Microsoft launches preview of Dynamics 365 Project Operations: How we got here

Microsoft customers can begin signing up for a preview of the new Dynamics 365 Project Operations, the application that converges the project-execution capabilities of D365 Project Service Automation (PSA) and the more financial-management-focused project capabilities of D365 Finance and Operations.

Or, as Microsoft GM for Project Operations Gurkan Salk writes, the application will "connect teams across the project delivery lifecycle and unlock … business agility and resilience." To do that, Microsoft wants your feedback during the preview period, and they are asking preview customers to evaluate the product along five dimensions.

To review how Project Operations arrived at this point, it is worth recalling the evolution of the two separate products that Microsoft is now attempting to merge, along with the evolution of two closely related applications, Microsoft Project and Planner.

As a baseline, it's worth remembering that the project-based modules of Microsoft's ERP and CRM offerings go back years to the pre-D365 era.  As Jelena Yaruchyk, CMO of proMX AG, wrote in a recent article, the abundance of project management options, from PSA to F&O to Microsoft Planner created complexity in the product lineup.

Another longstanding issue: PSA could not deliver project planning and scheduling capabilities like those of MS Project, leading to a shift in the PSA architecture. Some organizations also wanted project-based financial management capabilities that only existed in D365 Finance and D365 Supply Chain Management, though customers could