Vatan Kablo Microsoft Dynamics AX Projesi

Ülkemizin önde gelen kablo firmalarından birisi olan VATAN KABLO A.Ş. sektöründe sağlamış olduğu başarı ve üstün performans ile bugün tüm dünyada tanınan bir marka haline gelmiştir. Çorlu’daki; 30.000 m2 si kapalı, 100.000 m2 si açık sahada kurulu tesislerde dünya standartlarında, konusunda bilgi ve deneyim sahibi uzman ekipler tarafından en son teknolojik gelişmelere uygun makineler kullanılarak gerçekleştirir. Ürün yelpasesinde 66 kV’a kadar olan tüm alçak gerilim, orta gerilim ve yüksek gerilim enerji kabloları bulunmaktadır.

Ayrıca insan yoğunluğu fazla olan mekanlarda kullanımı yurdumuzda da zorunlu hale getirilen; standart kablolar gibi yangın anında yoğun duman ve toksit gaz çıkarmayan, HALOJENSİZ kablolar da üretilmekte, yangın esnasında can ve mal güvenliğini en üst düzeyde koruma bu sayede sağlanmaktadır. Yurtiçi pazarındaki güvenilir isminin yanı sıra VATAN KABLO A.Ş. küreselleşen dünyada rekabeti yurtdışına taşımış ve başta Avrupa ülkelerine olmak üzere Orta Doğu ülkeleri, Afrika ve Orta Asya ülkelerine yaptığı ihracatı ile güçlü bir marka olmuştur.
Enerji kabloları alanında Türkiye ve dünyanın büyük oyuncularından Vatan Kablo, artan iş hacmini yönetmek için ana üretim planlaması ve malzeme ihtiyaç planlamasını çalıştırabileceği, muhasebe satış ve üretim ile entegre kullanabileceği bir çözüm arıyordu. Kablo Sektöründe önemli bir çözüm olan Hollandalı Innovites tarafından geliştirilen Cable Builder (Kablo Tasarımcısı) ile ürün ve üretim tasarımını çözen Vatan Kablo, bu çözüm ile stratejik işbirliği yapan Microsoft Dynamics AX’ı da incelemeye aldı. Microsoft Dynamics’in sektöre özel uygulamalar geliştiren yazılım evleri ile yaptığı işbirliğinden etkilen Vatan Kablo, muhasebe, stok, satış ve planlama süreçlerinin Cable Builder’da yaratılan ürünler ile otomatik entegre olduğunu görerek aradığı çözümü bulduğunu gördü. 1.1.2012 itibari ile tüm süreçlerinde Microsoft Dynamics AX kullanmaya başlayan Vatan Kablo, en büyük katkıyı 30,000’i aşkın ürün ve 110,000’i aşkın yarımamul planlamasının otomatik olarak yapmakta görüyor.

Ayrıca kablo kesim iş emrileri, müşteri ve ürün bazında sipariş toleranslarının yönetimi de verimliliği çok artıran özellikler. Kablo üretiminde çok önemli olan ve sıklıkla müşteriye ya da kullanım alanına göre değişebilen dolgu, büküm, damar kalınlığı gibi parametrelerin Cable Builder ile yönetiliyor olması ve bir değişiklik olduğunda kullanılan tüm ürün ağaçları ve rotalarda değiştirebiliyor olması da işi çok kolaylaştırmakta. Hatta ürün özelliklerine göre çok basit parametreler ile makina seçim tercihlerinin yapılıyor olması da üretim maliyetlerini düşürmekte.

ERP uygulamanızda sorunları önlemenin 6 temel yolunu keşfedin [Analiz]

Kurumun çalışma şeklini kolaylaştırma amacıyla ortaya koyulan bir ERP projesinin, kendi başına bir sorunhaline gelmesinin önüne nasıl geçebilirsiniz? 6 temel ipucu, ERP projeninizi başarıya taşıyabilir. Raman Dhooria’nın analizi. 

