Business Impact Assessment

The Business Impact Assessment (BIA) is a strategic pre-engagement workshop that equips your team with a clear roadmap, budget, and success criteria—before any tech investment begins. By aligning stakeholders and removing uncertainty, the BIA reduces risk and ensures your technology decisions deliver lasting business value.

business impact assessment for new business central implementations, review of challenged or failed business central implementations, and assessment of new microsoft dynamics 365 business central partners

Removing the Guesswork from Critical Technology Decisions

Discover how the Business Impact Assessment paves the path to success with a clear roadmap and minimized project risks.

New Business Central Implementation

Purpose-Driven Scoping to Guarantee Project Accuracy

For new Business Central implementations, the BIA ensures your project is scoped right from the start—with a clear plan, budget, and alignment to your business needs—so you get the most from your investment.

Existing Implementation / System Review

Targeted Audit for System Optimization and Efficiency

A targeted BIA for existing implementations that uncovers inefficiencies, evaluates customizations, and identifies improvement opportunities. Ideal when facing challenges, failed rollouts, or lacking partner support.

New Business Central Partner Assessment

Establishing Trustworthy Guidance for Partner Transitions

The System Review BIA helps businesses transition from underperforming Microsoft Partners by identifying gaps in support and responsiveness. It builds confidence and reduces uncertainty.

Assessment and Implementation Methodology

The BIA transitions into a strict implementation methodology framework designed to deliver projects on-time and on-budget with minimal risk. This rigorous approach eliminates project risks such as lack of engagement, unclear objectives, scope creep, or changing requirements before they arise.

business impact assessment methodology for business central implementations, and business central partner changes

Repeatable and Proven Process that Delivers Real Results

Whether you are implementing Business Central for the first time, or need to diagnose a failed or challenged implementation, or are simply struggling with your Business Central Partner, each BIA follows a proven 5-step process.

1

Start-up

Defining a project plan or “road map” that serves as a baseline against which progress is measured throughout the project lifecycle.
2

Structure

Identifying and documenting key business functions and processes that will be implemented, followed by finalizing the project scope.
3

Configure

Developing the solution through software development, installation, testing, integration, and end-user acceptance tests, including preparing site(s) for the implementation.
4

Deploy

Establishing connectivity to the system, providing final training for key users, finalizing all documentation, fully setting up the system, and reviewing data integrity.
5

Support

Providing ongoing support for implemented software solutions and continuing to evaluate new technologies for optimizing and adding value to the business solution.

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New Business Central Implementation

Avoiding High-Stakes Risks and Uncontrolled Scope Creep

Every business faces considerable risks and high stakes when making critical investment choices in technology. Without a proper planning engagement, a new project may face significant challenges or even fail due to factors such as unclear objectives, scope creep, lack of engagement from employees and leadership, or changing requirements. For a prospective business, the challenge lies in ensuring that the investment in Dynamics 365 Business Central will be fully leveraged to meet operational requirements and business processes.

The primary goal of the Business Impact Assessment (BIA) for a new implementation is to properly plan and scope the entire engagement upfront, providing a detailed roadmap.

  • Who it's for: Organizations planning a new Dynamics 365 Business Central implementation
  • What it does: Documents the Vision & Corporate goals and determines gaps in Business Central functionality
  • Deliverable: A project scope that can be reasonably implemented within the budget and timeframe for Phase I
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Risk Elimination and Scoping

The BIA guarantees the project will start accurately by identifying and eliminating potential project risks before they arise. It is designed to define a project scope that can be reasonably implemented within the budget and timeframe for Phase I.

Vision Alignment

Key activities include meeting with Executive Management to document the Vision & Corporate goals. This ensures the new system's implementation aligns with the organization's true priorities and strategic objectives.

Technical Clarity

The assessment confirms the scope of modules to be implemented, defines the data conversion strategy (for both master and transactional data), and confirms the data integration strategy for any inbound/outbound interfaces.

Predictable Outcomes

The BIA establishes success criteria and defines the project vision and scope. It results in an estimated budget and high-level timeline for suggested solutions, ensuring accountability for activities, budget, and timeframe.

Diagnosis and Optimization

The crucial importance of this review is to ensure the existing Dynamics 365 Business Central solution (including interfaces and third-party solutions) is fully leveraged to meet immediate and longer-term strategic objectives.

