Retrieving and Publishing a Budget Through Excel

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December 31, 2012
Dynamics AX
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The Excel add-in for Dynamics AX is a great tool for getting data from AX into Excel for reporting and analysis. But if you set up your document services the right way then it becomes more useful by allowing you to publish data back into AX directly from the Excel spreadsheet.

A while ago I came across a blog post by Becky Newell on Importing a Budget via the Excel Add-in and thought that it would be a good exercise to recreate her example, and get it working for myself. Read More

Creating a Simple Windows 8 App for Dynamics AX

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December 30, 2012
Dynamics AX
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Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to browse your Dynamics AX data directly from Windows 8?

In this short walkthrough we will show you how you can quickly create a simple Windows 8 application written in HTML5 that will allow you to do that, and it’s really not that hard… Read More

Robert Greene has a new book

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December 28, 2012
Book Club
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I love almost all of Robert Greene’s books – the one that he write with 50 cent, not so much. The way that he explains everything through historical figures and analogies are great. So when I saw that he had a new book out the other week as I was browsing at B&N, I grabbed a copy right away, and am now avidly reading it. Maybe some of you all out there will do that same. Read More

Creating & Consuming Web Services with Excel

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December 28, 2012
Dynamics AX, Excel, Office Interoperability, SharePoint
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There are a whole slew of web services available in Dynamics AX 2012, but how do you use them?In this example we will show how you can publish the web services so that you can use them in an application, and also show an example of the web services in action by using them to create a simple sales order import routine from Excel. Read More

Book Club – ERP Pulp Fiction

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December 28, 2012
Book Club
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This week’s book club suggestion will set you back $0.99, is a whopping 6 pages long which will probably take you about 3 minutes to read (if you read as slow as I do), and it’s also written about Great Plains. I think that it also creates a new book category of ERP Pulp Fiction by showcasing all of the Microsoft technologies though a quick and trashy novel full of secret agents, spy missions, and accountants. Read More

Dissecting Dynamics AX Role Centers

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December 27, 2012
Dynamics AX
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Wouldn’t it be nice to come into work in the morning, open up Dynamics AX, and see everything that you could possibly want to see in one place? It may seem like a pipe dream, but not really. Dynamics AX has a feature called the Role Center that will do this and more for you, without even breaking a sweat.

In this walkthrough we will give you an overview of the Role Centers, how you can tweak the standard ones that come out of the box, and also how you can add additional features that may make your life a little easier. Read More

Book Club – The Art of Seduction

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November 25, 2012
Book Club
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The weeks book suggestion is for those of you that have read Dale Carnegie’s book and want to move on to the advanced class. Although we not look down on those of you that just want to skip making friends, and decide to read this book instead.

This book pulls in examples from all of the great seducers in history, including figures from the Renaissance like Casanova, Madam Bovary, Don Juan, & Cleopatra.

Don’t be ashamed to admit that we are all in the business of seduction. Not necessarily the Fifty Shades of Gray version, but more of the having customers fall in love with us for our expertise, and not wanting us to leave, or in the case of sales, wanting us to stay. Read More

Book Club – The Commoditization of Technology

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November 18, 2012
Book Club
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In this edition of the book club, I thought that I would focus on a book called “The Big Switch”. This is an interesting book because it talks about how all technology moves through the same phases where they are introduced, someone makes a lot of money off them because they own the market space, and then the technology becomes more of a commodity that is commonplace. The examples that he uses in the book range from water wheels, to electricity, and then to software, and that companies like Google are the leading wave because they are commoditizing technologies for the masses through services.

Why is this important to us? Because it implies that the business software is heading much the same way. And every now and then we see this mentality in the market place when customers and prospects have the impression that all ERP systems are comparable. This means that they are then making decisions based on price rather than on functionality, service, fit and quality.

If you get a chance, take a look at this book – and also Nicolas Carr’s other book – “Does IT Matter”. It’s interesting – even though I don’t agree with where he ends up.

The Big Switch:
Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google
by Nicholas CarrPublication Date: Jan 19, 2009

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393333949

Using Cases To Manage New Product Introduction

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November 10, 2012
Dynamics AX
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Although Dynamics AX is not a complete new product development and formulation system since it does not calculate nutritional details, or perform least cost formulation, it does allow you to manage all of your product, costs, formulations, nutritional detailed etc. Additionally it has a lot of capabilities to help you manage the NPD and NPI process so that the process is a lot smoother.

In this example, I will show an example of how you can use Cases, Workflow, and Projects within Dynamics AX to manage all of the New Product Development/Introduction process. Read More