Dynamics Community Forum Thread Details

Best Practices on Sandbox and Production

Hi:

Does Best Practices dictate the following, for an implementation:

(1) creating a company in production,

(2) configuring that company,

(3) using Configuration Packages to import master records into that company,

(4) copying the Production environment into a Sandbox environment which of course includes that company,

(5) conducting training in that company in the Sandbox,

(6) conducting User Acceptance Testing (UAT) in that company in the Sandbox,

(7) exporting Configuration Packages and their master data from the company in the Sandbox.

(8) importing their Configuration Packages and their master data into the company in Production,

(9) creating Configuration Packages to import net changes and initial balances for the new year into the company in the Sandbox,

(10) validating the data in #9 in that company in the Sandbox and

(11) exporting Configuration Packages and their data from #10 from this company in the Sandbox, and

(12) importing Configuration Packages and their data from #11 into the company in Production.

Thanks!

John

Categories:

Dynamics 365 Business Central

The approach you’ve outlined generally aligns with Best Practices for data management and system implementation in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, with some important clarifications and recommendations:

Typically, we do not create and configure a Production company first. Instead, the preferred practice is to build and configure the company initially in a Sandbox environment to fully test configurations, data imports, and processes before moving anything into Production.
The recommended approach is usually:
- Set up and configure the company in the Sandbox environment first.
- Use Configuration Packages to import master data and initial balances into the Sandbox.
- Perform Training and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) in the Sandbox environment to validate that processes, data, and integrations work as intended.
- Once validated, deploy the same Configuration Packages into the Production environment to replicate master data and configurations without starting directly in Production
Steps involving copying the Production environment into Sandbox typically happen when you want to refresh Sandbox with current Production data. However, during initial implementation, the flow is typically from Sandbox → Production, not the other way.
Regarding ongoing operations like Year-End adjustments:
- It is good practice to prepare, test, and validate any data updates, such as net changes or initial balances, in Sandbox first before applying them in Production.
- Exporting/importing Configuration Packages for this purpose ensures consistency and minimizes risk.

Therefore, the correct best practice flow should look more like: Configure and validate in Sandbox → Import into Production → Refresh Sandbox from Production periodically as needed.

In summary, your overall approach is sound, but I would suggest avoiding creating and configuring the company directly in Production upfront, and instead, focusing the configuration and data imports to happen first in Sandbox, followed by deployment to Production once fully tested.

Let me know if you want me to help you structure a detailed Best Practice guideline based on this.

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