New, Changed, and Deprecated Features For Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
® ®
New, Changed, and Deprecated Features for

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
Date: April 7, 2011
Disclaimer: This document provides a summary of the product-wide features

that will be implemented in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Familiarity with
Microsoft Dynamics AX or other business management software is assumed.
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NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Table of contents
Introduction ................................................................................................ 6
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 6
Document structure .............................................................................................................. 6
Feedback ............................................................................................................................. 6
More information .................................................................................................................. 6
Product-wide features ................................................................................ 7

Database changes: Table relations .......................................................................................... 8
Database changes: Table inheritance .....................................................................................10
Database changes: Inactive tables remain ..............................................................................12
Commerce Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP ......................................................................13
Sites Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP ..............................................................................14
Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP .........................................................................15
User interface changes .........................................................................................................16
Upgrade .............................................................................................................................19
Services and Application Integration Framework (AIF) ..............................................................22
Enterprise Portal and Role Centers .........................................................................................27
Role-based security ..............................................................................................................31
Data security .......................................................................................................................33
Organization model ..............................................................................................................35
Analysis cubes .....................................................................................................................37
Reporting ............................................................................................................................41
Financial dimensions ............................................................................................................45
Budgeting and budget control ................................................................................................49
Ledger and subledger lines and distributions ...........................................................................56
Taxes .................................................................................................................................60
Time zones .........................................................................................................................63
Address book ......................................................................................................................66
Products .............................................................................................................................69
Employees ..........................................................................................................................72
Help server .........................................................................................................................75
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 glossary .....................................................................................79
Deprecated features.................................................................................. 81
Microsoft Business Solutions Perimeter Network Configuration Wizard ........................................82
Reporting Tools and Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal Tools ............................................83
Unsupported platforms .........................................................................................................84
Oracle database support .......................................................................................................87
Setup parameters ................................................................................................................88
Microsoft Dynamics AX domains.............................................................................................89
Record-level security ............................................................................................................90
Client-side batch framework ..................................................................................................91
Security keys and related APIs ..............................................................................................92
Duplicate company feature ....................................................................................................93
RunBase .............................................................................................................................94

Add Service Reference in the MorphX AOT ..............................................................................95
AIF endpoints ......................................................................................................................96
BizTalk Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics AX ..............................................................................97
Data Crawler .......................................................................................................................98
DynamicsAXGeneralLedgerClass Members...............................................................................99
.chm Help files .................................................................................................................. 100
X++ Reporting Framework .................................................................................................. 101
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 reports .................................................................................... 102
Application Hierarchy Tree (AHT) ......................................................................................... 106
Code Explorer.................................................................................................................... 107
Print from AOT and Editor ................................................................................................... 108
X++ editor ........................................................................................................................ 109
AOD files replaced by SQL Server repository ......................................................................... 110
Split layer functionality in the AOT ....................................................................................... 111
Team Server ..................................................................................................................... 112
Visual SourceSafe .............................................................................................................. 113
Reporting Project ............................................................................................................... 114
The X++ Workflow API ....................................................................................................... 115
SQL Server Report Builder integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX report models ...................... 116
Payment services using Authorize.Net .................................................................................. 117
Ledger budget ................................................................................................................... 118
Financial dimensions and LedgerTable .................................................................................. 120
EPBookkeeperRoleCenter .................................................................................................... 121
ExchangeRates .................................................................................................................. 122
LedgerTrans table .............................................................................................................. 123
LedgerPeriod ..................................................................................................................... 124
Country/region configuration keys ....................................................................................... 125
EU sales list transfer (Belgium) ............................................................................................ 126
Date-effective records ........................................................................................................ 127
Delete personal information (employee and applicant) ............................................................ 128
Human Resources tab in Enterprise Portal ............................................................................. 129
Benefits ............................................................................................................................ 130
Employees of the Work Center type ..................................................................................... 131
Visio Export for reporting relationships, locations, and organizational structure views ................. 132
Telemarketing ................................................................................................................... 133
TAPI integration................................................................................................................. 134
Management Statistics ....................................................................................................... 135
CRM document handling ..................................................................................................... 136
Transaction log .................................................................................................................. 137
Project activity hierarchy .................................................................................................... 138
Purchase order subscription ................................................................................................ 139
Blanket orders ................................................................................................................... 140
BOM item type BOM ........................................................................................................... 141
Configurable items ............................................................................................................. 142
Item dimension group ........................................................................................................ 143
Edit dimensions form .......................................................................................................... 144
Product builder .................................................................................................................. 145
Product group for Procurement ............................................................................................ 146

Compare request for quote replies form ................................................................................ 147
Purchase requisition clean up .............................................................................................. 148
Purchase requisition parameters .......................................................................................... 149
Approval and spending limits ............................................................................................... 150
Task groups ...................................................................................................................... 151
Multisite activation wizard ................................................................................................... 152
Appendix A: Non-product-wide feature descriptions ............................... 153

Appendix Table of Contents ................................................................................................. 153

Introduction
This document provides a summary of new and changed features that are planned to be implemented
in Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2012. It also provides deprecated feature notices for features that are
planned to be removed in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 or future versions. Familiarity with Microsoft
Dynamics AX or other business management software is assumed.
Abstract
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 introduces many new features and technologies that were not available in
previous versions. Additionally, changes introduced in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 update a number
of existing features and technologies significantly to help increase system security, user productivity,
and reduce administrative overhead. This document describes new and changed features for Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012. It also includes deprecated feature notices for features that are planned to be
removed in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 or future versions.
Document structure
The document includes the following sections:
Introduction
The introduction provides an overview of the document.
Product-wide features
Topics in the product-wide features section describe application changes that have a broad impact
across Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. These topics compare, contrast, and explain the differences in the
behavior in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
Deprecated features
Topics in the deprecated features section provide details about the features that have been removed
from the application in this version, or that are planned for removal in subsequent versions.
Appendix
The appendix provides summary information, in tabular format, about feature changes that do not
have a product-wide effect.
Feedback
Send comments about the content of this document to the Microsoft Dynamics AX Content Publishing
Team: [email protected]
More information
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, see:
 TechNet Library for System administrators

 AX Developer Center on MSDN
 TechNet Library for Application Users
You can also use the WebSearch tool to search Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 content.

Product-wide features
Product-wide features are features that, although they may be focused in a particular feature area,
have an overall effect on Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. A product-wide feature may be an existing
feature that has been reworked substantially since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, or it may be a new
feature or set of features that has been added to the existing functionality in Microsoft Dynamics AX.
In some cases, a product-wide feature replaces an existing set of features.

Database changes: Table relations
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, table relations could be defined through extended data types (EDTs).
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, table relations are defined under the Relations node for each table in
the Application Object Tree (AOT). Each relation has properties that can be set in the Properties
window.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
Feature areas affected All
Stakeholders Technical decision makers
Independent software vendors (ISVs)/developers
Partners
New functionality
The new format enables rich metadata to be stored about each table relation. The metadata can be
leveraged throughout the application for increased functionality. For example:
 In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the system stores the cardinality of each relationship. Tools
that generate database entity relationship diagrams in Microsoft® Visio® 2010 can read the
cardinality data to draw the diagram correctly.
 The new UnitOfWork class simplifies transaction management for table relations that are
defined under the Relations node for a table. However, the UnitOfWork class cannot leverage
relations that are defined through EDTs.
Special considerations
 In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, table relations can no longer be created through EDTs.
 Legacy custom table relations that were defined through EDTs continue to work in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012.
Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

Table relations are defined in a new way in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

AOT table relations
What can you do? Microsoft Microsoft Why is this
Dynamics AX 2009 Dynamics AX 2012 important?
Define a table relation Table relations were EDT table relations are Relationship metadata can
by using the AOT. defined only through recognized, but be stored, which facilitates
EDTs. This was a relations are now other system features and
problem if multiple defined under the future growth.
relations were needed Relations node for an
between tables, or if individual table.
relations involved
composite keys.
Automatically migrate Not available A tool is provided to This automation saves the
table relations to the convert legacy table developer time and reduces
AOT. relations from EDT the likelihood of errors.
nodes to table nodes in
the AOT.
More information
For more information about table relations, see the EDT Relations Migration Tool topic on MSDN.

Database changes: Table inheritance
Object-oriented programming languages, such as C# and C++, support inheritance relationships
between classes. A derived class inherits fields and methods from its base class. Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012 supports similar inheritance between tables in the Application Object Tree (AOT).
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
Feature areas affected All, particularly those that query tables that are
involved in inheritance relationships
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Table inheritance facilitates customized extensions better than traditional foreign key relationships do.
Table inheritance provides a rich type of metadata that describes the relationships between tables.
Tools can use this metadata to provide better functionality.
The following are some of the base tables that are involved in inheritance relationships:
 AgreementHeader
 AgreementLine
 BankLC
 BankLCLine
 CaseDetailBase
 CatProductReference
 DirPartyTable
 EcoResProduct
 HRPDefaultLimit
 IntercompanyActionPolicy
 VendRequest
Because of inheritance relationships between tables, some fields in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 have
been moved to different tables in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Some legacy custom queries may need
to be updated. This requires the same amount of pre-upgrade work as any table schema change. In
some cases, the size of an X++ SQL Select statement can decrease, and the statement can become
simpler.

The application data framework has changed since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012 includes changes to the following:
 AOT design time aspects
 Query development aspects
10

AOT design time aspects
Capture rich metadata Foreign key Inheritance Developers can more
about the relationships relationships were relationships between fully express the
between tables. supported. Inheritance tables can be captured relationships between
relationships between and described by setting certain entities.
tables could be properties on the
managed only by tables.
custom code.
Query development aspects

Access fields from A query could leverage A query can leverage an X++ SQL code and AOT
various tables with a foreign key inheritance relationship queries take less
simpler code. relationship to get fields to get fields from a developer time to create
from a parent table by parent table without and maintain.
joining. joining.
11

Database changes: Inactive tables remain
Sometimes, deactivating a configuration key it affects a table in Microsoft Dynamics AX. In Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions, the associated table was removed from the underlying
Microsoft® SQL Server® database. Subsequently, when queries were run on that table, messages were
displayed.
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the associated tables are not removed from the database. Instead,
the tables are deactivated in the system, which means that they are treated as empty tables.
However, the deactivated tables and their data are still fully available in the underlying database.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
Feature areas affected All, particularly operations that issue SQL queries
from outside of Microsoft Dynamics AX
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Tables that are deactivated by a configuration key now remain available to external SQL queries,
which can be a practical benefit, depending on the ongoing data changes that must be made to the
tables.
System administrators who deactivate a configuration key must inform users who issue external SQL
queries that the data in the deactivated tables will no longer be updated, and that the data in those
tables will become outdated. After a configuration key has been deactivated, messages are no longer
displayed for external SQL queries.

