Introduction and overview to proposing a solution
Proposing a solution is a logical next phase in a project. At this stage, you likely don't have enough detail to plan long-term requirements. However, you can consider building a proof of concept or a few proofs of concept apps.
As you consider solutions, keep in mind the systems and apps that are already in place and will not be changing. Additionally, you should determine whether constraints exist that you must work around, a legacy system that you cannot avoid, or regulations that you must comply with.
Customize vs. extend
During the presales stage, you can create a solution that requires several
customizations and/or extensions that fit the customer's
requirements. However, the numerous customizations and/or extensions could become a technical debt that you will have to pay later on and can often lead to
unhappy customers. Customizations increase the total cost of ownership,
so it's important to set a precedent at this stage clarifying that, given the
"real cost," you will assist the customer in making choices about how to
proceed with a particular requirement. Typically,
when you explain a much simpler (and cheaper) approach
that is out of the box, customers will appreciate your honesty.
You can even create some rules around the decision process for making
customizations. For example, if a feature will take more than two days to
configure or if it requires code to be written, then it must be
approved by the CTO. This kind of approach will lead to greater
trust between you and the customer.
A solution architect might take the lead (or, at a minimum, participate) in documenting customer requirements. The documentation should start early in the process. One of the documents is a solution blueprint. Depending on the specifics of the solution, the blueprint will address many aspects of the solution. For example, a typical construction project will have a blueprint that addresses its electrical, plumbing, loads, and many other aspects of construction. Dynamics 365 solution architecture also has a set of important blueprints that is essential to the success of offering the optimum solution to your customer.
The solution architect will spend a good amount of time developing the solution blueprint by processing the information that is received during discovery phase to producing set of charts and architectural assertion. Together, the charts and assertions form the blueprint of the solution that is yet to be delivered.
As the following image shows, this blueprint document should include architectures that are relevant to customer needs.
The rest of this module discusses the following topics:
Identify Solution Components
Develop and validate proof of concept
Identify potential third-party components
Recognize strengths and weaknesses in a solution
Introducing your customer
This module refers to the customer Woodgrove Bank, and the exercises and discussions throughout the lesson relate to this customer and how you can help them.
Woodgrove Bank has offices in 14 US States in addition to an office in the UK and another in Germany. Woodgrove Bank is a leading global financial services provider with an emphasis on commercial lending and investments. Administrative users work in the office and are never mobile. However, all mid-level managers need to be able to work from their home offices or while on site with a client. The team at Woodgrove feels overwhelmed with their disparate systems; therefore, they are looking for a solution that connects their data in a way that boosts financial success and customer satisfaction. With an internal-facing only deployment, Woodgrove Bank would have fewer regulatory concerns; however, each team within the bank would have their own responsibilities.
The following table describes Woodgrove Bank's customer-facing teams.
| Team | Description |
|---|---|
| Business Growth and Asset Management | Commercial Accounts with less than $1B in annual transactions. Growth in this sense refers to the loans used to reinvest in the corporation. These customers share a group of account managers; they are not specifically assigned to an individual. |
| Fortune 500 | Each customer in this division is assigned a senior account manager as their primary contact for all banking matters. Once a company is managed in this division, they remain here; even if they roll off the Fortune 500. |
| Group Portfolio Management | This team manages the parent/child accounts for firms with multiple organizations under a common umbrella. |
| New Business Development | This division is primarily marketing for new business. Once an account is qualified and active, it moves on to the appropriate management team. |
| Public Sector/Government/Higher Education | Woodgrove is a preferred lender to many sovereign governments around the globe as well as private universities. This team also tends to the handful of high-volume non-profits serviced by the bank. |
| Consumer Lending | This team is the smallest as Woodgrove focuses on commercial products. However, high volume consumer lending is available on a case by case basis. This team is not advertised to external prospects, but mostly utilized by the executives of corporate clients. |
| Relationship Managers | This team consists of members of each of the other teams, this ensures a consistent experience as accounts may move between teams and interact in other ways. This team also establishes best practices for users. |
| Escalation Call Center | The bank runs a 24/7/365 call center. They have a five-person team (one manager and four CSRs) in each of Chicago, Frankfurt and two teams in an outsourced center in Manila (the Philippines) doing an early and late shift to cover the APAC region. |
In addition to these teams, Woodgrove Bank has the standard set of C-Suite Executives who are involved with overall bank operations and supporting the teams as needed.
Woodgrove Bank is hoping to have the new system in a pilot phase so that the CEO can present initial results to the annual general meeting (AGM) in four months' time.