SQL Server 2008 R2, PowerPivot - BI for the Masses

With the year closing out fast, I thought I would point out some recent published articles, across the Microsoft Universe focusing on SQL Server 2008 R2, specifically in regard to enabling the 'BI For the Masses'.

Recently, I posted the following.:
Microsoft PowerPivot - On the way, and use with AX

In this post, I talked about Microsoft PowerPivot, the new technology that is going to be released with SQL Server 2008 R2. This mixed with Office, including SharePoint 2010, will truly start to enable Microsoft's vision of 'BI for the masses'.

Some recent articles were posted, covering PowerPivot, from different points of view. The first is from RCPMag.com, with the following post.:
SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP is Feature-Complete

In the above article, PowerPivot is one of the topics covered, being that SQL Server 2008 R2 is the foundation technology that enables this. From the article.:
"The November CTP of SQL Server 2008 R2 offers the first preview of Microsoft's new PowerPivot technology (formerly code-named "Project Gemini") and allows BI data collected from it to be shared to the company's SharePoint Server.

PowerPivot is designed to let business users create their own BI solutions in Excel with a new in-memory analysis engine that Microsoft says will work on millions of rows of data. "Users can manipulate the data in new ways to create BI solutions and then publish them to SharePoint to collaborate with other users," explains Fausto Ibarra, Microsoft's director of SQL Server product management."

Next, the MSDN - The Architecture Journal, did a very focused and detail article about PowerPivot, and the technologies that enable it. The post.:
Increasing Productivity by Empowering Business Users with Self-Serve BI



From the article.:
"When it comes to BI, there is a constant battle between business users and IT. Business users know the functional components of the business; they understand fully what they want to analyze and the questions that they want to answer. The IT team understands the structure of the data, the models, the cubes, data flow from the operational systems, the data warehouse, and the control mechanisms for the data. Business users often feel that IT is always saying “No” when they make a request for a data cube, report, chart, graph, or even raw data. The members of the IT team often feel that users are making unreasonable requests, with timelines that equate to boiling the ocean by first thing tomorrow morning. Self-serve BI attempts to solve this problem by providing a mechanism that will satisfy the analytical needs of users and provide the governance and control that IT requires.

In its latest release of Office Excel 2010 and Office SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft attempts to provide the self-serve analytical needs of business users in a feature that is known as PowerPivot."

And...
"PowerPivot for Office SharePoint accomplishes two important tasks. The first is that it provides a home for the PowerPivot documents that users create in an environment that IT controls. The second is that it provides users throughout the organization the ability to view and interact with PowerPivot documents by using nothing more than their thin-client Web browser.

For business users, consuming a PowerPivot document is as simple as going to their Intranet site and clicking a document. The document then renders in their browser, and they can interact with the document and perform their analysis. In fact, the consumers do not even need to have Office Excel installed on their local computers to interact with the PowerPivot document. The result is that business users focus on their business analysis and are oblivious to the technology that enables the interaction."

As well as...
"Office Excel documents in Office SharePoint can use connection files that are managed by the IT department. For example, IT can create connection files to the source systems and then simply point end users to these approved connection files. This alleviates the need for IT to service numerous requests for connection information for every Office Excel file that is created for a business problem.

One of the most powerful features of Office SharePoint is called Excel Services. Excel Services is the ability to render Office Excel documents in a thin client (Web browser). An important Office Excel document can be saved to a document library, and the entire organization can then view and interact with the Office Excel document without having to leave their browser. The consumers of the document just navigate to their company intranet and click the Office Excel document.

This functionality is particularly powerful when thinking about rolling out Office Excel 2010 to provide PowerPivot functionality. Only a handful of business users actually produce content, with the rest just consuming it. Using Excel Services, the only users who will need to have Office Excel 2010 are the producers of content. The consumers can interact with the PowerPivot documents without ever having to leave their browser or install the latest version of Office Excel."

Now with this information, lets loop back around, and refocus this for use with Dynamics AX. Think again, Role Centers, and the dashboards that executives love to use and make use of. Role Centers are great! And these dashboards will become even more useful, with the ability for content producing users to have access to the needed data, and be able to create usable PowerPivot and Excel parts, that can be published through MOSS, and be made use of for the Role Center Dashboards.

This is the battle that happens a lot with BI tools. They are hard to setup, then complex to maintian and develop. With the latest releases of Office, SharePoint, SQL Server --- Microsoft is deliverying a product / technology in PowerPivot that is addressing this issue. And it can be used with Dynamics AX, and should be considered for upcoming, future implementations and anyone on older AX installs that are seeking and wanting self-service, BI solutions that are familiar and work native with their ERP investment.

To wrap this post up, I want to piont you to the PowerPivot home.: www.PowerPivot.com

That is a great resource to start checking out, and reading now. Also there is a really great blog called.: PowerPivotPro, which is operated by Rob Collie, who is a Microsoft employee of 13 years, and a self proclaimed Excel geek, Business Intelligence professional, all-around data enthusiast, and one of the founding engineers behind PowerPivot, Microsoft’s new self-service BI offering.

His blog has some great post, which I actually subscribe to through my Amazon Kindle. (Thanks Rob for a great blog!)

Also there is the Microsoft Team blog, for PowerPivot.: Microsoft PowerPivot - Team Blog, and with it's recent post, helps bring the Cloud (Azure) into focus with BI and PowerPivot. Check out the latest DataSource adds.:



Notice SQL Azure? That's right, all of these technologies, coming next year in full release, giving the ability to span, scale, dig and report --- all for helping make businesses and customers more Dynamic. And what fits in their best as the ERP platform? Microsoft Dynamics AX!

That's all for now, and I know it's a lot to chew on. Check back soon, as we kick off 2010 next week, and as I have a whole lot more to post about, including a new interview, or two. See you then!




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Merry Christmas!

Well, It's that wonderful time of year again. Christmas time!

I wanted to make sure and get out to everyone a very Merry Christmas!



May you and your families have a very blessed Christmas. I hope that your able to keep in your heart and mind of what this time of year celebrates. The birth of Yeshua --- Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!

Through him do we have the ultimate gift of salvation, because we are all sinners, and therefore all need this gift!

I will be back posting regular after the holidays, and might get some post in here and there during!

Again Merry Christmas!




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This time I was interviewed about Dynamics AX

DynamicsWorld just did a post, where they interviewed me about Dynamics, Microsoft and Dynamics AX.

