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

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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.

Task Recorder Update White Paper for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

This white paper describes how to use the advanced functions in Task recorder that are available in Knowledgebase article 2863182.

You can generate artifacts that can be uploaded to Business process modeler in Lifecycle Services for Microsoft Dynamics. You can create cross functional flowcharts and task steps that you can modify to identify business process requirements and generate implementation artifacts.

View: Task Recorder Update White Paper for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012


Source: Microsoft PartnerSource

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.