Common challenges include compliance gaps, rising licence costs, inconsistent adoption, and uncertainty over system readiness. New Microsoft wave releases can also introduce changes that require preparation to avoid disruption. Without ongoing governance, environments risk becoming fragmented, with duplicated data and systems that no longer align with business needs. This not only affects day-to-day performance but can also slow the adoption of new features such as Microsoft Copilot, which depend on clean, well-governed data.
Why governance can't be optional
Many organisations are still struggling to achieve effective governance in practice. A 2024 Stacklet survey found that 78% of cloud professionals estimate between 21–50% of their cloud spend is wasted due to preventable mistakes and lack of visibility. Although this research relates to cloud spend, the same principle applies to Dynamics estates: without governance, systems are configured inconsistently, leading to inefficiency, duplication and risk.
Governance is what prevents this drift. Putting it in place early not only helps reduce cost and risk, but also ensures that systems remain stable, compliant and ready to adopt new features as they are released.
The Microsoft Dynamics Health Check Framework
The Dynamics Health Check is a structured review of a Microsoft Dynamics 365 CE estate. It examines whether Dynamics is aligned to business needs, compliant with regulation, and prepared for long-term value.
The assessment looks at six common areas where Dynamics environments often struggle. Together, they provide a practical framework for understanding system health and highlighting both immediate issues and areas for improvement:
Licence optimisation – Dynamics 365 licensing can be complex, with overlapping packages and rules that change over time. To avoid compliance issues or service disruption, many organisations over-purchase licences “just in case,” which drives up costs unnecessarily. Reviews of licence usage often reveal significant overspend.
Data quality – duplicate records, incomplete fields and systems that aren’t kept in sync can undermine reporting, analytics and readiness for AI tools like Copilot. The Health Check highlights governance gaps such as missing GDPR consent or opportunities not linked to accounts, and provides recommendations for clean-up, validation rules and aligning master records across environments.
Security posture – in many organisations, access rights in Dynamics are set too broadly, with administrator permissions given to more users than necessary. A review of security configurations highlights issues such as role-based access, restrictions on sensitive fields, and audit logging. Integration with Azure AD is also assessed to strengthen accountability and protect sensitive data.
Integrations and architecture – over time, Dynamics estates often accumulate custom code, one-off integrations and complex workflows, which can make systems fragile and harder to manage. Reviews of solution design and connected systems can identify silos, with more scalable options such as Power Platform connectors or Azure Logic Apps often proving more effective.
User adoption and training – technology only delivers value if people use it. Research shows that 25% of businesses cite training and adoption as the biggest CRM obstacle (Freshworks, 2025). Usage logs and dashboards often reveal adoption gaps. For example, sales teams not tracking opportunities, or service teams bypassing case management. Addressing these usually requires a mix of governance standards, training and embedding Dynamics into daily workflows.
Wave release readiness – Microsoft’s twice-yearly updates introduce valuable new features and improvements, but they can also require adjustments where customisations or older code are in place. Regular reviews of Dynamics estates help identify areas that may need attention, so organisations can plan updates in a controlled way and maintain compliance.
What the Dynamics Health Check delivers
A structured review of a Dynamics estate can surface issues that are often hidden in day-to-day operations: unused licences, duplicate data, security gaps, or unsupported custom code. Bringing these into focus helps organisations decide where to prioritise attention and resources.
The aim is not just to identify problems, but to provide visibility so teams can align their system with compliance needs, prepare for Microsoft’s release cycle, and build stronger data foundations for tools such as Copilot.
Examples of typical outcomes include:
Identifying inefficiencies such as overlapping licences or duplicate records
Strengthening governance through tighter access controls and clearer audit trails
Highlighting data quality issues that undermine analytics and AI readiness
Pinpointing unsupported customisations at risk from Microsoft’s wave releases
The value lies less in a one-off “fix” and more in creating the governance needed for Dynamics to evolve with the organisation’s future needs.
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, we bring both technical expertise and practical experience across public and private sectors. We’ve seen that technical recommendations alone rarely work. The most effective health checks are collaborative and transparent working with teams to understand not just what’s broken, but why, and what’s realistically achievable given organisational constraints.
For anyone interested in how this review works in practice, get in touch with us today and we can provide further details on the Health Check process.
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE HERE