tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-182011692024-03-14T01:15:19.347-05:00Dynamics AXThis blog is all about Dynamics AX (Formerly Known as Axapta). From News, Releases, Code, How-To's and interviews, all about the Dynamics AX world. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Dynamics_AX">What is this?</a>)brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.comBlogger934125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-68905215919744123962013-07-29T10:49:00.000-05:002015-06-09T14:43:50.764-05:00Retiring this blog<br><br>
<center><a href="http://implementinggreatideas.com/" target=blank><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/bye.png"></a></center>
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I wanted to write everyone today, to announce I'm retiring this blog starting in October of this year. It's been an amazing eight years of writing and covering the Dynamics Ecosystem. At least coverage from my perspective of the Dynamics world. In doing so, I've been honored to have received a <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX MVP award</b> for both 2012 & 2013.
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This blog started out as my extended brain, a place where solutions could be kept to the early days of Axapta 3.0. Fighting with the COM connector was one of the first post.: <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2005/10/axapta-30-business-connector-com.html" target="_blank">Axapta 3.0 Business Connector (COM+)</a>
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I went from a customer specific role into the partner side with the start of this blog. It's seen many changes over the years, and different entry types. Completing my first interview, changed the focus of the blog into more than just being an extended brain. It became an outlet of coverage, write-ups, how-to's, bugfix, thoughts, concepts and more.
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It's been a really interesting journey with the focus I've had around keeping the content flowing for this blog over the years. It for sure drove me to learn more and more, and with the build up around Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 - the content became super focused around helping the community-at-large understand issues and how to put in place the new paradigms that came along with this release of Microsoft Dynamics AX.
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On the implementation side of things, I've seen the shift away from the <i>"Cowboy Consultant"</i> days, through to a more mature project implementation methodology.
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From this blogging experience a more connected community started to arise. This included Microsoft and the Dynamics portal, MSDynamicsWorld.com, the Top 100 DynamicsWorld.Co.Uk and so forth. Other fellow peers, like Joris, Jon, Joel, Dick and the others - whom all have shared the content we each help bring to form the whole of the Dynamics community.
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It is with this understanding, this appreciation for the community, that I'm making the choice to step aside from the role this blog has in the larger Dynamics Community. It's been a humbling and really rewarding experience, to put it plainly.
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I will continue to write, but more on the <a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com/Solutions/BusinessIntelligence.aspx" target="_blank">business intelligence</a> side of the things. You can find me at the <a href="http://implementinggreatideas.com/" target="_blank">ImplementingGreatIdeas.com</a>. I will have a very focused purpose on this new blog, that will still include Microsoft Dynamics AX. Again, the focus will be however for BI & Analytic's. Really helping customers putting their data to work for them.
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Though this is not my very last post on this blog, I felt it was needed to be stated now. This came from my lack of ability to continue to post entries as often as have been able to in the past. <b>Thank you!</b> Thank all of you who read my ramblings over the years and challenged me. Thank you to my fellow peers for going that extra mile in trying to help foster a community - whom's main goal was, and remains - to bring value to our customers.
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<br />Visit <b>Hillstar Business Intelligence</b> (<a href="http://www.hillstar.com">www.HillstarBI.com</a>) in order to truly unlock your data trapped in your Microsoft Dynamics investment. With our <a href="http://hillstar-bi.com/dynamics-customers-are-ready-for-the-value-driven-bi-approach/">value driven business intelligence strategy</a> Hillstar help you transform into a <b>data informed company.</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-25259752630583270782013-06-18T07:52:00.002-05:002015-06-09T15:13:35.333-05:00Webcast of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 & Personal BI <br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Well I hope everyone is doing well this fine Tuesday. We are very close to the summer equinox and that means the longest day of the year! I love summer time, it's full of fun times, water activities as well as opining for the beach!
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With that, I wanted to post a link to the recent webcast I lead via <a href="http://www.MSDynamicsWorld.com" target="_blank">MSDynamicsWorld.com</a>. The link to the web cast can be accessed from the following resource.: <a href="http://msdynamicsworld.com/webcast/power-personal-bi-dynamics-ax-2012-powerpivot-and-power-view" target="_blank">The Power of Personal BI with Dynamics AX 2012: PowerPivot and Power View</a>
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<center><a href="http://msdynamicsworld.com/webcast/power-personal-bi-dynamics-ax-2012-powerpivot-and-power-view" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/msdw/pbi01.png"></a></center>
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Now there is for sure one point that I need to clarify from this webcast. Specifically the question was asked around what version's of SharePoint & SQL Server are needed in order to enable specific aspects of what we reviewed during the webcast. When looking at this from a Microsoft Office Excel 2013 perspective, then the topic of SharePoint & SQL Server version for that matter in what was shown, is not relevant. Meaning, it does not affect what you can do with Excel 2013 in context to what was covered.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/msdw/pbi02.png"></center>
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However when we look at enabling PowerView from SharePoint, launched within <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2</b> then we need to better understand what versions of software do impact what functionality. Thus we have the above pictured diagram from Microsoft. It shows that indeed we do need more than standard versions of MOSS & SQL Server for different levels of functionality, including that last part of the webcast around PowerView & SharePoint.
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I hope that this is helpful to people. During the session we have a lot of great questions, and feedback. Keep in mind, this is not edited but is a full capture of the entire webcast itself. Finally, I encourage you to send me any questions around this and just think about how Personal BI can help craft a reporting story for your company! If you would like to know more, you can contact us here.: <a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com/About/ContactUs.aspx" target="_blank">Sunrise Contact Page.</a>
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Well that is all for now. I know that I'm behind a bit in getting some of the previously targeted topics posted. It's a sign of the current times, with being busy. It's good to be busy, and so there will be plenty to cover soon. <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br />Visit <b>Hillstar Business Intelligence</b> (<a href="http://www.hillstar.com">www.HillstarBI.com</a>) in order to truly unlock your data trapped in your Microsoft Dynamics investment. With our <a href="http://hillstar-bi.com/dynamics-customers-are-ready-for-the-value-driven-bi-approach/">value driven business intelligence strategy</a> Hillstar help you transform into a <b>data informed company.</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-76211675609047675482013-06-07T10:10:00.002-05:002015-06-09T15:14:17.907-05:00AX 2012 R2 & The Power of Personal BI<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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I hope everyone finds themselves doing well this fine summer Friday. Always something about Friday's, and specifically those where the sun stays out and beckons us back to our childhood days. With that, I wanted to post today and bring to your reading attention an upcoming virtual event. It's <b>free</b> and you can attend right from your desk. This event is being hosted by <a href="http://www.MsDynamicsWorld.com" target="_blank">MSDynamicsWorld.com</a> a long time sponsor of this blog.
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The event is next Friday, June 14th starting at 11:00 AM EST. The following is a description from the event.: <a href="https://msdynamicsworld.webex.com/msdynamicsworld/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=668423258" target="_blank">(register here)</a><br>
<font color=navy>"The real value of business intelligence (BI) comes from crafting a story based on an organization's data. For the manager, analyst, or individual contributor, BI typically begins with desktop tools like Microsoft Excel. With the right skills and know-how, personal BI can become the gateway to a robust BI initiative at any organization.
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<br />Visit <b>Hillstar Business Intelligence</b> (<a href="http://www.hillstar.com">www.HillstarBI.com</a>) in order to truly unlock your data trapped in your Microsoft Dynamics investment. With our <a href="http://hillstar-bi.com/dynamics-customers-are-ready-for-the-value-driven-bi-approach/">value driven business intelligence strategy</a> Hillstar help you transform into a <b>data informed company.</b>
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Join Microsoft Dynamics AX MVP and BI expert Brandon George of Sunrise Technologies for an examination of Microsoft PowerPivot & Power View with Dynamics AX 2012 R2. The webcast will look at how these tools can empower both functional and technical resources at the individual level to discover new insights and improve operational outcomes. Learn how to put data to work and further build towards organizational BI needs from personal BI artifacts."</font>
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The event represented above, is specifically around <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 & Personal BI.</b> I've wrote a lot about this topic in the past, and so I think its very important to reference such resources in regard to this upcoming event. The following is such a list, that I think would be helpful to anyone who is wanting to attend, or already signed up to do so.
<ul><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/02/understanding-natural-flow-of-bi.html" target="_blank">Understanding the natural flow of the BI Semantic Model</a></li><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-all-fuss-around-bi-data-ownership.html" target="_blank">Why all the fuss around BI? - Data Ownership</a></li><li><a href="http://axodataq.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">AX-OData Queries Home on CodePlex</a></li><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2012/05/ax-2012-personal-bi-by-example-customer_14.html" target="_blank">AX 2012 Personal BI - By Example - Customer Aging III</a></li><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/04/from-power-view-to-cube-and-back-again.html" target="_blank">From Power View to Cube and back again</a></li></ul>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/bism/bism01.png"></center>
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With the above resources your well on the way to understanding what will be talked to and covered in this upcoming event. I would highly encourage you to attend it, as I'm planning for it to be engaging! Speaking of engaging, that is the whole goal we after. All of this, every bit of it builds to the point of <b>creating a System of Engagement</b>. Where we can truly help turn users, into <b>fans!</b>
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Well that it's for now, I will be back to posting next week with some really interesting stuff. Anyone want to go on the wild ride of predictive analytic's? It's like stepping into a quantum time machine! Well it's really more about <b>understanding & owning</b> your companies data assets. That's whats coming soon, so check back next week and make sure to attend next Friday's virtual event!
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Finally, if you would like to know more about putting your companies data to work for you. Then make sure to reach out, and contact <a href="http://sunriseconsult.com/About/ContactUs.aspx" target="_blank">Sunrise Technologies</a> so we can help craft a BI & reporting story for you! <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br />Visit <b>Hillstar Business Intelligence</b> (<a href="http://www.hillstar.com">www.HillstarBI.com</a>) in order to truly unlock your data trapped in your Microsoft Dynamics investment. With our <a href="http://hillstar-bi.com/dynamics-customers-are-ready-for-the-value-driven-bi-approach/">value driven business intelligence strategy</a> Hillstar help you transform into a <b>data informed company.</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-9687694319736957002013-05-16T01:39:00.002-05:002013-05-16T01:41:07.134-05:00Spotlight: Top Reasons Companies Implement an Automated Data Collection Solution<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/idb/ads/ics/sp1/rf001.png"></center>
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Companies choose ADC because their industry demands it, either by regulation or voluntary standards compliance. With our research we found the top reasons companies choose an ADC solution:
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<a href="http://info.icsfl.com/DownloadWhitepaper_FoodTraceability.html" target="_blank">Implement Industry Regulations</a> – think of food and beverage traceability initiatives and Pharmaceutical ePedigree requirements:
<br><ul><li>The recent Food Safety Modernization Act Section 204 is dedicated to enhancing tracking and tracing of food and recordkeeping
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<li>PTI or the Produce Traceability Initiative is Voluntary. Tracing starts in the field, when the produce is removed from the field and put in the carton.</li>
<li>One RF-SMART customer packages produce, they use RF-SMART to capture carton number in the field and throughout their entire process, satisfying the PTI.</li>
<li>The <a href="http://info.icsfl.com/DownloadWhitepaper_PharmaIndustryTraceability.html" target="_blank">ePedigree for pharmaceutical</a> is a record in electronic form containing information regarding each transaction resulting in a change of ownership of the given prescription drug, including returns </li>
<li>We have several Pharmaceutical customers coming to us to satisfy the new ePedigree requirements</li></ul>
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Empower your Warehouse Team – We all like to be able to make decisions and be accountable, RF-SMART’s ADC will make you workers feel empowered
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Reliable Information- Is everyone in your organization able to rely on information they pull from their ERP or do they worry that it is not accurate or timely Capture Metrics – Providing important Key Performance Indicators, such as Inventory Velocity by location and Picking Performance by worker is possible with ADC. Selection of an Automated Data Collection solution must use real time validation, and real time updates to the ERP system. If it is architected with a redundant database no one will know which system to believe. Soon everyone will be second guessing the system.
