Fee Nolan's Microsoft Dynamics AX

Standard Benchmark on HP Proliant Servers for Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0

In August 2006, Microsoft Corporation conducted the Microsoft Dynamics AX™ 4.0 Standard distribution benchmark to measure the performance and scalability characteristics of Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 in a simulated distribution scenario. This benchmark exercised core Accounts Receivables scenarios around order entry through invoicing, in addition to Procure to Pay processes around purchase order creation through receiving of goods.

Details can be found below using the following link on PartnerSource

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/documentation/benchmarks/MSDYAX40_stdbenchmrk_HPproliantservers

Posted By Fee Nolan

Moving Home

This blog is going through a relocation plan - and is moving to a new and improved home.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukax/default.aspx

Here you will be able to see the thoughts of the Microsoft Dynamics AX UK PTS (Partner Technical Specialist)team, Fee & Shailan, as well as links to all of the other UK Microsoft Dynamics UK PTS Blogs for CRM, NAV & GP.

See you on the other side :-)

The last post was created using Windows Live Writer Beta 1

I've just downloaded this today, after a couple of my colleagues mentioned using it and liking it, it's briliant for creating blog postings, and very easy to use - what you see is what you get.

If you fancy giving it a try, download here Windows Live Writer Beta 1

With Office 2007 you can also create blogs directly from OneNote and Word

Convergence 2006 EMEA

Convergence 2006 EMEA is the best place to learn how Microsoft Dynamics can benefit your business – and an unprecedented opportunity to meet with over 2000 of the key decision makers in the sphere of business management solutions.

William (Bill) H. Gates

Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, who will be presenting the opening Keynote Session on Monday 6 November 2006.

It will be held in Germany, 6–8 November 2006 at the International Congress Center Munich.

At Convergence EMEA, you can discuss solutions, address your business needs, and establish and grow a true network of valuable working relationships that will help accelerate your business. In addition to detailed product demonstrations and in-depth learning sessions, a host of exceptional speakers will present.

Convergence EMEA is an opportunity to build skills and know-how that enhance your solution knowledge and business productivity. Because experience is the best teacher, we have designed our sessions and presentations to address the real challenges of the diverse industries and markets in which business solutions are deployed today in EMEA and to present practical solutions.

Register before 29 September 2006 to qualify for the Early Bird offer and save €200 off the full price (€1,175)

Source: Convergence 2006 EMEA - Home

Partner Benefits Tool

If you’re a Microsoft Registered, Certified or Gold Certified Partner you may find it difficult to find all of the tools and resources available to you as a member of the Microsoft Partner Programme;

We’ve created a Partner Benefits Tools  (found by my wonderful colleague Jeremy) which allows you to see the tools and resources available:

• By Partner Status (i.e. Registered, Certified or Gold)
• By Partner Type (Benefits for all partners followed by ISV, OEM, System Builder etc)
• By Sales, Marketing, Technical and Licensing Benefits

If you’re a Microsoft Partner, why not download the tool and discover all of your programme benefits. The tool is available in a pdf format and is really easy to use.

Virtualisation Demo Optimisation Tips & Tricks

The attached documents the thoughts of Partner Technical Specialists in relation  to virtual demo optimisation. I also find a small prayer pre-demo normally helps :-)

TAP Landing Page on PartnerSource

For those of you that haven’t stumbled across this page yet, please find attached a link to case studies and videos in relation to the Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 Adoption Program.

On this page you will find Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 TAP case studies and videos. We are currently happy to present four Microsoft Dynamics AX TAP Case Studies and two Microsoft Dynamics AX TAP videos with three more case studies currently in the pipeline. Also note that should you wish to gain more information about any of the customers below or their cases all contact should be conducted through the individual partner involved. 

New Snap-ins available for Preview

Snap-ins available for preview(8/4/2006 10:23:46 AM)

After our first release in February, we have been working on phase 2 of the Microsoft Dynamics Snap program wherein we are developing the next set of snap-ins which demonstrate scenarios to enhance productivity of users by integrating Microsoft Office 2007 with Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 and with Microsoft CRM 3.0. Our plan in phase 2 is to keep releasing the preview versions of snap-ins that reach the beta stage to receive and incorporate the early feedback from the community before the final release planned for October. The current release makes available for preview the counterparts of the snap-ins of the last release - Customer Journal Snap-in for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, and Custom Report Generator Snap-in for Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0. The Customer Journal Snap-in allows a sales professional to view and carry with him to a sales meeting, the relevant details of a customer (e.g. contact info, orders, service requests and more) which are copied over from Dynamics CRM to an Microsoft Office Infopath 2007 form. The Sales professional can make changes and take notes using this InfoPath form in offline mode during the meeting and later synch them back to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 server on the click of a button. The Custom Report Generator Snap-in is a configurable Microsoft Excel 2007 report generator that allows a power user or an ISV to create a gamut of reports by binding data from Microsoft Ax 4.0. It also allows updating some of this data back into the Microsoft Dynamics Ax system. The snap-in ships with example reports that are useful for Finance and Budgeting domain. As always, we await your feedback and suggestions. Please use the message board thread titled 'Feedback on Phase 2 Snap-ins for AX 4.0' on the Microsoft Dynamics Snap Sandbox (http://codegallery.gotdotnet.com/dynamicssnap) and the 'Microsoft CRM Snap' message board thread on the Microsoft CRM Sandbox (http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/codegallery.aspx?id=b6499eb0-0eae-4597-b38e-ee9cbc71a404) to let us know your feedback on the AX 4.0 and CRM 3.0 Snap-ins respectively.