The direct link can be found here.: Interview - Brandon George

From the interview.:
"Who has been your biggest influence/s in Microsoft Dynamics?

I have actually thought a good bit about this question, because I have not really ever given this much thought before. When you’re working non-stop - which is a good thing - sometimes such reflections are not ever presented in one's mind.

So,with that said, there are actually a couple of different answers, and these are in order of how often versus any kind of priority. First I would say my customers / clients. They actually influence me the most because of their different business models. The problems they try and do solve with Dynamics AX, which sometimes pushes the envelope for the technology side of Dynamics AX. The needs they have for integrating into so many different systems, business partners and the like.

Second I would have to say Sunrise Technologies, the great people that make up the company I am a part of. The amount of talent we have at Sunrise, is rare. It's the mix of talent, versus being just strong technical or functional. The well rounded, real people that make up this company and ask the whys and why not's that push ourselves and our clients for better outcomes.

Third would have to be the Dynamics Community and my fellow bloggers. So many great minds are out there now writing, posting, promoting, and sharing about the Dynamics line. When I first started blogging some five years ago, there was not much out there, now there is a wealth of knowledge that exists that is due to the community and also Microsoft."

It was very interesting to be on the other end of an interview. This is the same site that listed me in The DynamicsWorld Top 100 List 2009 - For Microsoft Dynamics.

I would like to thank Simone and DynamicsWorld for taking the time to interview me.

That's all for now, but check back soon, as more Dynamics AX related post are coming!




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Microsoft PowerPivot - On the way, and use with AX

Alright,

So one of the hot topics I have talked about, over the past year is BI. This makes sense, since, with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, BI had a huge boost in what was offered out of the box, and platform and tools for creating BI.

As part of this coverage, I have been talking to you about Microsoft 'Project Gemini', how this will relate to Dynamics AX, and how it fits into Microsoft's vision of 'BI for the masses'.

Below is a list, in order of release, starting with the post I did in May of this year about Project Gemini.:

• The Future of Microsoft BI: Project 'Gemini'


• Dynamics AX 2009 BI: Practical use with SSRS and looking at OLAP


• MSDW: MDM vs. IDM


• More on the Future of BI with Microsoft, Dynamics AX and Project Gemini

So, now we know the actual product name for Project Gemini is PowerPivot, or Microsoft PowerPivot.



MSDN, has a great resource covering PowerPivot, which can be found here.:
PowerPivot Overview (SQL Server 2008 R2)

So what is PowerPivot, from it's base offering? MSDN puts it as.:
"PowerPivot refers to a collection of applications and services that provide an end-to-end approach for creating data-driven, user-managed business intelligence solutions in Excel workbooks.

PowerPivot integrates with Excel and SharePoint. In an Excel environment, PowerPivot for Excel provides a familiar authoring and analytical experience on the workstation. In a SharePoint farm, PowerPivot for SharePoint is the set of server-side applications, services, and features that support team collaboration on business intelligence data. SharePoint provides the platform for collaborating and sharing business intelligence across the team and larger organization. Workbook authors and owners publish and manage the business intelligence that they develop to their SharePoint sites."



So with PowerPivot, the push for BI to the Masses is actually taking shape. It's all about User Managed BI. And Excel is the UI for that BI.

Now we have all known for years, and have seen it more and more with every release of Dynamics AX, that Office is a part, and sometimes the User Interface for Dynamics AX. This will become even more true as the Dynamics AX Road Map becomes reality, and the technologies for BI, like PowerPivot are made use of with Dynamics AX.

So how will PowerPivot be used with Dynamics AX? Think Role Centers, and the dashboards that everyone loves. So web parts, that are created and make use of Excel services (enter MOSS), that are generated, published and collabarted on by end users, present in and made use of in Role Centers and EP for Dynamics AX reporting and analysis.

Look at how this works, from Querying PowerPivot Data in SharePoint.:


So that Analysis Services at the bottom of the above image, well those are the Same Analysis Services that attach to Dynamics AX transactional data, along with other possible transactional data, for anaylsis work to be performed on.

And the delivery, SharePoint! That means Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal, Role Center Web Parts, and Published PowerPivot workbooks, and Excel parts that live on your Exdecutives Dashboard for reporting and company wide information and drill down knowledge.

So can you see this taking shape, BI for the masses, and Dynamics AX? Notice the required technologies.: SQL Server 2008 R2, and SharePoint Server 2010.

Now, go back a few post, and check out the RoadMap and "Wave 14" for next year. All of these technologies, combined as a platform that Microsoft Dynamics AX is a part of, to enable customers and their business to be Dynamic, and be successful.

There is no other platform that is coming close to offering such abilities! This is very exciting, and should be for business users, and IT shops. This means more controlled and secure power in users hands, while allow control of Master Data or one version of the truth, platform wide.

That's all for now! Check back soon as more to come!




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Sunrise named to the first ever Bob Scott's Insights VAR Stars

Sunrise Technologies, Inc., the amazing VAR that I am apart of, recently was awarded 2009 VAR Stars award!

The full press release can be found here.:
Sunrise named to the first ever Bob Scott's Insights VAR Stars


"This award is made to honor organizations for factors such as quality performance and leadership in their arena. It is made without regard to the volume of annual sales made by these businesses, although their ability to achieve notable growth is considered," says executive editor Bob Scott.

Way to go everyone at Sunrise! It's hard work, focus on the customer, and expert knowledge that give Sunrise and it's customers the edge. I am very proud to be a part of the Sunrise family!







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Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 White Paper: Using the Version Control Integration with Microsoft Team Foundation Server

One of the topics that a lot of customers need to be really thinking about, and sometimes is not part of the initial project implementation, is Source Control, Version Control --- Control over the development of Dynamics AX objects and projects, the a Version Control System.

Microsoft has a great product, called 'Team Foundation Server'. Team Foundation Server, offers different levels depending on the need of the customer, and is not just a run of the mill VC solution.

If offers planning, control, documentation, BP, guidelines, branching, promotion options, and allows different role types to view a given project or set of projects in the manner best suited, and allowed for them.

With Dynamics AX 2009, you can actually take and make use of Team Founcation Server, with your instance to help gain control and governance over the development and lifecycle of your given Dynamics AX investment.