 

Leonardo da Vinci’nin bir sözü vardır; “En sadesi aslında en karmaşığıdır“ der.

ERP projelerinde müşteriler ve iş ortaklarıyla çalışarak geçirdiği son on yılın ardından, yukarıdaki sözün abartılmış olduğunu düşünmüyorum. Her şeyin basit olmasını sağladığınızda, bir ERP projesinin sorunsuz ve yapıcı olmasını sağlamış olursunuz.

Bunun ne anlama geldiğini şöyle açıklayayım. Piyasada yer etmiş bazı ağır çözümlere ilişkin uygulama başarısızlıkları, bütçe aşımları, açılan davalar ve diğer olumsuzluklar gibi birçok korku hikayesi duyduğumu hatırlıyorum. Kurumun çalışma şeklini kolaylaştırma hedefindeki ERP projesinin, zaman zaman başka bir sorun olarak ortaya çıkmasını da hayli düşündürücü bulurum.

ERP macerasının özellikle zor ve karmaşık olduğunu ortaya koyarak durumu basite indirgeyecek bir tablo çizme niyetinde değilim. Hatta bu tablo her ne kadar karmaşık görünse de Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012gibi kullanıcı dostu ERP projelerinin geliştirilmesiyle işlerin değiştiği de bir gerçek.

Ancak elinizde en iyi araçlar olsa bile, bir ERP uygulamasına başlarken aşağıdaki önemli noktalara dikkat ederek, sizden önce bu yoldan gidenlerin düştükleri hataları tekrarlamaktan kaçınabilirsiniz.

1. Projeden beklentilerinizi iyice gözden geçirdiniz mi?

Beklentileriniz gerçekçi ve zamanlama açısından doğru mu? Eğer değilse, çizim masasına geri dönün ve elde etmek istediklerinizi alt alta yazın. İşle ilgili tüm tarafların bir çözüme ulaşmak için kaygılarını ortaya koyarak tartışması, basit bir yaklaşım olarak öne çıkar.

Örneğin sorununuz yüksek stok maliyetinden mi kaynaklanıyor, yoksa tedarik zincirinin görünür olmamasıişinizi mi etkiliyor? Ödemelerinizi zamanında alabiliyor ve karlılık oranlarınızı yeşil bölgede tutabiliyor musunuz?

Bilgi Teknolojisi kesinlikle bir olanak sağlayıcıdır ve kurum için çözüm uygulama yolculuğu kurumun sorunlarından başlamalıdır.

2. Sorunlarınızı öğrendiniz, çözüm için hazır mısınız?

Bir sonraki adım doğru çözüm ve doğru iş ortağını bulmaktır. Peki ama çözüm ortağınız, sonuçlara atlamadan önce sorununuzun kaynağını keşfetmek için zaman ayırdı mı? Daha önce benzer projeler gerçekleştirmişler mi?

Bu iş aynı hastalandığınızda bir doktora gidip ağrıyan yerlerinizi göstermeniz gibi. Böyle bir durumda sorununuzu araştırmaya zamanı olmayan, hastalığınızı daha önce tedavi etmemiş olan ve doğrudan tedavi reçetesi yazmaya kalkışan bir doktora gitmek ister miydiniz?

3.  Size atanan ekip yerinde kalacak mı?

Kurumunuzun sorunlarını tek bir danışmanla paylaşmaya zaman ayırmak istemez ve bu danışmanın yerine gelen başka birinin aynı anlayışa sahip olmasını bekleyemezsiniz. Bu nedenle Projenin en başında işe başlayan ekibin proje sonuna kadar süreklilik sağladığından emin olun.

4. Projeyi daha küçük aşamalara böldünüz mü?

Proje hazırlarken aşamalarınızı mümkün olduğunca küçük tutun. Örneğin 4 veya 5 yerine 10 aşama oluşturun. Bu, proje hissedarları açısından daha iyi kontrol ve sorumluluk sağlayacaktır. Gerçekçi ve daha küçük hedefler belirleyin ve bunları başarmak için zaman yönetimi ilkesini unutmayın.

