A look back at DynamicsCon 2025
11. June 2025
BMZ
1. October 2025
CASE STUDY
KBS
Secure and smooth carve-out directly to the cloud
Removal and migration of a Dynamics 365 tenant from on-prem to the Azure cloud
KION Battery Systems (KBS), founded as a joint venture between KION GROUP AG and BMZ Holding GmbH, has been manufacturing various types of lithium-ion batteries for industrial trucks in Karlstein am Main since 2020. In 2022, production was expanded to include the manufacture of 24-volt batteries for use in electrified warehouse trucks.
The KBS production facility is located at the headquarters of the BMZ Group. The company uses Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management and was given a client in the locally hosted Dynamics 365 system of BMZ Germany. Now it was to be removed from this on-prem system, primarily to benefit from more flexibility and optimization potential in its own CAB environment. Sven Mahn IT was commissioned with the planning and realization of this carve-out.
The project started in August 2023 and the aim was not only to move KBS to an independent system, but also to combine this with the move to the Azure cloud. No process changes or optimizations were planned. Instead, the aim was to ensure that users of the system would not notice any differences as a result of the changeover.
First, an Azure environment was set up, into which the application status and database were copied from the existing on-prem system. The masking of sensitive data from other clients ensured a clean separation of data. The technical infrastructure of both companies also had to be separated and a separate Azure environment created for KBS.
Connected systems, such as Bluestar PLM and EoL, were also split into a KBS and a BMZ system. As part of the project, Sven Mahn IT also implemented the dox42 document automation system to replace the Lasernet software previously used to create reports.
The validation process was carried out using conference room pilots. The main processes were tested in three CRP rounds to ensure the quality of the implementation. The Sören tool was used for testing. The test management and execution assistant developed by Sven Mahn IT offers optimal support even for non-routine testers. Thanks to its clarity and intuitive operation, the KBS project team was able to carry out the tests independently and the test results were documented.
This allowed bugs to be identified quickly and rectified by the team.
The carve-out and lift of the system from on-prem to the cloud was successfully completed in February 2024. By using Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management in the Azure Cloud, KBS was able to achieve a significant improvement in terms of performance, scalability and flexibility. The seamless integration into the Azure platform enables resources to be used more efficiently
In addition, the company now has access to advanced Azure and Dynamics 365 features and services to help it grow and scale its business.
Following the carve-out project, the well-coordinated team from KBS and Sven Mahn IT move directly into the next phase. Together, they will identify and implement optimization opportunities and new requirements in order to fully exploit the potential of Dynamics 365.
