Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Master Data Management Scenario

Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Master Data Management Scenario

 

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to describe Master Data Management capabilities included in standard Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Please note that in the previous articles I described how to implement Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Master Data Services.

 

Challenge: There is number of tools and services available for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 which have Master Data Management capabilities. The challenge is to understand usage scenarios and how to apply them properly. Please note that Master Data Management capabilities included in standard product may be enough for some of your scenarios.

 

Solution: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 does provide some out-of-the-box Master Data Management capabilities for number of business entities which we are going to review in this document.  

 

Scenario

 

In this walkthrough for the sake of simplicity I’ll be focusing on usual Master Data Management entities such as Customers and Products.

 

Walkthrough

 

In this walkthrough I’m using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Demo VM (AX2012R2A) which has USMF company as a part of Demo data

 

Let’s first consider Customers. The customer business entity in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has associated Global Address Book record which can be one of two types: Person or Organization

 

Global Address Book

 

 

Please note that in Maintain section on Global address book tab in the menu bar we have number of functions which may help us to manage Global address book records such as “Merge duplicates” and “Check for duplicates”

 

Check duplicates

 

 

Check duplicates function allows you to find similar Global address book records based on set of criteria such as Name, Phone, E-mail, State, City, ZIP/postal code. In this case I was looking for Global address book records also belonging to WA State

 

Maintain

 

 

After you identify duplicate Global address book records you can merge them by using “Merge records” function

 

Merge party records

 

 

On the dialog screen you will have to select Survivor party

 

All customers

 

 

Please note that you can also export information to Excel workbook from any list page in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

 

Now let’s look at Products. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 you can manage products and product masters definitions separately from released products. Product and product master definitions are shared across all companies, but released products are typically only released to selected companies. This allows for centralized management of products within enterprise, at the same time you may want to create released product right away (decentralized approach) and the system will create appropriate product definition for you automatically

 

All products and product masters

 

 

Using centralized approach once you created product definition you will release it to one or more companies

 

Release products – Select products

 

 

Release products – Select companies

 

 

Product release session batch

 

 

Please note that you may want to execute release of products as a batch job

Ultimately when the product is released to particular company you will see it on Released products list page as shown below

 

Released products

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 also provides other data management capabilities applicable to any business entity or table. For example, Database log functionality allows you to log details of changes done to selected tables. Let’s see how we can apply Database log functionality to Customers and Products in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. 

 

Logging database changes - Welcome

 

 

//Configuration key = Ledger basic

 

Logging database changes – Tables and fields

 

 

In this particular case I’ll select Customers

 

Logging database changes – Type of change

 

 

I’ll be also interested to log all changes made to Customer records

 

Logging database changes - Finish

 

 

By the result of Logging database changes wizard the following record will be created on Database log setup form

 

Database log setup

 

 

Now when you do any changes to Customer records they will be appropriately tracked

 

Database log - Overview

 

 

You can also review details of those changes including info who changed the data, when, and what exactly was changed (old value vs new value)

 

Database log - History

 

 

Please note that when you activate Database log you introduce certain performance overhead

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 also provides Electronic Signature feature which works in conjunction with Database log functionality. Let’s review how this works!

 

First off Electronic Signature feature first has to be enabled in License Configuration

 

License Configuration  

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provides number of standard templates for Electronic Signature controlled business entities. For example, BOM and Route

 

Electronic signature requirements

 

 

In this particular case I’ll activate Electronic Signature for BOM Activation process (“Activate BOM version”)

 

I’ll also need to get a certificate, designate approver and set up a password on Options form in Electronic Signature section

 

Options

 

 

When all preparation work is done we can now test Electronic Signature functionality out

I’ll go ahead and try to activate BOM version so I see “Sign document” dialog popped up

 

Sign document

 

 

Now I’ll provide approver password so I can successfully activate BOM version

 

Database log

 

 

When I’m done the fact of change will be logged in Database log as shown above

 

Signature review

 

 

You can also review detailed information regarding change including Signature information

In this document we reviewed just some of Master Data Management capabilities included in standard Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

 

Summary: This document describes how to leverage existing Master Data Management capabilities included in standard Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. In particular I explained how to use global address book and product management features related to Master Data Management, and some generic Master Data Management features such as Database log ad Electronic signature. Please review my other articles to learn how to implement Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics using SQL Server Master Data Services.

 

Tags: Dynamics AX 2012, Master Data Management, Customers, Products, Global Address Book, Released Products, Database Log, Electronic Signature.

 

Note: This document is intended for information purposes only, presented as it is with no warranties from the author. This document may be updated with more content to better outline the issues and describe the solutions.

 

Author: Alex Anikiev, PhD, MCP