Simplifying Compliance with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

THE MICROSOFT SOLUTION

The evolving global economy presents organizations in every industry with the difficult challenge of maintaining quality, growth, and innovation while concurrently reducing costs in ever-shorter product life cycles. As we attempt to balance these opposing needs, enterprises face new complexities in the modern marketplace: a shortage of skilled resources; greater demand for differentiation from growing competition; global shifts in supply and demand; the evolution of new business models; and the need for sustainability across multiple markets. Streamlining operations is a natural starting point for addressing most of these issues.

Whether your offerings are physical or digital, every enterprise can benefit from the new class of adaptive technology to support core manufacturing, store, branch, or service operations – as well as multi-enterprise supply chains. In evaluating potential solutions, today’s manufacturers look for technologies that can handle increasingly complex business operations as well as anticipate, innovate, and accelerate delivery of world-class products and services. To that end, the most useful operations-focused solutions enable role-based productivity in everyday activities by integrating people, processes, and business systems across organizational boundaries. Simultaneously, the ideal solutions also allow ideas, knowledge, data, and business insights to flow freely during every step of the product or service life cycle.

THE MICROSOFT SOLUTION
Over the years, Microsoft technologies have become ubiquitous in the operations arena. In fact, AMR Research estimates that more than 90% of today’s manufacturing execution systems run on Microsoft Windows and SQL Server, and that many point-of-sale (POS) systems are also Microsoft-based. Microsoft provides a comprehensive Operations Management platform to enable 'Operations 2.0', allowing organizations to continuously tune & adapt their dynamic business operations, by providing them the ability to easily integrate agile Systems of Innovation and Systems of Differentiation to inflexible Systems of Record.  The Microsoft platform for Operations Management includes SharePoint 2010 (pre-integrated as Duet Enterprise for SAP Customers), Office 2010, , Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Operational ERP solutions, and a comprehensive partner ecosystem that delivers solutions for manufacturing, store, branch and service operations.  SharePoint 2010  and Office 2010 enhance usability and productivity in operations, and are also the key System of Innovation. Microsoft Dynamics AX provides global organizations with a modern and intuitive Operational ERP System of Differentiation for manufacturing, store, branch and service operations that integrates with partner execution systems, while also integrating with, (or replacing) Systems of Record (e.g. HQ Administrative ERP) to support both market differentiated and globally standardized processes,  while providing global visibility.


Microsoft SQL Server 2008
All of our operations software solutions are founded on SQL Server 2008, a high-end, scalable database platform that provides secure, easy access to stored data and can integrate operational data across disparate production and service delivery systems including manufacturing execution systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP), POS, and supply-chain management software (SCM). SQL Server also includes powerful reporting and analysis services that can easily handle demanding analytical applications with millions of records and thousands of users.


Microsoft Dynamics AX
Another key component in our solution offering is Microsoft Dynamics AX which integrates several Microsoft technologies: BizTalk Server for automated data collection; SharePoint for role-based dashboards; SQL Server for performance management; and Microsoft Unified Communications for real-time collaboration capabilities via phone, mobile devices, live meetings, and more. Dynamics AX is a prime example of what Gartner refers to as a “visionary” breed of operational ERP, and a 'System of Differentiation' – one that can support dynamic business operations and augment a legacy administrative system in a two-tier deployment model.


Duet Enterprise for Microsoft SharePoint and SAP
Duet Enterprise, a product jointly developed by SAP and Microsoft, combines the collaboration and productivity supported by Microsoft SharePoint with the business data and business processing functionality of SAP applications. Recognized by Gartner as a 'System of Innovation', Duet Enterprise empowers operations personnel to consume and extend SAP processes and information through a familiar Microsoft SharePoint and Office environment.


And building upon these mission-critical, real-time systems, Microsoft and its certified partners have developed a variety of industry-specific solutions to help you leverage investments in core transactional systems while resolving concerns about adapting legacy systems to a modern, dynamic business environment.

Microsoft Operations Solution Benefits
 

• Higher efficiency through a familiar, easy-to-use, role-tailored environment
• Connected, collaborative online environments for real-time operational intelligence that spans applications, business processes, and enterprises
• Cost-effective, modern applications that can adapt to dynamic business operations and be scaled  for branches, companies, or divisions of any size
• Unified Communications capabilities that provide presence, identity, and collaboration platforms for rapid issue resolution across geographic and organizational boundaries
• Secure storage and retrieval of intellectual property across distributed, multi-enterprise operations via digital rights management (DRM)
• Deeper, more accurate actionable operational intelligence through automated data collection, direct data access, broad reporting, and pervasive performance-management capabilities

Microsoft Dynamics ERP - Professional Service Delivery

Business Challenges
With resources that work—and work together—your employees can collaborate effectively to produce quality deliverables quickly and profitably as a team.</DIV> Effective Professional Service Delivery provides a common workspace with access to current information, enables rich collaboration across time zones and geographies, reduces project risk by providing common methodologies and project tools, and accelerates delivery by connecting people, process and project information. Some challenges to Professional Service Delivery include:
Finding and connecting expertise – Difficulty in making real-time connections with experts inhibits value delivery and slows decision making. Professional turnover and an aging workforce can make finding the right resource even more difficult.

Too much information, not enough context – It’s hard to find relevant case information without reliable sources, duplication and content silos. Practitioners may make better use of information when the information is organized effectively.

Project Delivery Risk - Poor coordination and lacking common approach with a globally distributed workforce make it hard to collaborate on projects and share information.
Accessibility and Manageability – It can be hard to access information from remote and disconnected locations. Practitioners find it difficult to make use of information when not organized and accessible.

Solutions The Microsoft Professional Service Delivery solution enables professional service organizations to connect professionals, provide access to current information, reduce project risk and simplify setup and management of users and workflow with:

Office provides a collaborative workspace and project management within the authoring environment
Co-authoring
Office web applications
Task management

Office Communicator fosters team collaboration by providing real-time access and presence with project teams.

  

SharePoint Server provides a collaborative workspace and project management
Forms Services
Live Meeting
Presence
Project, Visio, Excel Services
Role based access
Task Management Portal
Team workspaces
Unified Communications (VoIP)
Workflow

Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite provides a scalable approach to managing project infrastructure requirements.

Professional Service Delivery in the Cloud – The cloud provides flexibility for shifting work across physical locations and organizational boundaries improving accessibility of information and collaboration; examples may include outsourced knowledge process management (e.g., tax preparation), collaborative design (e.g., moving building information models from desktop to Cloud), inter-company collaboration (e.g., multi-company team portals). 

SharePoint delivered via BPOS offers an opportunity to displace traditional client and project-specific extranets with hosted secure sites for multi-party collaboration around activities (e.g., merger and acquisition discovery, due diligence activities). In the data services space, the Azure cloud will become an alternative delivery platform for intellectual property and transactional services presently delivered via expensive on-premise datacenters.

Microsoft Dynamics ERP Global Partner