A very good white paper, that was release this past July, talks in details about this. That is the following white paper.:
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 White Paper: Using the Version Control Integration with Microsoft Team Foundation Server



The above image shows the Object Lifecycle when making use of TFS integration within Dynamics AX.

So this offers an amazing amount of power. The only draw back, for smaller shops, is the fact that each developer machine, must have their own AOS. So if you have 10 developers, then that's 10 AOS licenses, you will need.:

Developer Machines
Each developer machine should have:

• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Developer installation (with AOS)


• Microsoft SQL Server (local or remote)


• Local repository folder


• Visual Studio Team Explorer (optional)

There are other options, but for a shop that wants to get the most out of their investment for Dynamics AX, even having an AOS per developer, does not cost that much in the scheme of things. When your talking about your enterprise business platform!

That's all for now, check back soon as more to come!




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Microsoft's next wave of releases

Alright, so in this post, I plan on touching on a few points. The plan is to take us through Microsoft's next wave of product releases, and how that will enable and touch Dynamics AX.

First let's start with the following post.:
Microsoft updates its enterprise ABC (Active Directory, BizTalk and Communications Server) roadmaps



So in the above post Mary Jo covers Microsoft's roadmap for ABC, or Active Directory, BizTalk and Communcations Server. Why is this important for Dynamics AX? These technologies will be the foundation for future enabling technologies that allow true Hyrbid Clouds, custom, third party, and Microsoft based to exists for Microsoft Dynamics AX Customers.

Now lets move forward a little.
Microsoft Dynamics AX statement of direction



Notice the vNext release, and road map for Dynamics AX includes heavy Functional growth and Software+Services.

This is the key. The next release, or wave of Microsoft products will enable more and more solutions to actually be true Hyrbid clouds. This means customers of AX now, and in the future will need this, request this, want to understand this... as part of their solution design.

The Cloud, something I have been talking about for years now, is here. The next wave is just the very first part of this. Microsoft Dynamics AX is the business platform, that the rest of the platform makes use of to offer a total, single, hyrbid platform for customers world wide.

For partners, check out the following PartnerSource resource.:
Microsoft Dynamics & the Wave ”14” Launch – Helping our Customers Become Dynamic Businesses

"
The “Dynamic Business” is Microsoft’s vision of companies who are able to continuously evolve and transform themselves to face changes and challenges in their business environment. Some of these challenges will be economic, others may be organizational, or require changes to the ways companies operate, or interact within a wider value chain. Such challenges will require companies to use software to optimize their people, their processes, and their ecosystem.



Microsoft Dynamics’® goal is to help our customers become dynamic businesses through empowering their people to be more productive, simplifying their business processes so they can be more agile, and through enabling seamless connections with their ecosystem. Achieving this goal requires more than just a Dynamics business application - it also requires a business productivity infrastructure that works hand-in-hand with the business application, and provides many of the capabilities on which the business application relies."

And...
"The latest version of Microsoft’s business productivity infrastructure - and the two key components of the Wave “14” Launch - are Microsoft Office® 2010 and SharePoint® Server 2010. Both are currently in public beta, and are planned for release in the first half of 2010, at which time all Microsoft Dynamics® ERP and Microsoft Dynamics® CRM products will be certified to run on them."

So everything, more than ever, is has a tie into the Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP offering. And Microsoft Dynamics AX, can more than ever, make use of the rest of the Microsoft platform. From the Desktop to the Cloud. Threee screen and a cloud!

For customers, this means more flexibility, more options, and a more Dynamic business for sure.

For Partners, we must learn, know and be experts in understanding what is best for a given customers needs. That other options exists, other than on-premise software.

Finally, check out Microsoft's vision for Dynamics ERP and Software+Services.:
Software-plus-Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP

"Microsoft Corp. announced a collection of online services that can be attached to its Microsoft Dynamics enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, including a new Sites Service built on the Windows Azure platform, a new Commerce Service, and an expansion of its Payment Service.

In addition, the company revealed that its Microsoft Dynamics ERP hosting business has more than doubled in the past year, demonstrating strong uptake by partners to deliver Microsoft Dynamics ERP via on-demand and subscription-based hosting models as well as complementary services.

“Our customers increasingly appreciate the option of moving certain applications and services into the cloud while maintaining an on-premise option for their ERP solution,” said Crispin Read, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics ERP. “Providing this choice and flexibility is a competitive advantage for us and our partners around the world.”"

So, the cloud is merging with the Dynamics ERP. Dynamics AX, can take advantage now, of what the Microsoft Cloud Platform has to offer. And not just with the offerings from Microsoft itself. But offerings from third party vendors, and also custom services as well.

This has to be, in any stratgey, and planning for any customer that is using, or considering to use Microsoft, and Microsoft Dynamics AX.

If you have questions about Dynamics AX, Microsoft, and the Microsoft Cloud Platform, feel free to ask here by either emailing me or leaving a comment. Also check back soon, as I have more great post coming!




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Microsoft “Migrate From NetSuite” Reference Recruitment Contest

Well last week, I posted about PartnerCompete.com's coverage of NetSuite's CEO having some crazy claims.:
NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson crazy claims

And over the weekend, Microsoft released a new PartnerSource based contest.:
Microsoft “Migrate From NetSuite” Reference Recruitment Contest

PartnerSource is required to go to the above link. I just thought it was in good timing, that this was done. So make sure and submit those NetSuite conversion stories to Microsoft their AX partners! It's worth the effort in doing so!

Check back, as I have a lot of posting going on this week!




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NetSuite CEO Zach Nelson crazy claims

PartnerCompete, a member based site, focusing on driving Dynamics Partner Channel success, recently had a very interesting article they posted about on their site.

In this article, they quote Zach Nelson, CEO of struggling NetSuite to say that.:
All the VAR's in that (Microsoft) Channel will get off their Dynamics Drug, and one day all have to switch to SaaS based NetSuite.

He went on to say that The reason why, NetSuite is the only game in town.

My question, to Mr. Zach Nelson is, "Where the Heck have you been?"

As PartnerCompete points out, NetSuite's revenues are flatlining and the massive losses continue. On top of that, NetSuite is in a huge legal battle with it's "Three" time partner of the year, because of how NetSuite comes in at the 11th hour of a sale and takes the client on directly. Meaning that NetSuite partners compete directly with NetSuite!

To read the full own story, you must be a member of PartnerCompete, and the direct link can be found here.: PartnerCompete's Story about Crazy NetSuite CEO Claims.