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There is nothing that keeps a CFO awake at night like not knowing if the information they are relying on to make major decisions is valid, accurate and timely. For these reasons RF-SMART is architected to use only the Dynamics AX database so there is a single source of truth. All data resides in the AX database. RF-SMART leverage Dynamics AX business process to provide top-notch warehouse management functionality validating against AX in real-time and all updates occur at the point of the activity.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/adc/a001.png"></center>
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Touch it once. If I can capture at the point of activity I can trust the input the first time. For Example: Many times we find an as-is process like this: Print the pick list; distribute to the workers in the warehouse; the workers use the paper to find the items and then mark the quantities, batches, serial number, and locations. The paper is turned into the packing/staging station.
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Some of you may not have considered Automated Data Collection as a tool that can be used to empower employees but it can do just that. By using RF-SMART workers can be guided through their daily task. An example is to guild a worker through the warehouse to pick sales orders. The worker can be guided, by highest priority, through an optimum route, to pick orders. And since RF-SMART offers real-time validation they will be notified if the data is valid, not only in content but in context. For example, the location is validated as a valid location for the warehouse and then the item is validated not only as a valid item but that it has inventory in the specified location.
AX setup such as location blocking, optional dimension settings, batch dispositions, expiry dates etc. will be validate at the moment the worker touches the inventory, stopping the worker before a mistake happens.
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Imagine how valuable preventing the use of expired or quarantined inventory for a Food and Beverage manufacturer is! Workers also can make decisions on the spot, because useful information is provided to them while they do their task. They can’t just write down what they have done and the pass the paperwork on, blaming someone else for mistakes. They are totally accountable. And that makes them feel good. They are autonomous!
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Workers can review the progress of the transaction they are performing on mobile devices only when they need to, thereby keeping the mobile device screen crisp and clean unless they need to refresh their memory. To allow workers to make informed decisions at the point of activity, almost every field in RF-SMART has a lookup.
And best of all, today you can let your workers BYOD (Bring your own device). Now instead of just texting on the smartphone, they could use it to do a quick inventory lookup or maybe you have a warehouse supervisor and a store manager that wants to work on their RF-SMART dashboard from their own device.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/adc/a002.png"></center>
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That is not a problem; good mobile solutions are not constrained by devices. RF-SMART is ahead of the trend, we are not constrained by device and we have many customers using multiple devices, such as an industrial device in the warehouse and a smartphone for a supervisor.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/adc/a003.png"></center>
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Now that is empowering a worker!
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Reliable information is important and is probably one of the reasons that you have or are implementing AX. Why would you want to have business process that put the integrity of AX information at risk? It is important that your employees, whether in the warehouse or in the boardroom, trust the information they use.
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I would like to thank RF-Smart for being such a supporter of the Dynamics Community at large, and further being a sponsor of this blog. That's all for now but check back soon as I continue to add more post around Dynamics AX & BI. <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-17657651805534623482013-05-07T08:41:00.001-05:002015-06-09T15:15:19.268-05:00Beyond Dynamics AX with Business Intelligence<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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I hope everyone is having a blessed day, and you find yourself productive in our <b>Dynamics</b> filled world. May is once again here, and that means we tilt ever so closer towards our solar systems star - in the northern hemisphere that is. That also means planning for summer time vacation, baseball / softball, as well as an assortment of water related activities. The march towards summer begins, and that means the world around us continues to come alive.
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With spring in full force, I thought it was time to talk about the needed topic of <b>beyond Dynamics AX with Business Intelligence.</b> Lets face it, more and more projects are being sold & implemented well, that has <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX</b> only acting as an operational ERP element. It's one spoke in the total solution for larger companies. When you have this reality, Dynamics AX is no longer the single <b>data mart</b> from which analytic's & insights are derived from.
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<center><a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/beyondax/b001.png"></a></center>
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As we see from the above image, when Dynamics AX <b>is</b> the data mart in which such BI artifacts solely are crafted around, then you have a very compelling story in which a companies total reporting needs can be told by. This is <b><a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com" target="_blank">Sunrise's standard offering</a></b> for business intelligence needs. That is: <b>Office+SharePoint+SQL Server.</b>
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Are focus is expanded however, when the needs of the customer expand. To help facilitate the understanding of when and where this might be the case, let's start by listing a high level set of topics, that in turn will be used to guide into greater business insights for customers. Further, how each of these topics would drive to a more complete or total BI story that is crafted for a customer. All the while, keeping in mind that <b>the tool is the last thing you focus on for a real BI project.</b>
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<ul><li><b>Dynamics AX is a spoke, not the hub</b> - Here we have a total solution scenario, where Dynamics AX is an operational ERP element in a customers total solution. This means 2:n possible line-of-business applications that complete an end-to-end solution for a customer. When this is the case, items like real data warehouses, ETL, Master Data Management across the systems, and more must come into the picture. This further means that what tools are best for achieving the ultimate end goal might need to be extended beyond the Office+SharePoint+SQL Server.</li><li><b>Security & Exposure beyond the Dynamics AX walls</b> - Here we have a need for an organization that has reporting requirements. These reporting requirements however dictate that there are business insights needed for employees that will not have, nor should not have access to Dynamics AX at all. When this is true, again, then we have directive for something that extends beyond the walled garden of Dynamics AX.</li><li><b>Mobile BI across a multitude of platforms</b> - There is a very compelling story that can be told with the BI stack of <b>Office+SharePoint+SQL Server.</b> Mobile is very much apart of this, specifically with the release of Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013. However when you want a mobile BI platform, that needs to reach beyond the Microsoft world, in a more native way, then extending beyond the BI stack that comes with Dynamics AX is needed.</li><li><b>Abstraction</b> - This last point is more focused around that true executive information system, or dashboard. With the continued improvements being made for Dynamics AX, and those improvements driving more technology and model churn, the need for abstracting away the C & B level executives from such churn is a valid one. Having something that extends beyond the Dynamics AX BI stack, can help abstract out the executive's and their analytical needs. Reality is, these might change some, but not at the rate in which technology, and further Dynamics AX is changing.</li></ul><br>
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<br /><center><a href="http://www.hillstarbi.com"><img src="http://hillstar-bi.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/hillstar-BI4Dynamics2.png" width=360></a></center>
<br />Visit <b>Hillstar Business Intelligence</b> (<a href="http://www.hillstar.com">www.HillstarBI.com</a>) in order to truly unlock your data trapped in your Microsoft Dynamics investment. With our <a href="http://hillstar-bi.com/dynamics-customers-are-ready-for-the-value-driven-bi-approach/">value driven business intelligence strategy</a> Hillstar help you transform into a <b>data informed company.</b>
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The above, by far is not a final list but something that hopefully has you thinking in terms of a more complete BI solution. There is hardly ever any truth in <b>we bought (insert product name) now we have BI!</b> Real business intelligence for customers is always about the data first, then reporting need second, and finally the product or products that help delivery on said need last. Take into consideration any of the above points, and you have a more larger requirement - where selecting specific tools first could halt the needed progression that is demanded by the organization.
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Over the next several weeks, I will continue to expand upon each of the above topics, and others in how I feel these are best addressed. This includes both the stack that comes with Dynamics AX, and beyond that for a total solution offering.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/beyondax/b002.png"></center>
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That's all for this post, I hope you have enjoyed it and your excited to hear more. One final note, I would like to say that I'm honored to have been listed once again this year in the <a href="http://www.dynamicsworld.co.uk/22-brandon-george/" target="_blank">DynamicsWorld Top 100</a> list. Top 25 again this year! Honestly the amount of work that some of the people put into the ecosystem, that I can be included with amazes me. This community as a whole has grown leaps and bounds over the past 3 years. I can't say enough of how honored I am to be included as part of it. <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br /><center><a href="http://www.hillstarbi.com"><img src="http://hillstar-bi.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/hillstar-BI4Dynamics2.png" width=360></a></center>
<br />Visit <b>Hillstar Business Intelligence</b> (<a href="http://www.hillstar.com">www.HillstarBI.com</a>) in order to truly unlock your data trapped in your Microsoft Dynamics investment. With our <a href="http://hillstar-bi.com/dynamics-customers-are-ready-for-the-value-driven-bi-approach/">value driven business intelligence strategy</a> Hillstar help you transform into a <b>data informed company.</b>
<br />
<br />
<br><center><font color=red><b>Follow Me @:</b></font><br><a href="http://www.so.cl/#/profile/Brandon-George-3" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/socl/socl_small.png"></a>  
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-997864485474605412013-04-25T11:33:00.001-05:002013-04-25T11:34:31.228-05:00AXUG Community Site - Collaborate, learn, share & more!<br><br>
<center><a href="http://community.axug.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/axugcollab/a001.png"></a></center>
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I hope everyone is doing well this fine Dynamics filled Thursday! There is a lot of great things taking place in the <b>Microsoft Dynamics</b> ecosystem, so much in fact that it's easily to get lost in the noise at times. Enter the newly minted, and very active <b>AXUG Community Site.</b>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/axugcollab/a002.png"></center>
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This site is well under way in adding value to the community at large, and helps further complete the knowledge story for our ever growing ecosystem. I know for example, I find myself deep into scoping engagement and project work. That is what pays the bills, but at the same time am needing new ways to stay informed connected and focused. I'm finding, personally, that there is a lot of great information and value with my recent use of the AXUG Community site.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/axugcollab/a003.png"></center>
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There are several ways in which you can join into the conversations taking place. Further creating new blog entries and sharing information that you learn. Getting involved with the many targeted communities that are represented in the collaboration site and more.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/axugcollab/a004.png"></center>
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You will find topics and tags that are trending right now. As you see in the screen shot about, <a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com" target="_blank">Business Intelligence</a> is a hot topic right now. This is one near and dear to me, being my new sole focus for the Dynamics Ecosystem.
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<center><a href="http://community.axug.com/Communities/Resources/ViewDocument/?DocumentKey=bdd39700-44f0-4924-95a6-234228baae4d" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/axugcollab/a005.png"></a></center>
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Further, you can see from the above screen shot and resource link, that clicking on a specific topic can take you to very relevant information. This happens to be one of the sessions I was *not* able to lead at Convergence 2013 due to being out sick. However you can still gain access to my slide deck. This can be of help, and further looking forward to presenting on this for AXUG in the near future.
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All-in-all, this post is all about highlighting the value the community site at AXUG brings to our ecosystem. It helps customers & partners connect in a way only AXUG can offer.
