Webinar - Best Practices ERP Selection

Organizations change their Business Software, such as an ERP, for various reasons. Some feel the pain in operations due to an antiquated ERP; some suffer revenue loss due to restrictions imposed. Whatever the reason, most organizations agree there is a need for an Objective, Structured, and Thorough process for ERP selection.

Join BWIR for an interactive discussion during which, you will find out:
 

• How to establish a compelling business need for a new ERP
• How to establish a set of evaluation parameters
• How to execute the actual selection process
• What are the major elements of the deliverables

Join Hosts: Pat McGrath and Shantanoo Govilkar

October 17, 2013 - 10:00 - 11:00 AM CST

 
The panel will also take questions from the community and provide practical insights.


Register Here

Register for this informative webinar to kick-start your objective, structured, and thorough ERP selection process!

Going Lean with an ERP

Chances are your company has already embarked on lean initiatives. Many companies have realized that waste is the opposite of value. Because of this they work to optimize in order to remain profitable and competitive. But what value can an ERP bring to your lean initiatives? First, let’s assess our lean practices.

How many of these rules do you follow?

1.       Do not over-purchase

2.       Do not over-produce

3.       Simplify processes and procedures

4.       Minimize wait-time

5.       Optimize human movement in moving material

6.       Measure and Improve continuously

What is your score on the practices above? 3 out of 6? Maybe more or maybe less? Did you know that an ERP system such as Dynamics AX can help you achieve the above practices right out of the box?

ERP systems are built with lean in mind, and can really aid in a manufacturer’s lean efforts.

What can an ERP do specifically?

Reduce waste: An ERP will increase your flow of information through its routings and workflows. The planning module will minimize inventory while making effective use of transportation and warehouse facilities. It will also eliminate waste or delays in the supply chain by becoming a link to your trading partners. This means that your warehouse will be able to capitalize on the available space provided by trade and logistics, while your supply chain eliminates excess inventory and shortages through supply chain management.

Increase your Business Intelligence: An ERP system contains documentation of your processes and procedures. It will record and implement any changes placed into the system. This will deliver the most up-to-date information while providing info on changes in relation to costs, lead-times, and efficiency. Built in Business Intelligence tools will monitor performance indicators and notify management of changes whether they are good or bad. BI tools will also allow for the analysis of data that, in turn, can reduce waste.

Increase Collaboration: Use the knowledge that resides in your sales people, representatives, distributors, agents and customers. AX in conjunction with MS Office provides electronic collaboration tools to make doing business easy. Trading partners can forecast accuracy; ensure quality service and timely delivery.

Are you the lean super star of your business? Are you leveraging the lean capabilities of your ERP software? Make sure your ERP system keeps with your lean practices.

 

Check out BWIR's website, or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for access to the most up-to-date information.

Free Webinar - Dynamics AX Upgrade Options

Are you considering an upgrade to your AX environment, while streamlining licenses and hardware?

 

Things that you might want to consider: 

• Reducing the hardware footprint
• Restructuring license models
• Deploying automation
• Agile project execution approach

Each of the items above has resulted in cost savings and other intangible benefits. In some cases, the savings funded the cost of the upgrade itself!

 

BWIR's AX experts will work with you to define a holistic upgrade strategy. After a thorough review of your AX environment we will define a plan that will deliver savings and results.

 

Register for the Webinar!

 

 

And please feel free to check out BWIR's website, or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for access to the most up-to-date information.

Some info on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2014/2015 Next Major Release codenamed "Rainier" or "Rainer

There has been some buzz around on the next release of AX codenamed "Rainier" or "Rainer" - I'm not sure on the correct codename.

I'm not able to find this particular link anymore but here are some of the striking points which I had noted down from the original poster.

Features:

a. Cloud Based Solutions
b. Platform independence - Browser enabled clients
c. AD Federation and more integration with Azure
d. More investments on Visual Studio (Development Environment will be VS)
e. Application Development targetting any OS through Rainier
f. No longer need to invest on Sharepoint hosting as Enterprise portal will be eliminated
g. 3 key pillars - New client, Cloud Readiness, New Development Stack
h. No RPC based communication (Atleast, now it's assured that the event logs won't get full by RPC errors which was the case with AX 2009)
i. Programming language will still be X++ but everything will be .net compiled
j. Capability to expose updatable views using OData
k. HTML 5 based Web Client so more faster and richer experience

So, all looks exciting for the next major release of Dynamics AX which would be somewhere in end of 2014 or early 2015!