Typically I usually don't post about this kind of thing, but I had too. This is either a very, very desperate move, by a failing software company, and it's CEO. Or the CEO is so far out of touch with reality and what is going on in the market place, that maybe he should not be CEO?

Either way, the writing is really on the wall, or in the customers that Dynamics line has, and its in the Microsoft platform, the Azure Cloud, the masses that are seeing Dynamics, Dynamics AX, CRM, XRM, etc. etc. that love the product(s). No other product can compare to Microsoft Dynamics AX. Look at all the AMR, Gartner, etc. reports. Microsoft Dynamics AX is the flagship ERP now, and of the future.

And as for SaaS, well SaaS is just a part of the bigger picture which is Software+Services. Three screens and a cloud my friend! And what platform is NetSuite?

So hats off to you Zach Nelson, for helping show how much NetSuite is either failing, or your lack of touch with Reality.

For real world, reality based information, about a product that can really help you, and will continue to grow, look to Microsoft Dynamics AX. And check back here, as I will continue to post!




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Compare Microsoft Dynamics AX to Oracle, Sage, and SAP

Thinking about switching to a new ERP? Wondering which one is the best? How about having the ability to compare Microsoft Dynamics to what Oracle, Sage and SAP has to offer?

Check out the following link, from Sunrise Technologies, Inc.: Would you like to see how Microsoft Dynamics compares to Oracle, Sage, and SAP? - Comparison tool provided by Microsoft


And then if you have direct questions, feel free to ask Sunrise, and the Sunrise Contact Page.: Contact Us!

Or drop me an email or comment through my blog here!







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Microsoft Payment Service and Discussion with Red Maple

On Monday, I posted about the new Microsoft Online Services for Dynamics ERP, and focusing on what that means a little for Dynamics AX.
DAX ROI and Azure Dynamics ERP Services

I dug deeper into this, because the defacto credit card processing for Dynamics AX, has been and still is Red Maple. (www.redmaple.com).



At many of my clients, Red Maple Credit Card Processing for Dynamics AX is in use. With the news of the new Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP, I started thinking how this could be used in Dynamics AX? What about Red Maple? Can it be used with Red Maple? Can Red Maple's deep functional offerings be used with the new Payment Services? Does this mean Red Maple will be competing with this service?

I contacted Red Maple, and their CTO Patrick Hodo gave me this reponse.:
"Red Maple does not really compete with the Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP. Basically, they are a “gateway” to payment processors, much like Cybersource or PayPal are gateways.

The only difference is that their service is a closed API, which means that we cannot integrate with them—as much as we would like to. We have asked for the API but they refuse to make it available. This would be very helpful for customers that decided to use the standard credit card processing in DAX 2009, but cannot perform credits and voids. We understand that their processor list is limited right now (basically they only work with TSYS and PayPal) but is expanding. I think the main issue is that most customers purchase DAX so that they can customize and enhance their business through the software. Currently, they cannot do that with Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP. It is up to customers to decide whether that is important enough to use or not use it."

And...
"Really, we are focused on the software aspect of credit cards, enhancing the delivered functionality. We don’t care about the “acquiring” aspect of the business (getting new merchants is a big money making venture). So our focus is on PCI compliance (which we are now certified for), business processes for eCommerce and the types of enhancements that most customers are accustomed to us delivering."

In response, I asked the following.:
So is it possible for a customer to still use Red Maple, and create a custom Gateway, that makes use of this service? Even though it's a closed API, since it's just a Gateway, you would think a customer could create a custom gateway from Red Maple to this service?

Patrick Replied with.:
"We have not received nor found any information on the API, so until new information is released we understand that it is a closed API. So if a customer decided to enhance the standard functionality, let’s say to add CVD information (which is the little code on the back of a Visa card), the customer would not be able to do so because they wouldn’t even know where the code goes in the submission to the service.

So if a user wanted to use Red Maple Credit Cards and then integrate with a custom gateway (perhaps FastCharge, for example) they could absolutely do so. If the user wanted to use our software to integrate to Microsoft Payment Services for Dynamics ERP, they are out of luck."

I myself searched and could not find anyone or anything yet that offered anything on having an Open API to this service. I do know this can be used now, the service that is. If you go to the following Fact Sheet for Dynamics AX on the service you will see it in use, with Screen shots.:
Microsoft Dynamics AX Payment Services Factsheet

For now it seems that you choose between either Red Maple, or this service for Dynamics AX. I would think, that this will change in the future, but this is very important to understand for when recommending which path to take.

It would then come down to need. Red Maple has a lot of deep functionality, and the service is exactly that.

This is very interesting, and look for me to talk on this more in the future. See you next time!




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DAX ROI and Azure Dynamics ERP Services

Well as I posted first thing this morning, getting back into the swing of things. In doing so, I have a double post here to get the week off right.

As the title says, the first part of this post is about Dynamics AX ROI, or Return On Investment.

This is why companies implement Dynamics AX over SAP, Oracle, Epicor, etc. It's because of the ROI, and benefits that come from being a part of the Microsoft platform and software stacks.

I saw on twitter a post to a link, to Nucleus Research's post ROI study. Click here for that direct link.

This study covers the spectrum of Microsoft Dynamics Line, and of course that includes Microsoft Dynamics AX. The direct link to the specific Microsoft Dynamics AX published paper can be found here.: The Real ROI of Microsoft Dynamics AX.

In this paper, I found some very interesting information, and specifically out of the customers that agreed to participate, 75% of them have already seen great ROI, while the others are on their way to doing so shortly.

Also from that paper.:
"Companies looking to
maximize returns from Microsoft Dynamics AX and other ERP deployments today should:

• Get IT and business together to define needs and requirements up front and get user buy-in.

• Evaluate products both on real functional requirements and ROI– and build milestones for both into your deployment plans.

• Keep customization limited to ensure you’ll be able to upgrade and adapt in the future without significant rework."

The above is the conluding points of advice. The paper is well worth the read, and just another independant source talking about what make Microsoft Dynamics AX so great.

Now for the second point of this post, Azure Dynamics ERP Services. We have been talking about the cloud on this blog for over two years, knowing that it was coming. PDC just took place and one of the things learned there was a new set of Dynamics ERP Services that will live in the Azure Cloud Platform. Making use, no doubt, of the AppFabric so that is truly lives in the Cloud and not on a hosting VM image, that lives in the cloud.

