Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management: Overview, Benefits, Features

Day by day, the supply chain is becoming more complex and so is its management for all businesses, irrespective of size. Organisations started implementing D365 Supply Chain Management to streamline and build a resilient supply chain management system while leveraging the latest technologies of mixed reality, AI, ML, and IoTs.

D365 Supply Chain Management offers end-to-end solutions for retailers, distributors, and manufacturers to make the operation smooth and simple. To meet modern and global business needs, it is crucial for any business to have real-time data insights into various supply chain processes, including production, procurement, and distribution. Real-time data on resources, production, and distribution assists any business in remaining current and ahead of the competition.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is a powerful application that centralises data by connecting all warehousing, planning, and transportation processes in order to provide actionable and intelligent insights for making efficient and smart decisions. Such insights help the organisation to identify the potential issues in the entire supply chain and resolve them without hampering the constant data flow.

D365 Supply Chain Management is a critical component of the Dynamics 365 family that covers all aspects of the supply chain to assist you in providing sustainable solutions, such as product information management, strategy planning, predictive analysis, demand forecasting, vendor collaboration, inventory management, streamlining logistics, warehouse management, preventing business downtime, and supply distribution planning.

Formerly, supply chain management was a module added in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. But, after the update in 2020, Microsoft separated D365 F&O into two different applications to perform different functions:

• Dynamics 365 Finance
• Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Users can now purchase a licence for a specific application without purchasing the entire F & O. 

Top Challenges in Supply Chain

The current supply chain is evolving, and businesses need the latest tech to cope with changing business as well as customer needs. Organisation have to deal with numerous challenges to stay ahead of the competition and be profitable in tough times too. Some of the major challenges that companies are going through are given below:

Low revenue throughout Supply Chain

Due to changing world situations, the processes of the supply chain are increasing and becoming costly. Organisations have to deal with a low-profit margin due to the increased costs. Below are some of the reasons behind increasing operational costs and lower revenue:

• Higher transportation costs due to fuel
• High raw material cost
• More labour cost
• Higher logistics cost

Complexity in selling

Businesses are becoming digital, which allows customers to purchase products from different channels and from around the world. Businesses are adapting to this technology and preparing themselves as per customer demands. Some of the top factors are:

• Retailers, suppliers, and manufacturers need more storage space to store products with an accurate inventory control system to ensure 24X7 availability.
• Ecommerce platforms are the most critical challenge, which sells directly to customers with a need for high-speed deliveries.

Increased Customer Demand

Due to the global expansion of businesses, the demand for products has increased, with the need for excellent quality. The sole requirement of businesses, as well as customers, is fast and hassle-free deliveries without hampering the quality. Some of the factors behind increased customer demand are:

• Customers want affordable and high-quality products.
• Deliveries of retail products must be instant and online sales within a few days.
• Finished goods must meet the norms specified by national and international governments.

Increasing predictable risks

Environmental changes and trade wars across international borders lead to increased predictable risks and low-profit margins. The cold war between developed nations is causing stress for the entire world. Below are some of the risks:

• Global suppliers, vendors, and logistics require coordination in real-time, but due to stress, the coordination has become fragile.
• More checkpoints in the supply chain would create more complexity for all.
• Withstand government norms and quality management becomes difficult.

These are some of the major challenges businesses are dealing with today and might have to deal with in the future too. Organisations can find ways to strengthen their supply chain, whether using D365 Supply Chain Management or any other solution to become profitable and adaptable.

Need for Supply Chain Management System in Industries

Supply Chain Management is one of the critical factors in an organisation that is vital from procurement to delivery. Nowadays, businesses rely on vendors and suppliers for proper and timely procurement. It is important to connect all information with the organisation to streamline the supply chain, and this can be done only using a perfect supply chain management solution.

Businesses need to set up a system that connects all departments, connects the data, shares the insights in real-time, and utilises the existing resources for maximum profitability with proper transparency and visibility.

