If you are going to be at the AXUG Conference next week then drop by and see me. I am presenting at the following sessions:

• Challenge the Experts: Microsoft MVP Panel
  This is the session to get your answers! Join in on the fun in this fast-moving roundtable where the Microsoft Dynamics AX MVPs will field all questions from the audience. There has to be at least one question you wanted answered while at Summit – and this the session to do it. No question, regardless of version, function, or technology is out of bounds!
  Thursday, October 16^th (My Birthday) at 2:00pm &
  Friday, October 17^th at 2:00pm
  
  
• WOW – 30 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Tips in 60 Minutes
  Are you ready to get some quick tips to make your life as a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 user easier? In this session, we’ll highlight 30+ business user tips and available tools from across the functional areas of the product that you can take back to your company to improve your use of your Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment immediately.
  Thursday, October 16^th (My Birthday) at 4:45am &
  Friday, October 17^th at 3:30pm
  

   

• Using PowerBI Within Office 365 To Free Your Dynamics AX Data
  The PowerBI tools that Microsoft deliver on the desktop are great, but if you are an Office 365 user then you can take your reporting to the next level by making the reports and data available in the cloud. You can publish your reports to Office 365 and make them available to everyone, and you can even connect Office 365 with your on premise data so that users are able to query key information though the web. With the additional tools that are available through the online version of PowerBI like Power Q&A you can even ask for information as a question, and let Power BI do all the hard work for you. In this session we will show you how to configure PowerBI within Office 365 and also show you all of the new and nifty features that it provides.
  Thursday, October 16^th (My Birthday) at 8:00am
  

• Using PowerBI Within Excel For Self-Service Reporting
  It’s no secret that everyone uses Excel to create their own personal reports for Dynamics AX, but if you are just using pivot tables and the standard charting capabilities that have been around since the dawn of time, then you are selling yourself short. With the new PowerBI tools that are available for Excel, you can supercharge your reports and dashboards and get so much more useful information out of Dynamics AX. In this session we will look at all of the PowerBI tools within Excel, including PowerPivot, PowerQuery, and PowerMap and show you how you can get the most out of your self-service reporting, and maybe show you a few more tricks along the way that will make you look like a reporting Superstar.
  Thursday, October 16^th (My Birthday) at 3:15pm
  

• Configuring Financial Approvals and Workflows Within Dynamics AX – Part I Journals
  Workflows and approval processes within Dynamics AX must be one of the most underused, and also most useful features of the application, and that may be because everyone thinks that they are complicated to set up and require a developer in order to get them working. And that’s a shame, because nothing could be further from the truth. The built in approval processes within Dynamics AX can be set up and running within a few minutes to control simple transactions, and workflows only take a fraction longer to configure and then allow you to convert all of your archaic paper and informal business approval processes into a streamlined and controlled business process that you can track, audit, and report off. In this first of a two part session on financial workflows, we will focus on workflows around journals. We will review the set up and operation of workflow around journal access and approval.
  Wednesday, October 15^th at 11:00am
  

• Configuring Financial Approvals and Workflows Within Dynamics AX – Part II Invoices
  Workflows and approval processes within Dynamics AX must be one of the most underused, and also most useful features of the application, and that may be because everyone thinks that they are complicated to set up and require a developer in order to get them working. And that’s a shame, because nothing could be further from the truth. The built in approval processes within Dynamics AX can be set up and running within a few minutes to control simple transactions, and workflows only take a fraction longer to configure and then allow you to convert all of your archaic paper and informal business approval processes into a streamlined and controlled business process that you can track, audit, and report off. In this second of a two part session on financial workflows, we will focus on workflows around invoices. We will review the set up and operation of workflow around payables invoice access and approval, and also dive into the document management side of AP invoice workflow.
  Wednesday, October 15^th at 1:00pm
  

• Optimize Workflow!
  Have you wondered if you are utilizing Dynamics AX to the fullest? What are you doing to fully use Dynamics AX Workflow in your organization? This isn’t a traditional tips and tricks session. This will be an open discussion with other users, partners, and Microsoft sharing their experiences to OPTIMZE Workflow with your Dynamics AX installation. Come join us and learn secrets which will allow your company to get more out of Workflow.
  Wednesday, October 15^th at 3:45pm
  

   

For more information on the AXUG Summit check out their website: http://axugsummit2014.sched.org/

Over the past couple of months I have received a number of requests to provide guides on how to configure the Project Accounting and Warehouse Management modules within Dynamics AX, and although they were way down in the list of guides that were planned, I recently had the opportunity to prepare a couple of demonstrations on both of these topics and though that I would take advantage of it and create the guides for both of these topics.

