My involvement with Sure Step began in 2007 with an interim (v1.5) internal release. Through all the subsequent releases, I have had the fortune of working with many individuals and partner organizations whose contributions were critical to the evolution of Sure Step. I often refer to Sure Step as a methodology by the field and for the field—the main reason for the continued adoption of Sure Step is the practical guidance provided by individuals with real-world experience in selling and delivering the Microsoft Dynamics business solutions.
There have been several partners who have contributed their thought leadership to Sure Step, and our sincere thanks to each of you for the content and continued evangelization of the solution. There have also been several Microsoft individuals who have played key roles in the evolution of Sure Step, including the Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS), Microsoft Global Solutions India (MGSI)/Microsoft Services Global Delivery, and Microsoft Dynamics Product and Field Teams. I thank each and every one of you, and would also like to call out a few individuals:
- Version 1.0: Laureen Leingaing for leading the development of the overall framework; Udo Burbank and Oliver Besler for the Editor tool.
- V1.5 (Internal): Danny Nakagi for expanding the Cross Phase Processes into true swim lanes; Suneel Mathur for advice on the Enterprise Project Type; Bill Hylwa for expanding the Testing activities, especially for Enterprise projects; Eric Stathers and David Goad for leading the Decision Accelerator offerings; Jony Lawrence and MGSI for helping with the solution finalization.
- V2: Aditya Mohan and Mykola Konrad for their leadership and coordination of the overall program; Patrick Cooley and Rainer Nasch for the Client design; Philip Donald and Richard Grant for creating the Visio standards and the first subset of Process Maps for Microsoft Dynamics AX and CRM; Ronni Mattson, Mark Prazak, Maciej Pogoda, and Brian Bakke for helping with the Optimization offerings.
- V2.6 and V3.0: Aditya Mohan and Lori Thalmann-Pytlik for their leadership and coordination of the overall program; Michael Hoffman for the AX and CRM Estimator Tools, Shaun Letley and Siva Surisetty for Agile Project Type; Cally Bauman for Public Sector industry coverage; Colin Silveira, Matt Koopmans and Rebecka Isaksson-Sehlstedt for OCM content.
I would like to thank the Microsoft Dynamics Leadership team, including Kirill Tatarinov, Michael Park, Hal Howard, and Doug Kennedy—your unwavering support for Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step clearly shows Microsoft's commitment to our customers and the Microsoft partner ecosystem. To my friend and Product Team counterpart, Aditya Mohan—your unabashed enthusiasm and evangelization for Microsoft Dynamics in general and Sure Step in particular continues to shine through. I also want to acknowledge the Microsoft Services leadership team, including Kathleen Hogan, Norm Judah, Kristen Johnson, and Paul Mirts—with your support, the services offerings not only leverage the great work done by the field, but they are also openly shared with the partner and customer ecosystems via Sure Step.
This book has been a culmination of many hours of labor. Given that it consumed almost all of my non-work time, I am grateful and thankful to my dear partner in crime, Vincent Bellefroid, for making this long journey enjoyable and worth the effort. Vincent, your knowledge of Sure Step and the partner and customer ecosystems for Microsoft Dynamics are evident in your practical explanations and scenarios that resonate with your audience. We couldn't be happier that you are a key part of our team!
Sincere thanks to our book reviewers, Jim Atkinson, Vjekoslav Babić, Ross Cook, and Aditya Mohan—your suggestions were important in creating a better product. Thanks also to the continued guidance from Kerry George and the rest of the Packt Publishing team—I cannot understate the importance of your help in addressing questions in a timely manner!
We would also like to acknowledge our Foreword writers, Aditya Mohan, Anders Spatzek, Kundan Prakash, Lori Thalmann Pytlik, Muhammad Alam, and Theo Gees. Thank you for your support of the book and the Sure Step program.
Last but not the least, I want to thank my past and present Microsoft mentors, Eric Stathers and Gayle Hoshino—your guidance has been a critical part of my development.
I would like to dedicate this book to my family—to my wife Veena, and my beautiful daughters Maya and Tara, you have given up so much of your personal lives during the development of this book, and I couldn't thank you enough for that. I would also like to thank my extended family—your support and encouragement drove me all the way. Special thanks to my father, L. Shankar, who even took some time to review a few sections and provide feedback.
And now, as one of my colleagues remarked, I look forward to getting my life back!
Vincent Bellefroid is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), founder, and co-owner of Plataan. Plataan is a Gold-Certified Partner of Microsoft, an independent training and consultancy bureau that specializes in Microsoft Dynamics and Project Management. Vincent is an experienced implementation consultant, who has worked with a number of customer and partner organizations, including global SIs. Building upon his distinguished ERP implementation career, Vincent is now responsible for the project management and quality control at Plataan.
Vincent was one of the early adopters of Sure Step in Europe and has been evangelizing the true value of Sure Step ever since. He has conducted multiple Sure Step training sessions, while helping the Microsoft Sure Step team develop the training materials and courseware. Vincent also guides Microsoft Dynamics partners through the certification and adoption process of Sure Step.