Read Dilip's original post here

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Manufacturing Highlights: Procurement and Sourcing, Financial, Compliance and Controls

We hope to highlight the value that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 brings to manufacturers. This week we will focus on some features that can aid in procurement and sourcing, financial, compliance and controls.

 

 

Procurement and Sourcing

• Facilitate direct and indirect procurement of goods and services.

• Utilize self-service capabilities to empower employees to order day-to-day goods and services from searchable online catalogs.

• Help vendors operate more efficiently by enabling them to perform a variety of tasks online, such as updating profile data and catalog.

• Content, submitting invoices, and reviewing payments.

• Enhance buyer capability to support procurement policies and processes.

• Extend your procurement process with a cloud-based service facilitating the RFQ process (Sites Services).

 

Financial, Compliance and Controls

• Optimize financial operations with general ledger, bank management, fixed assets, accounts payable and receivable, cost accounting, budgetary control, intercompany accounting, and shared services support.

• Help ensure organizational compliance with laws, regulations, policies, and business rules, including internal controls through the

• Compliance Center. Take advantage of the Audit Workbench to define your organization’s policies and automate auditing processes.

• Use an Environmental Sustainability Dashboard to track energy use and carbon footprint.

 

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

 

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Manufacturing Highlights: Inventory Management, Master Planning and Warehouse Management

We hope to highlight the value that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 brings to manufacturers. This week we will focus on some features that can aid in inventory management, master planning and warehouse management.

Inventory Management and Master Planning:

•       Control inventory with a variety of models and safety stock support.

•       Apply multiple options for inventory valuation, including: first in/first out (FIFO), last in/first out (LIFO), standard cost, and weighted average.

•       Master planning: Create and run multiple plans across multiple sites to meet demand and keep orders synchronized based on changes in internal or external demand. Improve distribution planning and forecast scheduling with an overview of longer-term purchasing, production, and resource requirements.

•       Optimize enterprise-wide planning by providing upstream organizations in your supply chain with visibility into the demand of downstream organizations.

•       Streamline subsidiary trading and apply intercompany trading policies. Create intercompany order chains directly and automatically from sales order to end-customer with and without direct delivery, and update sales orders from purchase orders and vice versa.

•       Multisite: Maintain centralized control of all site parameters from any location, whether site-specific or company-specific, including inventory, performance goal management. BOMs, routing, costing, and profit and loss dimensions. Manage multiple, distributed warehouses; apply different costs, prices, and cost category rates; and route data by dimensions.

•       Support multiple time zones with preferences for date and time fields set at the user level.

•       Improve business processes for quality assurance, quality control, and lot traceability.

Warehouse Management

•       Automatically receive suggestions for received item placement based on preset rules for one or multiple warehouses. Track received orders with pallet identification; generate an optimized picking route. Use bar codes to track items and locations electronically.

•       Streamline outbound processes by configuring rules for sending and printing shipment documents.

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Manufacturing Highlights: Process and Lean Manufacturing

We hope to highlight the value that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 brings to manufacturers. This week we will focus on some features that can aid process and lean manufacturing companies.

Process Manufacturing

·         Define multiple inventory dimensions: dual units of measure, catch-weight calculations, packaging codes, variations to the main item, and lots.

·         Manage multilevel formulas or recipes, co-products and by-products, electronic signatures, and packaging options.

·         Let customers request multiple quality specifications per product while combining similar products in production to improve machine utilization.

·         Analyze and monitor production costs and requirements for each sales order component using graphical representations of multilevel formulas and recipes.

·         Reduce inventory costs and eliminate waste by pulling inventory in optimal sequence using “best-before” management and first expired/first out (FEFO) or first in/first out (FIFO) picking guidance.

·         Facilitate regulatory compliance with agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by validating manufacturing processes.

Lean Manufacturing

·         Model manufacturing and logistics processes as production flows.

·         Use kanbans to signal demand requirements.

·         Monitor and manage kanban jobs using kanban boards.

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

AXceptance Webinar: Automated Testing in AX, Presented by BWIR

About a week and a half ago Barry-Wehmiller International Resources held a webinar focused on Automated Testing through AXceptance. We are pleased to have an opportunity to share this webinar with our social community. And hope you find it as valuable and informative as those who had a chance to attend the webinar.
 

As always, I invite anyone seeking additional information to contact me via email or to visit the all new BWIR website for more information about the company.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Manufacturing Highlights: Discrete Manufacturing

We hope to highlight the value that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 brings to manufacturers, starting with some features that can aid discrete manufacturing companies.

 

• Execute multiple production strategies, including configure-to-order, assemble-to-order, make-to-stock, and make-to-order. Use both push and pull production control mechanisms.

