The Microsoft Dynamics AX product has evolved into a formidable ERP platform that is suitable for large-scale and enterprise customers. Although it comes with richer functionality and better scalability, it also has additional complexity. This has translated into more challenging implementation cycles as many projects are now multicompany and multinational affairs. The keys for a successful Dynamics AX implementation in this type of complex environment revolve around strong project management and a clear understanding of what needs to be done in each phase of the project. Recent releases of the AX platform put many new tools in your toolbox; you need to understand the tools and select the corresponding techniques to ensure that your Dynamics AX implementation project is effective and successful.
Microsoft Dynamics AX Implementation Guide draws on real-life experiences from large Dynamics AX implementation projects. This book will guide you through the entire lifecycle of a Dynamics AX implementation, helping you avoid common pitfalls while increasing your efficiency and effectiveness at every stage of the project. This book focuses on providing you with straightforward techniques with step-by-step instructions on how to follow them; this, along with real-life examples from the field, will further increase your ability to execute the projects well. Upon reading this book, you'll be in the position to implement Dynamics AX right the first time.
ERP implementations are complex by nature because of their many moving parts, and leaders are expected to know of all the aspects. This book provides a summary of the various facets of running a successful Dynamics AX project without having to go through expensive and time-consuming training courses. The aspects covered include management, infrastructure planning, requirement gathering, data migration, functional and technical design with examples, go-live planning, and upgrade.
Chapter 1, Preparing for a Great Start, focuses on instituting effective project management, project governance, and resource alignment from the beginning of the project.
Chapter 2, Getting into the Details Early, focuses on the planning and execution of requirement gathering and Conference Room Pilot (CRP) sessions.
Chapter 3, Infrastructure Planning and Design, covers infrastructure planning, the architecture of production, non-production, and disaster recovery environments.
Chapter 4, Integration Planning and Design, covers integration planning, integration tools and frameworks available in Dynamics AX.
Chapter 5, Data Migration – Scoping through Delivery, discusses data migration requirements, managing data migration scope, and identifying tools and techniques for data migration and validation.
Chapter 6, Reporting and BI, covers common reporting and BI design principles and best practices.
Chapter 7, Functional and Technical Design, discusses planning and executing a functional design and a technical design. It covers tips and tricks with real-life examples of design patterns—both good and bad—to support the best practices recommended.
Chapter 8, Configuration Management, introduces you to tools and techniques used in managing configurations and moving them from one environment to another and managing configurations on larger projects to minimize conflicts and rework.
Chapter 9, Building Customizations, provides you with the best practices for customization and patterns that are recommended by Microsoft.
Chapter 10, Performance Tuning, helps you to understand architecture components that impact performance, performance and stress testing to catch issues ahead of time, and performance troubleshooting for post-production scenarios.
Chapter 11, Testing and Training, effectively manages and executes system testing and user acceptance testing. Its goal is to find issues and encourage business teams to stay engaged in spite of finding issues.
Chapter 12, Go-live Planning, defines an hour-by-hour go-live plan and reviews it with stakeholders.
Chapter 13, Post Go-live, shows you how to survive on a new system and use it to deliver value to the business.
Chapter 14, Upgrade, shows how to prepare for upgrades, upgrade planning, and preparing the business case for an upgrade. It even discusses the execution of upgrade projects and post-upgrade opportunities.
You need to have the following knowledge to get the most out of this book:
A basic understanding of the ERP implementation process.
An understanding of IT project management and Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
Access to Microsoft Dynamics PartnerSource / CustomerSource and the Lifecycle Services (LCS) portal.
Knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics AX and the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step methodology would be a plus point.
This book is written from the perspective of a project manager, encompassing all the areas to create a successful Dynamics AX implementation. Solution architects, functional and technical consultants, business Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), super users, IT managers, and technology leaders who are in the process of planning or undergoing a Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation will also benefit from the insights provided in this book. The book will help you during every phase of the implementation with what to expect, the common pitfalls to avoid, and tips and tricks learned from our experiences. Most of these techniques are useful irrespective of the Microsoft Dynamics AX version. The Dynamics AX product has evolved since Microsoft acquired it, and while rich features and scalability have been added, there is also added complexity. We have tried to provide insights into relevant information for each phase of the project in a single resource to help manage this complexity. This book will be especially helpful to small/medium business customers that do not have the luxury to engage multiple resources with individual skillsets.
Every business has its unique business model and organizational culture, and that brings unique challenges for the ERP implementation. While going through this book, you will encounter many recommendations, guidelines, and experiences; however, you may need to fine-tune the recommendations as per your specific need based on the particular project size, timeline, business organization structure, and industry.
ERP implementations are complex by nature due to so many moving parts, and leaders are expected to know all the aspects. This book provides a summary of numerous aspects that you need to know (without going through expensive learnings) to make your Dynamics AX implementation(s) successful. We will be jumping into management, functional/business, technical—code examples, infrastructure aspects and that is by design.
In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "For example, a new class created by the vendor ABC for the sales order import process should be named as AbcSalesOrderImport."
A block of code is set as follows:
while select * from custTmpLedger
{
Info(custTmpLedger.Name);
}
}New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "The following screenshot displays Customer transactions grouped by customers."
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us to develop titles that you really get the most out of.
To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to <[email protected]>, and mention the book title via the subject of your message.
If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on www.packtpub.com/authors.
It is our honor and pleasure to present experiences throughout this book. We hope that peers in the Dynamics AX community and customers will benefit from this book. I would love to hear your implementation stories and any feedback for improvements. Please write to me on <[email protected]> or connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yogeshkasat. Visit us at www.RealDynamics.com.
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