Engagement
AX 2012 to D365 Upgrade Assessment
Senior-engineering assessment that turns "we are still on AX 2012" into a defensible D365 path and a number you can take to the board — which route (in-place technical upgrade vs re-implementation), how much data comes across (full history vs master plus open balances), what your customizations cost to carry forward, and the estimate to execute. Before you commit a budget or a partner.
Microsoft ended support for Dynamics AX 2012 / R2 in April 2022 and AX 2012 R3 in January 2023 — no security patches, no tax or regulatory updates. Microsoft Lifecycle
Baseline scope: 1 Dynamics AX 2012 estate (R2 / R3), code + data + integration inventory, 1 upgrade-path decision, 1 execution estimate. Access prerequisites listed below; scope factors agreed at signing.
Who it is for
- F&O teams still on Dynamics AX 2012 (R2 / R3), past mainstream support, who need a real plan to reach D365 Finance & Operations.
- CIOs and IT directors who need a board-defensible upgrade budget and timeline — not a vendor guess with a five-figure range.
- Microsoft partners scoping an AX 2012 upgrade deal who need senior X++ upgrade depth to estimate it credibly (white-label or co-delivered).
- Organizations torn between a technical upgrade and a clean re-implementation, unsure which their customization and data reality actually supports.
Not for estates already on D365 F&O (use the Release-Wave Readiness Review), not the upgrade execution itself (that is quoted from this assessment), and not a Microsoft licensing or commercial negotiation.
Typical triggers
When teams reach out
- "We are on AX 2012 R3 and mainstream support is gone — we need a real path to D365, not a sales pitch."
- "Do we lift-and-shift our X++ code or re-implement clean? Nobody can give us a straight answer."
- "How much history do we actually have to migrate — all of it, or just master data and open balances?"
- "Our partner quoted the upgrade as a range so wide it is useless — we need a number we can defend."
What you get
Deliverable
A 15–25 page upgrade assessment: recommended path (technical upgrade vs re-implementation) with rationale, data-migration strategy (full history vs master plus open balances, with volumes), a customization carry-forward inventory with effort, an integration re-platforming map, a risk register, and a phased execution estimate. Vendor-neutral — we name patterns, not products. It goes deeper than Microsoft's free AIM assessment: a code-evidenced number, not a high-level sketch.
How it works
Timeline
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1
Kickoff call 60 min
Confirm scope, environment + source access, legal-entity / company count, ISV inventory, and the decision the estimate has to support.
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2
Week 1 — Inventory + code analysis 5 business days
Catalogue customizations and ISVs, run code-upgrade analysis across the X++ layer, size the deprecated / blocked footprint, and profile data volumes per company.
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3
Path workshop 90 min
Technical upgrade vs re-implementation, scored against your customization and data reality — plus the data decision: full history vs master data and open balances.
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4
Week 2 — Strategy + estimate 5 business days
Data-migration strategy, integration re-platforming map (AIF → OData / DMF / Power Platform), environment plan, and an effort-ranked execution estimate.
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5
Readout + report 90 min call + written report
Walk through the recommended path, data scope, and number. Written report follows within 3 business days.
Pricing
Fixed-fee — quoted on the scoping call
- Fixed fee for the baseline assessment — 1 AX 2012 estate, code + data + integration inventory, path decision, and execution estimate. The figure is set on the scoping call.
- The technical upgrade execution itself is quoted separately, from the assessment findings — never a blind range up front.
- Scope factors that change the quote — multiple legal entities / companies, a heavy ISV estate, multi-region — are agreed up front.
- Payment: 50% on kickoff, 50% on readout delivery.
When we re-quote: We re-quote at the end of week 1 if the inventory surfaces materially more than scoped — many legal entities / companies, a heavy ISV footprint, or multiple integration platforms.
Scope clarity
What this engagement is NOT
- Not the upgrade execution — code migration, data migration, and cutover are the follow-on engagement, quoted from this assessment.
- Not a Microsoft licensing or commercial negotiation.
- Not a business-process redesign — that is an implementation workstream, not part of sizing the upgrade.
- Not a partner-performance review. We assess the estate and the path, not vendor conduct.
Ready to start?
Bring the relevant materials — architecture diagrams, recent logs, the decision under review — and we will scope from there.