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Well that is all for this highlight post. I hope that you take the time to join in the conversation and get the intended value that this resource brings! <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-27486325346359016512013-04-23T08:25:00.000-05:002013-04-23T08:30:42.097-05:00AX 2012 R2 - Till Partition Do We Cubes Part<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Well I hope everyone finds themselves doing well this fine Tuesday. There for sure is a lot of great things going on within the <b>Microsoft Dynamics</b> ecosystem. Spring is finally here for most of us, and everyone is well into this years projects. With this, I wanted to focus a bit on a new concept that came as part of <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2</b>. This concept is around <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/jj728665" target="_blank">partitioning within AX 2012 R2</a> and how that relates to the cubes that are built.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/cube/c201.png"></center>
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Before we get to far into this topic of <b>'Till Partition Do We Cubes Part'</b>, it's very important to understand the concept of the new partitioning that has taking place. To help with this, we can look at the following resources.: <ul><li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/jj728665" target="_blank">Data partitioning architecture [AX 2012]</a></li><li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/jj677285" target="_blank">Partitions, Companies, and Data Isolation in Microsoft Dynamics AX [AX 2012]</a></li></ul>
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Having the above resources, one can start to get an idea - at least technically - the what & how behind the concept of data partitioning in Dynamics AX 2012 R2. Now that we have at least a baseline level of knowledge in which to work from, lets move to the <b>divorce seen</b> in our tragedy.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/cube/c202.png"></center>
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Now sometimes in my writings I set a bit of flare to it, and this is no different. This tale is less of a tragedy really, but a concept that should be understood in how Microsoft see's <b>Analysis Services</b> working within the context of <b>data isolation.</b> You see, a lot of times it does not makes sense to have everything, including the kitchen sink, in a single cube. There are a lot of reason's, that separate, specifically design cubes would exist for a companies BI story. This happens to help address one of those, especially as you get into larger companies that need isolated data & security elements.
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Here is where the value of such a separate plays into the crafting of said BI story for a company. Hence why we see in the <b>examples</b> that Microsoft provides for us. Keep in mind, that the cubes that come with Microsoft Dynamics AX are very generalized, and meant to act as a starting point for OLAP data. They are never meant to address a companies full, specific needs around analytic's.
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So, in following with the image we see above <b>partition key</b> plays a role in the number of cube databases that an instance of Dynamics AX 2012 R2 is meant to have. The same cube structure however is found in both databases in the provided example. This implies that you can have similar analytic's that are rendered, but with security & data isolation needs addressed. Finally, if you so desired, you can easily create a cube structure that crossed partitions, or reporting elements that cross partitions. See the below, from so titled <i><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/jj677285#BKMK75DataAccessAndPartit" target="_blank">'Partitions, Companies, and Data Isolation in Microsoft Dynamics AX [AX 2012.]'</a></i>
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<font color=navy>"-- T-SQL to run in the Dynamics AX database directly in SQL Server:
SELECT da1.Partition, pt2.PartitionKey, pt2.Name, da1.ID as [Company-ID]
FROM DataArea as da1, Partitions as pt2
WHERE da1.Partition = pt2.RecId
ORDER BY pt2.PartitionKey, da1.ID;"</font>
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Now do keep in mind what the following is prefaced with, in that: <b><font color=red>'If you have sufficient authorization'</font></b>
This means to cross partitions and legal entities. Hence, this is not a technical issue, as much of a functional modeling, data & security isolation need. As you scale up and out with Dynamics AX, and specifically when it's only a spoke in the total solution, such needs exist. Further such possibilities exist, with Dynamics AX 2012 R2, <b>out-of-the-box</b> no other software required!
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Well that is all for this post. There is a lot for us to continue to talk about, specifically and we continue down our path of further and further creating <b>Systems of Engagement</b> for Microsoft Dynamics AX customers. <b>Til Next Time!</b>
<br><center><font color=red><b>Follow Me @:</b></font><br><a href="http://www.so.cl/#/profile/Brandon-George-3" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/socl/socl_small.png"></a>  
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-72356664671087643872013-04-19T07:17:00.001-05:002013-04-19T09:49:47.838-05:00Review: "Dynamics AX Performance Optimization Guide"<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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I hope everyone is doing well this fine Friday! I wanted to spend time today, giving you my insights into a recently published book. That being the title of <b>"Dynamics AX Performance Optimization Guide."</b>
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<center><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dynamics-Performance-Optimization-Guide-Microsoft/dp/1481100750/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366372545&sr=8-1&keywords=dynamics+ax+performance+optimization+guide" target="_blank"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51q3wxl5OoL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_SX240_SY320_CR,0,0,240,320_SH20_OU01_.jpg"></a></center>
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First let me say that the depth on the database & query optimization that is given within the pages of this book is worth the purchase. The focus around optimizing the database, for sure is the right focus. I would say, in the field, <b>80%</b> of the performance issues I've ran across relate directly to a Dynamics AX instance SQL Server. Further, 60-70% of these performance issues identified, usually relate back to indexes. This could be anything from missing indexes, or not having indexes properly configured and covering for where clauses of select statements.
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This book goes into good detail around specific settings, how to trace down resource bottlenecks for a Dynamics AX database and more. It goes into the most commonly used <b>Dynamic Managed Views (DMVs)</b>. Further it makes a solid attempt actually on trying to address the virutalization side of performance as it relates to Dynamics AX. Wait types, addressing blocking and other such common performance issues are well addressed in this book.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ftf2012/resvamp.png"></center>
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Now that being stated, like all reviews it can't all be good. You can tell that both Martin Zhen & Daniel Liao have spent time in the trenches chasing down <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2012/10/freaky-tech-friday-attack-of-resource.html" tagret="_blank">resource vampires</a>. Still even with my recommendation of buying this book already, it lacks in several area's.
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First, section 3.11 on page 102 titled <b>"Offload <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2011/11/ax-2012-install-multiple-instances-of.html" target="_blank">Reporting</a> (SSRS)"</b> is a mere nod at the point of reporting and it's impact around performance. It's a single paragraph, that honestly should have just been left off. There is no depth to this point, and it adds little value to the reader wanting to understand this very important topic.
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Finally, it lacks in the focus of performance making use of <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/search?q=SQL+Server+2012" target="_blank">SQL Server 2012</a> can bring, and further with it's <b>Always On</b> technology. I would also like to have seen mention around <a href="http://informationsource.dynamics.com" target="_blank">InformationSource</a>. I realize however you can't cover every topic around performance or the book would be about 10 times the size that it currently represents.
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Final verdict on this book, <b>3 out of 5</b> stars. It's for sure got some really great nuggets of information. It's not just for administrator / DBA / consultant types either. It would benefit well that a Dynamics AX developer, read and understand the contents of this book. It would help them in being able to grasp what their code is doing to the actual underlying data layer from X++ code. Further, helping put forth the practice of using the trace parser when <b>developing anything</b> for Dynamics AX.
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Well that is all for this review, many thanks to Martin Zhen & Daniel Liao for completing a very nice book, that helps address and give insight on the majority of where performance issues live - <b>The Dynamics AX Database!</b><b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-30226271701274930762013-04-05T10:38:00.000-05:002013-04-05T10:38:13.184-05:00From Power View to Cube and back again - A Recap Friday<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Well what have we here now? Another Friday has settled upon us. Man what busy week this has been, filled with all kinds of great things. I wanted to take the time, and just post a recap of sorts from this & last weeks post. The goal and focus of these past weeks have been around truly using the <b>BI Semantic Model</b> within the context of <b>Dynamics AX 2012 R2</b>.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/bism/bism01.png"></center>
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Without a doubt for each of the topics covered, there is plenty of room for extended reach & depth of knowledge. We can easily spend hours, upon hours within <b>Power View</b> design concepts and more. Further, we could opine and expound on the many depths that exist within the realm of SSAS cubes. Topics as deep as Tuples, and the underlying structures that contain our aggregated measures & dimension attributes. However, while there might be some value for certain people in such a deep journey of understanding for each of the fore mentioned topics, the point would be lost of what the goal really is.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p111.png"></center>
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That goal my friends is the <b>enablement of quick consumption of data assets.</b> This is the real goal of any business intelligence story that is to be crafted for a company. Owning the data, and turning that data into a real asset that goes to work for companies. With this goal in mind then, the following is a recap of the recent post, with the goal of quickly getting you up & running with Power View. Further, showing you how <b>*any*</b> cube can be the target for such personal BI artifacts.
<br><ul><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/03/ax-2012-r2-and-powerview-part-i.html" target="_blank">AX 2012 R2 and PowerView - Part I</a></li><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/03/ax-2012-r2-and-powerview-part-ii.html" target="_blank">AX 2012 R2 and PowerView - Part II Extending</a></li><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-cube-behind-power-view-part-i.html" target="_blank">The Cube behind the Power View - Part I - Perspective</a></li><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-cube-behind-power-view-part-ii.html" target="_blank">The Cube behind the Power View - Part II - Create, Deploy & Process</a></li></ul>
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Now having each of these reviewed, you should see how simple it really is to empower yourself and your company or clients to truly start embracing the full <b>BI Semantic Model.</b> When <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX</b> is your system of record, and acting as your main data mart, then you have a great <b>BI</b> offering built right into the product. This is what we refer to as <b>Tier 1</b> BI for Dynamics AX customers. Meaning that nothing but the stack of <b>Office+SharePoint+SQL Server (OSS)</b> is used to craft a BI story for a company. It's very feasible, and does not take a deep understanding of the empowering underlying technologies to get started.
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Well that's all I wanted to gab about today with you. The end result is less focus around what tool really, and more about the data. To much focus at times is placed in the ecosystem currently around specific tools, and myths of <b>'removing IT'</b> from the equation. The goal is putting your data to work for you, and then the tool comes into focus for the specific BI artifacts that are needed to get the job done.
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<center><img src="http://compass.surface.com/assets/ce/b4/ceb47a56-1cfa-4036-90bf-61ec41446595.jpg#endframe.jpg" width=480 hieght=380></center>
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I would like to add an interesting note here. This is actually my first full blog post, from my new <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/surface-with-windows-8-pro/home?WT.mc_id=cpc_US-en_bing_mshh&WT.srch=1&semid=ef_BNG_e_8cncm94116l423965ru2_1614045659&WT.search=1" target="_blank">Surface Pro</a> 128 GB version. I'm typing this from the 'real keyboard' cover type as well as having the use of the Surface mouse and stylus for completion of task. I must say I'm very impressed and really looking to push this to the limits. <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-22446386259260340032013-04-04T09:59:00.000-05:002013-04-04T09:59:47.442-05:00The Cube behind the Power View - Part II - Create, Deploy & Process<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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I hope everyone is having a blessed, Dynamics filled week! Hard to believe that we are well into April of 2013. I do love when the days get longer, the sun is closer, and there is <b>plenty of vitamin D</b> to be absorbed. With this, I wanted to continue the series that was started yesterday, focusing on <b>'The Cube behind the Power View'.</b> In yesterday's post, <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-cube-behind-power-view-part-i.html" target="_blank">Part I - Perspective</a>, we covered the in's and out's of <b>modeling</b> a cube from a perspective.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c002.png"></center>
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Having gone through the previous post, you should have a perspective that is ready for targeting a brand new <b>Analysis Services</b> project. After generating the analysis services project in the AOT, we will further create, deploy & process our newly generated cube. <b>Lets get's started then!</b>
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<center><font color=navy><b>A - Create</b></font></center>
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Our next step is to make use of the <b>'SQL Server Analysis Services Project Wizard.'</b> This is located within a development work space for AX 2012 R2. You then click on the Tools menu option, Business Intelligence (BI) Tools & finally launch the wizard. Shown in the below image is that exact path.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c101.png"></center>
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In launching the Analysis Services Wizard, you should see a screen shot similar to what we see in the below image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c102.png"></center>
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Clicking on the next button will take you to the first prompt where we start to configure this session of the Analysis Services Wizard.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c103.png"></center>
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You will notice in the above screen shot, that I have selected the <b>create</b> option. Further I've supplied what the project should be called. The goal is to create a separate SSAS database, and cube within. This leaves in tact the out-of-the-box cube database and cube elements. Further you will notice the name I've given this new project. It has a prefix, which is recommended being this will live in the AOT. Since I work for <a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com" target="_blank">Sunrise Technologies</a>, I use the prefix of <b>"sun"</b>.