An effective SCM system would do the following:

• Enables a continuous supply chain while avoiding disruptions
• Helps strengthen relations with vendors, suppliers, and manufacturers
• Control expenses while lowering costs by selecting the right supplier
• Follows all safety regulations and international norms
• Provides a procurement analysis

There are a few supply chain management solutions available in the market that run on the latest technologies including AI, ML, big data, cloud computing, and BI that are powering up such solutions for an uninterrupted business flow. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is one such solution that uses IOT to fetch important data from the entire supply chain and allows the users to manage and streamline data. Also, it sends notifications to the concerned users whenever there are chances of chain disruption or there is a potential disruption.

The need for a supply chain management system can be understood by the below factors:

Uninterrupted Supply

There should be a constant supply of information on materials, goods, and services from purchasing raw goods to delivering the product to the end customer while eliminating the disturbance in the supply chain.

Product Quality Assurance

There are more chances of quality being compromised during the supply chain process. The quality of the product must be maintained to generate a better ROI with fewer investments.

Adaptable to technologies

Businesses are adapting to modern technologies for seamless business operations. The Supply Chain Management System must be adaptable to cope with the latest technologies.

Cost Saving

There are numerous ways a supply chain management system can become cost effective by eliminating the unnecessary steps from the entire system while sharing essential data in real-time.

Process Optimisation

A suitable SCM must optimise the existing process and create space for new operations by monitoring the resources, including retail processes, inventory management, and much more.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Capabilities that can help you Grow Rapidly

D365 Supply Chain Management allows organisations to connect all departments while building a strong, connected, and intelligent supply chain. It enhances the overall efficiency and pushes the resources towards profitability and scalability.

D365 SCM empowers the business by utilising the latest technologies to offer seamless features, including improved efficiency, potential recommendations, detecting issues, offering active solutions, increased product quality, optimising existing efficiency, capacity management, tracking raw materials, and improving overall efficiency.

It possesses numerous capabilities to help organisations with seamless management of their supply chains. Some of the capabilities are discussed below:

Asset Management

The MS D365 Supply Chain Management offers asset management to all industries, along with preventive and predictive maintenance. It helps the organisation to determine the potential maintenance needs and prevent any kind of error or downtime in the entire supply chain. Also, it allows the IOT enabled devices to monitor and send feedback to the user, informing them about the problem, and then automatically revert with an actionable response, like machine repair.

Forecasting Insights

Forecasting insights is one of the critical factors of operations, which provides intelligent and actionable decisions to improve the overall supply chain. It lets users accurately predict future orders, resulting in better planning of production and inventory. Using insights, you can easily connect the demand forecasting to match any specific production needs.

Field Service Integration

Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers different applications to specify different business needs. One such application is Dynamics 365 Field Service, which enables the organisation to keep track of all the field operations in real-time. It can easily integrate with the D365 SCM system to automate the manual processes. Also, it tracks, records, and manages the machine, labour, and equipment’s insights.

Inbuilt ML, IOT, and BI

The system includes ML (Machine Learning), BI (Business Intelligence), mixed reality, and IoT (Internet of Things) to improve up-time and equipment functionality. It enhances the capabilities and provides a more seamless user experience. Such leading technologies enable organisations to connect all locations and perform intelligent operations.

Power BI Visualisation

Power BI is the most popular and valuable tool for businesses looking to decode massive amounts of data in exchange for data-driven insights. MS Dynamic 365 Supply Chain Management can easily be embedded with Power BI to boost the processes, whether internal or external. It also delivers real-time insights to analyse the processes of warehouse, inventory, and shipping.

Process Automation

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management comes with process automation to eliminate recurring and manual tasks from the system to make it more efficient and productive. AI supervises most of the process where there is only a need to forward the data from one source to another. Discrete and mixed processes can be automated or optimised as per supply chain requirements, enabling full utilisation of resources.

Workforce Optimisation

It offers unified data opportunities to help teams collaborate with optimum resources. All the data is collected, connected, and shared with the workforce, and they can access it using multiple channels for ease of access. The data collaboration enables users to update purchase orders and invoice status to make the data transparent. It enhances data utilisation in real-time and enables effortless inventory management.

