Back to basics: The role of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations in financial and supply chain management

Editor's Note: This article is based on Mohamed Aamer's new book, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Enterprise Edition - Financial Management, which is available now.

For business professionals who have worked with advanced ERP solutions for many years, it is easy to forget just how many components play a role in an organization's success. In this article, we will step briefly through the concepts of ERP from the beginning and explore how they should align with the overall goals of a business. Then we will apply those concepts to key finance activities from the perspective of the latest capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations Enterprise edition (D365FOE).

Shareholders are aiming to maximize the business wealth, and this requires certain sets of activities on management and operations. Shareholders hires the management to achieve the required return of investment, and delegate this task to the company managers. The management defines the strategy objectives and the overall direction of the organization, monitor the performance and take the needed corrective actions.  The operation executes the defined strategy and divide it to smaller tasks, it is considered as the source of information that provides feedback to management and participates in strategy formatting.

The following diagram broadly describes an organization that must manage a supply chain.