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Clicking next after filling in the prompt for the create option, will lead us to the below image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c104.png"></center>
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You will notice in the above screen shot, that we have selected the <b>Sales Data</b> perspective. This is listed by label, and what the cube will be named. Moving right along from here, clicking next will bring us to the next image, shown below.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c105.png"></center>
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The above shows dimension possibilities from the <b>Shared Dimensions</b> perspective. This is not something we care about in our current targeted cube, and therefore we will leave out for now. Clicking next on this screen, with leaving everything left blank, should take you to the following.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c106.png"></center>
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What you see with the above, is the date dimensions in which we can select and work with. These are generated and created within Dynamics AX. We can modify these, and further create different one's, like a fiscal date set. Keep in mind that based on any dimension we selected which has a Date or UtcDateTime data type, will be crossed with these date dimensions. Dynamics AX will automatically generate this for yu via the modeling of the perspective that you created earlier. Selecting date above, and clicking next, should take you to the following screen.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c107.png"></center>
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The above image shows the language selection for the cube that is being targeted. Based on the languages you have setup within Dynamics AX, such can be taking advantage of here. Translations exist within cubes as they do within Dynamics AX. For our current target we are selecting just U.S. based English. Doing so, and clicking next will take you to the following.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c108.png"></center>
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You will see in the above image we are now generating our project. This basically ends the create portion of this post, as the Analysis Service project is now generated and living within the AOT.
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<center><font color=navy><b>B - Deploy</b></font></center>
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Now that we have created our analysis service project, we will continue using the wizard to finish things out. With that, we should see a screen shot similar to the below.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c109.png"></center>
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Clicking on next from the progress update, should take us to the following screen.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c110.png"></center>
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You will notice I'm saving the actual project to the AOT, under the name sunSalesAnalysis. This allows for again a separate project not related to the out-of-the-box cubes. Clicking next, after filling this prompt out as shown above, will take me to the following.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c111.png"></center>
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Here is where we actually select which cube databases we want to deploy. Since the concept of partitions came into being with R2, cubes take this into consideration. With the demo data set we have two partitions which are initial and ps. Since we only care about the inital partition and the legal entities contained therein, that is the target for deployment.
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<center><font color=navy><b>C - Process</b></font></center>
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I eject the process here, as it's an option we have selected int he above screen shot. Doing this means once the cube database is deployed it will process as well. Allowing us to remain within Dynamics AX the entire time, without having to jump into anything else to achieve this. Having made our above selections and clicking next, will take us through a series of progress updates.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c112.png"></center>
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Having reached the end of the deployment and processing, we should see an image similar to the one below.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c113.png"></center>
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In clicking next, that is it! We have created, deployed & finally processed our new cube. If there where multiple cubes targeted for this specific database, then those would have processed as well. Just to show that this processing took place, I quickly consumed the Sales Data cube from within <b>SQL Server Data Tools.</b> You can see this data, processed in the cube in the image below.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c114.png"></center>
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Now obvious there are plenty of things that can be done from this point. More advanced topics that could and should be covered. However there is only so much one should write at a given time, specifically for the type of medium you find yourself reading right now. I hope this helps you out, and further helps show <b>how easy</b> it is to create a cube. Finally, keep in mind the focus of <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/03/ax-2012-r2-and-powerview-part-ii.html" target="_blank">extending power view within Dynamics AX</a>. The combined knowledge should give you exactly what you need to really start taking advantage of the bull <b>BI Semantic Model.</b> Make sure to check back soon & often! <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-33484600061626284512013-04-03T13:25:00.001-05:002013-04-03T13:25:41.373-05:00The Cube behind the Power View - Part I - Perspective<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Recently I started a series on making the most use of <b>Power View</b> for <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2.</b> This is a great new tool that helps further complete the personal BI story for Dynamics AX customers. It's enabled within a framework delivered as part of the current version from Microsoft, and part of that framework is the consumption of <b>SQL Server Analysis Services Cubes.</b>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p111.png"></center>
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Before we get into the <b>'cube behind the Power View'</b>, lets recap with the following resources in how we arrived here. The following is the list of post that should be read, before reading this post.<br>
<ul><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/03/ax-2012-r2-and-powerview-part-i.html" target="_blank">AX 2012 R2 and PowerView - Part I (Understanding)</a></li><li><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/03/ax-2012-r2-and-powerview-part-ii.html" target="_blank">AX 2012 R2 and PowerView - Part II Extending</a></li></ul><br><br>
With the above list, and what was covered in mind, now we can look into the cube that powered this concept. The whole point that I was trying to get across with the above to post is that it's easy to extend the <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2</b> Power View Framework. Further to this point, not only can you extend from the base cubes that exists within Dynamics AX, but also any cube database you create and cube contained within.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p108.png"></center>
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The above image is the final representation of a cube created from a <b>perspective</b> with the AOT. Unlike perspectives within cubes themselves, these are elements within the AOT that allow the modeling of a <b>SQL Server Analysis Services Cube.</b> We can see in the following image, that is the starting point for our custom cube.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c001.png"></center>
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Perspectives are made up of Table & View elements from within the AOT as well. You must think in terms of facts that you want to measure, and dimensions to slice said measures via. This is the point of tables, and views to provide such facts and dimensions & attributes. We can see in the following image, the tables & views that make up our targeted perspective. It happens to be the InventTable, as well as, the SalesLineCube & CustTableCube view elements.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c002.png"></center>
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After having set our perspective targets from the tables & views we can make use of, our next focus is around the properties of each. What we see in the following series of images, is the properties of the InventTable, SalesLineCube & CustTableCube as they sit within the perspective. What we make a choice for each, is how we are <b>modeling our to-be cube outcome.</b>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c003.png"><br><tt>InventTable Element Properties.</tt></center>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c004.png"><br><tt>SalesLineCube Element Properties.</tt></center>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c005.png"><br><tt>CustTableCube Element Properties.</tt></center>
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You will note that the SalesLineCube provides both measures as well as dimensions. Further it is the targeted transaction table, in which the cube will build measures from. This is why we have this property marked as such. Further you will note that the other two elements are left as auto and only have dimension label established for them. This then allows Dynamics AX to understand we want each of these elements to be dimension elements against our <b>"fact table"</b> represented in the <b>SalesLineCube</b> element.
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Moving along from this point, our next focus is to pick which elements we want to become measures, and then finally what we want as dimension attributes. Keep in mind, that we will make use of the <b>SalesLineCube</b> view as both a fact table containing measures as well as dimension attribute values to slice via. Lets start with the measures on the SalesLineCube. I'm going to show the following image, that is an example of each what this should look like. Then have a list of each measure we care about to finalize our needs.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/cube/c006.png"></center>
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What we see in the above image is the targeted SalesQty field, from the SalesLineCube view element in the perspective. We see the properties for said field, in how we label it, type of being a measure, and further the default total type of sum. Having this, now we can use the following list to create our final measures.:<font color=navy><br>
<ul><li>SalesQty - 'Sales Qty' - Measure - Sum</li><li>SalesPrice - 'Sales Price' - Measure - Sum</li><li>SalesStatus - 'Order Status' -Attribute - (blank)</li><li>ShippingDateConfirmed - 'Ship Date' - Attribute - (blank)</li><li>CreatedDateTime1 - 'Created Date' - Attribute - (blank)</li></ul></font>
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Having the above established for the SalesLineCube element in the perspective, next we can do similar setup for both the InventTable, as well as the CustTableCube. Keep in mind, that the InventTable, when modeled as a cube will be 'Product Information'. Further CustTableCube, will show up as 'Customer Information.'
<font color=navy><br>InventTable<ul><li>ItemId - 'Item Id' - Attribute</li><li>ABCRevenue - 'ABC Rev' - Attribute</li></ul></font>
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Moving forward still we will need to complete our dimensions from the <b>CustTableCube</b> view element. Doing this is very similar to what we just did, selecting fields that are meaningful in which our dimension attributes should target. These will be used, to slice & dice our measures with. The following is the list for the 'Customer Information' dimension set.
<font color=navy><br>CustTableCube<ul><li>AccountNum - 'Account Id' - Attribute</li><li>GroupName - 'Group' - Attribute</li><li>Name - 'Customer Name' - Attribute</li><li>CountryRegionId - 'Country' - Attribute</li></ul></font>
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Now having the above set for the perspective, we have now modeled what we want our new <b>'Sales Data'</b> cube to be made of. Having these specific measures, as well as dimension attributes specified will allow Dynamics AX 2012 R2 to build out our cube as desired. That is where this part I of <b>'The Cube behind the Power View'</b> ends. We will pick this back up in my next post, for proceeding with creating a new Analysis Service project, deploying, processing and finally consuming. <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-42004640013211509212013-04-01T08:21:00.001-05:002013-04-01T14:16:38.458-05:00Sneak Peek at Dynamics AX 7 on Windows Blue!<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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In a recent bold move Microsoft has released to select people and partners a sneak peek at <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 7</b> running on Microsoft's next OS version code named <b>Blue.</b> Dynamics AX 7 is the next major version release of it's flagship ERP product, that will follow in step to be the primary version sold after it's current release of <b>Dynamics AX 2012 R2.</b>
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<center><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2032329/even-more-secretive-windows-blue-features-revealed.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/blue/b001.png"></a></center>
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Having gotten my hands on this... <b><font color=red>April Fools!</font></b>
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Yes it's that time of year again, when we beckon the approach of spring and look forward to those longer and warmer days it brings. This includes having a very nice little April Fools day post. I've done this for the past several years, and really enjoy it. It helps give a little laughter, and a little fun - which is the primary goal for such a post.
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Further I always highlight some of the products from <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com" target="_blank">ThinkGeek.com</a>. This year is no different as they have a very interesting selection of <b>*new April Fools Day*</b> products. My favorite this year is the <b>Play-Doh 3D Printer</b>.
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<center><a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/f487/?pfm=AprilFools_homepage_Featured_5_f487" target="_blank"><img src="http://a.tgcdn.net/images/products/frontsquare/f487_play-doh_3d_printer.jpg"></a></center>
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That is a very neat idea, and actually would be surprised if that did not become reality. What interesting about some of the past April Fools day products from ThinkGeek, is some have actually come into being. How about a nice 8-bit tie anyone? This was a classic some years back that made it to our 3D universe.
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<center><a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/9352/?srp=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://a.tgcdn.net/images/products/frontsquare/9352_8_bit_tie.jpg"></a></center>
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Further as I have done in the past, I like to have some real value add for you in such a post. If your interested in understanding what is taking place for <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 7</b> then you can check out the latest, updated <a href="https://mbs.microsoft.com/Cms/Templates/document/General.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7bC543391C-739D-4B90-8E9C-5C9781A8510E%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fpartnersource%2fmarketing%2fstatementofdirection%2fstatementofdirection%2ehtm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest" target="_blank">Statement of Direction (SoD).</a> Further you may also find some interesting information around <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2032329/even-more-secretive-windows-blue-features-revealed.html" target="_blank">Windows Blue</a> as well.