I have not completed either of the books, but I do have all of the storyboards created so I thought that I would publish the draft versions ahead of the finished copies for anyone who is interested in walking through the examples. You all should be able to get the general idea of the flow just from the screen shots without a problem.

Both of these books are available if you have an eBook Subscription to the Dynamics AX Companions site and if you want to download them then just click on the following links.

Configuring Project Management & Accounting Within Dynamics AX 2012

The Project Accounting module within Dynamics AX allows you to manage and track projects and work breakdown structures directly within the application, or through Microsoft Project which is integrated with Dynamics AX. This allows you to track time and material costs directly with Dynamics AX and have them post and update projects automatically.

This guide is currently 753 pages long and includes the following chapters:

• Configuring Project Management And Accounting Controls
  
• Configuring Projects
  
• Configuring Project Collaboration Workspaces
  
• Using Ms Project To Manage Project Details
  
• Managing Scheduling Within Projects
  
• Configuring Project Budgets
  
• Configuring Timesheet Reporting For Projects
  
• Configuring Expense Reporting For Projects
  

For more information click the following link:

http://dynamicsaxcompanions.com/Bare-Bones-Configuration-Guides/Configuring-Project-Management

Configuring Warehouse Management And Control Within Dynamics AX 2012

The Warehouse Management and Control module within Dynamics AX is one of the newest modules that have been added to the application and is a great extension to the system. The WMS module extends out the existing inventory control functionality to include location directives, work templates, worker management, and also an inbuilt client for handheld devices.

This guide is currently 451 pages long and includes the following chapters:

• Configuring Warehouse Management Controls
  
• Configuring Warehouses
  
• Configuring Products
  
• Configuring Work
  
• Configuring The WMS Handheld
  
• Configuring Workers
  
• Receiving Through WMS
  
• Picking & Shipping Through WMS
  

For more information click the following link:

http://dynamicsaxcompanions.com/Bare-Bones-Configuration-Guides/Configuring-Warehouse-Management

To add subscriptions to your account just follow the instructions on the Dynamics AX Companions
website.

I just wanted to pass on a quick note to an upgrade that I just made to the Dynamics AX Companions website over the past couple of days that all of you eBook subscribers may be interested in.

When I first set up the website I split the subscriptions into two separate roles – Premium, which allows you to download all of the individual pieces of content that I have been posting, and then the eBook subscription, which was aimed at giving you all quick access to all of the published books within the eBookshelf area of the site. I had expected that most of you would opt for the monthly premium subscription since it was a lot more economical (which you all did), but did not expect as big of a response to the eBook subscription as I got.

After thinking this though a little I realized that it is a little unfair to make the eBook subscribers also have to sign up for the Premium content since they have already shown such great support to the site, so I have updated the security profiles on the site.

From now on, if you are an eBook subscriber, or sign up for an eBook subscription, then you also get access to all of the Premium content as well at no additional cost.

It’s just my way of saying thanks for the support.

PS. I think that I have caught all of the areas that I need to update the security to allow this to work, but if you are an eBook subscriber, and can’t access something then drop me a note and I will fix it right away.

After a couple of months of work and also being sidetracked by publishing out a couple of other books I have finally completed book #5 in the Bare Bones Configuration Guide series that lays the foundation for Configuring Accounts Receivable Within Dynamics AX 2012.

Here is a summary of the book

The Accounts Receivable area is one of the three foundation financial modules within Dynamics AX that you will want to set up. It not only allows you to manage all of your customer information, post your invoices, and receive in your cash payments, but also allows you to manage your collections, track deductions, and much more.

It’s not hard to configure either and this book is designed to give you step by step instructions to show you how to configure the receivables area, and also how some of the basic transactions work to get you up and running and working with your customers.

Chapters that are included in this book include:

• Configuring Accounts Receivable Controls
  
• Configuring Customer Accounts
  
• Configuring Invoicing
  
• Configuring Collection Management
  
• Configuring Cash Receipts
  
• Configuring Deduction Management
  

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The Tips & Tricks series has just made a major step this week and was translated into it’s first language other than English. Thanks to Kurt Mekelburg who did all of the hard work in the translation and also re-imaging all of the screen shots, all 50 of the first volume are now available in German.

If German is your native language then this is something that you must have, and here is the link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/150101188X/

Kurt and I will be working together to get more books available in German so watch out for more in the future.

