Analyze phase

  • 20 minutes

The tasks in the Analyze phase assist you in estimating the effort that is needed for the upgrade. Additionally, the tasks help you prepare a project plan. Before you purchase finance and operations apps, these activities should be completed. By offering a data point about the effort and resources that you will need, the tasks can help you make an informed buying decision.

The Analyze phase can be divided into multiple actions:

  1. Pre-upgrade checklist tasks – You need to install a pre-upgrade checklist as part of this process. This checklist can be used to enter details that you will need for the upgrade process. For more information, see Upgrade from AX 2012 - Pre-upgrade checklist for data upgrade.

  2. Run the upgrade analyzer tool – Identify preparation tasks in Dynamics AX 2012, based on the Lifecycle Services diagnostics service, and then create categories of tasks that can identify the following elements:

    • Data cleanup – This process helps you identify data that you can remove without causing loss of functionality. The tool identifies various types of data that you can reduce by running a cleanup process. For each type of data, an explanation is given about the impact of the cleanup. You can then decide whether to run the cleanup process or not. Part of your subscription cost is based on database size. Therefore, by reducing the size, you reduce that component of the subscription cost and help reduce the time that is required for the upgrade go-live process. A smaller database helps guarantee a faster upgrade.
    • SQL configuration – This process reviews the SQL configuration and recommends optimizations. By making sure that SQL performs optimally, this process helps reduce the time that is required for the upgrade go-live process.
    • Deprecated features – This process identifies features in use that are not available moving forward (deprecated). This verification will allow you to discover gaps early and make suggestions for alternatives.
    • Upgrade analysis reports – These reports can help in reducing cost and upgrade downtime and can provide guidance on data cleanup tasks.

    You can view the results of the system diagnostic service in a Microsoft Power BI report within Lifecycle Services. To access and use the Upgrade analyzer report, go to https://diag.lcs.dynamics.com/UpgradeAnalysisReport/Report/"ProjectID“ (you must replace ProjectID with your current Project ID, which is an integer that can be found in the URL of your current Lifecycle Services project, as shown in the following screenshot).

    Screenshot of the Upgrade project page highlighting the project I D in its U R L.

    The following screenshots show an example of the Upgrade analyzer report and the list of tasks that need to be completed.

    Screenshot of an example Upgrade analyzer report. Screenshot of the list of tasks that need to be completed.

  3. Run the Code upgrade estimation tools – A service exists that upgrades the code to finance and operations apps. It converts code and resolves most issues automatically. It also produces reports in Microsoft Excel. In this phase, you will estimate the effort.

    You can run the tool by following these steps:

    1. Go to https://lcs.dynamics.com.

    2. Sign in with your organization credentials.

    3. After you have signed in, select your project from the projects section.

    4. Select the menu and then select Code upgrade.

      Screenshot of the menu on the Upgrade project page, highlighting Code upgrade.

    5. Select Add in the lower-left corner of the page.

    6. On the Code Upgrade Service: Create Job page, specify a Name for the job, the release that you are upgrading from, and the release that you are upgrading to.

    7. Select the Estimate only check box.

      Note

      If you leave this check box cleared, then overlayered upgraded code will be checked in to Microsoft Azure DevOps.

    8. Select Create.

    9. After the new job is created, you will need to add your model store. For more information, see How to: Export and Import a Model Store.

    10. Select Add files in the lower-left corner of the page.

    11. Browse to your file and then select Upload.

    12. Select Analyze code in the lower-right corner.

      Screenshot of the Analyze code button at the lower-right corner of the page.

    When the service run is complete, your code will be checked in to Azure DevOps (only if the Estimation only check box is cleared), and an Excel report will be generated for a developer to review and consume. The Code Upgrade Service output is intended to be consumed by a developer. This output will help the developer estimate the effort that is needed to complete the tasks of the code upgrade. The developer must evaluate the tasks that the service generates in Azure DevOps and the latest version of the code that the service generates to form an estimation.

    The following screenshot shows an example of the output from the code upgrade tool. Several Excel files are generated for analysis. Screenshot of several Excel analysis files from the code upgrade tool.

    For more information, see Estimate effort by using the Code upgrade service and Prepare to migrate code to finance and operations.

    Code upgrade > Results – Provides the Migration summary report, where you will find the code analysis summary, including customization information.

    On the Migration summary report, the RemainingOverlayering sheet includes a new column named Bucket, which can be consumed by a developer to review high-level estimate for the efforts required to convert overlayering to extensions. All customizations are categorized using the following method:

    • Small – Extension is possible.
    • Medium – Can be converted to extensions; traversal is required, if needed. You might need to create an extension request.
    • Large – All report elements are defined as large.
    • Not in scope – Extension is not possible; traversal is required.
    • TBD – Unidentified; you will need to define the bucket size.

  4. Code upgrade – third-party code - If you have partner solutions or ISVs, ignore the code upgrade output for them and contact the partner for a version of finance and operations.

  5. Fit-gap analysis on sandbox - Use Lifecycle Services to deploy sandbox environments of finance and operations. In the Lifecycle Services Preview project, deploy a demo environment in your own subscription after setting up a Microsoft Azure connector. While in the Lifecycle Services customer implementation project, you can deploy the sandbox environment that’s part of the standard offering. After this task is completed, perform the fit-gap analysis, especially around new and deprecated features. For more information, see Upgrade from Dynamics AX 2012 - Deploy a demo environment for analysis.

  6. Create a project plan - A project template will be provided in Lifecycle Services methodology. You can use the output from the upgrade analysis for estimating the Dynamics AX 2012 preparation effort, the code upgrade for estimating the development effort, and the sandbox fit-gap analysis to see if new customizations are needed.

    Because finance and operations apps is a cloud application that is continuously being updated, you can now modify the application by using extensions. This method of developing is less intrusive, which helps make it easier for you to continuously get updates from Microsoft. For more information, see the Extensibility home page.

    You might discover that certain customizations can’t be achieved by extensions, which were possible with overlayering. finance and operations apps have introduced several extension capabilities to allow the same business requirements without overlayering. You will need to document requests for certain customizations that have been made with overlayering to make Microsoft aware of your needs.

    For more information, see Extensibility requests and Configure the code upgrade service in Lifecycle Services..