Küçük hedeflerin başarılması daha kolay olduğundan, bu durum uygulama ekiplerinde pozitif enerjioluşturacaktır. Ayrıca, bu pozitif enerjiyi yoğunlaştırmak için gerçekleştirdiğiniz her aşamayı kutlamayı ihmal etmeyin.

5. Gerekirse havuç ve çubuk yaklaşımına başvurun.

Uygulama ekibinizin dahili ve harici üyelerini aşamaları gerçekleştirmek üzere cesaretlendirmek için çubuğu elinizde tutun. Ayrıca proje ortamında motivasyon ve adanmışlık havası yaratmak için bir sürü havucu da çubuğun ucuna bağlayın. Örneğin fazla çalışma saatleri için proje ekibine prim verdiniz mi? Böyle konuları göz ardı etmeyin.

6. Özelleştirmelerin sizi yıldırmasına izin vermeyin.

ERP projesinde yapılacak herhangi bir özelleştirmenin taşıdığı riskleri tarttınız mı? Bu, müşterilerin aynı ürünün mevcut müşterileriyle görüşmesini gerektiren bir alandır. Ürünü özelleştirmeye yönelik deneyimleri nelerdir? Özelleştirilmiş yaklaşımın ve faydalarının tüm seçeneklerini değerlendirdiniz mi?

Bütün bu noktaların ötesinde, öncelikle müşterinin çözümü sevmesi gerekir. Çünkü bu çözüm, günlük etkinliklerinin bir parçası olacaktır.

Ben, geçmişten beri çoğu ERP’nin ‘kullanıcı frekansını yakalamada’ başarısız olmasından dolayı AX 2012 gibi ERP ürünlerinin kullanıcı odaklı tasarımını tercih ederim. Microsoft’un iş uygulamaları pazarına girişi son on sene içinde oyunun kurallarını değiştirdi. Daha fazla müşteriyi ERP ortamına getirdi ve daha çok müşteriyi kullanıcı dostu ERP uygulamalarıyla tanıştırdı.

Unutmayın, basitlik daima ön planda olmalıdır. Hem üründe, hem de uygulama sürecinde.

Kaynak : http://www.btnet.com.tr Web sitesi

Bu yazı Raman Dhooria tarafından Microsoft için hazırlanmıştır.

Media Entertainment - Enterprise Resource Planning for Media

Enterprise Resource Planning for Media

Microsoft Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions for media companies enable broadcasters, publishers and advertisers to manage their resources, assets, and financials in one integrated solution.
These solutions are based on Microsoft Dynamics ERP, adding industry-specific modules like program planning, license management, advertising sales, and subscriber management to the core ERP functions. The industry-specific modules plug into the modular, open architecture of Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions and are available from Microsoft and partners.

The solutions offer comprehensive configuration options so they can be adapted to meet your requirements. The familiar user interfaces not only reduce training efforts and speed user adoption, they also make it easier for users to keep track of the business by providing more complete, consistent and up-to-date data for business reporting and operational analytics.

The seamless integration with Microsoft Office System for document management, business intelligence, and workflow support helps to streamline operations and reduce man hours. For companies already using SAP or Oracle Financials for accounting and financial management in corporate headquarters, Dynamics ERP solutions offer out-of-the-box connectivity to these systems so users can benefit from the media-specific functions of Dynamics ERP-based solutions while staying in sync with their corporate accounting.

Benefits

Cut costs through streamlined operations</DIV> Foster user adoption with familiar, easy-to-use interfaces</DIV> Improve business insight with better reporting</DIV> Adapt to changing business needs through extensible architecture and configurability</DIV> Ensure long-term viability by building on a proven cross-industry ERP solution</DIV> Integrate with Microsoft Office System for end-to-end business productivity solutions

Featured Product

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 is a comprehensive business management solution, also called ERP-solution, for midsize and larger organizations that works like and with familiar Microsoft software

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012: Powerfully simple

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 empowers people to anticipate and embrace change, enabling businesses to thrive.

