Dynamics CRM Migration from On Premise to the Cloud

June 26, 2023

Why should you migrate to the Cloud?

When considering a cloud migration from on-premises for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, considerations such as continued product support, infrastructure overhead and new features are all factors to consider, however since Microsoft announced its cloud-first initiative, organizations are incentivized to move to the cloud for the following reasons:

  • Higher data security
  • Disaster recovery options
  • Cost savings
  • New features
  • Increased scalability
  • Moving cost allocation from CapEx to OpEx
  • Greater agility with faster time to market and increased stack options
  • Higher service quality
  • New features available
  • Greater efficiency
  • Modern application architecture

Of course, there is no greater initiative then a specific organizational requirement which might include some/all these points, but factors specific to the organization.

This blog will examine at a high level some of the most important factors, but there may be others that have higher importance then what’s listed here.

Dynamics CRM Support Ending

In March 2022, Microsoft announced that it was extending mainstream support for Dynamics 365 on-premise from January 2025 to January 2027 and extended support was extended from January 2026 to January 2029.

What this means is that customers running Dynamics CRM 2016 on their own computers in-house or via a hosted provider including Azure, can get continued support in the form of trouble-tickets, bug fixes and problem resolutions direct from Microsoft through these time frames.

What is the difference between Mainstream and Extended support?

Mainstream support for Microsoft products includes the following:

  • New product feature design and features
  • Security and non-security updates

Extended support includes the following:

  • Security updates ONLY

Both mainstream and extended support options include self-help support in the form of Microsoft online Knowledge Base articles and of course community resources and paid support from Microsoft. For more information about the Lifecycle phases from Microsoft, click here.

Having support available should put some customers at ease with regard to their existing deployments, but what about other considerations related to running Dynamics on-premises? The following are common challenges presented in these scenarios:

  1. New features are unavailable. Microsoft’s major investments in the Dynamic D365 CRM product are limited to the online version.
  2. The supporting infrastructure may need to be maintained. This includes the Operating System and the SQL Server database.
  3. The demand/desire for running applications in-house has greatly decreased.

Dynamics CRM Cloud Migration Strategies

Migration options generally fall into one of these categories:

  1. Lift and Shift

Known also as rehosting, this strategy is used when cost and expediency are paramount. Typically, the only effort expended is to ensure functionality has parity post-migration and new cloud constructs are addressed.

  1. Rearchitect

This approach evaluates the target environment (Microsoft Dynamics D365 Online) along with the existing on-premises deployment and creates a migration assessment that shows the high-level migration plan.

  1. Hybrid

Combining both concepts related to Lift and Shift as well as Rearchitect, leveraging higher priority, lower cost items with a quicker time to value for end users.

Avoiding Technical Debt

In all the scenarios described, avoiding or minimizing Technical Debt should be a priority. Technical Debt is the obligation to refactor something later due to prioritization of immediate needs over long-term efficiency.

Systems Profile and Guidance (SPAG) Tool

Every organization contemplating a Microsoft Dynamics D365 CRM migration should consider the usage of a SPAG tool to provide a migration assessment. The SPAG includes key areas such as:

  1. Results of the analysis
  2. Inclusion of all major areas like Environmental variables, Configurations, Integrations, and more.
  3. Results Summary
  4. Migration Process Recommendations
  5. Level of Effort including timeframe, budget, and necessary resources

Common deprecations:

  • Knowledge Base has been replaced with Knowledge Articles
  • Dialogs are deprecated
  • Reports that access SQL directly need to be updated to FetchXML

Systems Profile and Guidance (SPAG) Output:

Migration Process

The migration process consists of several critical steps that ensure high success levels with low risk. These steps are:

  1. Envisioning
  2. Prioritizing
  3. Technical
  4. Backup/Test/Remediate
  5. Cut-Over/Go-Live
  6. Educate
  7. Support

Each of these seven steps is prescriptive and can be done by an organization, but there are reasons to consider using a partner to help with the process.

7 Step Migration Process

  1. Envisioning: Requirements gathering to develop the approach based on priorities.
  2. Prioritizing: Agree on priorities based on the Time-Money-Quality relationship.
  3. Technical: Benefit from technical experience and background resources.
  4. Backup/Test/Remediate: Ensure that no data is lost and develop a backup strategy.
  5. Cut-Over/Go-Live: Implement a process known as Hyper-Care for immediate support.
  6. Educate: Continuous knowledge provision throughout the process.
  7. Support: Have a plan with experienced individuals to resolve issues quickly.

Learn More

Cowry Solutions professionals balance the traditional TIME-MONEY-QUALITY equation, never sacrificing a quality result. Contact us today to schedule your Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM online migration, or for a no-cost discussion to learn more about how we can help!