• Optimize production and materials planning, forecasting, and scheduling. Simultaneously schedule materials and capacity. Calculate available-to-promise (ATP) and capable-to-promise (CTP) deliveries.

• Create, schedule, view, track, split, roll back, or categorize production orders.

• Understand WIP and actual cost through production tracking and reporting. Track detailed resource and throughput costs, including work center costs. Report production variances to standard costs.

• Manage routing: Plan simple, sequential, and complex networks; use simultaneous routes in the same network. Use rough-cut capacity and detailed scheduling capabilities. Organize the shop floor into logical production units at individual sites.

• Quickly schedule/reschedule jobs and simulate alternatives by dragging Gantt chart items. Resolve scheduling overloads by reassigning operations to alternate work centers. Optimize scheduling across the organization with a unified resource model and scheduling engine.

 

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

Automated Microsoft Dynamics AX Testing

Many organizations recognize the need for test automation.  Automated testing improves quality, reduces costs, and minimizes dependencies on 'stretched thin' knowledgeable staff.  Yet these organizations struggle to garner enough resources to build a mature Test Automation Framework.

AXeptance helps customers avoid:

·         Down-time in production

o   due to deploying an inadequately tested AX

·         Performance bottlenecks

o   due to insufficient load testing resources

·         Quality issues

o   due to incomplete regression and other testing by testers, due to incomplete final testing by business users

·         Being exposed to regulatory non-compliance

o   Because of not testing the functionality against the regulations 

Find out how Barry-Wehmiller International Resources can advance to the next level of testing maturity by deploying AXeptance, an Automated Testing solution that is embedded in AX.

Sign-up for this webinar to find out how AXeptance can bring tangible results to your AX testing efforts.

About AXeptance:

AXeptance is a Test Automation tool that automates AX performance, functional, regression testing activities.  AXeptance can provide a measurable ROI with its powerful features packed in a simple footprint.  AXeptance is brought you by Barry-Wehmiller International Resource and Rodl Consulting.

What's New in AX 2012 R2: Project Accounting and Sales and Marketing

We hope to share some of the changes coming to AX 2012 R2. We will cover accounting to sales and everywhere in between. It is our job to put the value in AX.

Take time to discover the new changes in-store for AX 2012 R2 and stay ahead of the curve.

Project accounting

• Choose a value model for estimate eliminations


• Consumption of project items on product receipt without an item requirement


• Enabling intercompany resource scheduling and UX improvements


• Enhancements to project invoice proposals and printing project documents


• Expanded support for project budget checks when document lines are saved


• Improved support for project estimates and revenue recognition


• Option to designate a project cost price as an effective labor rate


• Reservation of funds in a project contract

Sales and marketing      

 
• Cases are secured by case category


• Generate a lead or opportunity record from a campaign or call list target record


• Update the name of a party from the party record


• Update, in bulk, the list of party records assigned to an address book


• Updates to Sales and marketing Role Centers and the reporting information provided

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

AX 2012 Comprehensive List of Upgrade Options

Upgrade Options


Considering business drivers and existing AX environment, several upgrade options exist for an organization to evaluate:

 
1. ERP and related software upgrade only


2. Hardware and software upgrade


3. Relocating hardware to a third-party hosting


4. Re-implementation instead of convention ‘upgrade’

Before choosing an upgrade strategy for AX 2012 upgrade, it is important to establish a context.  The context consists of business drivers as well as an assessment of the existing AX environment.


Business Drivers (Why Upgrade?)


ERP vendors, like Microsoft, release several major and minor versions over time.  Many organizations choose not to upgrade for a multitude of business reasons.  The ones who choose to upgrade often have one or many of the following Business Drivers:

 
• Save on infrastructure costs


• Sunset the version at its ‘end-of-support’


• Leverage new functionality to improve operations / decision-making

 Existing AX Environment


Having established the business drivers, organizations ask the next set of questions centered on the following:

• Stability of the current environment


• Need for a 24 / 7 support level


• Cost of additional hardware to sustain newer, resource intensive software


• Plans for adding more users due to business growth / acquisitions


• Seasonal spikes in the user counts

Upgrades are critical and significant initiatives for any business.  Exploring available options, and evaluating them against parameters, such as:  TCO, maintainability, architectural strength, variable user load, 24 / 7 support requirements, extent of customization, among others, are key factors in decision making.


If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

What's New in AX 2012 R2: Procurement and Sourcing and Product Information Management

We hope to share some of the changes coming to AX 2012 R2. We will cover accounting to sales and everywhere in between. It is our job to put the value in AX.