PowerfulA powerful foundation that is purpose-built for five industries: manufacturing, distribution, retail, services, and public sector, along with comprehensive, core ERP functionality for financial, human resources and operations management. All packaged in a single global solution thus giving customers a rapid time to value.

“I think Microsoft has really, really thought about what
ERP should be and they’ve committed to making
that happen. ”

Rif Kiamil
CIO
JJ Food Services

AgileAgility through a set of unified natural models that serve as a library of business processes reflecting real-world situations. This enables customers to easily modify their organizations and processes to meet their changing business needs.

SimpleSimplicity through an easy-to-use solution offering access to information that is relevant to the work at hand. The familiar Microsoft Office user interface drives adoption and the enhanced business intelligence (BI) capabilities help customers uncover fresh insights that can lead to faster and more informed decision making.

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics AX Partner

Upgrade your Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution

Upgrade your Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution and realize even greater business success

A thriving business is a dynamic business—one that can adapt quickly to change and capitalize on new opportunities as they arise. By keeping your Microsoft Dynamics enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution up-to-date, your organization can stay agile, drive productivity, save money, and stay ahead of the competition.

Remaining on an older ERP solution carries risk: Increased integration and maintenance costs, limited productivity and scalability, and difficulties accessing and retaining the skilled personnel who can help drive your business forward. If your solution is no longer supported, your organization is vulnerable to external factors—such as compliance with new legislation or tax regulations—that require immediate changes to your business.

By adopting the newest version of your Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution, you can tap into the most advanced capabilities for streamlining and optimizing your business systems.
 

Increase the long-term value of your ERP solution

Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions are designed to increase organizational agility so you can quickly support the changing needs of your organization. With each new release, we drive for greater simplicity, making it easier to learn and use. We also continue to increase the value of your technology investments by optimizing how Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions work with your existing systems.
Learn more about the benefits of upgrading your Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution:

Microsoft Dynamics AX: Take a test-drive (please register). Microsoft Dynamics GP: Take a test-drive (please register). Microsoft Dynamics NAV: Take a test-drive (please register). Microsoft Dynamics SL: Take a test-drive (please register).   http://www.pargesoft.com/

Supply Chain Challenge: How Chemical Manufacturers Can Use Microsoft Dynamics AX for Quality Management Concerns

The concerns of quality management typically extend across every aspect of supply chain management in chemical manufacturing companies. This broad viewpoint of quality management, for example, ranges from the definition of item and formula information through sourcing purchased material, actual production, sales shipments, and returns. Special considerations apply to lot-controlled items, such as the assignment of lot numbers, lot attributes, and lot disposition codes that restrict material usage.[1]


Since Microsoft Dynamics AX addresses nearly the full range of quality concerns with out-of-the-box functionality, it represents a strong ERP solution in the world of chemical manufacturing. The customization and integration capabilities within Dynamics AX can also be used to support additional requirements. The list of out-of-the-box capabilities is no small matter, and they cut across many different functional areas. The capabilities can be roughly grouped into several categories, as described below. More detailed explanations of these capabilities are provided in a separate white paper about quality management.

Item and Recipe Definition. Item and recipe information provide a logical starting point for quality concerns, where a recipe consists of the formula ingredients and routing steps. Some of the major concerns include:

•Item identification, including the optional use of variant codes (such as color or grade) as part of the item identifier

•Specify and enforce authorized units of measure for an item

•Specify and enforce approved vendors for a purchased item or outside operation

•Approval of authorized formula versions for an item

•Approval of substitute ingredients within a formula

•Approval of authorized routing versions for an item

•Identify quality factors in production, such as planned yield percentages for a formula version, component scrap, and operation yield percentages