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Well that's all for this 2013 version of April Fools day! May you enjoy the rest of your day, and be aware of the tricksters that lurk in offices close to you! <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-73864073836499912382013-03-29T08:56:00.000-05:002013-03-29T09:07:41.394-05:00AX 2012 R2 and PowerView - Part II Extending<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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What a great day to be alive! I know for a lot of people, including myself, today has special meaning. It's about faith, and remembering that we are finite and need our Creators grace & mercy. So I must first hope that everyone has a blessed good Friday, and you find yourselves doing well. Further, today I wanted to continue the series I started yesterday around <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 & PowerView.</b>
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For those that are just reading this post, you can go to Part I of this series located here.: <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/03/ax-2012-r2-and-powerview-part-i.html" target="_blank">AX 2012 R2 and PowerView - Part I</a>. Having the knowledge gained from that post, we can now continue with <b>extending PowerView for AX 2012 R2 with our own custom cube!</b>.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p100.png"></center>
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We start this journey by focusing on where the PowerView data connections and artifacts are stored within <b>Enterprise Portal.</b> You can see this location in the above screen shot from the demo image I'm using as my target. This is located in.: <font color=navy><b>'http://[site]/sites/DynamicsAX/Power View Reports/'</b></font>.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p101.png"></center>
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Having the location open, we can then target creating a new data source that we will want PowerView to consume. As we can see in the above image, we target a new data source by simply adding one to the document library. Further what's important to not, as seen in the below image, is the connection type and the connection string.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p102.png"></center>
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You will not that we have a connection type that is very specific to enabling PowerView artifact creation. This type is called.: <b>Microsoft BI Semantic Model for Power View</b>. Further the connection string is very important as well. This happens to be pointing to a custom SSAS Cube Database and further a custom SSAS cube.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p104.png"></center>
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These where both created from the BI Project wizard within Dynamics AX 2012 R2, from a perspective representing the Measures & Dimensions desired. The following is an example connection string that is valid, that you can easily adjust for your own needs.
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<center><font color=navy>Provider=MSOLAP.5;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=True;Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=sunSalesAnalysis initial;Cube=Sales Analysis</font></center>
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Now having this in place, we can test our connection and save the new data source for PowerView usage. This is the default library where the PowerView managed code looks for data sources to make use of. Going back to the information in the first post on this topic, that means that when an action menu item passing in a data source name as the parameter, it is in reference to the data sources living in this <b>specific document library on Enterprise Portal.</b>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p103.png"></center>
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Having done a successful save of the data source, you should see something very similar to the above screen shot. This means that we are ready to move back into Dynamics AX 2012 R2 for completing our extending of PowerView. Like all things in Dynamics AX, this extension should remain within an AOT project.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p105.png"></center>
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What we see in the above screen shot is that project, including having highlighted the <b>custom action menu item</b> that will launch our PowerView design process. You will notice that I'm targeting the name given to the data source that lives in the document library on EP. That is the parameter value that will launch PowerView to target the specific custom cube.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p106.png"></center>
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Having created the menu item, and launching it, we see in the above image a field list from the custom cube I created from the above mentioned perspective.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p107.png"></center>
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This literally took under two hours to complete, from cube to launching into the design space. To further bring home the point that this is a separate cube database, and cube, please reference the below image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p108.png"></center>
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You can see that I have a new cube catalog, or database as well as a custom cube called <b>Sales Analysis.</b> Further you can see in the above image the dimension structure in which we can slice our measure via. Again, this was 100% generated from a perspective within the AOT. Having completed this, we can now create compelling visualizations with PowerView based on the custom cube.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p109.png"></center>
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Further having completing such visualizations, saving these to the <b>'Power View Reports'</b> document library we can surface these and execute them as web parts, or full screen mode.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/PowerView/p111.png"></center>
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The above knowledge, mixed with the first post of this series, should enable you to start easily taking full advantage of Power View, well beyond the out-of-the-box cubes. Having these powerful visualizations that allow power users to help complete a BI story for a customer is the icing on-top of the BI cake represented by the Microsoft Stack. This will truly help you to <b>engage</b> your user base and help you down the continue journey of <b>Creating a System of Engagement!</b>
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That's all I have for this post. Feel free to comment or leave me any questions you might have. Further, I will back into the cube creation process behind this in a new post, so that there is a complete story from end-to-end for you. Keep in mind, this would work for <b>*any*</b> cube. This does not have to be just the Dynamics AX cubes. Further you can start to see how this can be placed throughout the Dynamics AX forms and user experience. <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-19589314899880694342013-03-28T09:55:00.000-05:002013-03-28T09:55:04.810-05:00AX 2012 R2 and PowerView - Part I<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Well here we find ourselves well into spring and I must say it's a cold one thus far. I'm for sure ready for long, warm sunny days and all the fun that comes with it. That being said, and my battle with the norovirus behind me I wanted to start my writings back to you with a focus around <b>Dynamics AX 2012 & PowerView.</b>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/PowerView/p000.png"><br><tt>PowerView Design Surface</tt></center>
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Without a doubt this topic deserves a good bit of coverage as this truly is a <b>powerful, <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/search?q=Personal+BI" target="_blank">personal BI</a></b> enabling technology. Let me states now, as I have in the past, BI is not about a tool. True business insights & intelligence is about owning your data and turning into a true asset. That stated, we must understand the tools that help us yield forth value added insights. Enter now, the focus on <b>Microsoft PowerView</b> and how's it's fired, used and managed within the context of <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2.</b>
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For starters, let me give you a great reference resource. It's the official home page for PowerView.: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bi/Products/PowerView.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft Business Intelligence - PowerView.</a>
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<center><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bi/Products/PowerView.aspx" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/PowerView/p001.png"></a></center>
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I think without a doubt, the above referenced resource page has some really interesting demos that showcase the power or PowerView. Further there are plenty of resources on the web, that can take one through the design and usage of PowerView. Before getting into some real examples of how this can be used, I think it's very important to understand how PowerView is targeted to be fired and consume data from <b>Dynamics AX 2012 R2.</b> Therefore, the goal of this post is to do just that. Infer the knowledge of how PowerView works with Dynamics AX, and how it's fired out-of-the-box. After having this knowledge we can then proceed together down a path of examples for how this can be used, and further extended.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/PowerView/p002.png"></center>
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The first thing to learn is how to fire PowerView from within Dynamics AX 2012 R2. Throughout different sections of the product, you will find a new icon as pictured above called <b>"Analyze Data - Reporting"</b>. This button, is tied to specific action menu items, depending on what focused module of Dynamics AX you happen to be in. As-is, there are three focuses for such PowerView artifact creation, based on these action menu items of.: <b>CreatePowerViewReport *CustCube, *LedgerCube, *VendCube.</b>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/PowerView/p003.png"></center>
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Each of these action menu items points to a single class within the AOT named <b>PowerViewReporting</b>. This class takes specific parameters for which targeted OLAP cube should be used for creating ad-hoc or <b>personal BI</b> artifacts.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/PowerView/p004.png"></center>
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Looking into the main method of the PowerViewReporting class, we find that this further calls into another class, passing in the datasource of focus. The cube for the specific area of Dynamics AX that you happen to be in. This other class is the <b>SrsReportHelper</b> class. It has a brand new method called: <b>getPowerViewDataSourceUrlClient()</b>.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/PowerView/p005.png"></center>
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Within the call of this method, exists a new managed code element understood as: <font color=red><b>Microsoft.Dynamics.Framework.Portal.Deployment.PowerViewDeploymentHelper</b></font>
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Now we understand when we are on the Purchase Orders form, and we see the Analyze Data icon that the data we are about to tackle is based on the VendCube. The VendCube field list of measures & dimensions is then what you see rendered in the right hand screen of the PowerView design space.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/PowerView/p006.png"><br><tt>VendCube Field List in PowerView</tt></center>
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Well that's all for this first post around PowerView. I hope this helps the understanding of this great new tool and how it interacts with Dynamics AX 2012 R2 out-of-the-box. Next post, I will create a brand new cube with Dynamics AX 2012 R2, and show you how to extend the PowerView framework for Dynamics AX to target that cube for Analysis. Thanks for reading, and check back soon! <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-89912636988697290282013-03-14T07:51:00.001-05:002013-03-14T07:51:26.620-05:00Spotlight: Is EDI Driving your business up or downhill?<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/idb/ads/dm/datamasons.jpg"></center>
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Recently I had the change to virtually sit down with Glenn McPeak - Principal Architect for Data Masons. The focus of this spotlight could not come at a better time, with <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/" target="_blank">Convergence 2013</a> kicking off for some of us this weekend! Glenn takes us into a valuable point, one that Data Masons can truly help answer. To their credit Data Masons is the <b>only Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CFMD)</b> EDI solution within the Dynamics Ecosystem. This is an attribute to their expertise in the field.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/idb/ads/dm/gcmhs.png"><br><tt>Glenn McPeak - Principal of Data Mason's</tt></center>
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Now that Dynamics AX 2012 and AX 2012 R2 have hit the road, we’re engaging with more and more customers who are making the move to these latest versions, whether it’s an upgrade or a new implementation. Selecting the ERP is the hard part, but from an ISV viewpoint, we hope that AX customers apply the same level of evaluation they used when considering the ERP to selecting their add-on solutions. Microsoft put a tremendous amount of resources into creating a product that stood behind its strategy, and to insure your investment, it’s critical that the ISVs you engage share the same strategy.
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Making quick decisions, or cost-based selections, or even just applying the “it gets the job done” attitude to choosing ISV solutions can lead your business downhill, causing you to lose the competitive ground for which Dynamics AX sets you up. To fully-leverage your Dynamics AX investment and to move your business forward, we encourage AX customers to take the time needed to put their ISV solution providers to the test.
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<b>How You Can Determine the Uphill Drivers When it Comes to EDI?</b>
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Have you ever met an EDI solution provider who did not claim to offer “tight integration” and “ease-of-use” among other commonly claimed capabilities? When it comes to selecting a <a href="http://www.datamasons.com/dynamics_ax.html" target="_blank">Microsoft Dynamics EDI solution</a> you have to know what questions to ask in order to differentiate between all of the available technology options. If talking with a salesperson, you can easily get confused as to which solution is the right choice for your business when they all seem to claim the same capabilities. But this perception could not be farther from the truth, as there is a wide gap between Dynamics EDI offerings, from the technology model through to the customer support guarantee.
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<center><a href=" http://www.datamasons.com/documents/1212_DataMason_Worksheet3.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/idb/ads/dm/Soultion_Eval_image.jpg"></a></center>
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The <a href="http://www.datamasons.com/edi_solution_evaluation.html" target="_blank">EDI for Microsoft Dynamics Evaluation Check List</a> is designed to take you beyond the product data sheet and software demonstration to uncover the distinguishing factors between various Dynamics EDI options. For example, do you know if the solution is flexible enough to be deployed in the cloud or on-premise? If deployed in the cloud, is there any local software component? Does the solution provider offer a fully- outsourced compliance management service and the ability for you to manage your own mapping and compliance?
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<b>Is EDI Driving Your Business Uphill or Downhill?</b>
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No matter where you are with EDI – currently using a solution, evaluating different options, or considering an EDI implementation – we challenge you to put EDI solution providers to the test. By asking the right questions, you can save yourself time and resources in making the right choice for your business and set your business up for long-term, uphill success with <a href="http://www.datamasons.com/dynamics_ax.html" target="_blank">Dynamics AX EDI.</a>
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I would like to take this time to thank Glenn as well as Data Masons as a whole. Thank them for the great value they bring to the <b>Dynamics Ecosystem</b> and for being a sponsor of this blog.
