to buy, you may also want to recommend
other pre-sales activities, such as:

• Technology assessment

• Tailored demo or proof of concept (PoC)

• Pilot
 September Document phase 15
2022

Document phase
The document phase may happen during the workshop and be shared immediately afterwards,
or you may decide to write it offsite and share it with the customer later. In the document phase,
you record discovery findings and provide recommendations for next steps that will support the
customer’s vision and move closer to sale. A key part of the document phase includes completing
and submitting the Execution Output template to ensure payment from Microsoft.

Three slides from the Needs Assessment workshop deck are required to be completed and
submitted as part of poof of execution. They include:

1. List of workshop participants

Must include at least 2 customers and customer emails

2. Key challenges identified

Must include at least 3 challenges

3. Top initiatives identified for improvement*

Must include at least 2 initiatives

*Suggested, but not required: Initiatives may include recommendations on relevant ISV solutions from AppSource