Customization is one of the most debated topics in ERP implementation. A majority of the customers have intentions to implement the ERP system without any customization. However, when a project team starts gathering the requirements and doing fit-gap analysis, one or more customizations are inevitable. Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Enterprise edition provides a broad variety of technologies and tool sets for developers to build additional solutions and functionalities. These tools not only enable the customer and the partners to customize the end product in order to meet the business requirements in a specific project but also help Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to build industry specific vertical solutions for a larger ecosystem. In this chapter, we will learn about the development process and tools in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, Enterprise edition. We will cover the following topics in this chapter:

• Architecture and concepts
• Development environment
• Development planning
• Development process
• Build and continuous updates
• Guidelines and best practices

In this architecture, we will explore the things that you need to know before starting the development, for example, development environment, tools, technical concepts, and build and versioning strategies. In development planning, you will learn about setting up the basic rules and guidelines before the development starts. In the development process, we will walk you through the development process, frameworks, and best practices. In the build and continuous update section, we will explore the automated build and deployment processes. In the end, we will discuss some common best practices and guidelines applicable in the development phase.