Take time to discover the new changes in-store for AX 2012 R2 and stay ahead of the curve.

Procurement and sourcing

• Changes to Order management features


• Data partition added for the Order management upgrade


• Enhancements to the new vendor registration process


• Enhancements to the purchase order change management process


• Fulfillment of purchase requisition demand orchestrated by master planning


• Integration of sales agreements and return orders


• Product search on Employee Services site


• Sales auto charges based on tiers and modes of delivery in sales orders

Product information management

• Enhanced modeling capabilities in Product configurator


• Improvements made to the overview of production information, approval and calculation of worker registration on projection jobs, and worker absences


• Improvements to planning tools


• The Configuration form in Product configurator is easier to extend

 If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

Business Intelligence (BI) in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provides a flexible pre-built business intelligence (BI) solution for mid-market organizations. The use of built-in content—including Role Centers, analytic reports, and analysis cubes—eliminates the need to build a solution from the ground up, and therefore saves time and money. The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 business intelligence solution can be configured and extended to suit your specific needs with the help of Microsoft Business Intelligence development tools.

The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 business intelligence solution consists of the following built-in features:

• Role Centers (dashboards). Thirty-two default home pages that pertain to the work needs of various user profiles in an organization.
• Analysis cubes. Eleven analysis cubes that address the analytic requirements of the major functional areas within Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012—including finance, supply chain, manufacturing, professional services, and business processes.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). More than 60 of the most commonly used KPIs that help users evaluate the success of business activities.
• Analytic reports. More than 150 analytic reports that provide insight into business data.

The pre-built BI solution can be deployed when you implement Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 in your organization. A new intuitive, wizard-driven interface guides the user through deployment of the solution without requiring the user to have expert business intelligence skills.
By deploying the pre-built business intelligence solution as you implement Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, your organization can start using BI capabilities as soon as the new business functionality is operational.

 

*The above content is from Merit Matters Blog (http://meritsolutions.com/meritmatters/index.php?/archives/580-Business-Intelligence-BI-in-Microsoft-Dynamics-AX-2012.html)

Microsoft Director: 'Manufacturing Is A Hotbed Of Innovation'

Although it’s not difficult to find prominent industry leaders willing to tout all the positive elements the manufacturing industry represents, there is the risk of “preaching to the choir” in relaying this information to a manufacturing-centric audience. However, there’s also a significant level of cache and validation of these messages when they come from a prominent position within an iconic company.

This was the case when speaking with Melissa Cook, Microsoft’s Senior Director of Dynamics in the manufacturing industry. With a primary focus on the ERP offerings within Microsoft’s Dynamics platform, she holds a unique perspective not only on software, IT and manufacturing, but how they all fit together in solving industry problems and pushing the manufacturing sector forward collectively.

In this first of a series of 5 Quick Questions, Cook offers her thoughts on the future of manufacturing systems.

Jeff Reinke: What do you see as Microsoft’s role in the manufacturing industry?
Melissa Cook: The fundamental DNA of our business is to unleash the potential of people and organizations. And we have a long history of success in productivity tools. So that’s what we want to continue to do for our manufacturing customers — provide the tools to unlock their potential in growth, innovation, quality and customer service and help them improve productivity by optimizing and connecting their operations.

JR: You’ve been around manufacturing for much of your career. What is your perspective on the industry?  
MC: Manufacturing companies are so fundamental to our economy. For thousands of years, mankind has been a maker. The manufacturing industry has always been about innovation. Just take a quick look around the room you’re in as you’re reading this article, and you’ll see the fundamental impact that manufacturing has on your life. I’d offer a few perspectives on the industry after being in and around it for over 30 years:

1. Innovation has always been the absolute key to growth and profit in the manufacturing industry. This can take the form of innovative new products or innovative new manufacturing processes (like Lean). The good news is that the manufacturing industry knows how to innovate as companies in this industry need to innovate to survive. This makes manufacturing a very exciting place to be. At Microsoft we’re excited to bring technology and systems innovation to manufacturing companies to, in turn, help them innovate in their marketplace.

2. Speed and flexibility are much more critical now. The supply chain, customer demand and expectations and the global economy are all undergoing significant change. And Manufacturing companies sit right in the middle of all that change. With all the change facing the manufacturing industry, it’s very difficult to predict what the future holds, so being able to adapt is critical, especially in ERP systems. We need to design in the ability to change and to change quickly. Customers just aren’t willing to wait as long as they used to, either your external customers who can more easily find and purchase a competing product, or your internal IT customers, who are losing patience with years-long and expensive ERP projects.

