Dynamics at Oxford has moved to Office 365
Our successful upgrade is bringing benefits across the University, Dynamics is now more secure, faster and more reliable
Project works to upgrade the University’s 'on-premise' Dynamics CRM platform to Dynamics 365, part of the Office 365 application suite, have been successfully completed. All existing applications have migrated to Dynamics 365, except the Admissions Decisions Support System (ADSS) organisation, which will follow in the spring.
More than just an upgrade
The main benefits of moving online are:
- improved, upgraded Dynamics CRM software with Office 365 compatibility
- Cloud-based infrastructure enabling faster provision of future Dynamics cloud-based solutions
- new features including: MS Word and Excel templates, roll-up fields, email signatures
- introduction of Azure monitoring tools, to reduce running risks, secure platform availability and optimise system performance
- a new patching deployment feature, to reduce deployment effort and down time when releasing small changes.
The upgrade was successfully delivered over a weekend, with minimal disruption, and due to careful planning and testing, was completed in less time than anticipated, with very few support requests afterwards.
In addition to the Dynamics upgrade, the project also migrated eight separate web applications into the cloud and enabled future cloud-based applications.
What's next then?
The project continues and, in addition to the ADSS migration, the next phase will see the introduction of a new Unified Client Interface (UCI) from Microsoft. The new user interface delivers an updated responsive design, with consistency across any screen and device, and additionally brings:
- significant performance improvements
- improved navigation
- accessibility improvements
- interactive dashboards across all devices.
If you would like further information about the project, please visit the Dynamics 365 Upgrade project website (log in with SSO) or contact the project team by email.