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Well that is all I have for this post. Check back soon and often as I cover the upcoming <b>Convergence 2013</b> event. I will be heading towards NOLA this Sunday morning, so I wish all of you that are going safe travels. <b>Til Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-49651182963929349912013-03-12T09:40:00.001-05:002013-03-12T10:26:17.284-05:00A Sunrise over Convergence 2013<br><br>
<center><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/conv13/c001.png"></a></center>
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Well it's a fine sunny, near spring day where I am. The birds and trees are starting to awaken, beckoning on the warmth as our world for the northern hemisphere tilts towards our solar system's star. This also is the time of year in which a lot of us within the Dynamics Solar system collide with one another at the annual <b>Microsoft Dynamics Convergence Conference.</b> This year it's being held in beautiful <b>New Orleans!</b>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/conv12/c004.png"></center>
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While there will be plenty of chances for <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bonified" target="_blank">bonified</a> <a href="http://www.food.com/recipe-finder/all/benyas" target="_blank">beignets</a> & beads - the real focus and value is around the connections and networking that is gained from attending this grand event. Thus beings another annual tradition of mine, an interview with President & Owner of Sunrise Technologies, John Pence.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/John_Pence.jpg"></center>
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Like all traditions, things are meant to adapt, change, and grow giving new life to new projects. This tradition is no different, and so for the first time this interview was captured on our company blog .: <a href="http://implementinggreatideas.com" target="_blank">Implementing Great Ideas (Sunrise Technologies Company Blog)</a>.
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To read the full interview, please make use of the following resource.: <a href="http://implementinggreatideas.com/2013/03/11/brandon-george-interviews-sunrise-technologies-president-john-pence-about-the-upcoming-microsoft-convergence-event/" target="_blank">Brandon George Interviews Sunrise Technologies President, John Pence, about the Upcoming Microsoft Convergence Event.</a>
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There are some great nuggets of information contained within this interview, looking at this event from one of the leading VARs and from its President & Owners perspective. For example, I asked John to share about what he is looking forward to attending from a session point of view. John list a few great one's, but then finally states.: <font color=navy><i>"The most important session is of course 'general networking' which I will be doing all day, every day. That is really the best reason to attend Convergence"</i></font>
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Some further tidbits of information are around Sunrise's efforts in hosting live demo's of the <b>retail functionality</b> that now comes as part of <b>Dynamics AX 2012 R2</b>. Further what is near and dear to my heart, John's take on what to look for around <b>Business Intelligence.</b>
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It's a great read, and I hope it get you into the mood and ready to <b><a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Geaux" target="_blank">Geaux</a> Dynamics Style</b> at <b>Convergence 2013.</b> Make sure to stay tuned and follow my tweets and blog post. This year enlist the MVP's that are attending in a more formal way for coverage of the event. So there will be more than you can handle in one day. If your attending great, if not - you should be able to keep up and stay excited still.
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Well that's all for this post, I hope each and every one of you have a blessed Dynamics filled day! <b>Til Next Time!</b>
<br><center><font color=red><b>Follow Me @:</b></font><br><a href="http://www.so.cl/#/profile/Brandon-George-3" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/socl/socl_small.png"></a>  
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-64873261038616686002013-03-11T09:49:00.001-05:002013-03-11T09:49:28.837-05:00AX 2012 - Going Mobile!<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Everyone is talking mobile these days. It's not new really, but if you think about the amount of devices that someone interacts with on a daily basis, it's easy to understand why mobile has such a huge focus. This includes having <b>mobile ERP & BI</b> needs for companies of all sizes. With this topic in mind, fellow blogger & peer Dilip wrote about the release of a new white paper.: <a href="http://daxdilip.blogspot.com/2013/02/configure-dynamics-ax-2012-mobile.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FYAiKF+%28Dilip%27s+blog+on+DYNAMICS+AX%29" target="_blank">Configure Dynamics AX 2012 Mobile Connector - Dilip's Blog</a>.
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Now, I do believe that Dilip will give us some great insight as he is able to play with what the new white paper talks about. You can download the white paper, from the following location.: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36776" target="_blank">Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 White Paper: Configure Microsoft Dynamics AX Connector for Mobile Applications</a>. I would like to highlight this a bit more myself, and so this is the point and goal of my post today. First lets look at the summary of this white paper.:
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<font color=navy>"This paper describes how to configure an environment that is running Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, so that users can connect the Microsoft Dynamics AX mobile phone application. The initial version of the Microsoft Dynamics AX mobile phone application enables mobile expense capture."</font>
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Now we can see that initial scope is to <b>enable the mobile expense capture</b> for travel & expense focused needs. It's clear that this is a framework and that Microsoft will continue to invest into this framework for enabling more mobility through this approach. That stated, there is a good bit that needs to be configured, and technical assets managed.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/mobile/m001.png"></center>
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The above is a diagram that shows the specific elements involved in this framework. Further it shows the flows of message and authentication. This represents: <b>Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS), Mobile phone application, Microsoft Windows Azure Service Bus and Access Control Service (ACS), Microsoft Dynamics AX Connector for Mobile Applications & Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012</b>.
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It's also important to understand the functional scope that is needed to be configured within Dynamics AX 2012 for this to be properly enabled and add value. It's listed out as.: <b>Users, Expense Management and finally Human Resources.</b> Now that is a possibly a wide & deep functional foot print, specifically when you mention the term human resources. This I believe is the most important part really to understand and what needs coverage. This is actually missing from the white paper. What specific configuration and modeling is completed within expense management & human resources to truly enable this. Further, I can image that workflow and other types of focus are needed as well.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/mobile/m002.png"></center>
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Beyond this, the white paper has very detailed specifics on how to configure the needed technical aspects for enabling this expense capture mobile application. It is a great example of a hybrid cloud scenario that makes use of phone device end points, cloud assets and on-prim instance of Dynamics AX 2012. This is a great step in the right direction for seeing true value for such hybrid cloud scenario's with AX 2012 today, however there is plenty more to do in order to drive real value from such scenario's.
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I would like to see the functional depth, the minimal functional depth, that is really required to achieve this setup. Having that paired with this very technical document, would help give and understanding to the functional & technical footprint needed, in order for a company to weight the true cost for the value this can bring.
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That's all for this post, check back soon as we continue our Dynamics Journey including <b>Convergence 2013</b> starting this coming Sunday! <b>Till Next Time!</b>
<br><center><font color=red><b>Follow Me @:</b></font><br><a href="http://www.so.cl/#/profile/Brandon-George-3" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/socl/socl_small.png"></a>  
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-1760836392984860392013-03-03T10:46:00.000-06:002013-03-03T10:46:02.767-06:00AX 2012 - Fatal AXRDCE Exception Error Addressed<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Today, I wanted to spend a little time writing about an error that some people using <b>AX-SSRS</b> reports have started to run into. This is specifically related to an error that might sound something as the following.: <b><font color=red>"Fatal exception performing AXRDCE transformation step. The report cannot be rendered. Please contact your system administrator."</font></b>
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This error message may appear for <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2011/12/ax-2012-ax-ssrs-report-design-concepts.html" target="_blank">out-of-the-box reports</a> as well as custom development report elements. Further, this can occur even after said reports have been executing fine for a little while. There is a number of ways to get past this related to the removal of AUC files from the SSRS server, and refreshing the WCF configuration tied to the AX config file for the SSRS instance. However what I want to talk with you about on this topic today, is the ultimate fix for such issues.
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For starters, you will need to launch Dynamics AX 2012, and go to the <b>System Administrators > Setup > Business Intelligence > Reporting Services > Report Deployment Settings.</b> This form is shown, loaded in the below image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/axrdce/a001.png"></center>
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What we see highlighted is a form that contains a report element, one of it's design's and a check mark in a field called static. If you have a report listed in this form, as set as such with static as being applied, then <b>AXRDCE</b> is not used with those targeted report elements. You see the purpose of AXRDCE is to render as run-time, the needed language translations as well as contextual security. So keep these two points in mind, when you make use of the <b>Report Deployment Settings Form.</b>
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That stated, if you list a troublesome report element as well as design within this form, having mark static. Then you deploy that specific report element to SSRS, your AXRDCE woes will be gone for good. This will tell Dynamics AX to deploy the report & it's report cultures so that the Dynamic generation of language translation does not take place.
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Well that is all for this post, I hope that someone finds this useful in your Dynamics filled projects! <b>Till Next Time!</b>
<br><center><font color=red><b>Follow Me @:</b></font><br><a href="http://www.so.cl/#/profile/Brandon-George-3" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/socl/socl_small.png"></a>  
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-42263250682505385272013-02-22T09:50:00.001-06:002013-02-22T09:50:05.159-06:00MVP Summit - A world of value in a weeks time<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Well the <b>MVP Summit 2013</b> has come and gone. This year marked the <a href="http://news.thewindowsclub.com/celebrating-20-years-microsoft-mvp-award-program-59555/" target="_blank">20th anniversary of MVP's</a>, and the first year that there was any tracks related to <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX</b>. I can't share details with you, being under <b>NDA</b>, however I can say this. Without-a-doubt, the level of involvement by the Microsoft Executives and Team members with MVP's was outstanding.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/mvp13/MVPs_2013.jpg"></center>
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Above, pictured from left to right is: <a href="https://twitter.com/dynamicserp" target="_blank">ME (Brandon George)</a>, <a href="http://www.axstart.com" target="_blank">Dick Wenning</a>, <a href="http://daxmusings.codecrib.com/" target="_blank">Joris de Gruyter</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/AXManuals" target="_blank">Joel Leichty</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/_Gilabert_" target="_blank">Antonio Gilabert</a>. These where the Dynamics AX MVPs that attended this year's summit. There where several, several meetings all adding value. This was not just for us MVP's either, but also for Microsoft as well with the feedback & perspective we as a group of MVP's where able to provide.
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Another aspect to this summit was the involvement and sessions of the other MVP tracks, that helped share knowledge. This knowledge is very applicable to Dynamics AX, as it sits atop the <b>Microsoft Stack.</b> For those Dynamics AX MVP's that could not attend, make it a priority to do so next year. This is one event that you will want to attend without-a-doubt.
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Well that's all for this week. I realize that I did not get a chance to post, but that is honestly a testament to how busy I was during this weeks events & sessions. There are some very, very good things to talk about in the coming week, specifically focused on <b>true Business Intelligence.</b> <b>Till Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-73183539447217110882013-02-15T14:26:00.001-06:002013-02-15T14:26:43.204-06:00AX 2012 - PowerPivot Date Dimension Query<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Today I wanted to spend time building on the topics that I've been covering of late. That is the value of <b>PowerPivot</b> and how Dynamics AX customers to create true <b>Personal BI</b> artifacts with it. A key topic that is important to understand when looking at creating such BI artifacts is around the use of a <b>Date Dimension Table.</b> Find out more about this topic, specific to PowerPivot from the following resource.: <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg413433.aspx" target="_blank">TechNet: Dates in PowerPivot</a>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/powerpivotLogo_1.jpg"></center>
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With this in mind there are several ways that this can be achieved. Specifically what we care about is relating some date value at a transaction level data, in order to slice & dice such data by. We could make use of fiscal calendar's, outside date table, or we can create one from a <b>working calendar</b> inside <b>Dynamics AX 2012.</b> The focus of this How-To is exactly around that approach. Making use of the working calendar concepts in Dynamics AX, to have a specific one that generates date values, and that we make use of for our PowerPivot Date Table.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p001.png"></center>
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What you see in the above image is the building out of a specific Work Calendar that I'm targeting for use as my Date Table within PowerPivot. After having that built, the next focus is around the project that will contain the elements that help complete this scope. That is what you see with the following image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p003.png"></center>
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Looking at the project, you can see there we have a table, query & job elements. These are the <b>Dynamics AX</b> parts that help us create and expose a Date Table for use with our PowerPivot artifacts. Like most scope, we need to start with a targeted table that will house our date data. That is what we can see in the following image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p004.png"></center>
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From this point, we will then need a Query that will become the basis for an OData feed. This query element, simply exposes the new custom table and it's fields. That is shown in the following image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p005.png"></center>
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After having our custom table targeted, next we can move towards creating X++ code that will fill this table. This X++ code, in this current write up, it housed and executed from within a Job element. This could easily be adapted to have parameters and execute as a batch job, or fired from a menu item within an instance of <b>Dynamics AX.</b> This is the tie between the working calendar & date data we created, and the Query element that will expose the data it generates.