The effects of deactivated configuration keys on tables have changed since Microsoft Dynamics AX
2009. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 includes changes to the following:
 SQL queries on inactive tables
SQL server queries on inactive tables

Run queries on inactive Queries failed, and Queries on inactive Queries on the SQL
tables within Microsoft messages were tables continue to tables still function.
Dynamics AX. displayed. function, but data in the
inactive tables is
ignored.
Run external queries on Queries failed, and Queries on inactive Queries on the SQL
tables from Microsoft messages were tables continue to server database still
Dynamics AX. displayed. function, but data from function.
the inactive tables will
be outdated.
12

Commerce Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP
Commerce Services for Microsoft Dynamics® ERP provides integration between Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012 and an organization’s online sales channels. It provides an integrated process for releasing
products to online stores or online marketplaces and routing online sales orders back in to the existing
Microsoft Dynamics AX fulfillment process. Additionally, companies can use Commerce Services to
integrate their existing online sales channel to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
Overview
Item Description
Required Optional. You may or may not use these features,
depending on how you run your business.
Feature areas affected Sales and marketing
Product information management
Stakeholders Business decision makers
Technical decision makers
Implementation team members
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Improvements have been made to further integrate Commerce Services with Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012. Previously, Commerce Services was installed only as part of Retail Headquarters in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009 for Retail.

Changes to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 support the following:
 Commerce Services integration
Commerce services integration

Use Commerce Services Commerce Services was Provides integrated Provides tighter
for Microsoft Dynamics only available within the process for releasing integration between
ERP to integrate Retail Headquarters products to online online stores and the
Microsoft Dynamics AX application for Microsoft stores and routing Microsoft Dynamics AX
with your online sales Dynamics AX 2009 for online sales orders into fulfillment process.
channels. Retail. the fulfillment process.
13

Sites Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP
Sites Services for Microsoft Dynamics® ERP extends Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 business processes
and workflows on the web. It is an important part of Microsoft Dynamics ERP Software plus Services
strategy. It empowers business users to collaborate with their customers and vendors with no or
minimal IT investment and it enables partners to build advanced software plus services solutions.
Overview
Item Description
Feature areas affected Home
Accounts payable
Accounts receivable
Human resources
Procurement and sourcing
Sales and marketing
Service management
Organization administration
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Sites Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP delivers an extensible metadata-driven bidirectional secure
data platform connecting Dynamics AX 2012 and Microsoft cloud services. It also leverages the Sites
Services metadata-driven presentation platform to ship four out-of-box sites solutions for focused
industry verticals.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has changes that support:
 Site Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP integration
Sites Services integration

Use the Site Services Provides a secure data Provides users the
data platform to platform and four out- ability to connect
connect Microsoft of-the-box sites Microsoft Dynamics AX
Dynamics AX 2012 to solutions for specific to Microsoft cloud
Microsoft cloud services. industry verticals. services.
14

Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP
Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics® ERP is a Payment Card Industry (PCI) certified Level 1
Payment Gateway. It is an important part of Microsoft Dynamics ERP Software plus Services strategy.
It enables accepting payment cards in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012—and in your store—by using
Microsoft cloud services.
Overview
Item Description
Feature areas affected Accounts receivable
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has out-of-box support for payment card authorization, settlement, void,
and refunds; address verification; and business card Level 2 and 3 processing through Payment
Services.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has changes that support:
 Payment Services integration
Payment services integration

Use Payment Services Supports credit card Supports additional These features can
to accept credit card authorization and features, such as reduce payment
payments. settlement. refunds, address processing expenses,
verification, Level 2 and increase profit margin,
3 processing, and online and help to positively
orders payment impact a customer’s
settlement. bottom line.
15

User interface changes
The user interface consists of features and commands that a user can use to interact with the
software, especially to enter and view data and personalize forms. The user interface has changed
considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
The user interface for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is cleaner, more consistent, and easily tailored to
specific tasks and forms. You can view important information on one central list page, and related
information is displayed on FastTabs and in FactBoxes, even if the related information is not displayed
in the current form. It is easier to sort and personalize displayed data.

The user interface has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft Dynamics
 Navigation
 List pages
 Filter functionality
 Progressive disclosure forms
 Forms
 Search
Navigation
Navigate intuitively. The navigation structure The navigation structure It is easier to access the
was divided into is divided into different necessary forms and
modules. modules that have a complete tasks.
more consistent design.
16

List pages
Use the improved Action The Action Pane was The Action Pane now Users can quickly find
Pane. almost exclusively has action buttons that and modify data.
navigation-based. the user can use to
create and modify data
without leaving the list
page.
View additional Limited information Information about the Users can view
information about a about the selected selected record is additional important
selected record on a list record was displayed in displayed both in information about a
page, without leaving the preview pane. FactBoxes and in the record without opening
the list page. preview pane. the master record form.
View messages in a Messages appeared in All messages related to Users can view and act
dedicated area. the InfoLog form or in the list page, such as on important messages
separate dialog boxes. error, warning, and without leaving the
system status form.
messages, are displayed
in a dedicated area.
Automatically refresh Data had to be Data is refreshed The information on list

form information. refreshed manually, and automatically. pages is always current.
forms did not always
display the latest
information.
View related information Users had to leave the Users do not have to Related information is
in a FactBox. list page or form to view open another form to displayed quickly.
important related view any related
information about the information that is not
selected record. displayed on the current
list page.
Filter functionality
Sort and filter on any Users could not sort or Users can sort and filter It is easier to sort data.
column that is filter all of the columns on any column that is
displayed. displayed on the list displayed, or filter
pages. across all columns that
are displayed.
Filter data by using The Advanced filter Filtering control uses It is easier to sort data.
common language. window was complex plain language and
and difficult to use. structure to simplify
filtering requests.
Filter across all To filter data, users had Data is filtered, It is faster and easier to
columns. to identify the column regardless of the find data.
where data was located. column it is located in.
17

Forms
View detailed All information was Users can view or The workspace is
information on visible at all times, condense important simplified, and related
FastTabs. which cluttered the information in the same information is grouped.
workspace. form.
Take advantage of the Some menus were not Menus are consistent Menu commands for
improved menu easily readable, or they and easy to scan. Menu data entry are
appearance. lacked common actions. commands are grouped simplified.
according to usage.
Switch between the Header information was Complex forms have a Forms with header and
header view and line displayed at the top of header view, where you line information are
view in complex forms. the form, and line can view or modify the easier to understand
information was header-specific fields, and use.
displayed at the bottom and a lines view, where
of the form. you can view the list of
lines and information
about the selected line.
View related information Users had to open Related information that Related information is
in a FactBox. additional forms to view is not displayed in the displayed quickly.
related information current form can be
about the selected accessed quickly,
record. without opening another
form.
Search
Use enhanced search Search did not include Search includes data, Search is easier and
capabilities. metadata and metadata, and more efficient.
documents attached to documents attached to
records. records. Therefore,
users can search the
data by using common
nouns, such as
“customer” or “cash
flow report,” or they can
search for specific data,
such as a customer
name, product ID, or
telephone number.
Use the improved The search box was The search box is a Users can locate the
search box. located on a form that prominent element of search box quickly and
was difficult to locate. the user interface. refine their queries,
Users could not refine Users have several which improves search
their queries. options to help them efficiency.
refine their queries.
18

Upgrade
Microsoft Dynamics AX has several features to help customers and partners prepare for upgrades to
the next version of Microsoft Dynamics AX. These features are designed to shorten the upgrade test
cycle and reduce the overall cost of upgrading.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Several tools have been provided to ease the process of upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
The Upgrade advisor tool examines Microsoft Dynamics AX for issues that can prevent you from
upgrading, or that can prevent Microsoft Dynamics AX applications from working properly after an
upgrade. After issues are identified, they can be debugged by using improved upgrade script
implementation tools. After the upgrade, data validation processes provide detailed testing information
to reduce the number of test runs needed before Microsoft Dynamics AX is fully implemented.

The upgrade process has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft Dynamics
 Upgrade advisor
 Upgrade framework
 Post-upgrade data validation
19

Upgrade advisor
Identify upgrade issues Installed components The upgrade
before upgrading. from earlier versions of compatibility of files and
Microsoft Dynamics AX processes is checked
are analyzed for issues before users upgrade to
that may cause the Microsoft Dynamics AX
upgrade process to fail. 2012.
Run the Upgrade Users are guided Upgrade issues are

Advisor Analysis Wizard. through the analysis identified.
process.
View a list of upgrade A report is generated Upgrade issues are

issues. that displays the results displayed before
of the upgrade analysis problems arise.
and that tracks upgrade
issues and their
resolution. This report is
useful both before and
after an upgrade.
Fix identified upgrade Upgrade issues within Users can quickly fix
issues. the upgrade issues after they have
documentation are been identified.
searched for.
Upgrade framework
Implement upgrade Users had to provide X++ attributes and The coding of upgrade
scripts by using method long lines of code to predefined upgrade scripts is simplified, and
attributes. specify the order and scripts are used. bugs are reduced.
dependency of upgrade
script operation.
Analyze dependencies Users had to create Automated tools are Upgrade script
between upgrade tools by using upgrade created to analyze dependency is
scripts. scripts. This required upgrade scripts. optimized.
extensive analysis and
iteration for data entry,
and it was time-
consuming and prone to
errors.
Use a wizard to Users had to All scripts related to a Upgrade script

implement upgrade understand the particular table are development is
scripts. definition and use of displayed. Developers intuitive.
various application can use a wizard or
programming interfaces template to
(APIs) to implement automatically add an
upgrade scripts. upgrade script for a
table.
Use method attributes Parameters and the An attribute-based It is easier to debug and
to debug and fix type of script were model that clarifies fix problems.
problems. separated from the script logic is used.
script body, making it
difficult to debug and
understand the logic of
the script.
20

Post-upgrade data validation
Validate data for No test scripts were Test case tools are Post-upgrade data
correctness after an provided. Users had to provided to do post- validation process is
upgrade. rely on their own set of upgrade data validation. standardized.
testing for validation.
Organize and filter test Not a standard feature. Test cases can be Better coverage and
cases. organized and filtered direction for testing
based on modules, data are provided.
configuration keys, and
feature categories.
View and annotate test Not a standard feature. Test case statuses can Users can monitor the
case status. be annotated for priority progress of upgrade
or for completion validation.
progress, such as:
 Not started
 In-progress
 Failed
 Passed
More information
For more information about upgrade, see:
 Implementation Planning Guide
 Upgrade Guide
 Code Upgrade Overview white paper
21

