Microsoft Dynamics AX2012: A First Look at a New Generation of ERP

Recently a team of delegates from each of eBECS' country offices together with a number of eBECS customers attended the Microsoft Dynamics Technical Conference to learn more about the latest generation of Microsoft Dynamics AX: AX2012. As a user of Micrsoft Dynamic AX you will be intered to read below a summary review.


Known previously and unofficially as 'AX6' and scheduled for full release later this year, AX2012 represents a significant advance on AX2009. While AX2009's roots can be traced without difficulty back through AX4 to Axapta 3.0 and earlier, AX2012 represents a step-change away from this traditional structure although the common DNA is clear to see.

The footprint of AX2012 is 140% greater than that of AX2009 with greater emphasis on public sector and services industry activities. The general architecture has developed in several ways from an improved user interface, through an enhanced framework for development to the improved sharing of data between company environments.

From a technical perspective, a great deal of effort has been directed to consolidating the environment. Development tools have been simplified incorporating greater degree of interaction with Visual Studio. The authoring of help text is now simplified and no longer requires a complex set of conversions to translate processes into online help, while deployment of forms to the Enterprise Portal can now be achieved with a single click.

But it is the integration with analytical tools and Microsoft Office that is truly spectacular. AX now appears as a set of ribbon tools in Excel and Word, while it is possible to drag and drop AX fields into Excel and even publish data back from Excel direct into AX.

Across all disciplines, a new Global Address Book takes the approach started in AX2009 but takes this further to reduce much of the address duplication that had been present while enhancing standardisation for maintenance.

Within Finance, Manufacturing and Logistics, the extent of the changes is immediately apparent. Manufacturing now combines discrete, process and, closest to eBECS' heart: Lean. All three methodologies co-exist within a common set of policies that combine pull and push, while Master Planning works in conjunction with them all.

The intercompany capabilities of AX2012 represent a step change from what has gone before. Although intercompany can operate only within a common instance, it is now possible to explode demand across companies. Meanwhile, forecasting has been enhanced, to allow something that has been wanted for a long time: the ability to forecast on a low-level BoM item, while forecast scheduling, reduction and consumption are all improved.

Supporting the intercompany capabilities, product master data can be shared across legal entities and critical data can be shared to match. Meanwhile, a new entity, a 'Non-Stocked Part' has been added to support enhanced requisitioning capabilities which include a more flexible approval workflow and the ability to 'punch out' to supplier websites. Mention of suppliers should also include enhanced self-service capabilities which marry-up a new vendor portal and workflow.

Lean is now a fully-integrated part of the SYS later and, while displaying its eBECS origins, has been re-written from the ground up. Gone are purchase kanbans, and Lean Order Schedules, just arrived are Lean Production Flows, a range of new kanban types and 'Throughput Principle' planning, which is similar in concept to the 'Drumbeat' used in AX2009.

Finally, one other highlight within the manufacturing arena is product configuration. An entirely new product configurator has been created, using Microsoft Solver Foundation at its core. This new constraint-based configurator is separate to Product Builder and will supplement it for at least the first release of AX2012. The new configurator uses constraint-based rather than rules-based language and is expected to provide a lower total cost of ownership and better external integration through APIs.

Changes within Finance include an improved framework for organisational models. Legal and operating units are now separated and this links into a new security model. There are better visual tools to manage organisational structures, while these form the basis of financial and accounting structures.

Accounts are now shared by default across companies, while the split between ledger and sub-ledger structures has been enhanced and this goes further into dimension structures where, within certain constraints, all logistical entities can be set as a dimension with a simple code change.

Budgetary control has been developed to encompass many other modules, most specifically purchase and project and although developed with the public sector in mind, it has direct relevance to other industries. Similarly, expense management has been enhanced to incorporate workflow, document scanning and credit card integration. Closing the loop on budget and expense management, the Projects module has received a range of enhancements with the professional services market in mind which integrate more closely to budget control but provide additional capabilities for resource allocation and work breakdown structures.

In conclusion, AX2012 represents a step-change from AX2009, taking Dynamics AX to a higher level of capability, especially with regard to larger and more complex organisations. However, it still retains its capability to support small and medium-sized companies while the common DNA with earlier versions will mean that a transformation to this latest version will be a logical evolution from earlier generations.

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