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Dynamics AX Integration Scenarios White Paper

In an effort to help companies improve their efficiency through enhanced communication and collaboration, Microsoft recently developed 30 applications for Microsoft Windows® SharePoint® Services. This white paper details three different scenarios showcasing how a company could benefit from integrating these applications with back-end Microsoft Dynamics AX data. The white paper is now available at PartnerSource.

Microsoft Dynamcs New AX4.0 New PartnerSource launch page is live here

Please find attached a link on PartnerSource to the Launch page for AX4.0.

Here you will find overview of all of the current information surrounding Launch Readiness for Microsoft AX 4.0 including launch readiness schedules, relevant supporting marketing collateral, launch activities and a whole lot more.

Dynamics Emerges from Wave 1

Please find below a pretty good report from Forrester on the future of MBS – overall very positive.

Partners, Find the Customer Information You Need on the NEW Microsoft Dynamics AX Customer Evidence CD

We have designed a new CD to help you find customer evidence including case studies and videos more easily. It offers insight into how Microsoft Dynamics AX has helped customers around the world improve their business processes and increase revenue. The CD contains:

• 74 written case studies
• 16 customer videos
• Microsoft PowerPoint® presentation containing snapshots of customer success stories
• Several other useful features such as the Nucleus Research Return on Investment (ROI) tool

Click on the attached link to view the downloadable version on PartnerSource.

First Companies to go live on Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0

Columbus IT France, Netherlands & Norway Now Live on Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0!
This pilot implementation project is part of the Technology Adoption Program (TAP), and Columbus IT is among only 9 other customers in the world taking part in this program. The goal for Microsoft was to get customers live on the application before it is launched to the market, and the main goal for Columbus IT to participate in the TAP program was to become the first partner in the world with the greatest knowledge about Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 and to support their closest relationships with Microsoft. Implementation in these countries was started less than 7 weeks ago, and covers the following modules: General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Account Receivables and Project. The application is very close to the standard implementation with minor adjustments not exceeding 100 hours. All countries are running on one hosted solution running on TDC hosting servers, and more countries will be included in the roll-out pipeline. Spain and Germany plan to go live in July and more countries will continue with further implementations beyond. The final goal is to have all countries in the group running on the new Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 application.

The Linc Group Puts Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 Into Production Only Days After TAP Drop 3
Iteration 2, Microsoft Dynamics AX Gold Certified Partner, announced that their customer, The Linc Group, has put Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 into a production environment. This exciting news comes only days after the last Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 TAP drop 3. The Linc Group is actively engaged as a member of the Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 Technology Adoption Program (TAP). The Linc Group participation in the TAP allowed them early access to the evolution of Microsoft Dynamics AX and to make contributions to the product roadmap while configuring and testing their business processes using early releases of Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0.

"As a member of the TAP, Iteration2 and The Linc Group have been able to accomplish major portions of their implementation while the Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 product was being developed", said Mark Veronda, Director of Professional Services of Iteration2.

"The Linc Group is a business and technology innovator that is bringing a new more agile business model to the world of Facility Performance Services. We are so proud to have them as a client and as a trusted partner", said Veronda. "The service module, Field Services for Microsoft Dynamics AX, the deep integration to SharePoint, and other Microsoft applications which Iteration2 has expertise are compelling reasons why we chose to go with Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0. We are driven to innovate and to raise the overall level of service in our industry and feel our participation in the TAP is a way we can help our industry to get core service industry feature sets into the capable software available today, Microsoft Dynamics," states Veronda with enthusiasm.

Field Services for Microsoft Dynamics AX brings a new level of integrated functionality to the service industry. The service industry has been waiting for a big player like Microsoft to take a leadership position in Field Service Applications. The wait is over. Field Services for Microsoft Dynamics AX provides field service, financial management, supply chain management, and customer relationship management. Now you can get deep industry functionality with the financial strength, support, and technology innovation of Microsoft.

Project Confusion becomes a bit more confusing

The following link will take you to a recent article in Australian IT whereby Jesper Andersen back pedals on some of the statements previously made by Oracle with regards to Fusion

No big bang: Jesper Andersen says Oracle should have made its intentions clearer

Microsoft Dynamics Snap & Duet for Microsoft Office & SAP

Please find below a link to a whitepaper distinguishing the approach and differences between Microsoft Dynamics Snap and Duet (formerly Mendocino) for Microsoft Office and SAP.