With the new Microsoft Dynamics AX slotted for release March 8/9th next week, the excitement is at an all-time high following the Technical Conference in Seattle. As you know by now, Microsoft has forgone names involving version numbers or years and opted to name the new release simply “Dynamics AX.” The naming makes sense considering the move to a subscription-based service like Office 365 and a constantly up to date experience. It’s kind of like a James Bond style of doing things, the name and the classic functionality stay the same, but it always has the latest and greatest technology. And, it looks damn good too.
Development and User Experience
To put it simply, Microsoft Dynamics AX is now the sexiest ERP there is. It sounds weird at first, but it might just be the best word to describe it.
The more information revealed on the new workspaces, the better they get. With the ability to create and customize the new tiles based on roles, users have more personalization options than ever before, allowing them to quickly locate data and processes important for their day-to-day tasks. Task recorder has greatly improved with the ability to capture business processes, drive unit testing and even be available on mobile devices.
Some of the new “development features” of Dynamics AX are not new at all. Microsoft put a lot of work into modernizing X++ and bringing it much closer to the standards of other contemporary programming languages like C# or Java. We are here to predict that with containerizing the actual code in XML, Microsoft is firmly on the path to eventually retire X++ (not next week or even next month, but the route is clear).
Last, but certainly not least, PowerBI is an integral part of BI strategy for companies using AX – fully embedded within AX newly introduced workspaces.
LCS and Wiki While LCS is a useful tool in AX 2012, the new release puts it at the center of it all. There is a wealth of information on system performance and troubleshooting. As a requirement for AX deployments, implementations are greatly simplified and streamlined. Consider that users will even login to AX through LCS.
Also of note, Wiki is replacing Technet as the primary source for AX information. Microsoft project managers are required to provide biweekly updates for their respective areas and partners will be expected and encouraged to contribute content as well. MSDN still exists, but will not be updated for the new release of Dynamics AX. Originally released as a private link, Wiki is now publically available.
The Dynamics AX <F1> help experience now connects users to two sources of information: (1) business process recordings provided by Microsoft and partners which completed Microsoft curation and available through Azure Marketplace (2) Wiki content. There is also an option to submit a ticket to Microsoft support right from AX through the Help button as well.
Production Support
As Microsoft wants partners to focus time and resources on implementation services instead of deployment and maintenance, one of the most challenging news items of the week is the novel concept for Dynamics AX following the lead of Dynamics CRM in the cloud. Even though we have known this fact for many weeks after attending NEW Dynamics AX workshops at Microsoft, it is still not easy to fully envision. Partners and customers will have no access to Production servers and Production database, and Microsoft will become the final frontier for support and maintenance services related directly to infrastructure, database management and server configurations. Once again, LCS is a large part of this goal, as Microsoft will be relying on detailed telemetry to troubleshoot issues and even solve them before a customer is affected. A promise of predictive analytics is very intriguing and LCS is taking shape of a truly capable all-inclusive AX environment management solution, yet this approach pushes everyone into unfamiliar territory.
Let’s not kid ourselves – ERP is not CRM. The true test will come on some gloomy Thursday evening when a performance challenge will slow down someone from entering report as finished quantities on a production line or during the inventory closing process.
Obviously, any challenges related to custom code will continue to be delegated to partners and customers who created the custom code, however bugs and issues will be “visible” to Microsoft, meaning they will hypothetically have the ability to intervene with partners that show poor results.
In theory this could mean long-term improvements and the future of faster turnaround and higher quality code delivery. The absolute requirement of online availability may not be readily accepted by all customers as well.
Licensing and Pricing In an attempt to make licensing transparent, Microsoft has classified user types similar to the AX 2012 model: Self-serve, Task, Enterprise, and Device. At the moment, minimum requirement for the public cloud release of the new Dynamics AX is 50 enterprise users, and there are a few user type exchanges available such as 1 Enterprise user = 2.5 Device users. Customers are able to add storage, sandboxes and support plans to their licenses as well.
Public cloud pricing should be available in the coming weeks. Subscription pricing will be available this month through enterprise agreement and cloud solution providers and perpetual pricing will be available sometime next month through enterprise agreement and user subscription license for software assurance. On premise and private cloud options are all expected in the second half of 2016, through enterprise agreement only.
Upgrade and Migration Ready for an upgrade? Microsoft is not YET. They are still working on upgrade scripts and data migration tools are expected in the second half of 2016. From the data management perspective, the expectation is that coming from AX 2012 to the new Dynamics AX will be a data upgrade, whereas going from AX 2009 to the new AX will be a data migration that resembles more of a reimplementation. It is anticipated that public cloud deployments will initially have a database limit of 1 TB.
Azure Marketplace Microsoft is very proud of the fact that over 50 partner products have been curated by Microsoft and are available on Azure Marketplace IN ADVANCE of new Dynamics AX release. Ellipse Solutions is very pleased to have more LCS authorized products than any other partner worldwide. Check out our Azure Marketplace Press Release.
Virtual Launch The long awaited, highly anticipated release of the New Microsoft Dynamics AX is right around the corner! On March 8th and 9th, Microsoft will be hosting a Virtual Launch event. Attendees will have the opportunity to see real life application of the newest release of AX and to hear from the experts who developed it. If you are interested in attending the virtual launch of the new Microsoft Dynamics AX, click here to register!