These cloud services can be found at the following direct link.: Online services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP

The two main services are.:

- Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP
Now you can have a total retail solution. By combining Microsoft Dynamics ERP software with Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP you can accept credit and debit transactions as you ring up sales right in your ERP software. No credit card terminal needed. With Microsoft Dynamics ERP, you can accept credit card payments in real-time. Payment Services is fully compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) to ensure the security of your credit transactions.

- Connect for Microsoft Dynamics ERP
Connect for Microsoft Dynamics ERP helps you access the resources you need to maximize the effectiveness of your Microsoft Dynamics solution, and increase profitability. With Connect, your employees can access community-driven knowledge, best practices, training, and updates tailored to their specific role directly from their Microsoft Dynamics ERP application.

Both of these are wonderful moves in the right direction. And I know a lot of our retail clients, and possible clients are looking for that PCI DSS compliance. So this is great to see.

Over at MSDynamicsWorld.com, a great article about this actually has been posted by Linda Rosencrance. Microsoft Calls On Azure for New Dynamics ERP Services

From the article.:
"Microsoft said it can best serve its customers by offering a flexible deployment model so they can implement their ERP systems in the environments that are best for them. Microsoft said currently over 150 partners worldwide offer customers this hybrid option.

The online services that can be attached to its Microsoft Dynamics ERP platform including a new Azure-based service called Sites, new Commerce Services, and an expansion of its Payment Service, according to the company."

And...
"The significance of this announcement is about Microsoft Dynamics taking another step into the world of cloud computing, and being one of the early vendors to talk about a hybrid environment of on-premise and cloud and how those scenarios might work and providing the technical support to allow them to work," said Jim Shepherd, an analyst with Boston-based AMR Research Inc. "And there hasn't been a real connection yet between Azure as a public cloud service from Microsoft and the Dynamics product line. So this is the first time we're really seeing the Dynamics business leverage the Azure offering."

There we have it, the first real production level offering of the Azure Cloud Platform with a Hybrid on-premise+cloud approach. This will be the norm for businesses with the cloud, and this is only the very tip of the iceberg.

Well that's all for now, check back later!




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Back at it again!

Well Turkey week '09 has come and gone, and now it's time to get back into the grind.

Alabama beat Auburn again this year, in a close game. But a win is still a win! Roll Tide! We are playing Florida this weekend for the SEC Championship!

As for Dynamics AX and this blog, I will be getting back into the swing of things. I actually have a back log of post, since I did not post anything last week. So I have some good and interesting post waiting.

So check back soon as I get back to posting, and we get ready to close out another great Dynamics AX year!





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Turkey Week is upon us!

Well Turkey week '09 is upon us. It's time for eating, eating and more eating. Also time for being with family, friends, loved one's.

This is a time that we all should reflect on what we are thankful for. Those things, times, people, place and such that help make our lives, ...our lives.

So I am thankful for.:

1.) Must always place God, YHWH, the Creator on high. And the salvation that I have seen in my life.
2.) My wonderful wife, and two little Girls!
3.) Both sides of our family: Mother, Dad, Mother-in-Law, Father-in-Law, Borthers, Sisters, etc.
4.) The ability to provide for my family, by having such a great company I am a part of, Sunrise!
5.) The little things, and small seconds that come and go that bring ordinary happinesses and bright spots into our lifes.
6.) This Blog of course, and all of you who care, and sometimes dare, to read it.
7.) Alabama Football! Roll Tide! (Sorry have to be thankful for the Tide!)

There is a lot more of course, to much to list. That's the point though, being thankful, having good times, laughing, and not taking yourself to serious.

Well I have plenty lined up for some really great post. Doktool for Dynamics AX, thoughts from PDC this week, Cyber warfare and your Cloud solutions survival, and more straight talk on Dynamics AX!

But for now, lets all have a great and wonderful Thanksgiving! I might pop-in for one or two posts next week, but just in case I don't, may you have a blessed and wonderful time with your family, friends and loved ones. Even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving!





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2009 Microsoft Dynamics Channel Economic Survey IDC Whitepaper

*[ PartnerSource Access Required ]*

Recently Microsoft released a white paper on PartnerSource, showing the Dynamics Channel Economic breakdown. This is survey results compiled from 467 survey respondants.

The full link to this white paper can be found here.: Now Available, the 2009 Microsoft Dynamics Channel Economic Survey IDC Whitepaper!

From the white paper summary.:
"This whitepaper highlights key findings and best practices from the 467 survey responses to the 2009 Microsoft Dynamics® Channel economic survey.

Read this whitepaper to gain key business insights such as understanding the KPIs of the top half of Microsoft Dynamics partners compared to the bottom half and learn important findings and best practices from the survey to help you drive your Microsoft Dynamics business."

This was compiled by IDC, and there is some really interesting information in this white paper.

The executive summary from IDC really sets what the purpose of this white paper is all about.:
"As part of its ongoing commitment to understanding the holistic profitability of its partners, Microsoft commissioned a follow-on Partner Economics Survey with IDC in 2009 to examine the business performance of Microsoft Dynamics partners.

This study follows up two very successful partner profitability studies in 2006 and 2007 and offers four key lessons from top performing partners that every partner should consider. It also offers a wealth of performance data against which partners can benchmark their individual results."

Some of the interesting nuggets, which a lot more is in there, are.:
"Top half partners showed a significant advantage in gross margin at 56% versus 35% for bottom half partners. Much of this difference comes down to services gross margin, which we explore later in this document. Top half partners outperform bottom half partners 51% to 30% on services gross margin. Given that services makes up such a large part of Dynamics business practices, this gap is too big to ignore."

And, something from the Top Partners, lessons learned.:
"Industry Focus Means More Customer Adds and a Trend Toward
Higher Profits"

I highly recommend taking this document and seeing what kind of information it has in it. Very worth while reading, and understanding the landscape of the Dynamics Channel.

That's all for now, check back soon for more!

In the meantime, if you want to check out a great 'Top half' partner, visit Sunrise Technologies, Inc. (www.sunriseconsult.com)




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ZDNet: Oracle consulting layoffs: but what's the number?

Alright,

I just saw this today, and thought it was very important to talk about. Oracle, the love child for many New York Stock Jockeys, will most likely be doing some big layoffs.