•Identify planned changes reflecting continuous improvements to formula or routing information, such as improved yield percentages and better production processes

•Enforce the use of authorized formula versions for actual production (aka batch orders)

•Electronic signatures for approvals, such as the approving a formula version or the release of a production order

•Specify and enforce the allowable weight range for a catch weight item

•Identify the needed documentation for items, formulas, routing operations, and other key constructs

Lot Tracking (aka Batch Tracking). Many chemical manufacturers require batch tracking for purchased and manufactured items. Some of these considerations are shown below, and a previous article described the significance of batch attributes for chemical manufacturers using Dynamics AX.

•Specify batch number assignment policies

•Specify restricted usage policies associated with batch disposition codes

•Assign disposition codes to batches, and enforce restricted usage policies

•Specify batch attributes of an item and the allowable values for an attribute

•Report the actual values for batch attributes

•Identify and reserve material that meets requirements for batch attributes or same batch

•Identify and reserve material that meets requirements for expiration dates

•Identify and disposition any expired batches

•Generate certificates of analysis with the relevant attributes and their actual values

•Integration with a specialized Laboratory Management System to capture actual production characteristics

Purchasing and Production. Several aspects of the business processes for procurement and production involve quality management concerns. Some of these concerns include:

•Specify and enforce approved vendors for a purchased item or outside operation

•Employ work flow approvals, such as the work flow for purchase requisitions or for the release of a production order

•Identify scrap or returns to vendor for receipts of purchased material

•Identify actual scrap or rework options for finished production quantities

•Access the needed documentation for items, formulas and routing operations

•Perform receiving inspection and report disposition (via quarantine orders)

•Perform testing and report actual values via quality orders

•Perform testing and report the test results within different business processes (via quality orders), such as picking/shipping steps for a sales order or for a production process steps for a production order

•Identify and track quality problems via nonconformance reports

Sales. The business processes associated with sales orders, shipments and returns involve several quality management concerns. Some of these concerns include:

•Identify and reserve material that meets the customer requirements for batch attributes or expiration dates

•Enforce restrictions on sales order processing, such as preventing order entry for restricted products or for stopped items

•Provide regulatory reports for sales to different countries

•Identify hazardous materials and their MSDS documents, and ensure compliance for sending MSDS documents to customers

•Specify RMA disposition codes and related policies for handling customer returns

Other quality considerations might include best practices in supply chain management, such as ensuring valid delivery date promises on sales orders or the correct assignment of sales prices or purchase prices.

Quality concerns typically extend across every aspect of supply chain management, as noted at the beginning of the article. Examples of these quality concerns have been highlighted for several areas, such as the definition of items and recipes, lot tracking, purchasing, production and sales. In a given company, those people responsible for quality management must decide how their ERP system will handle these concerns - with out-of-the-box or customized functionality. A chemical manufacturer considering or implementing Dynamics AX as their ERP solution can employ out-of-the-box solutions for a large proportion of their quality concerns.

Further Research on the Critical Issues facing Chemical Manufacturers

As part of my on-going research efforts, I would appreciate having you complete an on-line survey with just three questions focusing on critical issues related to ERP system usage and supply chain management in chemical manufacturers. The questions involve open-ended responses at this stage of the research. The results will be published in my MSDynamicsWorld.com column.
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[1] Dynamics AX employs the term "batch" rather than "lot" -- such as the terms batch number, batch attributes and batch disposition code - because the term "lot id" applies to an internally-assigned identifier for inventory transactions. The "batch" terminology will be employed throughout the remainder of this article.

BY Scott Hamilton, Chief Solution Architect, Solugenix

http://www.pargesoft.com/

Organismes à but non lucratif - Microsoft Dynamics ERP

Le succès de votre gestion demande une grande vigilance sur les détails. Prudence dans l'administration des dépenses et rigueur dans le reporting, telles sont les conditions indispensables pour garantir le respect de la réglementation et un financement futur moins incertain.