Services and Application Integration Framework (AIF)
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, services provide a first-class programming model for integration and
enable the Microsoft Dynamics AX application to expose its functionality by means of Windows
Communication Foundation-based services.
Application Integration Framework (AIF), built on top of services, supports the processing of incoming
and outgoing messages, such as message transforms and value look-ups. Together, services and AIF
provide the programming model, tools, and infrastructure support for message-based integration of
application functionality and data with Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Overview
Item Description
Required Conditionally required. If you are using this
feature in a previous version, significant changes
have been made to it, and you must review this
topic.
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 introduces integration ports for streamlined configuration of services and
provides significant improvements in the areas of the programming model, deployment, and
administration.
The following are the skills and expertise needed to fully take advantage of services and AIF:
 Internet Information Services (IIS) administration, if IIS-based Web services are deployed
 The Microsoft .NET Framework, especially Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
 Integration concepts, such as enterprise application integration (EAI), business-to-business
(B2B), and synchronous and asynchronous transports
 Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 and ASP.NET, if you deploy IIS-based Web services
 Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ), if used
Some of the Microsoft Dynamics AX components, such as Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX
and Workflow, consume Microsoft Dynamics AX services. Some functionality, such as importing
catalogs and sending documents electronically, consumes Microsoft Dynamics AX services. You can
install Web services on IIS. However, this is an optional step. By default, the Application Object Server
(AOS) is the services host for the Microsoft Dynamics AX services.
22

Services have changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
includes changes to the following:
 Simplified administration and configuration
 Services and Application Integration Framework
 Deployment
 Security and privacy
 Services troubleshooting
 Web services
 Microsoft Excel integration
 Import and export data
Simplified administration and configuration

Import and export data Not supported Developers can create Importing data from
in non-XML formats. custom transformations external systems is
to import non-XML data simplified.
and transform it into a
format that can be
consumed by AIF
document services.
Developers can use
XSLT to transform XML
files or a .NET binary to
transform non-XML files
to the Microsoft
Dynamics AX format.
Use integration ports to AIF endpoints and Integration ports are The administration of
administer services. related configuration used to administer services and AIF is
forms were used to services and AIF simplified.
administer services. through service groups. The concept of
integration ports
subsumes endpoints
and related forms.
Use integration port Configuration was The integration port for Service configuration is
functionality to restrict company specific. a specific legal entity simplified.
service calls to a can be restricted, but a
specific port. unique integration for
each organization is not
needed.
Optionally configure Data policies were Data policies are Endpoint configuration
data policies. mandatory. optional. is simplified.
23

Services and Application Integration Framework (AIF)
Use system services to Not supported The metadata service You can query the
retrieve system retrieves metadata for Microsoft Dynamics AX
information. application objects, system and return
such as labels, menus, datasets and metadata.
tables, and services.
You can use the query
service to query for
data without using the
document service or
creating a custom
service.
Use the Windows WCF support was WCF support is You can use standard
Communication limited. expanded. MSMQ and adapters to interface
Foundation (WCF) BizTalk adapters have with the database.
adapter. been deprecated,
because equivalent
functionality is provided
by native WCF
functionality.
Add Simple Object SOAP header support SOAP headers have It is easier to pass data
Access Protocol (SOAP) was limited. been extended to into a service.
headers when calling a support additional
service. important headers.
Interface with the Some database features Additional database It is easier to integrate
database more easily. were not supported. features are supported, the database with
including: document services and
 Organization model query services.
 Table inheritance
 Tables with effective
dates
 Surrogate foreign
key expansion
Group related services. Grouping related You can use service It is easier to use and
services was not grouping in the AOT to deploy services for
supported. group related services. specific integration
scenarios, such as
orders to cash or
procure to pay.
Use X++ container Not supported The new programming Developer productivity
types and strongly model enables is improved.
typed X++collections. developers to use X++
container types and
strongly typed X++
collections through data
contracts.
Use the business The business operations The framework supports Developers have more
operations framework. framework was the separation of the flexibility and control.
supported through user interface,
RunBase classes, where contracts, and
the user interface, operations. The
contracts, and framework enables
operations were defined business operations to
in the same class. run synchronously or
asynchronously, and
24

provides various
methods for invoking
business operations.
Deployment
Host WCF services on Web services had to be Hosted services on AOS Deployment of services
AOS. deployed on IIS. are available to users is simplified.
and applications on the
Intranet.
Deploy services on IIS. The IIS server The IIS server routes all Processing on IIS
processed the service service requests to servers is reduced, and
request. AOS, where they are efficiency is increased.
processed.
Use a single Web A separate WSDL was A single WSDL is It is easier to deploy
Service Definition created for each created for all document services, and
Language (WSDL) for all service. services. developers can reuse
document services, the data types among
including custom all services within the
services. WSDL.
Manage multiple sites Not supported The IIS Web It is easier to manage
and web farms by using Deployment tool is used multiple sites.
the IIS Web to manage multiple
Deployment tool. sites.
Take advantage of the Network Load Balancing NLB is provided for IIS You can create NLB
scalability and (NLB) was provided only servers and AOS clusters for services
availability of services. for IIS servers. instances. hosted on AOS.
An NLB cluster must be
created for services
hosted on AOS to create
a load-balanced
environment for
services.
Security/privacy
Define service security Only one service could WCF is used to manage Security management
by using WCF be deployed at a time. security for services. for services is
configuration tools. More than one service simplified.
can be deployed.
25

Services troubleshooting
Troubleshoot services Troubleshooting was Troubleshooting is done Troubleshooting
and AIF at the done at the service at the integration port services is simplified.
integration port level. operational level. level and can include
multiple service
operations instead of a
single service operation.
When large files are
imported, error handling
provides flexible options,
such as continue, halt,
and rollback.
Import and export data

Process bulk import and Not supported A framework is provided It is easier to bulk
export of data. for bulk import and import and export data.
export of data.
More information
More detailed information about Services can be found in the white papers titled Services in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 and Consuming Web Services.
26

Enterprise Portal and Role Centers
Microsoft Dynamics AX provides a set of web sites that give you access to data and that you can use
to participate in business processes by using web-based forms. These sites are collectively called
Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Enterprise Portal can be configured to display role-specific home pages called Role Centers. A Role
Centers provides an overview of information that pertains to a user’s job function in the business or
organization, including transaction data, alerts, links, common tasks associated with the user’s role in
the company, and reports generated by Microsoft SQL Server® Reporting Services (SSRS) or Microsoft
SQL Server® Analysis Services (SSAS). Microsoft Dynamics AX includes more than two dozen
predefined Role Centers, which users can access from Enterprise Portal or the Microsoft Dynamics AX
client.
Overview
Item Description
Required Optional. You may or may not use this feature,
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Enterprise Portal and Role Centers enable you to configure system settings and home pages based on
business needs, user roles, and job functions. Enterprise Portal is easier to install, manage, and
operate, and the enhanced search capabilities makes searching for data easier and more intuitive. A
smoother user interface improves the user experience overall by providing better Action Panes, more
configuration options, and more efficient data searches.
Enterprise Portal requires Internet Information Services (IIS), a feature of Windows Server, and either
Microsoft SharePoint® Server 2010 (recommended) or Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 (a free
download). The new search framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX uses SharePoint Enterprise Search,
which is included with SharePoint Server. Enterprise Search is not included with SharePoint
Foundation. If you intend to use the free version of SharePoint, and you intend to deploy Search, use
SharePoint Search Server Express 2010 (also a free download) instead of SharePoint Foundation.
Developers must note that Enterprise Portal no longer supports development in the X++ Web
framework. Development of Enterprise Portal pages requires ASP.NET and the .NET Framework.

This feature has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012 includes changes to the following:
 Foundation improvements
 Treasurer Role Center
 Enterprise Search
27

 User interface changes
Foundation improvements
Use enhanced initial After installing The installation no The installation
setup and installation. Enterprise Portal, longer requires experience is more
administrators had to manually compiling efficient.
manually compile X++ X++ classes.
classes on the web
server.
Use more options for Administrators had to Administrators can The administration
deploying changes to a manually deploy deploy changes to a experience is more
web server. changes by clicking web server by using the efficient.
various objects in the AxUpdatePortal utility or
Application Object Tree the Microsoft Dynamics
(AOT). Also, AX client.
administrators could not Administrators can also
deploy changes from deploy changes from a
the AOT on a 32-bit remote client machine
client to a 64-bit to the web server.
Windows server.
Use more options for Enterprise Portal had Enterprise Portal The administration
domain authentication. limited authentication includes support for experience is more
options. Domain multiple domain efficient.
account management authentication
was time-consuming. protocols, including
Active Directory®
directory services,
Active Directory
Federation Services, or
pluggable
authentication, such as
forms-based
authentication. This new
authentication model is
called flexible
authentication.
Perform remote Not available Administrators can The administration

administration. manage remote experience is more
Enterprise Portal efficient.
deployments from the
Microsoft Dynamics AX
client.
Use enhanced support Customizing the look Enterprise Portal can The administration and
for themes. and feel of an automatically adopt the customization
Enterprise Portal site to look and feel of a experience is more
match a business’s or business’s or efficient.
organization’s parent organization’s parent
site was a manual, site if the parent site
time-consuming uses a theme in the
process. SharePoint Theme
Gallery. New themes
can be applied with
.thmx files from the
SharePoint Theme
Gallery.
28

Treasurer Role Center
View important An overview is provided The most important
information in one of relevant information, information can be
location. such as a work list, a viewed at a glance.
frequently used list, and
key performance
indicator (KPI)
information.
View information The same KPIs are Information is

relevant to treasurer displayed to the customized to the
tasks. treasurer as to the treasurer’s role.
controller, CFO,
accountant, and
accounting manager,
but the reports are
tailored to the
treasurer’s role.
Enterprise Search
Deploy Search from Search had to be The Search server is Centralized deployment
Setup. installed and configured centralized, and Setup by using Setup makes
from multiple forms in verifies that the the deployment and
the client. SharePoint Technology configuration process
prerequisites are more efficient.
available on the server.
Use enhanced search Search did not include Search includes data, Users can search
capabilities. metadata and metadata, and Microsoft Dynamics AX
documents attached to documents attached to data by using common
records. records. nouns, such as
“customer” or “cash
flow report,” or they can
search for specific data,
such as a customer
name, product ID, or
telephone number.
Use the improved The search box was The search box is Searches are more
search box. located on a form that prominently displayed, efficient and easier to
was difficult to locate, and there are several use.
and search queries options to refine search
could not be refined. queries.
29

User interface changes
Locate data quickly on Filtering capabilities A new quick filter, an Data can be found and
list pages by using were limited, and improved advanced modified quickly.
various types of filters. advanced filtering was filter with common
complex and difficult to language capabilities,
use. and a custom filter are
included.
Complete common Toolbars were primarily Action Panes are divided Data can be found and
actions on list pages navigation-based. into button groups with modified quickly, and
faster with an Action action buttons that can common tasks can be
Pane. be used to perform completed quickly.
common tasks on a
selected record, such as
creating new sales
orders.
Configure Action Panes. Menu options for actions Administrators can use Data can be found and
were accessed from a the new ribbon control modified quickly, and
toolbar, which did not to create Action Panes common tasks can be
support images. for Enterprise Portal completed quickly.
task and list pages.
Preview important and Users had to leave a list Users can use Data can be found and
related information on page or form to view FactBoxes, Cues Web previewed quickly.
list pages. important or related parts, and preview
information about a panes to quickly access
selected record. related information
without opening another
form.
Manipulate data in Grid views could not be Users can move tasks Control of data in grids
hierarchical grids. manipulated. by using a drag-and- is improved.
drop operation. They
can also indent or
negative indent tasks,
and select multiple rows
at one time in grid
views.
Search data in Grid views could not be Column-based quick Control of data in grids
hierarchical grids. manipulated. searches, quick filtering is improved.
(operator = “contains”),
and advanced filtering
(multiple operators) are
supported.
Stay on the current task When a user clicked an Modal dialog boxes Because of navigation
page while completing action on a task page, a open separate forms changes, users can
actions. new Enterprise Portal when a user clicks an complete tasks without
page opened. The user action on a task page. undue confusion.
had to click the Back After users have
button to return to the finished entering data
task page. and close the form, they
are returned to the
original task page, and
the data is updated.
30

Role-based security
In previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, management of application security was a complex
and time-consuming process. Administrators had to determine which tables and fields were needed for
a task, and then grant permissions to the user for those tables and fields. In Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012, administrators manage security by defining roles and then assigning users to those roles.
Security management is made more intuitive, it is role-based, and it is less time-consuming.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Instead of granting access to specific tables, fields, and menus, administrators can now grant access
according to roles and duties. The administrator defines the roles used in the organization and assigns
user to those roles.
If you are using a previous version of Microsoft Dynamics AX, your existing security setup cannot be
directly upgraded to role-based security. You must evaluate your current user groups and determine
the best way to implement them in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
To effectively use role-based security, you must plan and set up the roles that are needed for your
business. Work with the managers who oversee the different groups in the business to determine the
appropriate permission levels for roles. For example, work with a manager in the Finance department
to determine permission levels for Finance roles.