The offical report back from Oracle as of now.: "No comment". But that is to be expected, with the Technology media catching wind of this before Oracle wanted it to leak out.

Now to what's important to understand about this.:
"...I have seen this before in Europe, accompanied by staunch denials or handing off to middle management who couldn’t possibly answer the tough questions. It is standard Oracle procedure."

And The Procedure...
"
It’s coming up to quarter end, the numbers are probably going to look bad, let’s give Wall Street something to cheer about.

Oracle can’t lie about the numbers but will avoid bumping up against the WARN Act if it can. I suspect the latter’s what’s been calculated here.

Since projects are ongoing and people within those projects are also being RIF’d then I also suspect that at least some of those same consultants will be re-hired as contractors. I saw that in Europe on a number of occasions. There’s no reason to doubt it will not happen in the US, especially if the numbers being RIF’d are high and possibly indiscriminately. The short term effect is that Oracle can legitimately call headcount numbers as lower which will please the financial analysts but will mask what’s really going on.

Customers lose out. Pulling consultants off projects mid-way through is disruptive for all the wrong reasons. If Oracle projects are billed on time and materials, then there’s always the chance that Oracle can get away for a few weeks at least by having people on the job billed out in the usual manner even if they’re really coming up to speed and not being productive. Alternatively, Oracle can offshore the work in the hope that any project delays can be compensated by short term over staffing in cheaper locales while maintaining the outbound contracted billing rate. Customers lose out either through delays for which they pay or substandard work requiring later re-work. Oracle doesn’t need to factor in the additional margin immediately as it can provide against the cost leverage it is able to get from sending work to cheaper locations against possible rework. Whichever method of accounting it adopts, it can afford to be cautious and still come up smiling"

Now lets see the big key words in this statement, and go back and reread the above again.: Customers lose out.

That's the reason why I believe this 110% to be important to understand. Customers loose out. So if your considering Dynamics AX vs. Oracle, it's worth noting this kind of moves. And from the Oracle followers it happens a good bit. Read the details about this. It's important and should impact your decision on one vs. the other.

This is another highlight and shows why the Microsoft Partner Model works great. Here at Sunrise Technologies, Inc. (www.sunriseconsult.com) we are hiring people to implement Microsoft Dynamics AX.

So are you going to fall into one of the Oracle Customer black holes? Don't get pushed into that. Look at the better option, Dynamics AX. It's a better fit, better software, and better model for implementation.

And that's not just from me saying those words. The proof is in the actions, customers and software itself.

Microsoft had layoffs as well last year, some of the first in it's history. Did you hear anything about the ERP implementation consultants getting pulled from an active role, on a project going through for another 6 months? No.

Why? Because of the Partner Model. With Microsoft, you will not end up in a ERP support black hole.

I am sure this will kick up some dust, but for this topic, it very much deserves to be kicked up. Comments? Questions?





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Reflection - Where and why

With Dynamics AX, the ability to make use of Reflection, or Reflective Programming, exist.

For those that don't quite understand what reflection is, please check out the following wikipedia link, which explains it well.:
Wikipedia.org Link



As described on the wikipdeia article.:
"In computer science, reflection is the process by which a computer program can observe and modify its own structure and behavior. The programming paradigm driven by reflection is called reflective programming. It is a particular kind of metaprogramming.

In many computer architectures, program instructions are stored as data - hence the distinction between instruction and data is merely a matter of how the information is treated by the computer and programming language. Normally, instructions are executed and data is processed; however, in some languages, programs can also treat instructions as data and therefore make reflective modifications. Reflection is most commonly used in high-level virtual machine programming languages."

So the idea of reflection, or meta-programming, has actually been around for a long while. Since the mid 1980's. And the ability to perform reflective programming exists in many langauges, including C#, Java, and X++.

There are plenty of examples actually of reflection, that are common use with Dynamics AX. These may not be considered full reflective based programming, but aspects of this exists all through the common code base of Dynamics AX.

Take for example the Common object. All tables actually extend from this Common object.

As it's base, you have then the ability to send a table of unknown type, and operate it on a method that does not know until runtime, what the Common object actually represents.

So there eixsts, for the Common object, the ability for it to describe itself to later executing code, and therefore can then be acted upon at runtime.

For example.:

public void SomeMethod(Common Rec)
{
Table1 tbl1var;
Table2 tbl2var;
;

switch(tableid2name(rec.tableid))
{
case "Table1" :
tbl1var = Rec;
break;

case "Table2" :
tbl2var = Rec;
break;
}

// Do some code here on the Tables...
}


In the above example we see a somewhat common approach for having a method find out what kind of table that is being passed in, and then operate on that table based on the table name.

Now if you expand this further, there are other classes, and objects that exists inside Dynamics AX that help us really implement Reflection.

These classes include.:

• SysDictTable


• SysDictField


• SysDictClass


• Etc.

You can browse the AOT, Classes and go to SysDict* and see what all exists there.

The reason I bring reflection up, is I think it's not a well understood topic, and one that if more people understood could really benefit from.

I have done some development work before, that making use of reflection could read an entire SQL Server databse, read in datatypes, field lengths, tables names, and use that to create tables, extended data types, and import the data into these new tables, with a single object.

There is also possibilities for making use of reflection for say you want to have a class framework, and have a class tied to a given customer to operate some kind of acknowledgement to that customer.

You don't however want to have a mega object that operates all this for you, and you want flexibility. What to do?

Well you can make use of reflection, to create a framework that will execute code, not knowing for sure what it's executing actually. Only knowing that the given class it is executing has a specific method. And you made sure of that this method exists, because you make use of reflection to see if it actually does exists.

This can be done with making use of the SysDictClass, and the Object, Object. You could also get fancy, if need be, and create code at run time, compile that code and run time, execute that code at run time, and have that code return it's output to operate on. Again, All at run time!

To see a decent example of this, check the following out.: Generating and running code RUNTIME

Also, a great resource on this very matter, with X++ as the focus is the SysDictCoder blog, found here.: SysDictCoder Blog

The following are just some of the great highlights that have been from this blog, and I myself have made use of most or not all of these in my lifetime of AX.:

• Tricks with X++ embedded SQL


• Constructing date values


• Changing properties of AOT objects in code

Those are just some recent few actually, and there is a lot more.

The whole idea of reflective development, making use of reflection is smart coding. Sometimes people look at it as code that makes code. If I can create a single object that saves me time from coding 200 objects, that that is the better way.