Microsoft Dynamics offre des solutions de gestion d'entreprise puissantes, conçues pour prendre en charge vos besoins spécifiques. Parce qu'elles permettent de créer des rapports précis et pertinents en temps réel, d'accéder facilement aux données et d'automatiser les processus, nos solutions réduisent le temps passé à des tâches routinières. Ainsi, vous pouvez mieux vous consacrer à votre objectif premier : fournir des services et de la valeur à vos bénéficiaires.

Pourquoi devriez-vous utiliser les solutions Microsoft Dynamics ?

Pour assurer une gestion financière responsable

- Accès en temps réel aux informations financières pour appuyer la prise de décision sur une comptabilité de projets intégrée.

- Intégration des données issues de systèmes disparates (finance et programmes, par exemple) autorisant une visibilité complète de votre organisation.

- Automatisation et rationalisation des processus métier (gestion des financements par exemple) pour réduire les coûts, diminuer les erreurs et économiser du temps.

- Amélioration de la précision et de l'actualité des rapports fournis aux composantes internes et externes afin d'assurer une intégrité et une responsabilité financières.

- Meilleur respect des obligations en matière de règlement et d'audit (par exemple norme NEP en France).

- Pour améliorer la fourniture des services et accroître la satisfaction générale

- Amélioration de la gestion des dossiers grâce à un accès facile à toutes les informations les concernant.

- Réponse rapide et précise aux demandes via une vue unifiée de tous les éléments.

- Amélioration de la gestion des projets par une centralisation de toutes les informations les concernant.

- Analyse des délais de livraison et mesure des performances organisationnelles afin d'améliorer l'efficacité des services.

- Exécution de campagnes marketing ciblées.

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics ERP Global Partner

Microsoft Previews Next Generation ERP - Dynamics AX 6

Defining a new generation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) today revealed significant advancements to the architecture of the next version of Microsoft Dynamics AX, code-named Microsoft Dynamics AX “6,” that will enable independent software vendors (ISVs) to bring solutions to market faster, and at the same time lower product life-cycle investments and expand market opportunity.

“Building on the proven strengths of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, Microsoft Dynamics AX ‘6’ brings rich functionality, advanced architecture and the full power of the Microsoft stack to the business application developer,” said Hal Howard, corporate vice president, Microsoft Dynamics ERP Research and Development. “As we introduce these powerful new innovations, we maintain our focus on simplicity by streamlining application deployment, maintenance and upgradability.”

Significant new innovations in Microsoft Dynamics AX “6” include the following:

• A unique model-driven, layered architecture that accelerates software development, requiring less coding than building from scratch and easing maintenance and upgradability. This allows developers to build high-value functionality quicker and better.

• Pre-built interoperability with the Microsoft Application Platform, including Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010, and other Microsoft technologies such as Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint 2010. This allows developers to spend less time on technical integration and compatibility, and increases the breadth of developer resources available to ISVs.

• A unified ERP solution with pre-built capabilities for five industries and 38 countries, providing a rich foundation that allows ISVs to rapidly expand their solutions to new verticals and geographies.

More than 100 ISVs around the world have been working with Microsoft Dynamics AX “6” in a variety of early adopter programs over the past six months. Many of these ISVs are already building their vertically focused next-generation products on Microsoft Dynamics AX.

“We’re looking to the future with Microsoft Dynamics AX ‘6’ and are confident that its robust and scalable foundation can be counted on to help our business grow,” said Bob Hadingham, platform director at LexisNexis UK. “We have been very impressed with how quickly and easily we have been able to extend our offerings for law firms and expand our international market opportunities, by being able to focus our R&D efforts on application development for our core expertise, instead of investing in platform development.”

“Many of the ISVs we are working with have their own end-to-end vertical solutions, often built on aging legacy platforms. The combination of the next-generation architecture of Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft’s partner programs creates a long-term sustainable business opportunity for these ISVs,” said Doug Kennedy, vice president, Microsoft Dynamics Partners. “We are already seeing strong momentum for the solution with ISVs.”