 Role-based security
31

Role-based security
Define user groups. No default user groups Default roles have been Security management
were provided. defined and are has been simplified.
available out of the box.
Set user group Administrators had to Default duties and Security management
permissions. determine which tables, privileges contain the has been simplified.
fields, and menu items tables, fields, and menu
were required to items required to
complete tasks, and complete tasks.
assign those items to Administrators assign
user groups. duties and privileges to
roles.
Reuse permissions User groups were After a role is defined, it Security management
across companies. defined in each can be used across has been simplified.
company, for each multiple companies and
functional role. organizations.
Filter columns that a Administrators Only the appropriate Security management

user has access to. determined which fields columns are included in has been simplified, and
to restrict. default duties and security is improved.
privileges.
Define permission levels Security keys were used Separate default Security management
(read only, create, to define permission privileges are defined has been simplified.
update, and delete). levels for user groups. for each permission
level.
Enforce regulatory and There were no built-in Administrators can set Security is improved.
procedural compliance. features to help prevent up rules for segregating
fraud and ensure duties to ensure that a
compliance. user does not gain
access to conflicting
duties.
Audit and report on Auditing was a manual Audit trails and reports Security management
security settings. task for administrators. to evaluate security has been simplified, and
setup are built into the security is improved.
application.
32

Data security
Data security in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 ensures that users have access only to the data that
they need to do their jobs. In previous versions, data security authorization was performed primarily
on the client; however, in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, more of the authorization is performed on the
server. The server sends the client only the information that the user has been granted access to,
resulting in increased data security.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
There are additional, more flexible options for restricting access to data in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012.

Security authorization has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 includes changes to the following:
 Extensible data security framework
 Server enforcement of security
Extensible data security framework

Use improved data Filters could not be A user can create data Security controls are
security filters. based on fields security policies based improved.
contained in a separate on data that is
table from the data contained in a different
being filtered. table.
Use data security based Not available Administrators can Security controls are
on effective date. specify whether users improved.
have access to past,
present, or future
records, with different
levels of access.
33

Server enforcement of security
Prevent users from All information was sent The server filters Security controls are
accessing unauthorized from the server to the information, and only improved.
data. client, and the client hid information that the
unauthorized fields from administrator grants the
the user. user access to is sent to
the client and to the
user.
Consistently enforce The Table Permissions TPF permissions can be Security controls are
security for all client Framework (TPF) was applied at the field improved.
types. used to deny access to level. More
tables. All data was sent authorization is
to the client, and performed on the
specific fields in client server, which helps
forms were hidden ensure that permissions
based on permissions. are consistently
Tables not protected by enforced, regardless of
TPF were freely the type of client.
accessible by code.
More information
More detailed information about Extensible Data Security (XDS) can be found in the white paper titled
Developing Extensible Data Security Policies.
34

Organization model
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 introduces new organizational modeling capabilities, which helps to make
your organizational structure easier to manage. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 supports more complex
business hierarchies and greater customization of details to better reflect your business structure.
Sharing data between organizations is also easier and more secure.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
More detailed hierarchy models can be created to better reflect your business structure and processes.
You can also more easily share data between organizations, including reference information, master
data, and transactions. Previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX had limited capabilities for
hierarchies and business modeling and did not share data between organizations, except in certain
cross-company and virtual company scenarios.
Before setting up the organizational structure, you should plan a hierarchy of organizations that
represents your business processes.
The organization model supports data sharing that you may have previously implemented by using
virtual companies. If you are currently using virtual companies, we recommend that you evaluate
whether the organization model meets your needs. Virtual companies are still necessary in some
situations.

The organization model has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft
 Hierarchy models
35

Hierarchy models
Create models for Each organization in the You can create legal You can create more
various types of business was created as entities and several accurate business
organizations. a “company,” regardless types of operational models.
of the type or hierarchy organizations.
of the organization.
Create organization Hierarchical The organization You can create more

hierarchies. relationships between hierarchy designer can accurate business
companies could not be reflect the hierarchical models.
represented. nature of your business.
Create multiple Not supported You can build Reporting can be more
operating unit specialized hierarchies complex and accurate.
hierarchies. to report on various
perspectives of the
business.
Share data between Users were required to Many tables are shared It is easier to access
organizations. create virtual by all organizations, so and share data.
companies to share users can access data in
data. those tables, regardless
of the company or
organization context.
Create data security Tasks could be Users can view or It is easier to set up
based on the performed only in the modify data in different security roles and
organization hierarchy. context of a company, organizational access.
and company structures, depending
information could only on the business process
be accessed when users they are working in,
were logged on to that rather than the
company. company they are
logged on to.
36

Analysis cubes
An analysis cube is a set of related measures and dimensions that is used to analyze data. Developers
can create reports and key performance indicators (KPIs) that are based on the analysis cube data.
Users can use the reports and KPIs in the client or from a Role Center to analyze the data that is
modeled in the analysis cube and to identify statuses and trends based on this analysis.
Overview
Item Description
Feature areas affected  Business intelligence
 Role Centers
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
In previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, analysis cubes required the user to have full license
keys and access to all data; otherwise, the configuration keys had to be modified through a lengthy
and difficult process. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, analysis cube settings are easier to modify to
suit business needs and security levels. It is easier to create or update SQL Server Analysis Services
(SSAS) projects by using the Analysis Services Project Wizard. It is also easier to model data by using
views in perspectives.
Default cubes are available in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. You can customize the default cubes or
create new custom analysis cubes by using the provided tools.

 Analysis Services Project Wizard
 Setup Wizard
 Workflow performance cube and reports
 EMS cube and Role Center
 Supply chain management cubes and dimensions
 OLAP modeling improvements
 Business Overview Web part
37

Analysis Services Project Wizard
Deploy and configure Default analysis cubes The SQL Server Analysis Analysis cube
cubes. required full license and Services Project Wizard deployment and Role
configuration keys. updates projects after Center implementation
configuration keys are are flexible and
modified. simplified.
Create or modify SQL The Business You can use the It is easier to maintain
Server Analysis Services intelligence project Analysis Services analysis cubes.
projects. generation options form Project Wizard to do the
was used to create or following:
modify SQL Server  Create a new SQL
Analysis Services Server Analysis
projects. Services project.
 Deploy an existing
SQL Server Analysis
Services project.
 Update an existing
SQL Server Analysis
Services project.
Setup Wizard
Install business Analytics were installed Installation of The installation and
intelligence without prerequisite prerequisite software is configuration processes
components. verifications. verified, and the user is are simplified.
prompted to select
default SQL Server
Reporting Services and
SQL Server Analysis
Services.
38

Workflow performance cube and reports
Use the workflow cube Not supported Data is provided to Inefficiencies are
to monitor business track the history and identified, and the
processes. current status of business can operate
business processes in more smoothly.
the user’s organization.
View workflow Not supported Reports on workflow Workflows are modified,

performance analysis performance are and performance is
reports. produced to determine optimized.
efficiency, and an
automated process is
compared with the
manual processes it
replaced.
Compare an automated Not supported The amount of work Workflow performance

workflow to manual that was completed by is optimized.
processes. the workflow and the
time required for
completion are
displayed.
EMS cube and Role Center

Track the environmental Not available Provides data to help Provides a proactive
impact of your track energy approach to
organization consumption and environmental issues.
greenhouse gas
emissions.
Supply chain management (SCM) cubes and dimensions

Slice on procurement Not supported The sales and Products can be
and sales categories. procurement category grouped in procurement
dimension slices and sales categories,
measures in the which can be organized
purchasing and sales into hierarchies.
cubes. Category
hierarchy levels adapt
to the provided
hierarchy data.
Slice on geographic Geographic slicing on A new geographic Users can drill down in
location. purchasing and sales dimension is available analysis cube measures,
cube measures could that directly slices on based on the address
only be done through the actual address in that is specific to the
the customer or vendor the fact table. source document that
dimension. the fact table is based
on.
39

OLAP modeling improvements
Define analysis cube Analysis cube measures Analysis cube measures The modeling
measures and and dimensions were and dimensions are experience is richer.
dimensions by using defined by using only defined by using tables
Microsoft Dynamics AX tables. and views.
views.
Add financial A limited number of Users can add any Analysis cubes are
dimensions to cubes. dimensions was number of financial easier to customize.
available. dimensions to analysis
cubes.
Define Gregorian SQL Server Business The Calendar builder is Modification of the time
calendars, and add Intelligence used to define the dimension and calendar
them to analysis cubes Development Studio calendar properties. properties is simplified.
as dimensions. was required to modify
the time dimension and
define the calendar
properties.
Add organization units, Default cubes contained Multiple company Analysis cubes are
such as operating units, limited company dimensions can be easier to customize.
profit centers, and dimensions. included.
departments, to
analysis cubes.
Use layer-based Not available Analysis projects are Customization is aligned

customization of saved to the AOT, and with the entire Microsoft
analysis projects. layer-based Dynamics AX
customizations can be development
imported or exported. experience.
Business Overview Web part

Use default cubes. ODC files were required ODC files are not Default cubes are easier
to connect to default required to connect to to use.
cubes. Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012 default cubes.
Slice key performance Not available Displayed KPIs can be Data can by sliced by
indicators (KPIs) by sliced by time. time.
time.
40