And that last example, true example. Not a made up number. I have done this before, specifically relating to data imports.

That's all for now, I hope this is enough to get you thinking about reflection, some of it's common uses in X++, and maybe how it can help you solve that next need.

Till next time!




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Blog spot lioght: Gotdax?

I try to spotlight great resources I find from time to time. Places on the web that has some great peices of information, spanning the entire Microsoft stack, and how that relates to Dynamics AX.

In doing so, I will do these Blog spot light posts. Well today is one of those post, and I want to spotlight a blog called: Gotdax? - click here to visit.

This blog, was recently started this year it seems in July, by a one Jacob Sørensen who seems to be from around the north sea area of Europe, where AX was actually born.

His post, some we have see similar at the SysDict Blog and I myself have posted about, focus on the 'out of the box' ways to get things done inside Dynamics AX.

See I am a big fan of reflection, and reflective development. Meta-programming or meta-development as it is sometimes referred too. And Jacob touches some of that with his post.

Here are some of the interesting one's that he has posted so far.:

• Merging code/elements in Layers


• Extracting labels from one labelfile to another


• Generating and running code RUNTIME.

I always encourage my fellow bloggers to continue to push the envolope in being creative, and posting relavent information that helps the Dynamics AX community.

This is for sure some good post, Jacob, and I hope to see more from you! Thanks for taking the time to post!

That's all for now. I have more planned post for the upcoming week, so see you then!




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Dynamics Anywhere - A new mobile focus for Dynamics AX

Last week a press release caught my eye. It was from a new company called 'Dynamics Anywhere'. A direct link to their website can be found here.: DynamicsAnywhere Website

This company was started to focus on Mobile based solutions for Dynamics brand ERP, and a big focus of that is Dynamics AX.

This comes at a time, when Microsoft stopped it's development of it's mobile framework. The reason Microsoft did this, was told in the ZDNet Blog entry that Mary Jo did, and this blog was featured in.

The news of that was first broke by MSDynamicsWorld.com.

Microsoft saw that most solutions are either custom or based on ISV based frameworks and solutions. And with that, has tipped it's hat and is depending on VAR's and ISV's to provide this need to customers.

That is where DynamicsAnywhere fits in. I am going to be digging deeper into what they actually will be offering, but this is some very interesting news. Mobile need for business data is growing in leaps and bounds, and when it comes to a build vs. buy, well the actual compare is build vs. buy+customize.

From the Press release.:
"On 15 October 2009 Dalosy, a well known and innovative Dutch company specialized in mobile solutions, has founded a new company: Dynamics Anywhere. Microsoft’s international Partner Development Center (PDC) program, in which Dalosy participated this year, resulted in the strategy to start a company fully dedicated to mobile business solutions . This is Dalosy’s answer to the market’s growing demand for flexible mobile solutions. Dynamics Anywhere will focus on the development and distribution of software for mobile applications for companies that use Microsoft Dynamics AX and NAV.

Dalosy has asked Mr. Joop van Voorthuijsen, director of the Dutch Partner Development Center and also founder and former CEO of To-Increase, to head Business Development. Joop has extensive experience in the field of development and distribution of software in the Microsoft Dynamics world. Combined with Dalosy’s broad knowledge of mobile solutions, this gives Dynamics Anywhere a very strong position.

Optimization
Dynamics Anywhere is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) with focus on the development and distribution of software for mobile solutions for Microsoft Dynamics AX and NAV. These solutions, which will be sold globally through the Microsoft Dynamics partner channel, offer users of Dynamics AX and NAV the opportunity to optimize their business processes. Well known analysts, like IDC and Forrester, expect a lot of companies to invest in mobile solutions to be able to work more efficient and effective.

Improve productivity and save costs
Almost every business process can be improved by deployment of a mobile solution. Examples of this are management of order pickers in warehouses, sales order entry while visiting the customer, optimization of a distribution route or the execution of quality inspections. With Dynamics Anywhere’s innovative mobile solutions, the user can count on improvements in productivity and lower costs. The Return On Investment of these kinds of solutions is often less than one year."



The link to the full Press release can be found here.: DynamicsAnywhere Press Release

Check them out, as I will be, and seeing how this can possible help out customer needs in the mobile area.

That's all for now, back check back soon. See you next time!




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A Possible Dynamics AX Solution - with the Cloud

Alright,

As I talked about in my recent post, More Focus on the Cloud, I want to start showing how Dynamics AX 2009 and beyond can be used with the cloud, cloud services, cloud based applications and platforms.

To kick this off, I want to talk about a possibility that can be done today. So lets invent a company, called CompanyA. They already have Dynamics AX 2009 in place, and some integrations with Dynamics AX with other applications.

They are wanting though, to have a field service application for their field service agents. These agents are located all over the world, and sometimes are contract employees. They have a desired to have the Field Service mobile application to work directly with their instance of Dynamics AX. They want to be able to keep track of work done, by who, hours, operations performed, charges to the clients, ticket information, etc.

They don't want to open their network to the world, and don't really have a lot of internal staff to support hosting a web presence internally. They want to off load the hosting somewhere else.

Also they want to be able to push the data out in the cloud from AX for the field service agents to pick up when they can connect. Finally, they want to pull data from the cloud datasource, to get updates from the field service agents.

So with that said, lets look at this.:


This daigram shows Dynamics AX instance on the top part, with it's core business logic. Then you have AIF and the AIF generated .Net Services. These services live at the service layer, where some SSIS packages and custom .Net Services are used to perform some data extraction and loading for reporting into a datawarehouse possibly.

You have the Services layer acting as the bridge between the Dynamics AX On Premise solution, to the SQL Azure based Field Service Database.

With this option, which by the way can be done right now with the CTP version of SQL Azure, a very secure connection to the outside world, with limited and controlled interactions between Dynamics AX and the SQL Azure database takes place.

Next we have the Field Service Agents, that have a mobile based solution designed to connect to the SQL Azure database, when it can connect to the internet, to download specific information for that field service agent and to also upload updates from the field service agent.

So with this possible solution design, we can address the needs to the client, by making use of SQL Azure Cloud based database. And I point out again, this can be done right now with Dynamics AX 2009 and SQL Azure CTP.

Now to take some steps further, lets look at a diagram from MSDN.:


This image shows how a windows or web client, on-premise can be used and make use of the Windows Azure platform for SQL Azure and Application code that lives in the cloud.

