Dynamics AX Openness to Programming World in Version 2012 and Possible Directions

Plus we would like to share our impression about synchronizing custom query creation and its exposure not only for Windows version, but also Enterprise Portal or web interface.  MS VS developers could also benefit from CIL X++ recompile, as here you are in .Net programming world.  If you are in next Corporate ERP selection phase or if you are thinking about its integration with external application and you a not programmer, this small publication might give you some highlights:

1. Market Target and Flexibility.  AX is not for small company.  It is possible to roll it out in the company with small IT budget.  However if not all then probably most of the steps, such as data conversion and migration, settings, security, integration with external database – require technical resources who have long time exposure to such technologies as MorphX X++.  However the good news is the fact that larger businesses often require custom business logic in their ERP and MRP and Dynamics AX is programmable

2. Comparing to other Microsoft Dynamics ERP applications.  Let’s take a look at Dynamics GP or former Great Plains.  The success of this application in 1990th and earlier 2000th was likely associated with such tools, as Integration Manager (where non-programming consultant could do data conversion and even setup ongoing integration in scenarios like ecommerce), Modifier with VBA (where small modifications could be done by generic VB developer).  However its development tool GP Dexterity was not friendly to generic coder, it required dedication and specialization.  If you would like to introduce custom form or table – Dexterity programming is likely the way.  Axapta architects seems like decided to open it to C, Java, C++ programmers (as X++ has similar syntax), versus doing all the jobs in end user friendly IM for example.  To make custom coding feasible it is pretty simple routine to create custom table, query, form and it is ready to be animated via X++ and now even with C# or VB coding in Visual Studio.  Programming triumph might be something that we developers like, however it is not the perfect way to implement corporate ERP system in mid-market niche, where Great Plains way with Integration Manager, Modifier and new eConnect is preferable

3. Comparing to SAP Business One.  Of course SB1 is recommended in smaller organization, however we believe that its initial architects analyzed large spectrum of those days ERP and Accounting applications.  Here you can create custom table or add custom fields to existing table (or expand the table) directly in user interface.  And the form, associated with the newly created table is available by the standard logic.  So in these things it might be compared to AX metadata power.  If you are looking to do integration, we tried Data Transfer Workbench in scheduled manner with Advanced ODBC connection in version 2007A – it didn’t work and was described in manual but not really supported.  The way to go was SAP B1 SDK programming in MS Visual Studio C# project

4. Expanding Internationally.  It seems like both AX and SAP BO are pretty successful on the new markets.  This fact might be attributed to the maturity of Corporate ERP market in the USA, where your system was implemented long time ago and you are now in maintenance mode (service packs, version update projects, data repair, etc.).  It looks like we were observing some decision making period by Microsoft Business Solutions between 2003 and 2006.  Those days we were engaged in the project sponsored by Microsoft in Sao Paulo Brazil to translate Great Plains version 7.5 to Brazilian Portuguese with some localization features.  Microsoft was also looking to do the same with Navision, but somewhere around 2006 the final choice was made toward Axapta.  Similar trend we saw in Russia, where we translated GP 4.0 into Russian in 1997.  As we learned later the problem for Microsoft to stake on GP was the fact that Dexterity doesn’t support Unicode languages.  And it was too difficult according to internal sources for Microsoft to add this feature.  Such languages as Chinese, Japanese, Korean would not be possible to translate in GP.  AX supports Unicode and this fact probably made it a natural choice for the rest of the World, including Brazil, Russia, China.  Still the gap remains for MBS.  For example in Brazil MS offers AX and with some limitations NAV.  But smaller companies and even lower mid-market needs might be not addressed by these two.  This opens the door to the competition, see next paragraph

5. SAP Business One.  In some sense this small business ERP package covers the lack of small business accounting application offer from MBS in such countries as Brazil, Russia, China.  In earlier articles we are discussing success stories, where SB1 is used internationally for the company deploying GP in USA.  In the case of AX the concern is rather implementation cost.  AX is available in Brazil for example, but if you have only several people in the office you may benefit from implementing SAP B1 instead and then consolidating on FRx Financial Reporting level (the same is possible in newly introduced Microsoft Management Reporter)

6. Please call us 1-866-304-3265, 1-269-605-4904 (for international customers, where our representative pick up the phone in St. Joseph, MI call center).  help@efaru.com  We have local presence in Chicagoland, Southern California, South West Michigan, Houston and Dallas areas of Texas. We serve customers USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil nationwide and internationally via web sessions and phone conferences (Skype is welcomed). Our consultants speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese.  Our core expertise is in International Business