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 is generally available today. A Community Technical Preview of Microsoft Dynamics AX “6” is planned for February, and general availability is planned for the third quarter of 2011.

http://www.pargesoft.com Microsoft Dynamics AX Global Partner

Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' Coming This Year

Microsoft plans to roll out the next version of its Dynamics AX enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution in the latter part of this year, the company announced today.


That version, called Microsoft Dynamics AX code-named "6," will succeed the currently available Dynamics AX 2009 flagship product. Microsoft is promising that the new release will have an improved architecture plus the usual integration with other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010.

With the new release, Microsoft is highlighting a "model-driven layered architecture" in Dynamics AX 6 that will benefit developers and independent software developers (ISVs).

"Dynamics AX 6 has a model-driven-layer architecture that will accelerate the application development process for our partners, enabling them to write more quickly, to do less coding and to deliver the solution more quickly," said Crispin Read, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics ERP, in a phone interview. "They [developers] are modifying models vs. writing code -- that's a big new capability, a very significant capability in AX 6."


Read noted that ISVs will be able to use this modeling capability to better extend their products to additional markets. He claimed that the new model-driven layered architecture approach was "unusual" in the ERP software industry. Traditional ERP software products have tended to drift more toward "spaghetti code" when it came to product upgrades and expansions, he claimed.

Earlier versions of Dynamics AX have been based on a layered architecture, but they have not included this modeling capability. The modeling is based on a SQL Server-based model store, Read explained.

"The layered element is really intended to separate the work that is done by the different parties involved providing a customer solution," Read said. "That's very unique, but it's been a fundamental architectural attribute of AX for some time. We certainly improved it; certainly extended it, and we made it much more fine grained in AX 6 through layering. Now, it's model driven in the sense that we now have a SQL Server-based model store, so that there'll be fewer cases where you need to write code to modify or provide application functionality. There will be more cases where you can do that by tweaking the models themselves."

"Application modeling tools enable developers to customize an application using specialized languages that are simpler than a full programming language," explained Robert Helm, managing vice president at the Directions on Microsoft consultancy, in an e-mailed response. "Modeling can make writing customizations simpler than programming, which is how it's done today. Modeling can also make customizations easier to deploy, update and migrate to new application versions than code would be."

Microsoft dropped pushing through its Oslo repository for modeling, according to a September announcement. Instead, it now leans toward each of its solutions having its own model and data store, with Open Data Protocol (ODATA) and Entity Data Model (EDM) used for sharing and federation, explained Mike Ehrenberg, a Microsoft technical fellow.

"Consistent with that, Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' does provide its own model store -- and per the announcement, a very sophisticated one," Ehrenberg stated in an e-mailed response. "First, the model store has moved from the file system to SQL Server in this release, improving scalability, model reporting, and deployment. Layering in the model store allows efficient support of a base model, extended for localization, industry specialization, and on top of that, ISV vertical specialization, reseller and customer specialization, with the ability to model very granular changes and effectively manage the application deployment lifecycle from ISV through to customer and the upgrade process. We provide a service interface to the model store, and it is possible to layer ODATA or EDM on that service."

Read cited three main benefits for ISVs that will come with the Dynamics AX 6 release. Products will be able to get to market faster, ISVs will be able to expand their marketing and they'll be able to reduce their lifecycle investment costs, he said. Read explained that Microsoft Dynamics AX is targeted toward addressing five markets, including retail, distribution, manufacturing, services and the public sector. The solution initially will be designed for 38 countries.

Microsoft plans to hold a technical conference in about a week to show Dynamics AX 6 to its partners, Read said. A community technical preview is planned for February. General availability of Dynamics AX 6 is expected in the third quarter of this year.

About the Author Kurt Mackie is online news editor, Enterprise Group, at 1105 Media Inc.

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics AX Global Partner