That's all for now. More on this topic to come. If you have questions, issues, interests about seeing more of this. Drop me a comment on this post.

Till next time!




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Dynamics AX 2009 - SSRS Report Deployment Issue

If you have deployed the SSRS Report Lib.'s from Dynamics AX 2009 before, you might have ran into some timeout issues.

Even with deploying the reports one ReportLib at a time. And if you have not seen this yet, most likely you will.

An error message, sometimes with great detail will show up during the Reports Deployment process, and that will reference something similar to the following.

[ThreadAbortException: Thread was being aborted.]

The ThreadAbortException is the key for this error. Basically the thread trying to do the deploy is timing out writing to the Report Server.

Most likely you cause is related to the amount of langauge files / cultures that are trying to be deployed for the given ReportLib.

A simple change can be done to help fix this issue.



The following is the steps to do, that relate to the above table inside Dynamics AX.:
1) Open the AOT
2) Expand Data Dictionary > Tables > LanguageTable > Fields
3) Right click on the 'LabelFile' field and choose properties
4) Change the Visible property to 'Yes'
5) Save the change
6) Right click on the LanguageTable and choose Open
7) In the table, uncheck the Label file field for any languages that are not needed
8) Deploy the ReportLibs again that were having issues

This may not be the fix all the time, but most likely it will be. Also this can be used to help clean up the Report Manager. The initial deploy can deploy a lot of reports in languages you just don't care about. So you can remove those, or clear the entire Report Manager and then deploy with only the language files / Cultures that matter to you.

Well that's call for now, check back soon, as I have more post coming! See you then!




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More Focus on the Cloud

Alright,

So a topic that I have not talked about in a few months is really about to come into focus. Specifically in 2010. What I am talking about is Cloud Computing, and focused on the Cloud Platforms.

That's right I used the plural, because there are many now to choose from. However, the two that I will focus on for my postings are Windows Azure Cloud Platform, and then Google's AppEngine Cloud Platform.



Sometimes it will be a vs. and sometimes it will be different approaches. Because believe me, there are some major differences. For example SQL Azure is a true relational database. I have setup a SQL Azure database, then use SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) to connect to it, and create tables, etc. Then use SSIS to initially fill the tables or work with that data. It's that simple with creating your relational data with SQL Azure.




However with Google's AppEngine it's a different ball game as POJO's, Plain Old Java Objects are stored via JDO, or Java Data Objects, into a not so relational datastore.

So this is a totally different mind set in thinking.

Now, to point why this will be important for 2010, and beyond. First all of the previous news and interest up to this point, but now check out the following three links.:

- RCPMAG: Making a Cloud Play
Check this statement out from that post.:
"What are kids doing in college today? They don't have Windows servers sitting in their dorm rooms to build really cool applications -- but they do have access to the Google App Engine. What's going to happen in three to five years when those kids start coming into the workforce? You're going to come in with a proposal for $100,000 of infrastructure costs, and there's going to be some kid fresh out of college saying, 'I think I can do that for nothing.' You have to understand the tradeoffs. There might be a reason to spend $100,000 -- there might not be."

That is a big, and true statement. Think about what happened when all of us College kids had Microsoft to play with? Or Java even, how did that change the world? This is going to be a similar aspect.

Now the following, point to interest and also Microsoft expanding it's Office Web Applications testing.:

-ZDNet: Survey: cloud interest grows triple-fold; cost may not be main factor
-Microsoft expanding Office Web Apps test program

Both Microsoft Windows Azure Platform and Google.com AppEngine are in beta still but very soon will be in full swing. And I have been playing with both, and you can do a lot already with these two. Again though it's a totally different mindset sometimes when you look at how you design a service, application, etc.

So I am using this post to talk about the focus on the Cloud, and these two options for working with Dynamics AX instances, and having real world, pratical applications living in the cloud, parts living in the cloud, services living in the cloud, and interacting with Dynamic AX instances on different levels.

The Hybrid Cloud will be the most domaint, and will be like that for the next 5-8 years, as trust builds and certain low level aspects of the computing pardiam are worked out.

See you soon, as we will go cloud hopping! Yes cheezy closing tag... oh well!




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Windows 7 Launched Today!

Well I would not be much of a Microsoft person, if I did not talk about the launch of Windows 7 today. This is the next release of the Microsoft Windows OS. So far, this OS has had rave reviews from critics and analysts alike.

The full online press kit can be found here.:
Windows 7 Launch Virtual Presskit

Just to make sure it's clear, like I posted about last week, Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 and 2009 are Windows 7 ready. So being able to take advantage of Windows 7 features as an OS for those companies wanting to make the move, your ERP investment is ready to make use of it now!

Here is the direct link to that post.: MSDW: Microsoft Confirms Dynamics AX Compatibility with Windows 7

Another interesting blog is one talking about what people are saying about Windows 7 OS.: What People Are Saying About Windows 7

That's all for now, congrats to the Windows OS development team, and the marketing team at Microsoft for the latest launch!




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Dynamics AX 6.0: A look at MFP's write up on the AXModel concept

Recent, MFP has been doing some great post about Dynamics AX 6.0, also currently known as Dynamics AX 2011. This next version is set to be released sometime in Q3 of next year, 2010.



MFP has done a series of post, talking about a new concept, called AXModels. This comes, as part of moving the Application files into SQL server, instead of being a flat file set of information.

Some of he highlighted benefits from this move to the SQL database, and also the introduction of axmodel concept are.:

• You can have as many models per layer as you want.


• You can deploy models from several sources into the same layer.


• Strong Name Signing


• Authenticode Signing

A few examples of uses for axmodels, specifically for development are.:

• If you deliver more than one solution to a layer or across layers


• If your solution is getting too big


• If you write unit testing code and scripts

MFP has done a great job diving into this model concept, and it starts really with the move of the application files to SQL Server database.

So for the full details, check out the following, in order.:
-AX6 sneak preview - SQL AOD
-Introducing AX models - Part 1
-Introducing AX models - Part 2
-Introducing AX models - Part 3

I want to thank MFP for really diving into this topic. This will have a possible huge impact on the development of solutions and code, from a customer, VAR and ISV level.

MFP is planning on diving deeper still into axmodels, and so I recommend that you keep a close eye on his blog.

That's all for now, check back later as I have some great post planned. See you then!




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