Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Microsoft Dynamics AX is the complete ERP solution for enterprises that provides a purpose-built foundation across five industries, along with comprehensive, core ERP functionality for financial, human resources and operations management. It empowers your people to anticipate and embrace change so your business can thrive. All of this is packaged in a single global solution giving you rapid time to value.

Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2012 is not just the next release of a great product. It is, in fact, a generational shift in business software, delivering new levels of capability, unmatched agility, and a compelling and empowering user experience. At the same time, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 sets a new standard for simplicity.

Powerful
Many enterprise resource management (ERP) systems have never moved beyond managing the administrative dimension of your business, tracking general ledger, payroll, and HR, while the real operation of the business is managed elsewhere. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is different, covering both the administrative and operational requirements. To do this, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 delivers rich, prebuilt, industry-operational functionality out of the box, with proven functionality for manufacturing (process, discrete, and lean), distribution, retail, public sector, and service industries. By delivering this capability, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 gives you more value faster, and establishes a strong platform for independent software vendors (ISVs) to more efficiently deliver the specialized vertical functionality unique to verticals within those industries. Stronger base functionality and a broad portfolio of specialized vertical solutions means a better fit for the needs of your business, more value, and more rapid time to value.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is a truly global solution, designed to scale with your business. Simple enough to deploy for a single business unit in a single country, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 will support the unique requirements for business systems in 36 countries—all from a single-instance deployment of the software. Multiple currencies, multiple time zones, multiple languages, and compliance with multiple banking and reporting standards and legislative codes give you the global coverage that you require. And a layered architecture and installable language packs provide the flexibility for future growth to other markets, including options for agile, partner-led localization.

Agile
Excellence for a business application begins with two primary challenges: how well does the software model the real world, and how quickly can I make it fit my business in a rapidly changing world? If the fidelity between software model and reality is high, then implementation is straightforward and the software is able to provide strong insight, empowering efficient business execution. If it’s not, then implementation is filled with compromises and workarounds and using the software is filled with challenge and complexity. It’s that simple, and it’s the beginning of why Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is different.

The heart of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is a set of unified, natural models that let you see, measure, and change your business. In developing this release, every application concept involved in representing the business in software was reexamined. In each case, limitations that forced workarounds and compromises in older ERP products were lifted, and new capabilities were added to provide an even richer software representation of a business and its structure, processes, and policies. Unified, natural Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 models make modeling simple businesses fast and easy and yet still provide the richness and flexibility to represent the most complex organizations.

Simple
As business applications evolve, the natural tendency is for complexity to increase. Instead Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 makes an intentional commitment to simplicity—focusing specifically on explicitly engineering to simplify every aspect of the system, from installation through deployment, implementation, customization, user experience, and upgrade.

- For users, simplicity begins with a familiar interface that makes the application simple to learn and intuitive to use, and continues with explicit work to streamline every step in high-velocity transaction processes like order entry.

- Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 also brings the power of software to more users in the business, adding rich functionality for supplier relationship management (SRM) and a rich set of employee self-service functionality for HR data, procurement, and travel expense management.

- Through interoperation with Microsoft collaboration technologies from Microsoft SharePoint, Windows® AzureTM, and Microsoft Lync TM, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 brings collaboration directly into context through the application, making it simpler to connect employees, customers, suppliers, and partners.

- For system administration, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 automates application lifecycle management making the system simpler to deploy, manage, and upgrade for customers, implementers, and ISVs. For example, in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 every step of the product installation process was examined, and the entire process was overhauled to remove steps, eliminate opportunities for error, and streamline the interaction between IT and application roles, dramatically shortening and simplifying the process.

Simplicity drives adoption and ensures that customers truly get the benefit of the system’s power and agility.

MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012—A BUSINESS SOLUTION FROM MICROSOFT
The anchor point for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is that it is a business solution from Microsoft. That heritage brings with it an obligation and a commitment to bring the full breadth and depth of Microsoft research, development, and innovation investment to business customers in a unified solution. This commitment manifests in four key pillars for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 customers and partners:

- First Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is delivered on a platform of familiar, high-value, low-total cost of ownership (TCO) technology. Whether IT is managed directly by the customer or by their partner, Microsoft technology means access to a broad universe of people and resources that already understand the technology platform.

- Next the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 solution delivers pervasive interoperability with Microsoft Office, SharePoint, and Lync, whether on-premises or in the cloud, to bring users the familiar, productive experiences they expect—empowered with access to Microsoft Dynamics AX data and functionality. For example, BI accessed naturally through Microsoft Excel, documents stored in SharePoint visualized in business context through Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics data available for seamless inclusion in Microsoft Word documents, and presence and click-to-communicate capability delivered through Lync interoperability.

- In addition, Microsoft is committed to bringing the latest innovations across social, mobile, visualization, machine learning, and natural user experiences to business users, in context, today and tomorrow.

- Perhaps most importantly, the commitment to bring Microsoft technology to business users is not a one-time event at a single point in time—it is a commitment to continuously renew that technology from generation to generation. Renewable technology, delivered through an upgradable application—power and productivity on-premises today, with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 evolving to include the cloud tomorrow with the next major Microsoft Dynamics AX release.

In December 2010, Microsoft Dynamics AX was recognized as a leader for both vision and execution in ERP by Gartner. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 delivers the next step in that vision—the beginning of a new generation of business application productivity. A core principle for Microsoft Dynamics products is a commitment to continuous customer care, ensuring a path forward to future product versions. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is no exception, with tested, proven tools, capabilities, and processes to help customers transition from earlier Microsoft Dynamics AX versions to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. The new version delivers revolutionary new capability in an evolutionary way.