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With that, lets look at the X++ code. We have two sections of this job really. The first section is pictured below, and it shows the declaration section of the job variables, as well as a local method. For those that don't understand local methods for Dynamics AX, please review the following resource.: <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa637343(v=ax.50).aspx" target="_blank">MSDN: Local Functions</a>. Even though that is stated for Dynamics AX 2009, this still is a valid concept for AX 2012.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p006.png"></center>
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What we see in the local method, or function, is the creation reading of a date value and based on that date value, we are returning the calendar year quarter that the date belongs to. Having this, we can now move to the second half of the job. That is seen in the following image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p007.png"></center>
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The above, we see the majority of the business logic behind the creation of our target date table data. This job will clear the custom table, and then proceed to fill it with information based on the working calendar data we created. You can see several calls that will give us specific information like: DayName, Week, MonthName as well as our local function Qtr().
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Having complete this, and executing the job the majority of what we need to do within Dynamics AX is completed. Since we are targeting this for use as an OData feed, the next step for us is to target the query element within the project and publish it as a Document Data Source. That is what we see highlighted in the below screen shot.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p009.png"></center>
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Once we have done this, we are now able to launch into a PowerPivot design space to add the new query as a date table for our <b>Personal BI</b> needs. As we can see in the following image, our new query appears as a valid OData feed.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p011.png"></center>
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I'm adding this as a new data source to an existing PowerPivot artifact that is focused on looking as Sales Data. After adding the new data source to the PowerPivot design space, we can see the two query elements from the AOT, as shown below.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p012.png"></center>
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Next step is to join our two query elements within the design space of PowerPivot. What we are doing here is stating that the sunSalesLineData query is the fact table, and the sunDateTimeTable query is a dimension table, linked to the fact table. We are linking these two tables via the <b>sunSalesLineData.SalesLine_ConfirmedDlv = sunDateTimeTable.sunDateDimTable_TransDate.</b> Creating this relation allows us to make use of the fields within the targeted Date Table, to <b>slice & dice</b> our sales data with. We can see this relation in the following image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p013.png"></center>
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Now that we have our relationship established and our PowerPivot workbook updated, lets take a look at the current Month value. I derived the "month" value used in the current workbook by making use of a DAX expression within PowerPivot. It's a computed column, with the following expression.: <font color=navy><b>'=MONTH([SalesLine_ConfirmedDlv])'</b></font> This gives us a numerical value that represents the month from the SalesLine_ConfirmedDlv date value. You can see this as a horizontal slicer in the following screen shot.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p014.png"></center>
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This might be fine for some reports, but the goal of a Date Table within PowerPivot is to add more flexibility and friendliness to the date values which we filter and slice by. Now that we have the date table we can target as dimensions for slicing our facts from the sales data with, we can replace the integer month value, with friendly month names. We can see that with the following image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p018.png"></center>
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Because we built out our date table within Dynamics AX and expose it as a Query element, we have flexibility for control of the dates. As well as we could make use of targeted languages, labels and more. As you can see in the following image, we have the ability to make use of any of the fields now, to slice and filter by.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p015.png"></center>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/ppDate/p016.png"></center>
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With the above we have a powerful, yet simple example of enabling a date table built from Dynamics AX. Further, by example, how with little effort such scope can start to add value and use for our personal BI development needs. Further I will add, we could then make the choice to expose any number of fiscal or working calendar data in such fashion. Building from the above knowledge, you can see where this Date query can be added as part of the design as a dimension table for many, many PowerPivot artifacts.
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There are plenty of detail specifics that could be considered in the design of this, but I hope that you see the value and ease we have with empowering the creation of useful and value added BI artifacts with <b>Dynamics AX & PowrPivot.</b> That is all I have for this post. I will be back next week to continue focusing on the helping <b>put your companies data to work for you!</b> If your interested in what else can be done with BI Semantic Model as well as BI in general, make sure to contact my team at Sunrise, to see how we can help you today! <a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com" target="_blank">Sunrise Technologies Site.</a> <b>Till Next Time!</b>
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<b><font color=red>P.S.:</font></b> I will be at the MVP Summit all next week at Microsoft HQ. I do plan however to get at least two post up next week. Make sure to check back soon and often!
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-26183092610065661462013-02-13T17:33:00.000-06:002013-02-13T17:33:54.045-06:00AX 2012 - From PowerPivot to Tabular Model<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Today I wanted to continue the focus around some of the great options that now come as part of the stack offering for <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX</b> customers. This builds on the <b>BI Semantic Model</b>, going from the perspective of personal BI through to needed scale offered via organizational BI concepts.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/bism/bism01.png"></center>
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What I'm speaking about specifically to you today, is the ability to target a <b>PowerPivot</b> BI Artifact and use it as the basis for creating a scalable, tabular model for <b>SQL Server 2012</b>. This knowledge, builds on that which I've covered in depth for <b><a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/search?q=Personal+BI" target="_blank">Personal BI</a></b>. This recently includes my last post <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/02/dynamics-ax-2012-r2-odata-improvements.html" target="_blank">Dynamics AX 2012 R2 - OData Improvements.</a> Further, this is a prime example that I explained at a high level, with the post about <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2013/02/understanding-natural-flow-of-bi.html" target="_blank">Understanding the natural flow of the BI Semantic Model.</a>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t001.png"></center>
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What we see above is the final outcome of a focus around PowerPivot, OData and a Dynamics AX Query Element. This query element brings together Sales data, for a specific set of customer groups. You can see in the following screen shot, the targeted query element from the AOT.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t002.png"></center>
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What would prompt you to take this PowerPivot artifact and move it along from the Personal, Team and into the Organizational BI area is the need to <b>scale.</b> That is the focus when we talk about organizational BI artifacts. These are BI needs that need to scale beyond the capability of what Personal & Team BI aspects can offer us. Having created this personal BI artifact in PowerPivot, we do not have to start from scratch. In fact, we can actually use the work completed in the design space of the PowerPivot workbook, to become the basis of an <b>Analysis Service Tabular Model</b>. This starts with <b>SQL Server Data Tools</b>, the replacement of <b>BIDS</b> for SQL Server 2012.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t003.png"></center>
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Having launched SSDT, we can navigate to creating a new project type of <b>Analysis Services > Import from PowerPivot.</b> This is what we see in the below screen shot.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t004.png"></center>
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In doing this action, we are then taking to a screen in which we must set a target work space database instance. For the sake of time, I'm doing all of this on an <b>AX 2012 R2</b> demo image that you can download from Microsoft PartnerSource. This is why, as seen in the screen shot below, I'm targeting a localhost\Tabular instance of SSAS.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t005.png"></center>
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Having set our target work space server, we can then move forward with selecting a PowerPivot workbook. At this point there are some very specific security design considerations you need to keep in mind. Specifically when the target is a remote server vs. a local server. To find out more about this topic, please review the following resource.: <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg492180(v=SQL.110).aspx" target="_blank">Impersonation (SSAS Tabular)</a>. The goal of this article is to show off the concepts, in which such details will be discussed at length, in a later post.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t006.png"></center>
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What we see in the above screen shot, is the selection of our PowerPivot personal BI artifact that we created in earlier post. Having this selected, our tabular workspace server is able to read in the meta-data as well as data contained within the workbook. We can see this reflected in the following image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t007.png"></center>
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Now that we have our tabular model created from the effort put forth in the creation of the personal BI artifact, we can begin modifying and creating needed elements to complete our scaled out BI needs. What important to keep in mind, is that any computing measures that where created in the PowerPivot artifact, are now in our tabular model. Further, the connection via an OData feed to our Query Element is in tact. You can see this from the screen shot below.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t008.png"></center>
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Having this understood, and not worrying about security design concerns at this point, we can proceed with deploying our tabular model to our workspace server for Analysis Services. That is what we see, in the outcome below.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/tabular/t010.png"></center>
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With the above example, we can see how quickly the BI Semantic Model can easily take the efforts of a Personal BI design and turn that into a truly scalable state as a tabular model. This does require SQL Server 2012 as well as Dynamics AX 2012. With this however, we can now process our OData feed from within the Tabular model, and work off it for scalable artifacts that can help complete a companies BI story. Further this takes advantage of Dynamics AX, specifically with the use of Query Elements & Document Data Sources.
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That's all for this post, but check back soon as I continue to dive further into taking full advantage of Dynamics AX, in helping put your companies data to work for you! I will continue to build on the concepts that I have been writing about, plus more including coverage of the upcoming Convergence 2013! <b>Till Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-56780278867631777262013-02-08T14:54:00.000-06:002013-02-08T16:26:58.876-06:00Dynamics AX 2012 R2 - OData Improvements<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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I hope everyone has had a productive <b>Dynamics</b> filled week! Today I wanted to spend time, talking about a topic that I've covered a good bit in the past 12 months. Specifically, that is the improvements that have came with the <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2012/10/microsoft-dynamics-ax-2012-r2-vm-ctp.html" target="">release of Dynamics AX 2012 R2</a> around the topic of <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/search?q=OData" target="_blank">OData.</a>
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<center><img src="http://www.odata.org/images/OData_logo_MS_small.png"></center>
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If your just now reading about this topic for the first time, OData is an underlying technology protocol that helps enable <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/search?q=Personal+BI" target="_blank">Personal BI</a> concepts for use with <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX.</b> With the release of Dynamics AX 2012 R2, we do have some improvements to speak towards in this area. Specifically these improvements revolve around <b>Document Data Sources.</b> You can find this, under <b>Organization Administration > Setup > Document Management > Document Data Sources.</b>
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/odata/r2o01.png"></center>
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As seen in the above screen shot, the document data sources form has changed a bit with this new release. Specifically what is pointed out, is the option for creating custom query elements. Also, the edit button, which happens to be disabled until after selecting and registering a query for target of <b>custom filtering.</b>
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That is actually the biggest improvement with this release, in regard to the topic of OData. Someone that is an Administrator, not necessarily a developer, can filter queries beyond what they have in their specific designs.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/odata/r2o02.png"></center>
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What we see in the image above is the screen that pops up after selecting a custom query option, and having a target query element to create customer filtering options for. We are able, similar to the query options on most grids and forms, select and give specific values for query execution.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/odata/r2o03.png"></center>
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Having this set, we are then able to see the <b>Edit Query</b> button enabled for such custom query elements within the Document Data Sources form. Further, once we have our query filtering set, we can rename such elements in the form, that better reflect the nature of the filter being applied. This can be seen in the following image.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/odata/r2o04.png"></center>
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Having this, we can now consume the ODataQueryService that comes as part of every AOS for creating Personal BI artifacts through tools like <b>PowerPivot & PowerView.</b> That is what we see in the following image, our valid OData query elements within the design space of PowerPivot.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/odata/r2o05.png"></center>
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Now I will point out, the majority of the design requirements for query elements to be valid OData feeds has not changed. You can find out more specific information on that topic, from the following CodePlex Open Source project.: <a href="http://axodataq.codeplex.com/" target="_blank">AX-OData Project.</a>
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Well that's all for this week. I plan on getting back into a more 2-3 post routine, per week very soon. There is a lot going on in the Dynamics space, and specifically with my new Role as Director of Business Intelligence for <a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com" target="_blank">Sunrise Technologies, Inc.</a> I will be posting a lot about Dynamics AX and BI in the coming weeks and months, further launching something brand new with <a href="http://www.MyDynamicsBI.com" target="_blank">MyDynamicsBI.com</a> More on that soon. Make sure to check back next week! <b>Till Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-58270847012142643872013-02-01T10:07:00.001-06:002013-02-01T12:02:27.285-06:00Understanding the natural flow of the BI Semantic Model<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Today, I wanted to spend time talking through the natural flow that the <b>BI semantic model</b>, when followed, lays out for a customer. This is a very important topic to understand, and one that helps build out a <b>System of Engagement</b> for clients. In a recent post, I talked to the important point of <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-all-fuss-around-bi-data-ownership.html" target="_blank">Data Ownership.</a> Now taking that into consideration, we can start to shape a real BI story for customers with the BI Semantic model approach.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/bism/bism01.png"></center>
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In the past, IT departments would be tasked with Report Development that created a seemingly never ending loop. This undesired loop, would create scope and scope creep for reporting needs that never seemed to get truly fulfilled. The users where unhappy with this, as well as the IT pro's trying to solve the business needs. The major issue in that caused the process to mature into a true dilemma, was that the report definition, the questions to be asked, was unavoidably placed in the wrong hands. This goes back to the point of <b>data ownership</b>, and further giving the ability of the users that own and know the data, secure access to form the questions and creating the reporting elements to empower their business.
