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Dynamics 365 Guides provides heads-up, hands-free, step-by-step instructions during the flow of work. Operators control the interface with their gaze to move to the next step. Instruction cards follow the operator as they move around equipment if wanted. additionally, holograms point to the tools and parts that operators need, and show them exactly how and where to use them. This helps reduce mental processing time, errors, and the need to rely on a buddy system.
For Dynamics 365 Guides, we require the following:
PC App to determine anchoring methods, create guide structure, add step by step instructions and supporting 3D models.
Hololens App to anchor the guide, place holograms in the correct location and to test the guide.
Installation of PC application
Sign up for the Dynamics 365 Guides trial under Microsoft and follow the wizard.
Sign in with your user credentials.
Make sure you have the correct licenses assigned. For Dynamics 365 Guides we need at least the D365 Guides Trial license.
Set up your environment.
To set up Dynamics 365 Guides, you must complete these general steps.
Buy a subscription or sign up for a free 30-day trial subscription.
Install the solution.
Here, I chose the 30-day trial subscription and provisioned my Power Platform environment. Afterwards, navigate to power platform admin center under resources/D365 apps and install the Dynamics 365 Guides solution
Link: https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com/environments
Select the environment.
Click on resources and D365 apps on the Actionpane.
Click on install apps on next sceen.
Find D365 Guides app now and confirm with next.
Agree to terms and install.
The installation kicked off - This takes a few minutes.
After 20 minutes-ish, the installation should be completed.
Now, navigate to Power Platform admin center and assign author role under settings/user + permissions.
Navigate to Users + Permission and then users.
If you want to add one or more users, select add user at the top of the page, enter the account details and then select Add.
Now, click on "Manage users in Dynamics 365" on Actionpane.
Select the user that you just added (Here: Hololens) and click on "manage security roles" on the Actionpane.
Select the roles to be added. (Here: Guides Author)
Basic user should be selected plus D365 Guides author role.
Now, we are ready to install the apps (PC and HoloLens).
There, are two Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides apps:
PC authoring app
HoloLens app, which has an Author mode and an Operate mode
You can install both apps from Microsoft Store.
Let's start with the PC authoring app.
First, make sure that your local machine runs Windows 10 with build 10.0.17134 (April 2018 update) or later.
On your computer, go to Start > Microsoft Store , and then search for "Dynamics 365 Guides."
Download the PC app under Get Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides - Microsoft Store.
Click get and install and then launch.
Sign in with the user above enabled for author role (Here: Hololens).
After sign in with account above, choose the environment to be used. Select the environment created earlier above.
Note: Please make sure you are running the most recent version of PC authoring app moving forward. You may get prompted if you are running an outdated version.
For example, my current app version is:
While the latest version is:
Find information on latest version updates here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/mixed-reality/guides/admin-apps-solution-compatibility
You are ready to create a guide now.
The 2nd part of installation happens at the Hololens itself. Dynamics 365 Guides is usually pre-installed on the HoloLens device and is pinned to the Start menu.
Use the Start gesture to open the Start menu. Update the HoloLens app from the Microsoft Store as needed.
It is strongly recommend that you update HoloLens to newer versions as they become available.
Lastly, you may want to use D365 Guides OTB PowerBI Analytics report.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides includes Power BI reports (called Guides Analytics) that you can use to analyze Dynamics 365 Guides processes. Herefore, you require PowerBI Desktop.
If you have a Power BI Pro license, you can share your Guides Analytics Power BI reports within your organization by publishing them to the Power BI Service. In this case, anyone in your organization who has a Power BI Pro license can access the report through the Power BI Service web interface that is accessible at https://powerbi.microsoft.com.
Navigate to PowerBI Desktop in Microsoft store.
Click get and install.
After that, in the Dynamics 365 Guides PC authoring app, select the Analyze tab, copy the highlighted Instance URL text, and then select Continue to go to the Microsoft Download Center.
On next screen grap the URL by copying and click continue.
This brings you to the download center - In the Microsoft Download Center, select Download.
You'll be prompted to choose the files to download both of the below.
Guides Analytics Template. You can configure this Power BI template file to display Dynamics 365 Guides time-tracking data from within your organization.
Guides Analytics Demo. You can use this Power BI file to view an example data set. It does not require any configuration and lets you get an overview of Guides Analytics reports before you even create your first guide.
We download both files.
Open the downloaded Guides Analytics Template.pbit file with Power BI Desktop. Use your Dynamics 365 Guides username and password if you're prompted to sign in to Power BI.
When prompted, paste the Instance URL into the text box as shown here. This is the same Instance URL you copied from the Analyze tab in the PC authoring app in step 1.
You might see the following error message saying you aren't signed in:
In that case, select Sign in, and enter your Dynamics 365 Guides username and password to connect the template to your organization's secure Dynamics 365 environment.
Now, its working and loading.
You should now see the template populated with data from your own guides. If you haven't operated any guides yet, your reports might appear blank.
Save the configured reports to a convenient place on your computer for later use.
Select Refresh on the Home ribbon to update your reports with the most recent Dynamics 365 Guides data.
Some more information about Guides and PowerBI:
Guides Analytics is part of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Guides application suite. You can use Guides Analytics to analyze the usage of guides across your organization.
The above template reports are simply templates to help you get started analyzing your guide session data and can serve as inspiration as you build your own customized reports.
Data points that can be reviewed via PowerBI and Guides:
How many guides have been used to date?
Is the number of times a guide is operated per day increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable over time?
Which guides take the most time to complete?
Are operators completing the guide or only going through half the steps?
Additionally, you can also use Guides Analytics to drill and slice and dice into detailed time-tracking information at the task and step levels. E.g.
Which step of a guide takes the most time?
Which step of a guide has the most variability in operator time?
Is the amount of operation time equally distributed between tasks?
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