From Discovery to Delivery: Workforce Planning for Microsoft Fabric & Dynamics 365 Transformations

Over the past 12 months, saas nine has been embedded across multiple enterprise transformation programs spanning manufacturing, energy retail, and broader retail organisations.

While these industries operate under very different commercial and regulatory pressures, the transformation agendas have been remarkably consistent:

Modern Microsoft Fabric data platforms
Enterprise data warehouses and analytics
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (FinOps) and ERP modernisation
Multi-year delivery roadmaps with phased go-lives and BAU transition

Across all of these programs, our role has been the same:
to design, build, and sustain the delivery teams that make Microsoft-led transformations achievable.

Different Industries, Different Pressures — Same Workforce Reality

Each sector brings its own nuance:

Manufacturing organisations prioritise operational efficiency, supply-chain visibility, and long-term platform stability.
Energy retailers operate under regulatory scrutiny, pricing volatility, and strict reporting timelines, placing heavy emphasis on data accuracy and governance.
Retail organisations focus on speed, customer insight, and the ability to adapt rapidly to changing demand patterns.

Despite these differences, the underlying challenge is the same:

Workforce decisions made too late — or without market context — create delivery delays, cost overruns, and capability gaps.

This is where early workforce planning becomes a strategic advantage.

Early Engagement Changes the Trajectory of Delivery

Across each program, saas nine was engaged during discovery or early planning, well before delivery teams were locked in.

Rather than being asked:

“Can you recruit these roles?”

We were asked:

“What should this team look like if we want this Microsoft transformation to succeed?”

Drawing on experience building teams across Fabric, enterprise data platforms, and Dynamics 365, we supported stakeholders with insight into:

Which roles were genuinely required versus assumed
Where responsibilities could be combined into hybrid roles
Where separation of duties was essential due to scale, compliance, or risk
How skill demand would evolve from discovery, to build, to go-live, and into BAU

This allowed organisations to plan with clarity — not assumptions.

Translating Internal Role Needs Into Market-Ready Positions

A consistent challenge across manufacturing, energy, and retail programs was the disconnect between:

Internal role definitions that made sense to stakeholders, and
Market-facing roles that actually attract the right talent

In many cases, a single internal role attempted to cover:

Architecture and delivery
Platform ownership and hands-on build
Strategy and execution

saas nine worked closely with stream leaders to:

Unbundle complex internal roles
Reframe them into clear, market-aligned positions
Validate feasibility against current talent availability

The outcome was roles that could be approved internally and filled externally — without prolonged delays or rework.

Supporting Executive and Board-Level Sign-Off

Workforce cost represents one of the largest and least flexible components of Microsoft-led transformation programs.

Across these engagements, we supported delivery leaders and executives by providing:

Clear cost bandings by role type
Real-world benchmarking based on recent placements
Scenario modelling for alternative team structures

This enabled stakeholders to take a credible, defensible workforce strategy to executive teams and boards — accelerating approvals and reducing late-stage surprises.

A Flexible Augmentation Model That Scales Across Programs

Rather than locking programs into rigid role definitions, saas nine helped design flexible augmentation frameworks, typically structured around agreed role bands.

For example:

A higher-complexity Position A
A delivery-focused Position B
Emerging or hybrid roles assessed collaboratively as programs evolved

This approach created:

Cost predictability
Commercial clarity
The flexibility required across long-running, multi-phase Microsoft transformations

It also reduced friction when new capability was required — decisions could be made quickly and with confidence.

The Talent Portal: From Recruitment to Delivery Infrastructure

An increasingly important element across all three organisations has been the adoption of the saas nine Talent Portal.

Each client has direct access to a live, curated pool of pre-qualified and referenced resources across:

Microsoft Fabric and data platforms
Data engineering, analytics, and reporting
Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
ERP, integration, and transformation delivery roles

In practice, this has meant that:

Clients have interviewed candidates directly
In some cases, clients have engaged resources without saas nine managing the placement end-to-end
The portal has been used as a real-time market reference during planning and delivery discussions

This is intentional.

Once a workforce model and augmentation framework are in place, speed, reliability, and transparency matter more than transactional recruitment.

Why This Matters for Long-Running Microsoft Transformations

Microsoft transformation programs don’t stand still.

Requirements change, priorities shift, and capability gaps emerge — often with little warning. By embedding access to the Talent Portal as part of the engagement, organisations benefit from:

Immediate visibility of relevant capability
Access to pre-qualified talent, not cold CVs
Reduced dependency on lengthy search cycles
Confidence that resources align with agreed delivery models and cost bandings

For delivery leaders, this becomes a force multiplier — not a replacement for recruitment, but an extension of delivery capability.

Ongoing Engagement Beyond Placement

Across manufacturing, energy, and retail programs, saas nine’s involvement doesn’t stop once roles are filled.

We maintain an active delivery-support model that includes:

Regular check-ins with contractors and project sponsors
Ensuring resources are onboarded correctly and set up for longevity
Monitoring fit as delivery pressures evolve
Rapid replacement capability where required

In transformation programs of this scale, agility matters — and not every placement is perfect on day one.

Preparing for BAU and Future Phases

Because saas nine is embedded from the outset, we are well positioned to support:

Transition from project delivery to BAU
Decisions around which roles should roll forward
Capability uplift for future phases and enhancements

The outcome across these programs isn’t just successful go-lives — it’s sustainable Microsoft delivery capability inside the organisation.

Why This Matters

Technology platforms don’t deliver outcomes on their own.

Across Microsoft Fabric and Dynamics 365 transformations, success consistently comes down to:

Early workforce planning
Market-aligned role design
Flexible augmentation strategies
Ongoing engagement beyond recruitment
Reliable access to pre-qualified capability

That’s where saas nine operates.

We sit at the intersection of Microsoft delivery, talent, and transformation, helping organisations build teams that can actually deliver complex enterprise change.

Workforce Planning for Microsoft Fabric & Dynamics 365 Transformations