"We knew we needed to rethink how we were storing attached documents in Dynamics 365. We were approaching our allocated storage limits, and the cost of continuing to expand that storage was becoming difficult to justify.”
– Demetrius Henry, IT Director,
Stars Behavioral Health Group
Customer: Stars Behavioral Health Group
Activity: Provider of behavioral health care, including crisis, and community programs
Headquarters: Long Beach, California, USA
Size: 2,000+ employees, 60 locations, and over 40,000 people served annually
Stars Behavioral Health Group is a leading provider of behavioral health services in the United States, dedicated to helping individuals and communities achieve healthier, more fulfilling lives.
With a broad range of programs and services, Stars relies on technology to support its teams, manage critical information, and deliver effective care across the organization. As part of its technology environment, Stars uses Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 to support business operations and manage information.
As the volume of documents associated with Dynamics 365 records continued to grow, Stars chose to focus specifically on attachment storage, seeking a more sustainable way to store and manage those files.
The Challenge: Dynamics 365 Storage Capacity Was Running Low
As the volume of documents stored in Dynamics 365 increased, Stars faced two related challenges: storage capacity and cost.
Stars was running out of its allocated Dynamics 365 storage, creating an immediate need for a more sustainable long-term strategy. This is a common problem: as organizations accumulate large volumes of documents, costs rise. Attachments are often an important part of this storage growth.
The organization already had an established cloud platform for document management: Microsoft SharePoint.
Because SharePoint was already part of Stars' technology environment, it provided a natural destination for attachments at a fraction of the cost of storing those same files directly in Dynamics 365.
However, simply moving attachments to SharePoint was not enough. Stars needed to make the change without disrupting the people who rely on Dynamics 365 every day. Users needed to continue accessing those documents from within Dynamics 365 without having to learn a new process or understand where the underlying files were physically stored.
For Stars, the ideal solution needed to reduce Dynamics 365 storage consumption, take advantage of its existing SharePoint investment, and maintain the user experience as similar as possible.
The Solution: Storing Attachments in SharePoint
Stars implemented CB Dynamics 365 Seamless Attachment Extractor so that attachments associated with Dynamics 365 records are stored in SharePoint rather than consuming valuable Dynamics 365 storage. At the same time, users continue to access these documents through Dynamics 365 in the way they expect, with the underlying storage process happening behind the scenes.
This allowed Stars to leverage its existing SharePoint environment as a more cost-effective and scalable attachment repository while continuing to use Dynamics 365 as the primary business application for its users.
Demetrius Henry, IT Director, Stars Behavioral Health Group, emphasized that keeping things simple for users was a priority. “What was important to us was that this change didn’t create another system for our users to manage,” he explained.
With CB Dynamics 365 Seamless Attachment Extractor connecting Dynamics 365 and SharePoint behind the scenes, the transition required no change in how users work. “They can continue working in Dynamics 365 and accessing their documents the way they always have, while we’re able to take advantage of SharePoint on the back end.”, Henry concluded.
The Result: Lower Storage Costs, Same Dynamics 365 Experience
Stars can now make better use of its existing Microsoft 365 investment, reduce pressure on Dynamics 365 storage, and establish a more sustainable approach to managing its growing volume of documents.
For Stars, CB Dynamics 365 Seamless Attachment Extractor provided a practical way to address both the cost and capacity challenges of Dynamics 365 storage/Dataverse while maintaining the seamless document experience its users depend on.
Henry noted that it elegantly solved their main pain point: "We knew we needed to rethink how we were storing attached documents in Dynamics 365. We were approaching our allocated storage limits, and the cost of continuing to expand that storage was becoming difficult to justify.”. By pairing Dynamics 365 with SharePoint, Stars addressed the attachments’ issue at the source.
Key Takeaways for IT Leaders Managing Dynamics 365 CE and SharePoint
- Treat Dynamics 365 storage as a cost to manage early. Attachments accumulate quietly, and expanding Dynamics 365 capacity gets harder to justify over time. Acting before you hit your limit gives you more options.
- Build on the SharePoint investment you already have. If SharePoint is part of your Microsoft 365 environment, it offers a more cost-effective and scalable home for documents than Dynamics 365/Dataverse itself. If not, the same solution can apply to Azure File Storage and Azure Blob Storage.
- Protect the user experience. Adoption is the real risk in any storage change. A solution that keeps attachments accessible from within Dynamics 365 means no retraining and no new systems for users to manage.
Stars' story is a reminder that reducing storage costs and keeping users productive don’t have to be competing goals. With the right connection between Dynamics 365 and SharePoint, organizations can do both.