Dynamics Community Forum Thread Details

Should I Merge Solutions, Update An Existing Solution or Create a New One?

I am new to Dynamics 365 and have tasked with updating our cumbersome Dynamics 365 configuration.

I have created a Solution in a test environment, to teach myself how to use and configure Dynamics 365. I now have a solution that is partially completed and untested...but has a lot of hours put into creating new forms, entities, changes to columns (required vs optional), process flows, events, JavaScript Webservices, Products, Prices Lists, Documents Core Pack Integration with custom templates and ZoomInfo integration.

We have a Solution in production that has too many unused components, forms, fields, etc...and is kind of a mess. I would like to move some of my forms, flows, etc... over to production so that the Sales Team can start using them. There are still things in the Production Solution that we want to keep. Our Production Data also needs to be cleaned up.

I'm trying to figure out how best to roll out some of the things I have created without breaking anything in production.

What are my options?

1. Move the Test solution to production, create a third solution and Merge the two? (I think I found a tool that helps with this)

2. Move the Test Solution to production and modify the Production solution by adding from existing for forms, entities, flows, etc...? (I'm scare I will break something?)

3. Other?

I'm a toddler (Infant) when it comes to Dynamics and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thank you!

Hi,

As far as I know, some of the Dynamic 365 users do the following:
1. import only managed solutions in the production environment.
2. every time you make a change, use the same publisher to update the old version with the new version of the solution.
3. unmanaged solution can override the managed solution, but it is not recommended, we should not put the same functionality in multiple solutions, it will make a mess of this project, but it can be a contingency plan in special cases.

In all of the above approaches, it is necessary to first ensure that the original solution structure in the production environment is not changed.

(e.g. if one solution is responsible for a certain function, then it should continue to be responsible for it and there should not be another solution responsible for the same function.)

However, if your original production environment is already very confusing, it is recommended that you organize a clear structure in your test environment, and finally replace the old solution with a higher version of the solution after importing all the features.

For example, if I have a solution A that includes x+y+z functionality. I should first import solution B, which includes y functionality, and solution C, which includes z functionality, and finally replace A with a new version of solution A that includes only x functionality. (There are no dependencies between x,y,z)

If my answer was helpful, please click Like, and if it solved your problem, I hope you can verify it to help other community members find more.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.
Regards,
Haig

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