Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP — what became of Finance & Operations.

Until 2020, Microsoft's enterprise ERP suite was called "Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations". It was the successor to Dynamics AX and combined finance, supply chain, retail, human resources and project management under one brand. In 2020 it was dissolved — Microsoft released the individual disciplines as standalone applications, each with its own license, its own roadmap and, in some cases, its own codebase.

The result: if you Google "Dynamics 365 F&O" today, you land on a disambiguation page or get outdated content. To really understand what Microsoft offers in ERP, you need to know the five successor apps.

We do not implement any of these five F&O successors ourselves — the discipline requires a dedicated team with its own methodology. What we deliver is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (SMB ERP, a separate line) and the Customer Engagement Apps. This page is knowledge content — not a service offering.

Three offerings, with clear boundaries:

1. An honest assessment of whether Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (what we deliver) or one of the F&O successor apps fits your size. We won't sell you Business Central if you really need Finance — and won't recommend Finance if Business Central is enough.
2. Recommendations from our network: F&O specialists we work well with on the CRM side. We connect you — with or without a referral commission, depending on the model.
3. If F&O is already running at your company: we deliver the Customer Engagement Apps (Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Operations, Customer Insights Journeys) and handle integration with the F&O world — a discipline we know well from our own practice (e.g. the Oxaion live reference).

If you're sure you're looking for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (SMB ERP, a separate line, not an F&O successor), you're in the right place: Business Central as a service page.

Microsoft ERP licenses come in three different models — and they differ not only in price, but in licensing logic itself. The following overview shows today's list prices for orientation (as of 2026, rounded).

Business Central (SMB ERP)

Per-user license, billed monthly per user:

• Essentials — ~€70/user/month. Financial accounting, sales, purchasing, inventory, projects, service management.
• Premium — ~€100/user/month. Additionally manufacturing and extended service management.
• Team Members — ~€8/user/month. Read access, limited write rights for occasional users.

F&O successor apps (Enterprise ERP)

App-by-app license, billed monthly per user (except Intelligent Order Management — tenant license):

• Dynamics 365 Finance — ~€180/user/month.
• Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management — ~€180/user/month.
• Dynamics 365 Commerce — ~€180/user/month.
• Dynamics 365 Human Resources — ~€120/user/month.
• Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management — ~€300/month per tenant, user-independent.

Modular ERP (arades in-house development)

Two-tier licensing on a Power Platform basis:

• Power Platform Per-User Plan — ~€20/user/month. The platform license (Dataverse, Power Apps).
• arades app license — separate per industry module. Price per module and scope, on request.

Note on discounts and programs: volume discounts above defined thresholds, NCE Triennial (3-year commitment with up to 5% discount), non-profit and education conditions. An individual cost calculation — including the often-overlooked secondary costs (storage, premium connectors, sandbox environments) — is provided by the License Cost Calculator at licenses.arades.de.

An ERP project without a training concept fails quietly — the software runs, but users work around it. Three training obligations that should not be missing from any Microsoft ERP project:

1. End-user training. Module-specific and role-specific. The accountant needs no warehouse training; the warehouse operator needs no consolidation training. Format: on-site or remote, ideally with a test system that mirrors the real configuration.
2. Power-user training. For internal ERP owners — typically 1–3 people depending on company size. They take on first-level support, clarify master-data questions, and act as the interface to the implementation partner.
3. Admin training. Security (roles, permissions, audit trails), customizing fundamentals (extensions, configuration packages), integration (APIs, Power Automate, Dataverse connectivity). Mandatory for anyone operating the system long-term.

On the consultant side, Microsoft certifications come into play — relevant for selecting implementation partners and for internal staff development:

• MB-800 — Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant.
• MB-820 — Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Developer.
• Further certifications for the F&O world (MB-310 Finance, MB-330 Supply Chain Management, MB-335 Supply Chain Manufacturing) — relevant for the respective app.

arades offers training along these three obligations — details at Training.