Understand a business process
Most business processes consist of milestones that represent progress along the way to completion. Simple processes might progress through a straight path of milestones to completion, as shown in the following graphic. Commonly, a process might branch in different paths based on information that's discovered as the business process progresses and information is collected. Occasionally, you might encounter more complex processes that revisit prior milestones. Discovery of milestones in a business process is a key aspect of understanding the process.
To help explain how you can better understand a business process, the following example describes the common business process of landing a sale. An infinite number of variations and branches might exist in this process; however, a sales process can be summarized as a lead to an opportunity to a sale.
Lead - Is about potential. You have minimal information about the customer at this point. However, you do know that they might be interested in what's being sold.
Opportunity - After a lead has shown genuine interest in the product or service, they're considered an opportunity, a potential sale with a higher likelihood of a closed deal.
Sale - Is the transaction of the deal.
The process of obtaining a lead can vary. The details of events that would make a lead now qualify as an opportunity can vary. Moreover, steps from the opportunity to a sales transaction can vary.
Accurately mapping those details to communicate them as requirements will have a greater impact on a project than if you focus on single pieces of functionality. This example started with using native functionality that's already found in Dynamics 365 Sales, and the platform will allow you to customize the process to meet the needs of each customer.