Reporting
Microsoft® SQL Server® Reporting Services is the primary reporting platform for Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012. The default, out-of-the-box reports that are provided with Microsoft Dynamics AX have been
converted to run on the Reporting Services platform.
Reporting Services is a server-based reporting platform that provides comprehensive reporting
functionality for a variety of data sources. Reporting Services includes a set of tools that you can use
to create, manage, and deliver reports, and APIs that developers can use to integrate or extend data
and report processing in custom applications. Reporting Services tools work within the Microsoft Visual
Studio environment, and interoperate with Microsoft SQL Server tools and components.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
The default, out-of-the-box reports that are provided with Microsoft Dynamics AX have been
converted to run on the Reporting Services platform. The Microsoft Dynamics AX reporting framework
has also been updated so that it is easier to develop new reports that run on the Reporting Services
platform.
Reports will not be upgraded from Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provides hundreds of default, out-of-the-box reports that you can deploy
and customize.
SQL Server Reporting Services reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

When you upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, existing Reporting Services reports are copied to
the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 system, but they are not upgraded. We recommend that you use a
Reporting Services report (provided with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012) as a template and customize it
to meet your needs.
X++ reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

The X++ reporting framework is being deprecated in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
When you upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, reports based on the X++ reporting framework
are copied to the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 system, but they are not upgraded. We recommend
that you use a Reporting Services report (provided with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012) as a template
and customize it to meet your needs.
41

 Installation
 Report deployment
 Reporting framework
Installation
Validate that Prerequisite software A tool is available that The installation process
prerequisites are had to be manually installs some of the is simplified, and you
installed. installed and verified. prerequisite software can make sure that the
for you and verifies that business intelligence
all prerequisites have components can be
been met. installed successfully.
Install SQL Server Kerberos authentication Kerberos authentication The installation process
Reporting Services and was required when SQL is not required. is simplified.
Enterprise Portal on Server Reporting
separate servers Services and Enterprise
without having to Portal were installed on
configure Kerberos separate servers.
authentication.
Report deployment
Deploy reports with The Microsoft Dynamics Windows PowerShell 2.0 The report deployment
Microsoft Windows AX Reporting Project is used to deploy process is simplified.
PowerShell™ 2.0. Deployment tool was reports.
used to deploy reports.
Deploy reports in When a single report When a single report is The report deployment
multiple languages. was deployed, 42 copies deployed, only one process is simplified and
of the report were version of the report is streamlined for
deployed—one for each deployed, and that organizations that must
language supported by version automatically support multiple
Microsoft Dynamics AX. works with all languages.
languages supported by
Microsoft Dynamics AX.
42

Reporting framework
Modify queries used by You could not modify You can modify the You can make sure that
the reports. the queries used by SQL queries used by SQL the Microsoft Dynamics
Server Reporting Server Reporting AX reporting framework
Services reports. Services reports. that is based on SQL
Server Reporting
Services meets your
business needs.
Create auto-reports. Auto-reports were Auto-reports are You can make sure that
generated by using the generated by using the the Microsoft Dynamics
legacy X++ reporting SQL Server Reporting AX reporting framework
framework. Services framework. that is based on SQL
Server Reporting
Services meets your
business needs.
Print reports as part of Only reports based on SQL Server Reporting You can make sure that
a batch. the legacy X++ Services reports can be the Microsoft Dynamics
reporting framework printed as part of a AX reporting framework
could be printed as part batch. that is based on SQL
of a batch. Server Reporting
Services meets your
business needs.
43

Report development
Access data for a AX Query, SQL DB, and AX Query is used for Data access and
report. OLAP were used for display methods, field performance are
data access. groups, and improved.
dimensions.
Process business logic DataMethods and The Report Data Data access and
for the data on a report. managed code were Provider (RDP) performance are
used. framework is used, improved.
which supports complex
business logic in X++
code.
Use .NET-enabled .NET Business You can create a Data access and
functionality. Connecter was used. custom service and performance are
access the service from improved.
a report.
Return large datasets DataMethods was used DataMethods and Data access and
for reports faster. to return DataTable. IEnumerable<DataRow performance are
> are used for large improved.
datasets.
Rely on the model for Security keys and .NET Auto-formatting based The creation of reports
automatic report RESX files were used on extended data types, is simplified.
functionality. instead of the AX Label AX labels in reports,
system. RTL auto-flipping, and
row-level security
improvements are
supported.
Experience an improved The X++ reporting Visual Studio 2010 is It is easy to find
report development framework and Visual used for enhancements developers who have
environment. Studio 2008 were used. to auto-design and .NET development
Dundas charts. experience to define or
modify reports. The
charting experience is
richer, and reports are
interactive.
44

Financial dimensions
Financial dimensions are data classifiers that are used for financial reporting. They identify
information, such as the purpose, cost center, and department. Financial dimensions have changed
considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.
Overview
Item Description
topic.
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Financial dimensions are now more easily tailored to fit your needs. Many aspects of the data entry
process have been streamlined and simplified, and you can view more detailed information about
transactions and financial information.
There are steps in the Pre-upgrade checklist that you must complete before you can upgrade to
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, you could create ledger account
categories and financial dimensions for each company. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the main
account categories and financial dimensions that you create are shared and can be used by any of the
legal entities that are set up in Microsoft Dynamics AX. Therefore, you must select the main account
categories and financial dimension sets that can be shared between the legal entities.
Dimension focuses have been renamed to financial dimension sets. Financial dimension sets are
shared by all of the legal entities that are set up in the Legal entities form. Financial dimension sets in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 are not the same as the dimension sets in previous versions of Microsoft
Dynamics AX.

Financial dimensions have changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. The dimensions
framework from previous versions has been removed, and the financial dimensions framework in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is new. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 also includes changes to the
following:
 Financial dimensions
 Charts of accounts
 Account structures
 Account dimension values on transactions
 Financial statements and reporting
 Analyzing ledger cubes
45

Financial dimensions
Add unlimited financial Users could create a Users can create an Accounting tracking and
dimensions. limited number of unlimited number of reporting can be more
financial dimensions: financial dimensions. complex.
 3 default
 7 user-defined
Create financial Financial dimensions Financial dimensions Creating and using

dimensions more easily. were created one at a can be created by using financial dimensions is
time, using a wizard a form, similarly to the easier.
that required the user way other base data
to compile and setup tasks are
synchronize in order for performed.
the dimension changes
to take effect.
Rename default Renaming the default Users can create and Modifying default
financial dimensions. financial dimensions rename any financial financial dimensions is
was complicated and dimension without easy and does not
often required IT assistance from IT. require customizations.
assistance.
Link financial When users wanted to Users can link a Using financial
dimensions to an entity. track an existing entity, financial dimension to dimensions is easier.
such as a customer, an entity within the
vendor, or site, as a system and use the
dimension, they also values of the entities as
had to manually define the financial dimension
every entity instance as themselves.
a financial dimension
value.
Define a date range for Users could not define a A date range can be There are additional
financial dimension date range to specify entered on each controls for date-
values. when financial financial dimension sensitive activities.
dimension values could value.
be entered or posted on
transactions.
46

Charts of accounts
Set up a chart of Charts of accounts were You can use the same Creating and using the
accounts, and use it for specific to one legal chart of accounts for charts of accounts is
all legal entities in your entity. multiple legal entities. easier.
organization.
Account structures
Include a financial Users could not assign a A financial dimension Using financial
dimension as a segment dimension to one or can be included in one dimensions is easier.
in one or more account more dimension sets. or more account
structures. structures.
Set up an account The process of setting The process of setting Configuring an account
structure more easily. up an account structure up an account structure structure is easier.
was complex and is easier, and the
required several steps number of steps
to complete. required to do so is
reduced.
View a valid date range No date range was An active date range There are additional
for a dimension value available to tell users can be entered on a controls for date-
combination. when a dimension value node of an account sensitive activities.
combination could be structure.
used on a transaction.
View required All dimensions were Users can define an The data entry process
dimensions. displayed to the user at unlimited number of is improved.
all times, with no visual account structures. A
indication of which user can assign a range
dimension needed to be of main account
filled in. numbers to an account
structure, but each
main account number
instance can only be
assigned to one account
structure.
Account dimension values on transactions

Enter the main account The dimensions were You can use the new The data entry process
numbers and displayed and entered account number entry is improved.
dimensions in the same on a separate tab, control to enter a main
location. breaking the flow of account and dimension
data entry. in the same location.
47

Financial statements and reporting
Print financial Users could not print Users can print financial Users can use all of the
statements to financial statements to statements to Microsoft features in Microsoft
Microsoft® Excel®. Microsoft Excel. Excel. Excel.
Analyzing ledger cubes

View detailed financial Only three default All dimensions created Financial analysis can
dimensions. dimensions were within Microsoft be more detailed.
available for analysis in Dynamics AX are
the cubes. available within the
financial cubes.
More information
More detailed information about Financial Dimensions can be found in the white paper titled
Implementing the Account and Financial Dimensions Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
Applications.
48

Budgeting and budget control
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, budgeting was primarily informational. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
provides budgeting and budget control solutions for public and private sector organizations. Budget
register entries have replaced ledger budget tables and are available in workflows that can be used for
routing and review.
Budget control is a process that monitors a budget, and that can provide feedback about the
availability of funds during the entry of budget register entries, accounting journals, and source
documents such as purchase orders and invoices. Although budgeting and budget control are
important to any organization that wants to control spending, they are of particular interest to public
sector organizations because their budgets are often enacted into law and cannot be easily exceeded
or revised.
Overview
Item Description
Feature areas affected  Enterprise Portal (Budget
manager\analyst Role Center)
 Budgeting
 Public sector
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Budget register entries are now used to formulate budgets and provide an audit trail of budget-related
activities. Budget register entries can be categorized by transaction type, such as amendment,
transfer, and original budget, so that you can quickly understand how a budget has changed.
Workflows can ensure that budget register entries undergo a review process. Existing Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009 ledger budget records are converted to budget register entries in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012.
Budget control is based on the ledger for a legal entity and can be defined by a user to monitor
budgets and to provide feedback about the availability of funds. Users can define the calculation that
determines the budget funds that are available and specify dimensions and dimension values
separately from a main account for budget control.
There are three system configurations for budgeting and budget control:
 Basic configuration provides budget register entries and workflows.
 Advanced configuration adds budget control.
 Public sector configuration adds apportionment and preliminary budget register entries.
49

 Budget manager/analyst Role Center
 Financial dimensions for budgeting and budget control
 Budget rate type and exchange rates
 Budget models
 Budget cycles
 Budget control configuration
 Budget control on source documents and accounting journals
 Budget register entries
 Workflow for budget register entries
 Budget transfer rules
 Budget transfers, allocations, and recurrences
 Budget reports and inquiries
 Web services interface for budget register entries
Budget manager/analyst Role Center

Perform common tasks, Not available Budget managers can Key forms and
and view frequently access the commonly information are
used forms and reports used forms, FactBoxes, consolidated into a
from a single location. charts, reports, single location.
activities, and work
items that they need to
complete daily tasks
and make informed
decisions.
Financial dimensions for budgeting and budget control

