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Walkthrough: Defining KPIs for a Cube [AX 2012]


Prerequisites


To complete this walkthrough, you will need:

  • Microsoft Dynamics AX with sample data
  • The MyCustomers cube from  Creating Cubes [AX 2012] Post.
  • SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) or SQL Server Data Tools
  • Configure Analysis Services by running the Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup wizard

Defining a KPI for Inventory Quantity


To display your KPI in a Business Overview web part on a role center, you must define value, goal, status, and trend expressions for the KPI. If you exclude one of the expressions, the KPI will not display properly.

To create a KPI for Inventory Quantity

  1. In BIDS, open the Analysis Services project that contains the Sales analysis cube, and then double-click MyCustomers .cube.
  2. Click the KPIs tab.
  3. On the toolbar for the KPIs tab, click New KPI. A form displays that allows you to define the KPI.
  4. For the Name field, type Customer sales.
  5. For the Value Expression field, type the following expression.

[Measures].[Total customer sales Count]

This expression retrieves the quantity in inventory units.

clip_image001[1]Note

You can drag measures from the Metadata tab of the Calculation Tools pane to help you create expressions.

  1. For the Goal Expression field, type the following expression.

7500

This expression identifies the goal for the inventory quantity.

  1. For the Status indicator field, select Gauge from the drop-down list.
  2. For the Status expression field, type the following expression.
Case
When
[Measures].[Total customer sales Count] >= 7500
Then 1
When
[Measures].[Total customer sales Count] < 7500
AND
[Measures].[Total customer sales Count] > 6500
Then 0
Else-1
End

 

This expression provides a basis to evaluate progress toward meeting the goal. The graphic that displays for status of the KPI depends on what value this expression evaluates to.


  1. For the Trend indicator field, select Standard arrow from the drop-down list.
  2. For the Trend expression field, type the following expression.
Case
When
[Measures].[Total customer sales Count] >= 3000
Then 1
When
[Measures].[Total customer sales Count] < 3000

Then -1
End

This expression provides a basis to evaluate the status in some historical context. The graphic that displays for the trend of the KPI depends on what value this expression evaluates to. Typically, the trend expression would evaluate the current status relative to a previous status.

To view the KPI


  1. On the Build menu, click Deploy Dynamics AX MyCustomers .

clip_image001[2]Note: The name of the database may vary.



  1. On the toolbar for the KPIs tab, click Browser View. The KPI displays in the list.

30 database entity relationship diagrams (ERDs) for tables of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2

Announcing the AxERD site: Database Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs) for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
The new "AxERD" website is now online! This site contains about 30 ERDs for the most-used tables in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. The AxErd site has all the foreign key information sorted and gathered together in one place. For any table, you can retrieve a list of the child or parent tables with one click. Visit the AxERD site today and let us know what you think: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=296623.

Dynamics AX 2012 - Developing Secure Mobile Apps

Updated Version of "Developing Secure Mobile Apps" White Paper Now Available
This white paper describes how to develop mobile client apps to communicate with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 from phone or tablet platforms. Mobile apps can enable a wide variety of business processes, such as submitting expense reports and timesheets, to be conducted from anywhere. This document provides a walkthrough of a sample app for employee expense capture.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 System Requirements

Microsoft supports the following system recommendations for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Before installing Microsoft Dynamics AX, be sure that the system you are working with meets or exceeds the minimum hardware and software requirements.
Network requirements
The following table lists the minimum network requirements for the connection between the client and the Application Object Server (AOS) and the connection between the AOS and the database in a Microsoft Dynamics AX system.
Value Client to AOS AOS to database
Bandwidth (b) 100 megabits per second (Mbps) 100 Mbps
Latency (l) Less than 5 milliseconds Less than 5 milliseconds

The total response time for running a task in Microsoft Dynamics AX can be expressed by the following formula:
Response time = (Number of calls to and from the server * l) + Number of bytes sent/b
We recommend that you consider the following types of connections when planning your system:
· For a system that uses a local area network (LAN), connect directly through a Microsoft Dynamics AX client.
· For a system that uses a wide area network (WAN), connect using Windows Server Terminal Services or another remote connection product. For more information about using Terminal Services, see the Terminal Services site on Microsoft TechNet.

