The Excel Add-In is an incredibly useful tool because it doesn’t just allow you to download information from Dynamics AX, but it also allows you to publish information back to the system without compromising the data integrity. You can use this for the initial data setup within Dynamics AX, quick maintenance of multiple records, moving data from one system to another, and even aggregating data through matrix fields. And best of all, this tool is included for free with Dynamics AX, so you don’t need to buy additional licenses in order to use it.

In this worked example we will show how you can use the Dynamics AX Excel Add-In to make updating data a breeze. Read More

Dynamics has a lot of little Easter Eggs of functionality built into it, and one of them that I just discovered is the ability to have the system automatically update all of your currency exchange rates through the rate authorities’ web services. There is no need to update these manually ever again.

In this worked example we will show how you can quickly configure the automatic updating of the exchange rates, and then never worry about them again. Read More

The Dynamics AX retail module has a Cross Docking feature that allows you to receive in products on a purchase order and then turn right around and transfer them out to other warehouses to replenish store inventories. This is great when you are receiving in products into a distribution center and then redistributing the stock. But what if you are a more traditional organization that needs to cross dock inventory to other non-retail locations?

In this worked example we will show you how you can still use the cross docking function within Dynamics AX without having to implement all of the retail module in the process. Read More

At the beginning of every presentation I do what is called a Cooking/Foundation/Orientation demonstration so that everyone is able to see some of the general features of Dynamics AX.

This weekend I sat down and recorded it just in case others would like to see a high level overview of Dynamics AX 2012 as well.

Below are the postings and links to the download on SlideShare just in case you want to take a peek:

Video
http://www.slideshare.net/murrayfife/dynamics-ax-2012-orientation

If you like the video, but want to download a higher quality version, then I have also posted it to SkyDrive:

Download
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=871CA0925E2E4A6!17114&authkey=!AFgZoCvaFlsN0rs

I just wanted to thank all of the people that have supported me either by visiting blog (www.atinkerersnotebook.com), by browsing my SlideShare account (www.slideshare.net/murrayfife), or by sitting through my demonstrations of Dynamics AX and inspiring a lot of the content. Over the past 6 or so months I have been retooling some of the more popular posts and have been able to turn them into a book which was published this week J

http://www.packtpub.com/extending-microsoft-dynamics-ax-2012-cookbook/book

Thanks again for all of the visits to my site, and watch out for volume #2.

The Service Management area within Dynamics AX allows you to track all of your service order contracts and service orders for your customers, will track all of your time and expenses against the service orders, and will also pass along any chargeable items to the receivables department for automatic invoicing to the customer.

Service Management has additional functions as well that allow you to track the items that are being serviced, define the tasks that are allowed to be performed against a service order, and also track the symptoms, diagnosis, and resolution to service order issues, making it a great tracking and analysis tool.

In this walkthrough we will show how you can create service agreements and orders, and then how you can use the additional tracking features within Service Management to get a tighter handle on your service orders.

Read More

Dynamics AX allows you to configure your own Vendor Evaluation Criteria and then track the vendor performance against any or all of the criteria that you have defined. When you combine this with the Power BI tools, you get a great way to rate vendors, and also a nice way to present Vendor Scorecards.

In this worked example we will show how to configure the Vendor Evaluations, and also how to create a simple Vendor Scorecard without breaking a sweat. Read More

Also, you don’t have to be a pure “Lean” organization to use the Lean manufacturing processes that are built into Dynamics AX.  You can pick and choose what you use, and even create hybrid manufacturing models that blend both the traditional and lean processes.

In this worked example I will show you how you can create a simple set of Lean Manufacturing processes and see them in in action.

The topics that are described within this series are:

• Configuring a Value Stream
• Configuring a Production Group
• Creating a Production Flow Model
• Creating a Work Cell
• Creating a Production Flow
• Creating a Production Flow Activity
• Activating Your Process Flow Version
• Creating a Kanban Manufacturing Rule
• Assigning Tasks to Work Cells Through the Kanban Scheduling Board
• Reporting Jobs through the Kanban Board for Process Jobs

In this worked example we worked through the setup of a set of simple production and transfer Kanbans.  The interesting thing about these processes, is that you don’t necessarily need to be a Lean Manufacturer in order to take advantage of these capabilities.  For piece work, then this process works really well, and also the transfer Kanbans can easily be used by traditional manufacturers to replenish floor stocking areas.

Once you have worked through these examples, you may want to branch out and try other areas of the Lean Manufacturing that we didn’t address in this presentation.  Features that you may want to try include:

• Having multiple activities in a Process Flow that are chained together.
• Using the bar code scanning to further automate the job reporting process
• Using the planning and scheduling in conjunction with the Lean Manufacturing to create the purchase forecasts etc.

This is a really useful feature within Dynamics AX.  Just because you have always used BOM’s and Routes does not mean that you can’t dabble in Process Flows and Activities.  Give it a try and I’m sure you will like what you find out.

If you want to view the original post which may have additional content then click here.

This week I was challenged to find a way for one of our customers to view how many customers they have by zip code, and compare it to the population within the area so that they can determine if they should accept new customer requests. Their customers are actually sales people, and they did not want to have more than one customer per 10000 people within the local zip code or surrounding area.

In this worked example I will show how I used the new suite of Power BI tools (Power Query, Power Pivot, Power View & Power Map) to allow them to analyze this information in a simple, and also very cool way. Read More