Start your D365 Project Ops journey yourself!

Did you know you can put your hands on a brand new D365 Project Operations environment yourself?

That is right my friend! Microsoft allows you to deploy a 30-day Free trial sandbox where you can do your own testing, prepare your demos and much more just by using your personal email account!

Project Ops is one of the Microsoft bets to deliver project driven business in a simple and intuitive way avoiding complex setups and process restrictions by combining Dataverse (where D365 CE lives) and D365FO environments.

One of the many advantages of this is that as with CE it allows you to deploy in an environment without all the complexity of having access and permission to the LCS, which for us the consultants is fantastic news!

Let's go for it!

You can deploy your own environment here https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics-365/free-trial you just need to follow the steps and have a credit card (do not worry, they won't charge you! at least they haven't done it to me!).

At the bottom of this page, you will find all the options to deploy including Project Operations!

Just follow the 3 simple steps and voilà!!! You will have an on-microsoft account that will grant you access to a Project Operations environment!

Enjoy...

And then?

I got you! What will happen next is that Microsoft will take you directly to the Initial deployment page where a questionnaire guides you to the best environment option as you answer all the questions about your business needs. If by any chance you do not know where to start this or you couldn't find the page, you can click the following link https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/projectoperationstrial (remember always to login with your onmicrosoft account)

Here is a very interesting video that might help you to solve your questions at this point!

https://youtu.be/5pLssVqgtTQ?si=dLbMoaxlk0PMEudJ

Once you have finished all the questions, the platform will suggest the best option for you (it does not prevent you from selecting another option if that is what you want). You just need to hit the Begin Setup button, and they will let you know once it is ready.

What next?

If this is your first time and you are not familiarized with these technologies. It is important to understand that MS will release a whole Power Platform Admin Center Instance that will contain all the solutions together (D365 CE, Project Ops, F&O) as well as multiple tools that you might be able to use in the future!

PPAC goes beyond business application, it also allows you to manage web pages and all kinds of solutions that can live in your tenant dataverse (Here, a really good source from MS for learning more about PPAC. https://youtu.be/DJt5OrXHtsM?si=ZJipOrlYeHHxelko)

Let's get back to business!

You will also be able to open your PPAC Instance with your Onmicrosoft account here https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/environments

Couple of things more to explain...

• The default environment will always be there (it is the one that allows to hold and deploy the Project Ops environment), you don't need to edit it or apply any change.

• The trial environments are the result of deploying environments from the Initial deployment page if you click on them, you will see the Dataverse URL and the F&O URL if it applies to your deployment.

• You can deploy up to 3 environments in this instance (you can also delete the ones you don't need any more).

  
  

• It can take a couple of hours to deploy your environment. It is not an instant process I suggest you to be patient and give it enough time to do the magic.

  
  

• If by any chance you have issues with the deployment on the left side, you will find the Help + Support from Microsoft.

  
  

Enjoy your journey on Project Operations!

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