Test Data Transfer Tool for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012


Reference:
technet.microsoft.com and other sources

Microsoft has released the beta version of Test Data Transfer Tool for Dynamics AX 2012. Which is applies to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack and Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

This tool is a command-line tool that exports data from a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 transaction database in a production or non-production environment. The tool also imports data into a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 business database in a non-production environment. The non-production environment can be either a development or test environment. Microsoft strongly recommends not use this tool to import data into a production environment.

The Test Data Transfer Tool (beta) is a powerful tool for importing and exporting data. The test data transfer tool is useful when we required to import large set of data into other environment (Non production), move data in different environments with similar customization's and when data version is required. You must run the tool directly from the system that is hosting the database during import.


To use this tool you should have prior knowledge on SQL databases. To perform the activity using this tool you should be a database administrator or a developer who has experience and also have permission to read from or write directly to the Microsoft Dynamics AX database that you are working with, and to execute applications directly on the computer that is hosting the database. Before performing this activity you need to take the backup of source and destination databases.

Each and every operation that works with data has risks and also make sure that you understand which conditions are logged as errors during import. For example, you might try to import data for a table or column that does not exist in the target database. This attempt is not treated as an error by the tool, because the tool is designed to work seamlessly when the source and target databases have a different set of tables.

The Test Data Transfer Tool (beta) is available from the InformationSource Services download page.

Benefits:

The Test Data Transfer Tool (beta) uses the Microsoft SQL Server bulk copy tool (bcp). The Test Data Transfer Tool provides the following key benefits that other methods for importing and exporting Microsoft Dynamics AX data do not provide:

  • You can export or import data when an AOS instance is not running.
  • You can export or import Microsoft Dynamics AX data more quickly compared to other methods.
  • Only minimal changes are made to the data that you import. This feature helps guarantee that the data is stable over time. For example, the tool never renumbers RecIDs.
  • The data file format is text-based. Therefore, the data can be compared with earlier versions and stored in a version control system.
  • The data file format is a standard format that is produced by bcp.

The Test Data Transfer Tool (beta) adds the following features that work with bcp. These features make bcp an appropriate tool for managing data for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

  • Exported data can be filtered. Therefore, specified tables, columns, or rows can be easily excluded from the export.
  • Differences between builds of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 are found and corrected. These differences often occur during development. Because of this feature, data can often be imported without user intervention, even when the table definitions have changed. For example, tables or fields that have been renamed do not prevent import.
  • Entity IDs, such as table IDs, class IDs, and extended data type IDs, are updated to match the IDs of the target system.
  • The tool reads and correctly updates the SYSTEMSEQUENCES table.

Limitations:

  • The Test Data Transfer Tool (beta) does not make sure that data that you export is complete or coherent. However, the tool does export any data that you ask it to export.
  • The tool does not make sure that data that you import produces a complete or coherent database. However, the tool does import any data that you ask it to import.

The Test Data Transfer Tool (beta) imports and exports the data as-is. In some cases, you might exclude tables or records from either import or export. Nevertheless, the tool does not make sure that the data is complete or coherent when other tables contain references to excluded tables or records. Therefore, after import and export, you must make sure that the data that you are importing or exporting is coherent.

Microsoft Releases New Dynamics AX App for iPhone

Microsoft has released a new Dynamics AX iPhone app for use with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2.
Features:
This application enables you to capture your expense transactions and receipt information. This application also allows you to create and submit timesheets. The information captured with this application will be available when you enter or update an expense report and/or timesheets in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. If your organization uses Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 and has enabled these features, you will be notified by your system administrator.
You can download Dynamics AX from the App Store for free.
Read More

Source

Ax 2012 R2 Hotfix for Compile Time needs Schema Update

Just a quick note on the hotfix that was released quite a while ago to improve compile times on R2. Many blogs including the official Microsoft one linked directly to the hotfix, and many people have installed it immediately with no result. What many people don't seem to know (and honestly in my own haste to try it out I did the same thing at first) is that you need to update your model store schema to benefit from the improvements which included new indexes in the model store.
So, if you have installed the hotfix (KB2844240), make sure to run "axutil schema" on the model store to actually make the changes take effect!

Source Joris dG