Low Downtime

The algorithm of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is built in such a way that it keeps the users informed about sales activity, stock levels, potential sales opportunities, and much more. Real-time data management lets the users be informed about the current status of the process to let them take a data-driven decision. It is equipped with a powerful feature known as Intelligent Distributed Order Management that delivers the order to the right customer at the right time.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Benefits: Top Reasons to Choose this

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management offers numerous benefits to help sustain the entire supply chain and keep it adaptable for all changing needs. It shows customer and competitor insights to help organisations succeed using innovation and predictive intelligence. There are a lot of benefits it offers as compared to other similar systems, like:

Warehouse Optimisation

It helps users manage and optimise the critical operations of the warehouse, including distribution, manufacturing, retail, and logistics.

Logistics Management

It offers effortless logistics management with efficient and secure transportation movement data, all recorded in real-time.

Utilise technology

The latest technologies can help you power up your business while enhancing the productivity and efficiency of operational processes.

Improved product quality

Real-time tracking of processes helps users improve the processes or operations to increase the overall quality of the product.

Simplified Manufacturing Operations

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management manages and maintains all records from purchasing raw material to deliveries and optimises them for better ROI.

Improved Handling

Using advanced capabilities, it improves the management and handling of workforce planning, making strategies, inventory operations, and business flow.

Easy Scalability

Cloud computing enables organisations to scale their businesses on the fly, regardless of business type or size, and without disrupting current operations.

Better ROI

It optimises all operations to lower the investment costs and enhance the ROI using the same resources, making the business profitable in tough times too.

Unified Data

It connects all the departments, processes, employees, customers, organisations, and vendors to provide and share the central view with all users.

Customer Experience

With a simple user interface, it provides a seamless customer experience to users, making the data easily accessible to all users on all devices.

Collaboration

Users, customers, and vendors can all collaborate with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to ensure a smooth and consistent operational flow.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management Pricing

Microsoft not only provides simple Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management pricing but also has a static licencing plan that particularly depends on users’ needs. Earlier, users had to purchase the whole application, which consists of finance and supply chain management modules named Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. But, after the 2020 update, both these modules will be separated to perform separate functions. The pricing of both modules is given below: 

If you want to access Dynamics 365 Finance along with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management or vice versa, you can avail it by paying an additional amount of £22.60 per user/month.

How to avail Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management trial?

The process to get the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management trial is simple and can be accessed in the below steps:

• Open your web browser and access the Dynamics 365 Free Trial page.
• As shown in the below figure, search for the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management application under the Supply Chain section.

• Click on the Request a Demo button, a new page will be displayed where you have two options; Contact a Certified Partner or Sign Up for a free trial.
  

• If you are ready to implement D365 Supply Chain Management with your current organisation, you can go with Contact a Partner You need to enter your personal as well as your organisation’s details, and Microsoft will assign you a certified partner for your successful implementation.
• If you want to access the trial for 30 days, sign up by giving further details.
• Once you submit your details, the trial will be activated for the next 30 days.

Future Scope of Supply Chain

The supply chain is revolutionising as well as evolving to fit with modern business needs. Due to the recent pandemic, we have seen a huge disruption in the supply chain, and industries have had to bear it without any choice.

From 2022, business starts to heal and work hard to get back on track as in the pre-pandemic era, but a lot of things have changed. We have noticed an increased level of consumer demand, more quality products, global sales, customer spending, and much more. New modern technologies are the only source that can push businesses towards more profitability as compared to the pre-pandemic era. In the next few years, we can witness the adoption of such technologies to make supply chains more digital and efficient. From present scenarios, we can observe some future predictions for supply chain management.

Robots Implementation

The demand for labour is increasing on a daily basis, so the wages will follow. And, after the pandemic impact, we can see more such demands with fewer resources to fulfil them. Now, businesses have started opting for cyber-physical systems or smart robots to meet the labour demands. We can see such robots in large manufacturing plants, warehouses, and distribution centres.

Inbuilt AA and AI Capabilities

Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence can help users make quick and accurate decisions to improve the efficiency of all supply chain operations. Many supply chain management tools, like D365 Supply Chain Management, have started embedding AA and AI capabilities to enhance their performance in all scenarios.

Modern System Architecture

Day-by-day, the complexity of supply chain operations is increasing and becoming more unpredictable in nature. Such systems must adopt a flexible and agile architecture to fit with modern needs. Organisations have to upgrade the technology using micro-services-based applications to enhance the capabilities of supply chain management systems.

