Implementing Dynamics 365 Finance & SCM for Sokos Hotels' CIS expansion

Sokos Hotels engaged Awara IT to modernize finance and operational processes as the group entered the CIS market. The project required a migration and upgrade path from Microsoft Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Finance & SCM, integration with hotel front-office systems, and delivery of Russian statutory accounting and tax compliance—while preserving Sokos corporate reporting standards and enabling IFRS consolidation for the Finnish parent.

Awara IT implemented a solution that connected Opera (PMS) and Micros Material Control to Dynamics 365, automated treasury workflows and payment approvals, and delivered a transformation layer to convert Russian statutory statements into IFRS. The result was faster month-end close, lower manual reconciliation effort for guest settlements and inventory, and a single, auditable ledger supporting both local compliance and group reporting.

Client / Industry / Country

Sokos Hotels is an affordable hotels group headquartered in Finland expanding operations into the CIS region. The engagement focused on finance and operational systems that span multiple legal entities and hotel properties operating under the Sokos brand.

Business challenge

The business challenge was threefold: first, Sokos needed end-to-end sales, finance and service processes that complied with Russian legislation, accounting and tax requirements; second, key hotel systems (Opera PMS and Micros Material Control) had to be tightly integrated to ensure accurate guest settlement, inventory and revenue posting; third, the parent company required consolidated financial statements in IFRS while local entities produced statutory Russian reports.

Operationally the legacy Dynamics NAV footprint limited multi-entity consolidation, had manual data handoffs between the PMS/POS and ERP, and lacked automated treasury controls for payment approvals and cash-flow forecasting. Reconciliation of guest settlements and warehouse usage was manual and error-prone, increasing month-end cycle time and the risk of non-compliance with local tax filings.

Why Dynamics 365 was selected

Dynamics 365 Finance & SCM was selected because it provides a modern, supported upgrade path from Dynamics NAV/BC, robust multi-ledger and multi-currency capabilities, and native modules for finance, inventory and procurement that meet enterprise consolidation needs. Its extensibility and integration framework allowed Awara IT to build reliable connectors to Opera and Micros while keeping core finance processes within a single system of record.

Additional selection criteria included built-in global regulatory reporting capabilities, the ability to implement treasury and payment approval workflows, and Microsoft’s ecosystem (Azure, Power Platform) for secure integrations and automated approvals. Working with Awara IT ensured a pragmatic implementation that balanced local legal compliance for Russia with the Sokos group’s IFRS reporting requirements.

Modules implemented

• General Ledger and Chart of Accounts mapping (local + IFRS)
• Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable
• Cash & Bank Management and Treasury (approval workflows)
• Inventory Management and Warehouse processes
• Procurement and Purchase-to-Pay
• Fixed Assets and Depreciation
• Multi-company Consolidation and Legal Entity Reporting
• Regulatory Reporting & Statutory Russian reports
• Intercompany transactions and elimination logic
• Reporting / Power BI financial dashboards

Integrations

• Opera Property Management System (PMS) — guest folio and reservations
• Micros Material Control — inventory and warehouse movements
• Bank/payment gateway connectivity for payment runs and approvals
• Parent company consolidation feed (IFRS transformation module)
• Azure-based middleware (Logic Apps) for reliable message routing
• Local tax filing/export interfaces to statutory reporting

Localization & compliance

Awara IT delivered localization to meet Russian statutory accounting and tax requirements, including a local chart of accounts variant, VAT and tax posting rules, and statutory report formats required by local authorities. The implementation included Russian-language labels where needed and configurable reporting templates so statutory statements could be produced directly from Dynamics 365.

To reconcile local practice with group reporting, Awara IT built a transformation layer that maps Russian statutory results into the Finnish parent’s IFRS chart of accounts and reporting structure. The solution preserved audit trails for both statutory and consolidated reporting and supported the filing cadence required by Russian tax and accounting authorities.

Business value

The implementation enabled Sokos Hotels to operate in Russia with a compliant, auditable finance and inventory backbone while preserving group-level reporting standards. Automated integrations from Opera and Micros eliminated most manual postings and reconciliations, substantially reducing exceptions and accelerating the month-end cycle. Treasury workflows gave finance control over payment approvals and improved cash visibility across entities.

Operational benefits included reduced operational cost in hotel accounting teams, tighter inventory controls in food & beverage operations, and reliable, repeatable IFRS consolidation for the parent company. The solution provided a scalable platform for further CIS expansion without rework of core finance processes.