Case study · Utilities
Maintain assets before they fail
Utilities run thousands of pumps, valves and treatment assets, and reactive maintenance is expensive and risky. This is how we implemented Dynamics 365 Asset Management so preventive maintenance, work orders, spares and costs are managed together with finance.
Project overview
Enterprise asset management on Dynamics 365.
- Industry
- Utilities
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Enterprise asset management
- Platform
- D365 Asset Management
- Timeline
- 8–14 months
- Team
- 6 people
- Assets
- 5,000–100,000
- Mobile
- Technician work orders
- Integration
- GIS and SCADA data
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to achieve
Shifting from reactive to planned maintenance is the goal.
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10–25 pts
More planned vs reactive work
Preventive plans generate work before failures.
Percentage-point shift; depends on asset data quality
-
10–20%
Lower spare parts stock
Spares planned against maintenance schedules.
Target range after a year of data
-
Per asset
Maintenance cost history
Labour, parts and contractor costs recorded per asset.
Where work orders are completed in the system
Business challenges
How maintenance worked before
Asset knowledge lives in several systems and people's heads.
Register
Asset data spread across GIS, spreadsheets and an old maintenance tool.
Maintenance
Mostly reactive; preventive schedules tracked manually.
Work orders
Paper job cards for field teams.
Spares
Stock held 'just in case' at depots.
Costs
Maintenance spend known by budget line, not by asset.
Proposed solution
What the Asset Management build covers
Standard asset management connected to finance, supply chain and field teams.
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Asset register
Functional locations and assets with hierarchy, attributes and criticality.
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Maintenance plans
Time and counter-based preventive maintenance.
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Work orders
Planned and reactive work orders with scheduling.
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Field app
Technicians complete work orders on mobile devices.
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Spares
Maintenance spares planned and reserved for work orders.
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Asset costs
Costs per asset feeding finance and renewal planning.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was to move from reactive to planned maintenance. That starts with a trustworthy asset register, so data migration and cleansing are major workstreams.
Criticality drives priorities: the most critical assets get preventive plans first.
What the project had to deliver
- 01One trustworthy asset register
- 02Preventive plans for critical assets
- 03Mobile work orders
- 04Costs per asset
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
-
Incomplete asset data
What we did
The asset register was cleaned before maintenance planning began, starting with the critical assets.
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GIS as the master for locations
What we did
GIS remained the master for locations, integrated so that assets showed their position.
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Regulatory reporting
What we did
Regulatory reports were produced from work order data as it was recorded.
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Field teams with limited connectivity
What we did
The mobile work order app was designed for offline use in the field.
What we watched for
- Clean the register before planning
- Start with critical assets
- Keep GIS as the location master
- Design for offline field work
Development process
Register, plans, work, costs
Asset data comes first, prioritised by criticality.
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Asset data
Register consolidated, cleaned and linked to GIS.
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Criticality and plans
Critical assets identified and preventive plans built.
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Work orders
Work order process and mobile app piloted.
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Spares and finance
Spares planning and cost integration.
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Rollout
All regions live with performance dashboards.
Technology stack
Dynamics 365 Asset Management
Microsoft's EAM with finance and supply chain integration.
EAM
- D365 Asset Management
- Maintenance plans
ERP
- D365 Finance
- D365 SCM
Field
- Mobile work orders
- Offline support
Integration
- GIS
- SCADA readings
- Azure IoT
Quality assurance & deployment
Rehearsed until cut-over was routine
Finance and supply chain systems cannot be tested in production. Processes were proved end to end in test environments, and the cut-over was rehearsed until it held no surprises.
- End-to-end process tests across finance and operations
- Automated regression tests for standard and extended processes
- Data migration rehearsals, reconciled entity by entity
- User acceptance testing by business process owners
- Performance tests at real transaction volumes
Deployment
- 01Spares and financeSpares planning and cost integration.
- 02RolloutAll regions live with performance dashboards.
- 03Rehearsed cut-overA timed cut-over plan, rehearsed at least twice, with a go or no-go decision by the business.
- 04Hypercare and warrantyOn-site or remote support through the first period close, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
Assets maintained on purpose
Critical assets are maintained on plan, field teams complete work orders on their devices and spares are available when needed.
Every asset has a maintenance and cost history that informs renewal decisions.
- Consolidated asset register
- Preventive maintenance plans
- Mobile work orders
- Per-asset cost history
Handed over to the client
- 01Configured Dynamics 365Production and test environments
- 02Extensions and integrationsSource code and documentation
- 03Migrated dataReconciled entity by entity
- 04Process documentation and trainingBy business process
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| More planned vs reactive work | 10–25 pts | Percentage-point shift; depends on asset data quality |
| Lower spare parts stock | 10–20% | Target range after a year of data |
| Maintenance cost history | Per asset | Where work orders are completed in the system |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our Dynamics work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
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Custom Software Development
Web-Based Coupon App Development
The work produced by the team was of exceptional quality.
Jon Thies
CTO, Model Rocket Feb 2022 – Mar 2023
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Custom Software Development
Mobile & Web Platform Development & Design
Silver Scintilla was responsive, respectful, and enjoyable to work with, quickly addressing any questions or requests.
DeShawn Brown
CEO & Founder, Lithios Jun 2021 – Nov 2022
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Custom Software Development
Web-Based HRM System Development
Silver Scintilla provided the best solution with scalable functionality, personalized features, and robust security.
Suheb Khan
Director, Collaborative Insight Technologies Jul 2020 – Jun 2022
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