Smart Ecosystem

Still, most of the tools lack the ability to create a perfect ecosystem where all users can collaborate with each other, enabling a constant flow of data for all. Precise management of the supply chain includes a lot of people that connect, communicate, and share the data in real time, making the entire system a complete ecosystem.

Case Study: Michael hill

An Australia-based jewellery brand popular for its premium products, exceptional services, and customer loyalty. To streamline the retail operations, this company started using Dynamics 365 Commerce to manage end-to-end retail demands. This helped the company to improve customer service, increase loyalty, drive efficiency, and provide a better customer experience.

They were looking for software to enhance the shipping and warehousing efficiency to improve the retail experience. Also, they need a flexible solution to manage global store operations and provide an enchanted customer experience.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management helped Michael Hill with optimising store operations, supervising retail channels, customer support, better stock movement, inventory management, and much more.

Read the complete case study from here.

Why Choose Dynamics Square as you D365 Supply Chain Management Implementation Partner?

If you are a global organisation and have to deal with a lot of complex supply chain operations, you should consult a D365 Supply Chain Management expert. The process of implementation is complex as the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management partners have to deal with a lot of departments and manage critical factors for a flawless implementation process.

But Dynamics Square has got you covered with hassle-free and low-cost Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management implementation services. Our implementation process helps businesses to identify the exact requirements and understand the work process to maximise profitability, increase operational efficiency, enhance product quality, simplify transactions, and much more.

We not only focus on implementation or supply chain up-gradation solutions but also provide training and online sessions to help you get started with management of your entire supply chain operations. With years of experience in the field, our team of experts will ensure a smooth and successful transition. We will work closely with you to understand your specific needs and requirements, and tailor the implementation to meet them.

In addition, we offer ongoing support and maintenance services to keep your system running smoothly and efficiently. Our team of Dynamics 365 supply chain consultants are always available to answer any questions or address any issues that may arise. You should choose Dynamics Square as your D365 Supply Chain Management implementation partner, and rest assured that your system will be up and running smoothly in no time.

If you are looking for a reliable and experienced partner to help you implement a Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management system, look no further than Dynamics Square. We also offer training and support services to help you get the most out of your investment. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you streamline your supply chain management with Dynamics 365.

D365 Supply Chain Management FAQs

1. Is Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management the same as Dynamics AX?

Dynamics AX was one of the initial versions of SCM. On traditional architecture, it was capable of managing finance, supply chain management, and operations. Dynamics AX evolved into Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, and later it was split into two separate applications, i.e., Dynamics 365 Finance and D365 Supply Chain Management.

2. What functions does Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management include?

It consists of various functions, including manufacturing, inventory, warehouse, service, logistics, and transportation, to help users make intelligent decisions for easy growth and scalability.

3. Can I deploy D365 SCM on-premises?

D365 SCM can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid locations. Also, it depends on the user and business requirements to select the required deployment.

4. Is there any training available to learn and understand this application?

Before D365 Supply Chain Implementation, you need to confirm whether they provide training and sessions to understand this tool. If you choose Dynamics Square as your implementation partner, we assure you that we will help you understand all the functions, features, capabilities, and tools to fully utilise the D365 SCM.

5. What is the minimum licence requirement for Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management?

As per Microsoft, a minimum of 20 licences are required to use this powerful application. If the users are fewer or your supply chain management operations are not complex, you can go with Dynamics 365 Business Central. It is an ERP built to streamline basic business needs.

6. Is there any trial available to help users understand this application better?

Yes, you can obtain a free 30-day trial of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. The procedure to apply is discussed above.

7. What is the price of an on-premises deployment?

When it comes to cloud deployment of servers, Microsoft has specified the fixed price licencing plans for all users, and they are available on the official website too. On-premises deployment pricing depends on various factors, like vendor partner, company size, number of users, data size, complexity, and much more.

8. How much time does it take to complete implementation services?

The total time in implementation depends on the size of the company, data amount, and other such factors. Our team of expert consultants tries to understand the needs and implement the solution faster so that users can start working towards growth and scalability.

9. How to get post-implementation support?

Your implementation partner will provide you with post-deployment support to help you run your system efficiently and consistently. But, before choosing the right partner, you need to clarify with your partner whether they are willing to provide post-deployment support or not.