PL 400 : Determine whether you can meet requirements with out-of-the-box functionality

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE and Power Platform are flexible and powerful business applications, while D365 CE provides a complete customer relationship management experience through five different apps: Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service Automation and Marketing,  At the same time, Power Platform is a low-code platform that spans Office 365, Azure, Dynamics 365 and standalone applications. 

Business applications comprise out-of-the-box (OOTB) tools and functionalities that enable enterprises to customize CRM systems according to the specific needs of their organization. As is well known, one size does not fit all, therefore, along with optimization and integration with other useful processes, entire work processes are automated for better profitability, increased ROI and increased customer service.

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

Galileo Galilei

The main reason for the failure of the project is understanding gap of the requirements and requirement gathering is vital exercise of any software applications especially for the business application. Under this process, it needs to identify the stakeholders and know the actual requirements along with valid questions. Variation of requirements always impacts on time, budget and resources.

The first challenge of Requirement gathering is that it needs to clarify the implementation of the Power Platform and D365 CE. Generally, legacy systems give a clear understanding of the business requirements, but in the absence of such insights, we need to focus on the functionality of features, budget and roadmap of the customer business. Fit-gap analysis is most suitable for business applications like D365 CE and others.

Fit/gap analysis is used to evaluate each functional area in a business project or business process to achieve a specific goal. This involves identifying key data or components that fit within the trading system and gaps that require resolution.
During requirement gathering, the determination of the viability of the requirement is the major factor in the success of the project and ignoring the feasibility may hinder the success of the project, therefore it should determine twice when we collect the requirements and consult the subject matter experts or deprioritized. Proof of concept is better tool to determination of feasibility.

Proof of concept is evidence, typically deriving from an experiment or pilot project, which demonstrates that a design concept, business proposal, etc. is feasible.
Fit Gap analysis makes more sense in the business applications, because it helps to find out the starting point of difference of actual business and existing applications. A fit gap analysis is important because whenever a fit occurs, we need to identify it and ensure that it is not recreated by building a custom-features. 

To perform a fit gap analysis, we should look at each requirement/user stories and note at least the following factors for each:
  • Severity of gap or category
  • Level of effort
  • Priority
  • Implementation notes.

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