Select financial Only a limited number Users can include or Budgeting and account
dimensions in the chart of financial dimensions exclude specific number entry are
of accounts for was provided. dimensions, including easier.
budgeting. main accounts, for
budgeting.
Select dimensions from The budget was always Users can specify Selecting specific
the account structure in available at a main dimension values to dimensions, including
the chart of accounts account level, with the hold budget amounts, main accounts, for
for budget control. option of adding without regard to their budget control is
dimensions. specific usage in main flexible.
accounts.
50

Budget rate type and exchange rates
Create a budget rate Not available Users can define Creating and
type, and associate currency pairs and maintaining exchange
exchange rates. associate exchange rates specifically for
rates with the default budgets is easier.
budget rate type for the
ledger.
Budget models
Identify a budget by Budget models were Budget models can be Categorizing budget
associating it with a used to identify used to identify register entries,
budget model. budgets. budgets. identifying budgets, and
assigning budget cycles
are easier.
Use budget models to Budget models were Budget models can be You can run simulations
structure ledger used for simulations and used for simulations and and compare budget
budgets and develop forecasts. budget forecasts. forecasts.
budget forecasts.
Build complex budget Budget models and Submodels can Budget planning and
models by using submodels were used to represent departments the ability to produce
submodels for planning aggregate budget or a variety of other reports with
and reporting. amounts. organizational entities. consolidated balances
are flexible.
Budget cycles
Create a budget cycle Not available Users can map the Budget control can be
time span with one or budget cycle time span implemented for part of
more budget cycles that to a fiscal year or a fiscal year or over one
can be used across legal specify the number of or more fiscal years.
entities. accounting periods that
each budget cycle
represents.
51

Budget control configuration
Define parameters and Not available Dimensions and default Budget control options
dimensions for budget parameters for budget are centralized.
control. control are defined in
one location.
Select the default over- Not available Users can assign Handling over-budget
budget permissions for options for user groups processing for specific
user groups. to allow or prevent user groups is flexible.
over-budget processing
of source documents
and accounting
journals.
Define the calculation Not available Users can determine the Customization of the
for the budget funds amounts that are added calculation for available
that are available. and subtracted for the budget funds is
calculation that simplified.
determines the
available budgets funds.
Determine the source Not available Budget checking can be The processing of
documents and used for source specified source
accounting journals for documents and account documents and
budget control. journals at the header accounting journals is
level or the line item controlled.
entry.
Assign budget models Not available Users can implement Implementing budgets
to budget cycles and one or more budget is flexible.
budget cycle time models and budget
spans. cycles, so that, for
example, a capital
expenditure budget
model and an operating
budget model can be
used for budget control.
Define budget control Not available Users can define rules Defining dimension
rules. for specific dimensions, values and parameters
over-budget for budget control is
permissions, and flexible.
parameters.
Select main accounts Not available When a main account is It is easier to implement
for budget control. not selected as a budget budget control for
control dimension, users dimensions and main
can select specific main accounts.
accounts for the
application of budget
control rules.
Define budget groups. Not available Users can set up budget Implementing budget
checking for pooled control for dimensions
dimensions and and dimension values is
accounts. flexible.
Modify, activate, Not available Users can control the The implementation and
restore, and turn on the active budget control administration of
budget control configuration and budget control are
configuration. modify a draft version. simplified.
52

Budget control on source documents and accounting journals
Run budget checks Not available Source documents Over-budget processing
when line items are include purchase is controlled or
entered, or postpone requisitions, purchase prevented.
the budget check until orders, vendor invoices,
an action, such as an travel requisitions, and
approval, is taken on expense reports.
the source document.
Run budget checks Not available Accounting journals Over-budget processing

when each general include daily journals, is controlled or
journal line is entered, allocation journals, prevented.
or postpone the budget project expense
check until the journal journals, and fixed
is posted. asset journals.
Budget register entries

Use budget register Ledger budget tables Users can define one or Users can track,
entries to formulate and provided static storage more codes for the categorize, and audit
manage budgets. for budget records. following budget budget register entries.
transaction types:
original budget,
transfer, amendment,
encumbrance, pre-
encumbrance, carry-
forward, project, fixed
assets, demand
forecast, supply
forecast, apportionment
(Public sector), and
preliminary budget
(Public sector).
Use subledger budget Users could not track Users can transfer Transferring forecasts
transaction types when the transfer of budgets forecasts for projects, ledgers is simplified.
budget forecasts are from subledgers to the fixed assets, demand
transferred to the general ledger. forecasts (inventory
general ledger. sales), and supply
forecasts (inventory
purchasing).
For the public sector, Not available Users can define codes Public sector
use preliminary budgets for apportionment and organizations can use
and apportionment preliminary budget preliminary budgets for
budgets. register entries. budget control and
apportion part of an
approved budget.
Create posting Not available When budget register Budget register entries
definitions for budget entries are processed, can be automatically
register entries. posting definitions can posted to a ledger.
create ledger entries for
multiple accounts.
53

Workflow for budget register entries
Set up budget Not available Budget register entries Routing and reviewing
transaction workflows. associated with a budget register entries
workflow are are easier.
automatically routed for
review.
Budget transfer rules

Define budget transfer Not available Budget transfer rules Budget transfers are
rules. determine when budget controlled.
transfers between
dimensions can occur.
Budget transfers, allocations, and recurrences

Transfer budget Not available When budget control is Transferring budget
amounts. turned on, users can amounts is flexible.
transfer budget
amounts while entering
other budget register
entries, or they can
transfer budget
amounts from source
documents and
accounting journals.
Allocate budget funds Users could only Users can spread a Creating budget
by dimension or period. allocate funds by period budget amount across allocation transactions
or dimension during dimension values or is easier.
budget entry. fiscal periods by using a
single transaction.
Enter a recurrence Users could create Users can create Creating recurring
pattern for budget recurring budget recurring budget budget register entries
register entries. expenses. register entries. is easier.
54

Budget reports and inquiries
Use reports and The Actual versus Users can set Users can view,
inquiries to view budget budget report was parameters to sort and analyze, track, and
register entries, budget available. categorize budget data audit available budget
control statistics, and in the following reports amounts, actual versus
budget funds. and inquires: budgeted expenditures,
 Budget funds budget register entries,
available report and budget control
statistics.
 Actual versus
budget report and
inquiry
 Budget detail report
 Budget control
statistics inquiry
Web services interface to budget register entries

Create, retrieve, and Not available Users can generate and Budget register entries
update budget register import the XML for that were created with
entries from third-party budget register entries. external budget
applications formulation tools can be
used.
More information
More detailed information about budgeting can be found in the white papers titled Implementing the
Budget Control Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Applications and Implementing Budgeting
for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Applications.
55

Ledger and subledger lines and distributions
Accounting distributions and subledger journal entries are the foundational pieces of the new
accounting framework. Accounting distributions enable a user to define how amounts on a source
document impact account balances, such as ledger accounts in General ledger or projects. A subledger
journal entry is the accounting entry created for a source document. The subledger journal entry
remains in the subledger and can be previewed before a source document is journalized.
With the addition of subledger journal entries, additional performance optimization and summarization
rules can be defined for the transfer of the subledger journal entries to General ledger. The transfer
process can be defined to occur synchronously or asynchronously. During the transfer process, a user
also has the option to summarize the subledger journal entries for similar source documents to reduce
the quantity of data in General ledger.
Overview
Item Description
depending on how you run your business. The
functionality is always enabled, but if your
business requires no modifications to default
ledger accounts, you can choose to not use the
functionality.
Feature areas affected  Procurement and sourcing
 Accounts payable
 Accounts receivable
 Travel and expense
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Before you journalize a source document, you can preview the accounting entry to verify that the
amounts are being journalized to the correct ledger accounts. This view of the accounting entry is
called a subledger journal entry.
You cannot modify subledger journal entries directly. To modify subledger journal entries, you must
correct the accounting distributions, posting profile, or posting definitions. Accounting distributions are
used to define how an amount is accounted for, such as which revenue or expense ledger account an
amount is posted to in General ledger. The primary information about an accounting distribution is the
amount on the source document line and the ledger account for which that amount is distributed.
When there are common patterns that you use to distribute amounts on a source document line, you
can use a template of percentage and dimension value combinations. The information in the template
is used to create the accounting distributions for amounts on a source document line.
56

 You cannot split accounting distributions for stocked items or fixed assets.
 Existing posting profiles are used, so additional setup is not required.
 You can set up asynchronous and summarization options.
 New terminology is used in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, as shown in the following table.
Microsoft Microsoft
Dynamics Dynamics AX Definition
AX 2009 2012
To record a documented business event in the
Journalize
subledger journal.
To record the monetary value of an economic
Post event in a specific account, or to summarize
Post and reclassify general and subsidiary journal
account entries into general and subsidiary
ledger account entries.
An original record that evidences the
Source document
occurrence of one or more business events.
Transaction
Journal entry A record of a business event.
Transaction A social or physical economic exchange action.

The accounting distribution and subledger journal entry functionality is new in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012 and has been implemented in the following source documents:
 Purchase requisitions
 Purchase orders
 Product receipts (previously called PO packing slips)
 Vendor invoices
 Free text invoices
 Travel requisitions
 Expense reports
57

Accounting distributions and subledger journal entries
Preview the accounting There was limited The full accounting Period-end adjustments
entry of a source visibility of what was entry is displayed in all through a general
document before actually journalized and currencies before it is journal are minimized.
journalizing it in the transferred to General journalized and
subledger and ledger. transferred to General
transferring it to ledger.
General ledger.
Use a template to Not available Templates can be Data entry is simplified.

define accounting created for financial
distributions. dimension values, but
not the main account,
to create accounting
distributions.
Distribute an amount by Not available An amount can be A user can define the
using various allocation distributed by amount, allocation factor that is
factors. by percentage, by used to distribute an
quantity, or equally. amount.
Have the flexibility to Batches were available, Batches are Processing is postponed
define a batch for each but they had to be automatically created or to maximize
source document type, manually assigned to defined by a user, and responsiveness.
so that you can transfer each source document. are automatically Therefore, data entry is
to General ledger. assigned to a source faster.
document type.
Define how the amount Not available Users do not have to Operations, not
on one source enter a separate source accounting, determines
document line can be document line for each how a source document
accounted to more than operating unit. Instead, is recorded.
one ledger account. one line is created, and
the accounting
distribution is split.
Define accounting Not available Accounting distributions The correct persona

distributions on an defined on a purchase defines how an amount
upstream source requisition are used to should be accounted for
document. determine the and consistently used in
accounting distributions the lifecycle of the
for all downstream business event.
source documents
(purchase orders,
product receipts, and
vendor invoices).
Support accounting for Accounting for If a source document The appropriate

intercompany intercompany supports intercompany intercompany
transactions. transactions was transactions, the accounting entries are
available only in appropriate due to/due consistently created for
journals. from account entries any source document
are created in the that supports
subledger journal entry. intercompany
transactions.
58

Integrate accounting Not available Source documents that Operations, not project
distributions and project support project accounting, determines
accounting. accounting can use the how a source document
accounting distributions is recorded.
to define how the
amount is distributed to
projects.
Validate and reserve Not available A user can define Purchases are
budget, based on the budget control rules and guaranteed to be within
accounting distribution use those rules when budget.
information. entering source
documents.
59

Taxes
Sales tax processing in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has been updated to help organizations comply
with applicable tax laws in numerous countries/regions, including the European Union’s 2010
regulations on value-added tax (VAT) for services. EU sales list reporting has been updated to comply
with these changes. Tax rates can now allow up to five decimal places. Changes to calculated taxes for
selected source documents are now saved before the source document is journalized. Changes to
calculated taxes for selected journals are now saved before the journal entries are posted.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
Feature areas affected  Journals: General journal, Invoice journal,
Invoice register, Invoice approval journal,
Promissory note journals, Bill of exchange
journals, Project expense journal
 Source Documents: Customer invoices,
Free text invoices, Purchase requisitions,
Purchase orders, Product receipts, Project
invoices, Travel expense reports, Vendor
invoices
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Tax rates that contain up to five decimal places can be used.
On January 1, 2010, changes to the rules that govern the place of supply of services took effect.
These changes also affect the simplified compliance requirements for European Union (EU) businesses
that provide VAT-taxable services in multiple EU member states.
Changes to EU sales list reporting provide more detailed reporting by item, service, or investment
amounts.
You must understand how the sales tax functionality in Microsoft Dynamics AX works. For more
information, search for “Setting up sales tax codes” and “Setting up sales tax” using the Microsoft
Dynamics AX Websearch tool.

