Our developer Zoia used the time during the Corona pandemic to do some housekeeping in files like AX-D365/Documents/BP (Best Practice) and she made a discovery. The older documents filed there were much shorter than the documents with more recent dates. The reason: the guides for developers to customize MS solutions to clients’ specific needs had been getting increasingly detailed. The advantage for our clients is that the customizing rules have gotten much clearer by now, which significantly improves software development quality.
Over 14 years, countless documents had accumulated in the AX-D365/Documents/BP file accessible to every Dynamics user. This file contains a collection of Best Practice descriptions and guides about the most diverse development projects on the Microsoft Dynamics environment.
After organizing the files by creation date, it became clear that the older the document, the shorter it was. The search for the cause quickly revealed that the rules set by Microsoft for development and customization in connection with its products had become increasingly complex over time. As a result, approaches to certain solutions had been described in increasing detail.
Example: Guide to Microsoft Dynamics 365
A good example is the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Rule Book–a comprehensive Microsoft ERP solution. The first shock once you open it: the document has 52 pages containing 17 chapters. But this is precisely the advantage for developers, because thanks to this amount of detail, they know what they have to do.
The most important content at a glance:
- Everything about Task Tracker: Standard work flows, diagrams with roles and status, etc.
- Development Environment: Links, Set up, How-to’s, etc.
- Development Rules: Naming (all objects), Labeling, Version Control. Tips for non-standard cases, and much more.
- Information about every environment and the standard process of release and deployment (Code/Models/Data Bases, etc.)
- Debugging on a different development environment.
How-to instructions for less experienced developers: recommendations, important lifehacks, possible mistakes, etc.
In conclusion: An extremely useful document that covers almost every scenario so that the questions from less experienced team members don’t keep developer team directors from more important tasks.
xxalution customers can be sure that our developer team always works following the most current Best Practices and this way ensures the maximum quality possible. A BP guide is part of our projects’ standard repertoire.