Axapta

Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Microsoft Axapta) is an adaptable business-management solution that enables you and your people to make business decisions with confidence. Microsoft Dynamics AX works like familiar Microsoft software, such as Microsoft Office programs and Microsoft SQL Server. The result: You can build on the investments in systems and software that your company might already use. Plus, the familiar working environment, helps lower learning curves so users can focus less on technology and more on their business goals.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 looks and works similar to Microsoft Outlook. This familiarity helps make it easier for your people to learn and the business system. You can define links to “favorite” forms and applications for each user, and provide easy access to them from individual screens.

Comprehensive features help automate and streamline financial, customer relationship, business services, human resources management, and supply chain processes. So Microsoft Dynamics AX brings together people, processes, and technologies wherever they are located worldwide. In this way, Microsoft Dynamics AX helps to increase the productivity and effectiveness of your business, helping you to drive business success.

Note:Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 is currently available for North America and Canada. Localized versions will be released for other regions worldwide in early 2007. Earlier versions are available worldwide.

Benefit from smooth implementation, customizations, and modifications
Microsoft Dynamics AX is an all-in-one solution that can scale as your company grows. You can use the functions you need now. And unlock additional capabilities as your needs change and multiply. With the MorphX development environment for Microsoft Dynamics AX, developers can design, edit, and compile within a single screen—and have changes appear within minutes.

Easy to implement, customize, and modify

• Provides the same version of code for Web and Microsoft Windows clients, which can lead to simpler, less expensive development and IT costs.

• Because of the layered technology of Microsoft Dynamics AX, customizations can be easier to build and maintain. You can customize one layer without affecting the functionality of other layers. This means that you can adapt and upgrade your solution over time with less disruption to business, risk, and expense.

• Microsoft Dynamics AX works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint products and technologies, and Microsoft Office products. This means a reduced learning curve for your people, so they can start working quickly and focus on what’s most important—doing their job and developing innovative solutions to help build your business.

Works well with your existing systems

• Developed alongside other Microsoft software, Microsoft Dynamics AX can bring tighter integration. And more seamless connectivity between products such as Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office programs, and Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

• Works together with different Microsoft-developed document formats that are used by Microsoft Office Outlook messaging and collaboration client, Microsoft Office Word, and Microsoft Office Excel software.

• You can connect with external data sources by using Web services. These include such industry standard technologies as Microsoft BizTalk Server, Component Object Model (COM) integration, Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Microsoft .NET Framework, stored procedures, XBRL, and XML.

Advanced technology supports your growing business

• The three-tier, object-oriented architecture of Microsoft Dynamics AX integrates with other Microsoft technologies, such as Microsoft SQL Server, offering you high-speed server-side performance and the capability to scale your IT infrastructure easily, so the solution can grow with your company.

• Unlike some business management systems that require you to use specialized tool sets, Microsoft Dynamics AX uses standard adapters based on SQL Server Reporting Services and the Microsoft Visual Studio. NET development system. These adapters instantly enable you to access a wide variety of industry-standard integration protocols and trained integration partners. You can use these tools to connect to the business management solutions of your business partners.

Capitalize on global opportunities

Microsoft Dynamics AX is designed so that new sites, languages, currencies, and local functionality can be enabled easily. Multi-national functionality helps your company take advantage of the global marketplace quickly. For example, Fresnius—a healthcare company—found that by implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX, they gained an affordable and fast way to implement a business management solution at worldwide subsidiaries.

• Microsoft Dynamics AX gives you built-in multisite, multilanguage, and multicurrency capabilities in 36 countries and 40 languages. And you get local tax, regulatory, and market requirements.

• Unicode compliance means that you can access new regions and transport data through many different systems with less risk of data corruption. Unicode Compliance enables you to integrate with subsidiaries where the language might use a multibit character set such as China and Japan.

• Microsoft Dynamics AX enables you to give your customers security-enhanced access to the business information they want over the Internet. Secured Internet access helps your customers enter sales orders and find shipment status, account balances, and inventory stock levels—24 hours a day, 7 days a week—from anywhere in the world.