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This is where <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/search?q=Personal+BI" target="_blank">Personal BI</a>, from the BISM, comes into play. You see, when the questions are well known and report execution needs scale then we have great candidates for <b>Organizational BI</b> artifacts. That is, the data elements are well known for what should be measured and how such data elements should be sliced & diced for user consumption. Getting to that point however, is the goal and beauty of <b>true Personal BI</b> processes and artifacts.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/powerpivotLogo_1.jpg"></center>
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Enter <a href="http://dynamics-ax.blogspot.com/search?q=PowerPivot" target="_blank">PowerPivot!</a> It's ability to consume mass amounts of data, and truly help create star like schema's with ease, enabling power users to work with the data they own is unmatched. It's simplicity and power, help enable elegant BI artifact creation, through a similar look and feel via <b>Office & Excel</b>. This is where users can easily be truly empowered to securely work with their data from <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX</b> as well as other LOB application data. IT departments give this secure access to users, which helps address concerns of data integrity, while users can then form the questions that should be asked, that drive true business insight.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/bibasics/rc01.png"></center>
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Having this starting point, users can further be enabled to engage their team via <b>SharePoint</b> for true collaboration, or <b>Team BI.</b> PowerPivot and office are not the tools that can be used to generate valid & valuable personal BI artifacts. Other outputs can be produced, scheduled and consumed via SharePoint. This in turn helps feed into the Role Centers that engage the user based, and starts the flow from Personal to Organizational BI within an organization.
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Once published to SharePoint, teams can start sharing and collaborating on BI artifacts that drive critical business decision. Further, this is the intersection to where the IT department, via SharePoint tools, can become aware of Team BI artifacts that need to scale for the entire company. These Team BI artifacts, that have now been vetted and in full use, give the IT department known questions that need to be answered, and give them insight into how the business is needing to use their data.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/bibasics/b1003.png"></center>
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Here we enter into the Organizational BI artifact creation, that is fueled by Personal BI artifacts. Through the use of SharePoint technology, IT Departments can be given insights into the use of such collaborative BI needs and use such artifacts as the starting point and guide for scaling out such data needs. This is where true cube creation, for analytical reporting can start from a PowerPivot artifact. Where IT departments and end users are no longer caught in a viscous cycle of report development madness. Instead they are both empowered through the adoption and use of the BI Semantic Model, and it's natural flow from Personal, to Team and through to Organizational BI needs.
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This then allows a cycle for the users that own the data, to help form the questions, that ultimately power Organizational business insight and eventual scale for the company. Allowing a satisfied user base, and an IT department that helps put a companies data to work for them. This is all very possible for <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX</b> customers. If your interested in finding out more, let me show you how my team at <b><a href="http://www.sunriseconsult.com" target="_blank">Sunrise Technologies, Inc</a></b> can help turn your users into fans, and create a true <b>System of Engagement</b> for your company!
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That's all I have for this post, and this week. Check back soon as more to come, and as I make my move starting today as <b>Director of Business Intelligence</b> for Sunrise Technologies! <b>Till Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-14692755129066213742013-01-25T06:30:00.001-06:002013-01-25T07:40:43.940-06:00Know thy Dynamics HashTags!<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Understanding how to navigate the social landscape is a vital skill that help one stay on top of the latest news for Microsoft Dynamics, and further be a contributor to the community at large. Events like the upcoming <b>Convergence 2013</b>, being held in New Orleans can seem overwhelming, in trying to digest all the great news & happenings while there. Further, for those not able to attend, but wanting to learn as much as possible - navigating the social landscape is a must!
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<center><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/conv13/c001.png"></a></center>
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To help weed through the information, and further avoid things like <b>"social saturation"</b> understanding HashTag's that are used within the Microsoft Dynamics Community is a must! Enter <b>Jon Rivers</b> latest post on this topic.: <a href="http://www.datamasons.com/blog/2713/2013-hashtag-predictions-for-microsoft-dynamics-are-here/" target="_blank">2013 #HASHTAG PREDICTIONS FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS ARE HERE!</a>
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<center><a href="http://axugsummit.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.axug.com/resources/logo.png"></a></center>
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You may recall Jon & Mark Polino's efforts in helping customers and partners entering into the social fray, with their joint authored book.: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Social-Microsoft-Dynamics-Partners-ebook/dp/B0061NVW7A" target="_blank">Social Media for Microsoft Dynamics Partners.</a>
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<center><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Social-Microsoft-Dynamics-Partners-ebook/dp/B0061NVW7A" target="_blank"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m9HeG-YCbSU/Tq7TahCd8VI/AAAAAAAABHE/iPkbFSD7Wso/s144/Social%252520Media%252520Cover.png
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Jon continues his mastery of the social arts, with giving us a heads up for this years <a href="http://www.datamasons.com/blog/2713/2013-hashtag-predictions-for-microsoft-dynamics-are-here/" target="_blank">HashTag index.</a> It's ever so important to understand the value of such HashTag's as <a href="http://www.twitter.com/#/Conv13" target="_blank">#Conv13</a>, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/#/AXUGSummit" target="_blank">#AXUGSummit</a> and many more. Doing so, as I mentioned above, will give one the ability to stay on top of the information most important to you. Further, if your going to contribute to the ever growing community at large, then having the right HashTag's used associated with your efforts if vital.
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I will say, sometimes there is a battle for HashTag dominance. Where competing events, or community actually land on using the same tag. I bring to mind the great battle when <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012</b> was launched, and the same time the Anime Expo 2012 conference was being targeted. I believe the Dynamics Community won out right the use of <a href="http://www.twitter.com/#/AX2012" target="_blank">#AX2012</a>. However, this battle is far from over as we approach the year 2015. I predict, once again the Dynamics Community will face off against the Anime Expo crowd, when <a href="http://www.twitter.com/#/ax2015" target="_blank">#AX2015</a> is the focus for the year 2015 and the release of <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2015.</b>
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Going back more to the serious side of this social skill set, Jon's efforts within the community are always helpful. With his post, we all have a quick reference to the HashTag's that should be targeted and used. Further, Jon will avoid <b>*ME*</b> direct messaging him, asking <i>"Jon, what is the HashTag for [Insert event here]."</i>
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Many thanks Jon for all the efforts you do for the Dynamics Community at large. There should be an MVP Award from Microsoft that allows Jon to be awarded for his efforts across all the Dynamics Products, including his focus on mastering the social landscape.
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That's all for this post, I hope that each and everyone of you have a great weekend, and find yourself being productive in our Dynamics World. Check back soon as more Dynamics & BI coverage to come. Further, as we approach Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013, keep an eye here for total coverage, interviews and more! <b>Till Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18201169.post-83272562684915451592013-01-23T19:47:00.001-06:002013-01-23T19:47:37.994-06:00AX 2012, SQL Server 2012 & NLB Reporting Services<br><br>
<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/AX2012/msdynNew.png"></center>
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Today I wanted to take the time, and give light to a specific topic, <b>Network Load Balancing Reporting Services with AX 2012 & SQL Server 2012.</b> As I have done in the past, to help shed light on this most important topic, I invited <b>Matt Tortorice</b> AX System Engineer for McWane, Inc. to give us some insights on this topic.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/sqlServer2012/s12001.png"></center>
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Matt, along with McWane, is currently implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for some of their divisions. Recently, I worked with Matt on the topic of clustering for reporting services, and he is here to help give valuable, customer based insight into the process.
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/SQlServer2012/mths.png"><br><tt>Matt Tortorice <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/matt-tortorice/9/319/9b3" target="_blank">LinkedIn Profile</a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/mtortorice" target="_blank">@mtortorice</a></tt></center>
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After following the <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc281307.aspx" target="_blank">“Configure a Report Server on a Network Load Balancing Cluster”</a> article on TechNet, and generating my machine key from <a href="http://aspnetresources.com/tools/machineKey" target="_blank">aspnetresources/machineKey</a> I was able to apply the new Machine Key value to both of our load balanced Report Servers web.config file. In doing this, we ended up with a configuration that looks similar to what is pictured below.:
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/SQlServer2012/mths01.png"></center>
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When first launching into the instance of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, that had three AOSes, users had no issues executing report. Users, that is, that where connected to the first AOS that has an Reporting Services configuration associated with it that is.<br><br>
Those Users trying to run an SSRS Report when connected to the any other AOS instances (ax102, ax103) would get the following error message.: <font color=red><b>“The default Report Server Configuration ID could not be found in the SRSServers table.”</b></font> This error message was presented in an infolog, similar to the one pictured below.:
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/SQlServer2012/mths02.png"></center>
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To solve this problem, the answer was to create a Reporting Server Configuration for each AOS in the cluster by setting the Application Object Server Name to each AOS instance. In other words, 3 identical Server configurations except for the AOS Server name. Configuration ID 1 points to AX101, ID 2 points to AX102 and ID3 points to AX103 as seen below:
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<center><img src="http://www.fluidunion.com/ax2012/SQlServer2012/mths03.png"></center>
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Once there was a Report Configuration for each AOS instance all of the reports SSRS Reports would generate when a client was connected to any AOS. All reports where able to execute, no matter what AOS a user was logged into. Further each of the report server configurations where pointing to the NLB, or Network Load Balancing server name.
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Having done this, we where able to take full advantage of <b>SQL Server 2012</b>, with a scaled out, load balanced reporting servers that better meets are reporting needs. This will further enable, as needed, future scale as our users demand more, and more reports from our Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 instance.
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I would like to thank Matt for taking the time to share with us, about this topic. Giving us insight into the trenches of <b>Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012</b> and how the stack is helping him realize real value for his company needs.
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Further, the following is more information about Matt and his blog, where he plans to continue his journey, and helping all of us along the way.:
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<font color=navy>With a Background in .Net Development, SQL Server Management and Microsoft Server Administration I began my unexpected adventure in Dynamics AX in late 2012 when I was tasked with setting up 3 Dynamics AX 2012 CU3 Single Server Environments using SQL Server 2012, and a 9 Server Production installation of Dynamics AX with 3 AOS Servers, 2 SharePoint EP Servers, 1 SharePoint Search Server, 2 SQL Server 2012 Servers in a High Availability Group and 1 Help/FileServer. I will continue to blog about my experiences and answer any questions I get at <a href="http://blog.thedeprecated.com" target="_blank">http://blog.thedeprecated.com</a></font>
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That's all for this post, check back soon as I will continue the focus of valued added content. We will dive further into the Dynamics based world, with more coverage of BI, Reporting, Services and more! <b>Till Next Time!</b>
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<br>brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17442782177355218453noreply@blogger.com0