Taxes have changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
includes changes to the following:
 Tax rate decimal places for sales tax codes
 Save calculated taxes before source documents or journals are posted
 Value-added tax (VAT) package for services
 EU sales list transfer functions reporting
60

Tax rate decimal places for sales tax codes
Use more than two Tax rates with three or Tax rates can contain Helps organizations
decimal places for tax more decimal places, up to five decimal comply with local, state,
rates. such as 0.125, were places. and federal
rounded to two decimal requirements in various
places, such as 0.13. countries/regions.
Save calculated taxes before source documents or journals are posted

Modify and save Taxes were recalculated You can change Usability is improved.
calculated tax amounts every time a source calculated taxes for a
for the following source document was opened, source document, and
documents: and changes were not the changes are saved,
 Free text invoice saved until the source even if the source
document was posted document is not
 Purchase (journalized). immediately
requisition journalized.
 Purchase order
 Product receipt
 Vendor invoice
 Travel expense
report
Modify and save Taxes were recalculated You can change Usability is improved.
calculated tax amounts every time a journal calculated taxes for a
for the following entry was opened, and journal entry, and the
journals: changes were not saved changes are saved,
 General journal until the journal entry even if the journal is not
was posted. immediately posted.
 Invoice journal
 Invoice register
 Invoice approval
journal
 Promissory note
journals
 Bill of exchange
journals
 Project expense
journal
Clear saved sales tax Not available If necessary, you can Improved usability for
amounts for a sales tax clear the saved tax organization compliance
code or sales tax group. amounts for a sales tax with tax regulations.
code, sales tax group,
or item sales tax group.
Optionally hide sales tax Not available For each journal name, Performance is
amounts on journal you can select whether improved.
entry forms. to hide or show sales
tax amounts on journal
entry forms.
61

Value-added tax (VAT) package for services
Set up place-of-supply This feature was Users can set up Facilitates an
rules for services. available as a regulatory different item sales tax organization’s
feature update for the groups, and assign the compliance with
affected correct reporting type European Union (EU)
countries/regions. (item, service, or regulations.
investment).
Set up EU sales list This feature was Services, investments, Facilitates an

reports. available as a regulatory and items are listed on organization’s
feature update for the EU sales list reports. compliance with
affected European Union (EU)
countries/regions. regulations.
Sell services across This feature was Invoices are processed Rates are automatically
country/region borders. available as a regulatory by using appropriate calculated.
feature update for the VAT rates for item and
affected service products.
countries/regions.
EU sales list transfer functions reporting

Include line amounts for Only line amounts that Users can include line Facilitates an
services. included items could be amounts for lines that organization’s
transferred to the EU use an item sales tax compliance with
sales list. group that has a European Union (EU)
reporting type of regulations.
Service.
Include line amounts for Not available Users can include line Facilitates an
investments. amounts for lines that organization’s
use an item sales tax compliance with
group that has a European Union (EU)
reporting type of regulations.
Investment.
62

Time zones
Microsoft Dynamics AX is designed to support businesses that operate in multiple countries/regions
and operate in multiple time zones. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 can more easily support users in
multiple time zones.
Overview
Item Description
topic.
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX did not easily support multiple time zone data, but in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, it is easier to set and change time zone preferences, synchronize time
zone preferences with local time zones, and view different time zone information for transactions.
Current time zone calculations are all based either on the time zone of the central AOS or on a single
time zone. A default time zone must be assigned for each company.

Time zone information and support has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 includes changes to the following:
 Multiple time zone support
 Time zone settings form
 Datetime fields
63

Multiple time zone support
Change time zones on Not supported Users can change time It is easy to view
orders and reports. zone preferences when different time zone
displaying transaction information for orders.
information, such as
datetime information in
the time zone where
transactions occur or
where the user is
located, or according to
the business logic.
Customize time zone Custom time zones Users can create Time zone settings can
options. were not recognized or custom time zones, and be customized
monitored. users are notified when according to business
those time zones are needs.
changed or are not
synchronized.
Time zone settings form

Identify the preferred Not supported Individual users can set Customization can be
time zone. time zone preferences performed, and the data
without affecting the entry process for users
central AOS time zone. is improved.
Synchronize the Not supported Users can temporarily The data entry and
preferred time zone with change time zone viewing processes are
the local time zone when settings without altering improved.
travelling. their normal time zone
preferences.
Automatically convert Datetime fields from the Datetime information is You can be sure of the
time zones. AOS time zone had to automatically converted accuracy of datetime
be manually converted between the AOS time information.
to local time. zone and the local time
zone.
64

Datetime fields
Automatically merge Information could only Date and time fields are Data is automatically
date and time fields into be entered as a date or automatically merged converted or upgraded.
datetime. time, and no time zone into datetime
information was information for time
available. zone support. Data does
not have to be re-
entered.
Extend the datetime Datetime was not Data up to milliseconds You can be sure of the
type to milliseconds. available. can be used, to accuracy of logs and
synchronize with .NET audit trails.
and SQL datetime
types.
Automatically update UTC values had to be Datetime UTC values UTC values always
fields with UTCNow. manually generated in are automatically remain accurate and
the database. generated in the current.
database.
Use different types of Transactions contained Transactions are Additional options are
date and time data on only date or time entry recorded by using date provided, and the
transactions. fields, and there was no (date only), time (time accuracy of data is
time zone information. only), or datetime (date improved.
and time) information
about transactions.
Use custom rules in the Not available Datetime fields can be Customization can be
datetime control. displayed in various performed according to
time zone settings. customer needs.
65

Address book
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the address book functionality has been enhanced. You can now
create multiple address books instead of creating virtual companies, and you can control access to
address books by granting privileges based on teams or legal entities. Additionally, your Human
resources department can now create applicant records directly from the Applicant form.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
Feature areas affected Accounts payable
Accounts receivable
Human resources
Sales and marketing
Stakeholders Implementation team members
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, you can define any number of address books and assign teams or
legal entities to them, so that you can control which workers have access to specific address books.
You can also select whether to enforce policies for a specific address book or for all address books in a
legal entity within your organization.
Human resource applicant records can be created from the Applicant form and stored in the address
book.

The global address book has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft
 Functionality
 Security
 Applicant records
66

Functionality
Set effective dates for No effective date Users can set effective Information is kept up
information. information was date ranges for names to date.
provided for names or and locations, and
locations. communication
information for vendors,
employees, and
transactions.
Have multiple address Only one address book An organization can Party records can be
books. could be created per create multiple address organized by record
virtual company. books to store common type, and specific party
party records in the records can be made
same place. available only to specific
teams or legal entities.
Synchronize with Only minimal address Contact synchronization Party records can
Microsoft® Outlook®. information was with Microsoft Outlook contain address records
synchronized. is enhanced, and that are used by the
multiple address party for more than one
purposes can be defined reason.
for multiple addresses.
Security
Secure party data Security information was Permissions to address Security settings for
according to user roles. based on the companies books are granted address book
that the user had access based on users’ teams permissions are tighter
to. or legal entities. and more specialized.
Import address Table import was used to Data is validated when Data is validated when
reference data. import address reference it is entered, and users it is entered and can be
data. can set a default used to set default
address based on addresses.
ZIP/postal codes.
67

Applicant records
Create records for new Not supported Users can enter Processing applications
applicants, existing application and new is streamlined.
applicants, and existing applicant information,
workers. and can modify existing
applicant and existing
worker records.
Create an application Applications were Applications are Creating applications is

for an existing associated with associated only with streamlined.
applicant. applicants, employees, applicants, and
and contacts. applicant records can be
created directly from
the Applicant form.
Create an applicant Applicant information Applicant records can Manual data entry is
record by using could only be entered be created for an reduced for applicants
information from an manually. existing address book whose information is
existing address book party record. already stored in the
record. address book.
More information
For more information about the address book framework, see the whitepaper titled Implementing the
address book framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 applications.
68

Products
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, new products can be defined and released to individual companies.
Also, an item is now always based on a product definition. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, items could
be created without using a formalized definition process.
Overview
Item Description
feature in a previous version of Microsoft
Dynamics AX, significant changes have been
made to it, and you must review this topic.
Feature areas affected  Inventory management
 Product information management
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
A product definition level is added as a mandatory step in the item creation process, and all items are
associated with a product definition.
Items are based on product definitions, so product definitions are required for all items in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012.