3. People are absolutely critical to your success. That’s always been the case because companies are basically just a group of people with a shared mission. But now we’re likely to face a hiring shortage, if you’re not already facing it. And we’re in the middle of lots of changes. That means you’ll need tools to attract the best people, to help your people absolutely maximize their productivity and allow them to help you innovate and be engaged in the success of your company. It’s going to be an all-hands-on-deck future for manufacturing companies.

JR: Why have you stayed in the manufacturing sector throughout your career?
MC: I come from a computer science academic background but have always been passionate about the application of computer science and technology to business problems. And if you’re interested in making technology useful in industry, you seem to end up working with manufacturing companies. The manufacturing industry has historically lead the way in business systems innovation starting with Financial and Inventory Control systems in the late 60’s and going through MRP, MRPII and ERP. Manufacturing is a hotbed of innovation. 90 percent of all U.S. patents come from manufacturing companies so it’s always been an interesting and exciting industry to me.

JR: What makes Microsoft different from other ERP providers?
MC: Quite frankly, legacy ERP systems don’t have a great reputation. When describing their current ERP solutions, most customers use words like expensive, slow to implement, hard to use and inflexible. Microsoft’s approach to manufacturing systems is exactly opposite to this: low TCO, fast time to market, easy to use and agile. There is also the personal productivity side of the production worker that hasn’t been well addressed and we think Microsoft is very well positioned here.

JR: What advice would you give to those within a company who are trying to convince upper management that ERP investments need to be made?
MC: There’s always been a strong need for manufacturing systems. But with the global economic challenges, you’ll need lower TCO and faster time-to-market solutions to make the business case these days. And they need to have the flexibility to address future changes in the demand and supply chain.  Those are benefits that you can sell to your business execs and we think we have a great story here.

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.


Fri, 05/10/2013 - 9:49am by Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director
*Article from Manufacturing Business Technology Magazine

Fixed Asset Posting Profile Setup in Microsoft Dynamics AX

Fixed asset posting profile is one of the most difficult subledger setups in Microsoft Dynamics AX. Setting up a subledger posting profile depends on the financial processes in a company. In this article I will explain posting profile setup with simple examples, with the assumption that you already have basic knowledge of accounting.

Below is the ideal Fixed Asset lifecycle. The setup of the fixed asset posting profile in Dynamics AX should follow these stages, as we will see below.

FIXED ...

Read Muhammad Burhan's post

What's New in AX 2012 R2: Human Resources

Over the next few posts we hope to share some of the changes coming to AX 2012 R2. We will cover accounting to sales and everywhere in between. It is our job to put the value in AX.

Take time to discover the new changes in-store for the human resources section of AX 2012 R2 and stay ahead of the curve.

• Adjust multiple values in the compensation grid simultaneously for fixed compensation plans
  
• Copy existing positions, mass update positions, and block position assignments
  
• Create a budget for filled or vacant positions
  
• Eligibility rules provide greater control and fewer errors when signing workers up for benefits
  
• Enhancements to the Benefit setup and Benefits list page
  
• HR manager Role Center
  
• HR training and development manager Role Center
  
• Import worker information
  
• Staffing manager Role Center
  
• Use an Actions process, with optional workflow, to gather details and easily track history when positions are created or edited
  
• Worker education enhancements
  
• You can require applicants and employees to pass certain tests to obtain and hold certain positions
  
• You can require applicants and employees to take or pass designated screenings

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.

What's New in AX 2012 R2: Accounting

Over the next few posts we hope to share some of the changes coming to AX 2012 R2. We will cover accounting to sales and everywhere in between. It is our job to put the value in AX.

Take time to discover the new changes in-store for the accounting sections of AX 2012 R2 and stay ahead of the curve.


Accounts Payable:

1. Adjusts taxes on an invoice line.


2. Integrate a payment calendar to control due dates for payments.


3. Record charges on free text invoice lines.

Accounts Receivable, Budgeting and General Ledger:

1. Create and approve budget plans.
   
2. Configure a recurring schedule batch job to clear purchase accrual for product receipt source documents.
   
3. Expand default description support.
   
4. Fixed financial dimension values.
   
5. General ledger balances are updated when a process needs balances.
   
6. Inter-unit accounting
   
7. Language translations for the main account name and the financial dimension description.
   
8. Legal entities can have more than one consolidation account.
   
9. New framework for exchange rate import.
   
10. Shared main account lists.
    
11. Tax registration numbers defined at the party address record level.
    
12. Updates are available to General ledger reports.

If you have a question about Dynamics AX that you would like answered, please email us. Or visit the BWIR website for more information about the company.