Case Studies

D365 Assessment, Governance Review & Transformation Roadmap

3 minute read

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A new CFO joined a food and beverage distribution organization to assess the root causes of its finance and reporting challenges within Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365 F&O). Catena Solutions conducted a D365 and finance operating model assessment that identified 128 improvement opportunities and resulted in a prioritized 6–9-month transformation roadmap designed to strengthen financial controls, improve reporting, optimize processes, and maximize the organization’s existing D365 investment.

Project at a Glance:

• D365 Finance & Operations Assessment: Evaluated six core business areas and ERP utilization.
• 128 Opportunities Identified: Prioritized finance, reporting, governance, data, and technology improvements.
• Quick Wins Prioritized: Targeted immediate improvements in reporting, controls, costing, and inventory visibility.
• 6–9-Month D365 Roadmap: Created a phased plan for finance and operational transformation.

The Challenge: What Was Causing the Organization’s D365 Finance & Reporting Gaps?

A new CFO joined a food and beverage distribution organization and quickly identified opportunities to improve finance operations, reporting capabilities, cost accounting practices, governance controls, and ERP utilization.

Key pain points included:

• Limited visibility into whether D365 was being fully utilized
• Reporting challenges across approximately 15 legal entities and complex intercompany accounting
• Procure-to-pay governance and approval inconsistencies
• Cost accounting limitations affecting inventory visibility and profitability reporting
• Master data governance challenges across customers, vendors, and operational entities
• Limited user documentation, structured training, and reliance on key personnel for institutional knowledge

While D365 was viewed as a capable platform, leadership needed objective insight into whether challenges stemmed from people, process, governance, or untapped system capabilities before investing in future optimization efforts.

The Solution: A Comprehensive D365 Finance & Operations Assessment

Catena Solutions’ assessment examined six core areas:

• Order-to-Cash (O2C)
• Procure-to-Pay (P2P)
• Record-to-Report (R2R)
• Costing & Inventory
• Treasury
• Master Data & Controls

Catena also evaluated the broader operating environment supporting D365, including organizational structure, segregation of duties, master data management practices, training documentation, and technologies integrated with the ERP.

The assessment produced a clear view of current-state capabilities, process and system gaps, governance risks, and opportunities for improvement.

Deliverables included:

• Current State Assessment
• Process and System Gap Analysis
• Quick Win Recommendations
• Governance and Organizational Recommendations
• Prioritized Remediation Backlog
• Execution Phase Roadmap
• High-Level Transformation Plan
• Resource and Delivery Recommendations

Consultant Expertise: Finance Transformation Meets D365 Experience

Catena’s consultant combined deep Microsoft Dynamics 365 expertise with extensive finance transformation experience, distinguishing true system limitations from issues rooted in configuration, process design, or user adoption.

One challenge was organizing a broad set of findings into an actionable plan. Catena prioritized recommendations by business impact, implementation complexity, and organizational readiness, allowing leadership to focus first on the highest-value opportunities while building a practical, phased roadmap.

“The assessment findings were very well received by our stakeholders, and the assessment provided us with enough information and actionable recommendations to begin moving forward with implementation,” said the client’s Finance Leadership team.

The Benefit: 128 Opportunities & a 6–9-Month D365 Transformation Roadmap

The assessment enabled the organization to:

• Identify and prioritize 128 improvement opportunities across Finance, Operations, Treasury, Procurement, Customer Management, Reporting, Security, Data Governance, and Technology
• Establish a structured framework for evaluating risk, effort, business impact, and implementation sequencing
• Identify high-value quick wins capable of delivering immediate benefits
• Develop a phased 6–9-month transformation roadmap aligned to business priorities
• Create a foundation for future optimization and modernization initiatives

Our work positioned the organization to:

• Improve financial close, reconciliation, and intercompany processes
• Strengthen governance, approval workflows, and segregation-of-duties controls
• Reduce reliance on spreadsheets and manual reporting processes
• Improve reporting visibility across legal entities and business functions
• Enhance costing accuracy and profitability reporting
• Improve inventory transparency and operational controls
• Strengthen master data governance and ownership
• Increase utilization of Microsoft Dynamics 365 capabilities
• Create a scalable foundation for future transformation initiatives

“This has been a really important step in our path. It’s exactly what we needed,” said the client.