Identifying Root Causes

The review identifies issues resulting from challenged implementations, customized objects, and modifications. For example, a detailed review might uncover that manual invoice creation or paper-based approval processes are time-consuming and prone to error, indicating a need for automation or configuration package use.

Actionable Resolutions

The outcome is a report of key findings and recommendations to enhance, implement, or reconfigure the solution. Recommendations are designed to provide actionable steps to avoid unexpected failures and maximize the value of investments.

Process Improvement Examples

Recommendations can range from specific technical fixes, such as setting up dimension posting validation or configuring the Change Log feature, to implementing entirely new functionalities like the Fixed Assets Module to automate depreciation.

Existing Implementation / System Review

Optimizing Underperforming Systems and Addressing Operational Inefficiencies

Organizations already using Dynamics 365 Business Central often face the challenge of having a system that is slow, unstable, or outdated, potentially opening the door to security vulnerabilities and poor utilization. If the system is underperforming, it is often due to poor configuration, customization, or integration. These underlying issues create operational challenges, such as unnecessary manual work and difficulty achieving strategic objectives.

The System Review, a specialized BIA, provides a thorough audit of the current state, priorities, and expectations, focusing on what can be improved.

  • Who it's for: Organizations with existing Dynamics systems that are slow, unstable, outdated, or experiencing poor utilization
  • What it does: Performs a thorough audit of the current state, priorities, and expectations. It identifies issues resulting from customized objects and modifications
  • Deliverable: A report of findings and recommendations to enhance, implement, or reconfigure the upgraded Dynamics 365 Business Central solution
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New Partner Assessment

Overcoming Past Failures and Securing Reliable, Trustworthy Support

A critical challenge for businesses is navigating the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that arise when investing in new technology, especially if they have experienced negative outcomes with a previous Microsoft Cloud Partner. Businesses often switch partners due to failed implementations, lack of support, or unresponsiveness. This lack of commitment, expertise, or quality can manifest as slow response times, hidden fees, or scope creep, leaving the business stranded and hindering growth.

The New Partner BIA for a new partner focuses on transitioning the client to a relationship built on transparency, expertise, and guaranteed results.

  • Who it's for: Businesses looking to switch their Microsoft Cloud Partner due to lack of support, unreliability, or failed implementations
  • What it does: Focuses on how a new partner can improve support, training, relationship, and overall success. It identifies areas where the current partner may not be adding value or helping achieve objectives.
  • Outcome: Confidence in the Microsoft investment. A transition to a reliable, transparent, and professional partner that delivers on promises.
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Focus on Partnership Improvement

The BIA explicitly identifies challenges with the existing Business Central Partner and determines how the new relationship can improve support, training, relationship, and success.

Trust and Expertise

A prospective business needs to know that a great partner is an extension of their business, one that listens to goals, delivers on budget, supports them with certified experts, and helps them innovate. The methodology emphasizes the use of Experts—Not Salespeople.

Predictable Engagements

The commitment to meticulous scoping ensures projects are delivered on-time and on-budget. Furthermore, the promise of Transparency, Always means the client knows upfront what they are paying for, with "No surprises or hidden fees".

Holistic View

The partner takes a holistic view of the organization, ensuring the customized solution aligns with the client's needs and provides the necessary advisory services to guide the business strategically.

The 360 Visibility Difference: Be Confident in Your Microsoft Investment

The commitment to meticulous scoping during the BIA and throughout the project guarantees projects are delivered on-time and on-budget. This assurance is backed by deep expertise rather than sales pitches, ensuring the perfect solution is offered without unnecessary extras. Furthermore, the methodology emphasizes transparency, meaning clients know upfront what is included and excluded, resulting in no surprises or hidden fees.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Business Impact Assessment (BIA)

Q: What is the BIA designed to determine?

Q: What is the outcome of a BIA/System Review for an existing Business Central system?

Q: What happens if project risks like scope creep or unclear objectives are present?

Q: Who participates in the BIA workshop?

Q: Does the BIA cover technical aspects of the business?

Business Central Implementation Services

Business Central Implementation Partner

Choosing the right Business Central implementation partner is the difference between an ERP system that simply works and one that drives measurable business impact.

Dynamics NAV to Business Central Upgrade

Upgrading from Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Business Central is a strategic move that addresses critical concerns for financial decision-makers.

Dynamics GP to Business Central Migration

Don’t wait until support ends to start your migration. Our team of certified MS Dynamics GP experts are ready to help you navigate this important transition with confidence.