Meet your industry-specific needs

Microsoft Dynamics AX comes with out-of-the-box tools and modules that meet various industry requirements. Microsoft works closely with its global-wide partner network in a structured way. This structured Microsoft and partner collaboration helps to develop and support your organization with solutions designed to meet your specific industries needs.

• Microsoft Dynamics AX provides supply chain management functionality such as radio frequency identification (RFID) support, an inventory closing solution, manufacturing and distribution improvements, and advanced intercompany functionality.

• Extend Microsoft Dynamics AX functionality with industry-specific functionality backed by Microsoft with the Microsoft Dynamics Industry Solutions Initiative.

• Access thousands of vertical solutions provided by partners to meet your specific business needs by using the Microsoft Solution Finder.

• Set up quickly by using out-of-the-box reporting, statistics, and budgeting/forecasting functionality.

• Take advantage of Service Management for Microsoft Dynamics AX. Service Management targets manufacturing organizations that service complex machines and equipment on a periodic or call-initiated basis.

• Microsoft Dynamics AX helps you comply with new regulations in specific industries such as FDA CFR 21 Part 11 and EU Directives. Such compliance capabilities outline good manufacturing process (GMP) requirements for companies in the life sciences industry.

Manufacturers: Get leaner with more efficient processes

Microsoft Certified Partners can tailor Microsoft Dynamics AX to support the exact needs of your manufacturing business. The powerful combination of out-of-the-box functionality and ease of customization delivers a low total cost of ownership (TCO). The solution has broad functionality that supports build-to-order, engineer-to-order, and build-to-forecast supply chain models across both discrete and batch-process manufacturing modes. It is particularly well suited for manufacturers operating in a mixed-mode environment.

• Get a quicker and more reliable overview of the manufacturing resources required to meet customer demand. Perform rough capacity scheduling. Take both finite and infinite capacity and materials scheduling into consideration. And schedule production processes backward or forward from any date.

• Deliver customized products faster and more cost effectively by reducing the manual work involved in designing, planning, and producing them.

• Optimize your warehouse processes.

• Set high and low priority storage areas in your warehouses.

• Divide your warehouses into zones based on temperature or rate of turnover.

• Specify warehouse locations on five levels—Warehouse, aisle, rack, shelf, and bin.

• Define each area based on parameters such as space and pallet type.

Improve financial management to drive confident, smart decisions

Microsoft Dynamics AX delivers a range of financial capabilities that can help you consolidate accounts with subsidiaries or distribution centers no matter where they are located. So you can make and act on confident, informed business decisions confidently. Microsoft Dynamics AX helps your people focus on their jobs by giving them access to accounting, reporting, and detailed analysis at levels that are appropriate for their positions.

Online analytical processing makes it possible to use predefined and define new structures (OLAP Cubes) for analyzing data in Microsoft Office Excel PivotTables.

• Operate or expand globally while automating intercompany trading processes.

• RoleTailored design helps to meet individual user needs to inspire greater productivity. A task-centric interface customized to each user’s preferences and role helps individuals focus on what’s critical to their specific jobs.

The Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX allows you to provide your people access to the data and functionality appropriate to their specific roles.

• Define and work with multiple financial dimensions that can help you divide data into categories for more detailed analysis. For example, you can analyze and measure financial data across cost centers, departments, regions, products lines, or other dimensions that you can create and customize.

You can display data in a PivotTable, and analyze it based on desired combinations of dimensions at multiple levels. In this illustration, sales figures are displayed using two dimensions: customer groups and time.

• Advanced query, available on demand, provided by Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Report Builder, enables users to drag and drop data elements onto a design canvas to create reports that contain a list, a chart, or a matrix of related data. After a report is defined, employees can view and drill down into the report from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Report Builder, Enterprise Portal in Microsoft Dynamics AX, or by using any other tool that can display Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reports.

• Generate financial reports with flexible advanced reporting tools that offer multiple import and export options, including XBRL and hard copy. You can map your charts of account and dimensions into reporting structures that match your business model. Or you can aggregate figures into a framework for strategic analysis.

• Conform to Sarbanes-Oxley and IAS/IFRS regulations by providing a single integrated information source that updates in real time and that maintains the relevant financial data required by regulators.

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