A month or so ago I released out the chapters for the first part of the Introduction To Dynamics AX to all of the Premium subscribers on the Dynamics AX website. Recently I have had a couple of requests to make the second part of the book available as downloadable chapters as well, so I did just that.

If you want to see all of the additional content that is available then just click on the following link:

http://dynamicsaxcompanions.com/Introduction-Guides/Introduction-To-Dynamics-AX-Part-II Read More

I have received a number of requests from my followers to provide a PDF version of all the books because either they do no have access to the books on Kindle, or because it takes over 6 weeks for Amazon to deliver the books to some regions of the world. Not to be one that hinders the spreading of knowledge I have started the process of uploading all of the books as PDF’s for subscribers to access.

You can get your own access to the the PDF versions either by signing up for an eBook Subscription within your account profile, which is a one time fee of $249 and will allow you to download all of the books that I have published, and also any future books, or you can add a subscription for each of the individual books to your account for $19.95 each allowing you to download the book at any time, and also get additional updates and revisions as soon as they are posted to the website.

If you want to give access to the books to multiple people within your organization, then drop me a note, and we can set up an Enterprise eBook Subscription for you allowing you all to access the books at any time.

I am in the process of converting and uploading the titles so bear with me as I do this over the next couple of weeks, but here are the ones that are available so far.

To monitor all of the books as they are added, just watch the eBookshelf here:

http://dynamicsaxcompanions.com/The-eBookshelf

A while back I released out a guide on Configuring Financial Approvals & Workflows Within Dynamics AX 2012 as the companion guide for a very successful MS Dynamics World webinar.

After a couple of requests from you all I have made this available on the Dynamics AX Companions site as both premium subscription content allowing you to download the chapters individually, and also as a full eBook in the PDF version if you have signed up for the eBook subscription, which allows you to download all of the eBooks that I have published on the site – I promise that I will add more over the next couple of weeks.

Just as a reminder, the Configuring Financial Approvals & Workflows Within Dynamics AX 2012 guide has the following chapters:

• CONFIGURING JOURNAL ACCESS AND APPROVAL
• CONFIGURING JOURNAL WORKFLOW APPROVALS
• CONFIGURING PAYABLES INVOICE JOURNAL APPROVALS
• CONFIGURING PAYABLES INVOICE APPROVALS
• CONFIGURING AP INVOICE DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT WORKFLOWS

For a full description you can just check out the books landing page here:

http://dynamicsaxcompanions.com/Configuration-Blueprints/Configuring-Financial-Approvals-Workflows-Within-Dynamics-AX-2012

If you are on the fence, or don’t know how these guides are designed, then I have made the first chapter available for download without a subscription. All you need to do is register on the site and you will be able to download it. If you are already registered then just follow this link and then click on the Download Chapter image of the book:

http://dynamicsaxcompanions.com/Configuration-Blueprints/Configuring-Financial-Approvals-Workflows-Within-Dynamics-AX-2012/Configuring-Journal-Access-And-Approval

Of course you can still purchase the paper copy of the book from Amazon so that you can ask me to sign it the next time our paths cross by clicking on this link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1499601166/

Remember that you don’t have a physical Kindle then there is a desktop version, and a client for all of the tablets that allows you to read all of the kindle books.  If you haven’t seen them before then here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=nav_kindle_reader_karl?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

A while back I created an introduction guide to Dynamics AX that pretty much my overview demonstration for Dynamics AX in a book that gives you a grounding in the main usability features. This weekend I published the 3^rd edition of this book, tidying up the formatting, increasing the font sizes etc.to make it more usable. (If you already have a copy of this book then don’t rush out to buy a new copy right now because the content is still the same).

As I was doing this I also broke it apart and made it available for download as PDF versions through my Dynamics AX Companions website for all of the Premium subscribers.
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About a month ago I reached a milestone on my Dynamics AX Tip Of the Day blog site (www.dynamicsaxtipoftheday.com) and realized that I had compiled another 50 tips that I can share with everyone as a 3^rd tip compendium.  Over the past couple of weeks I have managed to sit down and organize them and am happy to say that this weekend I finished the job, and now the 3^rd volume within the Dynamics AX Tips & Tricks series is now available on Amazon.

I was a little worried about this one because it is over 700 pages of tips and step by step instructions with screen shots that I have painstakingly compiled for you all.  If you haven’t seen these books before, these tips are designed you the ones of us (myself included) that need to see how to do something rather than read instructions on how to do it.

Included in this compendium are the following tips & tricks for you all and hopefully one or two of these will make you even more of a Rock Star when it comes to Dynamics AX.
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