The inventory process has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft
 Products and product variants
 Product release
 Product translations
 New division of the inventory dimension group
69

Products and product variants
Create and maintain Not available, because Items are always based Creating products is
definitions for products item definitions were on product definitions, centralized, and all of
and master definitions created directly in the and product definitions the products and
for sets of products at item table. can be shared across product variants that
the shared company companies. are available in the
level. entire organization are
displayed.
Generate product Available as item New items can be An overview is provided

variants based on dimension created as product of the product variants
product masters. combinations, however, variants, which are that are traded.
it is difficult to based on an associated
administer which legal product dimension
entities have access to setup.
which variants.
Configure product Available, but does not Product definitions A user can control the
variants by using a include the include information configuration strategy
product configuration configuration about when and how of an item through the
technology. technology option. variants are configured. product definition.
Standardize items by Not available A product definition A product definition

using product definition record can be saved as template can be used to
templates. a template. help standardize items.
Product release
Share product Not available Product definitions can A product repository
definitions across be authorized for use in can be centrally
companies. multiple companies. controlled.
Maintain open product Not available A release can be The release process and
releases. repeated after an error the timing of product
is corrected, or the releases can be
release of a product can controlled.
be postponed.
Product translations
Translate product Only product Product names, product Accommodates a better
names and information. descriptions were variant names, and the understanding of the
translated. description attributes actual product
for a product definition definition.
are displayed on a
customer invoice.
70

New division of the inventory dimension group
Set up separate Items were associated The setup of inventory The setup of the storage
product, storage, and with one inventory dimensions for items is and tracking dimension
tracking dimension dimension group, where flexible and involves groups can be either
groups. all three types of separate specification of centralized or
dimensions were set up. the following: decentralized.
 Product dimensions
for item
characteristics that
are associated with
the product
definition
 Storage and tracking
dimensions for a
location-specific
setup that is
associated with the
physical handling of
items in companies.
More information
For more information about Item-Product data, seethe white paper titled Implementing the Item-
Product data management framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Applications.
71

Employees
Employees are now a type of worker. A worker can be a person who is either a contractor or an
employee. Multiple tables throughout Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 have been renamed or changed to
reflect this change in the conceptual model.
Overview
Item Description
feature in a previous version of Microsoft
Dynamics AX, significant changes have been
made to it, and you must review this topic.
Feature areas affected Human resources
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
Enhanced effective date patterns have been added to track past, current, and future transactions that
relate to the worker record. You also can hire, transfer, and terminate workers more easily now.
It is easier to move a worker’s employment records from one legal entity to another, and it is easier to
track a worker’s employment history.
Employees and contractors are now shared entities. The worker table (HcmWorker) is no longer
assigned to a specific data area ID. You can use the employment record (HcmEmployment) to assign a
worker to multiple legal entities. You can also use XDS security policies to mimic containment of the
worker data by legal entity.
The following information must also be considered:
 You can use security roles to provide self-service capabilities for workers through Enterprise
Portal.
 Worker status is now derived from employment status.
 Work centers are no longer part of the Employee table.
 Competencies are associated with the person, not with the virtual network. Also, competencies
are shared across legal entities.
 The Delete personal information option in the Employee Wizard has been removed.
 You can still assign absence and compensation functionality to a data area ID. Therefore, the
absence and compensation functionality is contained through the current legal entity context.
When you modify absence and compensation information for a worker, you must be logged on
to the legal entity that you want to record the absence and compensation records in.
72

 Human resources
 Signature authority
 Inventory
Human resources
Hire applicants as Multiple steps were Fewer manual steps are You can be sure that
workers. required to complete required to hire an new hires are properly
the hiring process. applicant. onboarded into the
organization.
Terminate a worker’s Multiple steps were Fewer manual steps are There may be fewer
employment. required to complete required to terminate a errors in reporting,
the termination process. worker’s employment. compensation, and
payroll after a worker’s
employment is
terminated.
View an employee’s Not supported Users can track past, A comprehensive

history. current, and future historical record of the
transactions related to a worker’s employment
worker’s employment history is displayed.
history.
Transfer a worker to a Multiple steps were The process for You can be sure that
new position. required to complete transferring workers workers are properly
the transfer process. from one position to transferred, and that
another is streamlined, hiring managers have
and the transfer history the information that
is recorded. they need to manage
this step of the
transition process.
Move a worker’s Multiple steps were Fewer manual steps are This process is more
employment from one required to move an required to move a intuitive, and less
legal entity to another. employee from one worker from one legal manual work is required
legal entity to another entity to another legal to move a worker’s
legal entity. entity. employment record
from one legal entity to
another legal entity.
View human resources Not supported You can view human You do not have to log
reports that contain resources reports that on to a different legal
information from include information entity to view reports
multiple legal entities. from multiple legal for that legal entity.
entities.
73

Signature authority
Grant spending Basic support was Advanced configuration Companies can enforce
authority to employees provided for spending and administration corporate spending and
for business expenses, and approval limits. capabilities are added. approval limits at a
and grant approval more granular level.
authority to managers
for approving business
expenses.
Submit self-service Not supported Employees can request The process for
requests for spending a signing limit for requesting and
and approval limits. business expenses, and approving spending and
managers can request approval limits by using
an approval limit via the workflow is automated
employee portal. and simplified.
More information
For more information about Employees and the Human Resources Framework can be found in the
white paper titled Implementing and Updating the Human Resources Framework for Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 Applications.
74

Help server
Whereas previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX provided Help documentation through files
stored on each client computer, the Help system in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is client-server-
based. The primary component of the Help system is the Help server, an Internet Information
Services (IIS) virtual application running inside your network. The Help server stores and manages the
Help files that are shipped with the product, and custom Help files written for your Microsoft Dynamics
AX implementation. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 also includes a Help viewer, which is accessed
through the Microsoft Dynamics AX client, and displays Help topics. You can search the documentation
hosted by the Help server. The Help viewer also provides access to additional Microsoft Dynamics AX
Help hosted on the World Wide Web.
Overview
Item Description
Required Yes
Feature areas affected  Architecture
 Client
 Installation
 Upgrade
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
The architecture of the Help system provides the following benefits:
 You can more easily add custom topics to the Help system.
 You can enable anyone in your organization to create Help documentation.
 You can more easily apply and distribute documentation updates from Microsoft, a partner, or
any other publisher.
 You can use search to view Help documentation that is located on your network or on the web.
The Help server must be installed on a computer that is running Internet Information Services (IIS).
When a Help topic is requested by a Microsoft Dynamics AX client, the request is sent to the Help
server. The Help server locates the topic and sends it to the client, so that it can be displayed in the
Help viewer on the client computer.
To enable the customization of Help documentation, you must add a folder to the Help server and
instruct writers to place documentation files there. A writer who publishes documentation must have
security permissions to copy files to that folder.
75

The Help system has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Microsoft Dynamics AX
 Addition of the Help server
 Help documentation from multiple sources
 Enhanced search capabilities
 Custom Help documentation
Addition of the Help server

Create Help Changes to Help topics Users, system You can use HTML or
documentation that were possible but administrators, and Microsoft Word
replaces or supplements cumbersome, and developers can create documents to create
the topics provided by required recompilation and publish files that custom Help
Microsoft. of the .chm files. contain customized Help documentation that
documentation. reflects the needs of
your organization.
Distribute updates to You had to install the Documentation updates You can more easily
the Help documentation updated .chm file on are available to all client manage your Help
to users. each client computer. computers when the documentation and
update is installed in a ensure that each client
single location on the has access to the same
Help server. documentation.
Install the Help server Not applicable The Help server is a The installation process
during the installation new core component. is simplified.
or upgrade of Microsoft
Dynamics AX.
Help documentation from multiple sources

View Help Adding documentation The Help viewer Users can access all of
documentation to the .chm files was automatically retrieves the documentation for a
produced by more than difficult, so Help documentation from all topic, and the
one publisher. documentation was publishers. documentation can
often located in automatically include
separate files. documentation from
Microsoft, partners,
developers, and writers
in your organization.
View network-hosted Help topics were The Help system is a The deployment and
Help files. packaged into .chm files client-server-based maintenance of Help
that had to be installed system, and topics are documentation is
on each client hosted on a server simplified.
computer. inside your network.
Access web-based help Although links in the The Help viewer Help can include more
in the Help viewer. .chm files could retrieve provides links to web- specialized or up-to-
web-based help, you based help, and you can date documentation
could not use search to use it to search for from the web.
include content from the content on the web.
web.
76

Enhanced search capabilities
Add keywords to Help Changes were possible Search on the Help Search results are more
topics to improve topic but required server is powered by accurate, informative,
discoverability. recompilation of the the Windows Search and resemble results
.chm files Service, which supports from web search
customizable keyword engines.
searching and full text
searching.
View rich search results. Search results from the Search results contain You can quickly find the
.chm files were lists of topic titles, topic documentation that
titles without summaries, and links to applies to your search
summaries. additional sources of request. In addition, the
Help documentation. search terms that you
enter are automatically
passed along if you
move to a web search.
Use search from the Not supported The search results of You can use search in
Microsoft Dynamics AX the client application the client application to
client application to find include relevant Help find documentation
Help topics. topics. about a specific task or
object.
Filter searches by You could not use the You can filter search You can use filters to
publisher or type of search capabilities of results in the Help limit search results to
documentation. the .chm files to filter viewer. documents from a
searches by publisher or specific publisher. In
document type. addition, you can
specify whether you
want to include or
exclude documentation
for developers or users.
77

Custom Help documentation
Create new Help Changes to Help Users, system Help documentation is
documentation. documentation were administrators, and produced that better
possible but developers can create suits the needs of your
cumbersome, and often Help documentation for organization.
required recompilation the Help server.
and replacement of the
.chm files.
Use Microsoft Word to Not supported You can use Word to You can use Word to
create Help create documentation create Help
documentation. that you can publish to documentation. You can
the Help server. quickly create
documentation that is
customized to the needs
of your organization.
Use HTML or text Not supported The Help viewer uses You can use any HTML
editors to create Help HTML to display Help or text editor to produce
documentation. documentation. a documentation file
that you can publish to
the Help server.
Use Microsoft Dynamics Including labels was Developers can insert Your custom
AX labels in your Help possible but required labels from the client documentation matches
topics. recompilation of the user interface into what the user sees on
.chm files. customized Help topics. the client.
Hide topics from other You could remove topics You can hide Help Users see the Help
publishers. from the .chm file, but documentation that documentation that is
you then had to does not apply to your most relevant to the
recompile and organization. needs of your
redistribute that file. organization.
78

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 glossary
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 features a new application-specific glossary and an improved user
experience. The glossary provides immediate, filtered access to defined domain and application terms
and concepts that are specific to this version. It is also easier to search the glossary and view entries,
and users can now provide feedback about the main glossary or individual glossary entries.
Overview
Item Description
ISVs/developers
Partners
New functionality
The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 glossary comprises the following:
 One glossary that contains all glossary entries
 Individual topics for each individual glossary entry in the glossary
Users of the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 glossary must be familiar with the following:
 Industry-specific domain terminology and concepts
 Industry-specific application (IT) terminology and concepts

The Microsoft Dynamics AX glossary has changed considerably since Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. For
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the Microsoft Dynamics glossary has been completely revised.
79

Microsoft Dynamics AX glossary
Review domain-specific The glossary included The glossary includes Glossary entries are
and application-specific term entries that were only domain-specific precise and relevant to
terms and concepts as specific to Microsoft and application-specific the product.
they relate to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and term entries for
Dynamics AX. other products. Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Browse or search the The search functionality Search keywords have Search and search
glossary terms. was limited. been added to the results are improved for
overall glossary and the easier use.
individual glossary
entries.
Offer feedback about Feedback options were The glossary publication There is more flexibility
the overall glossary or limited. includes a centralized and detail for feedback.
individual glossary list of all glossary
entries. entries, and it includes
one entry for each
glossary term in the
overall glossary.
80

Deprecated features
The deprecated features section provides details about each feature that has been removed from the
application in this version, or that is planned for removal in the subsequent versions. There are
deprecated features in the following feature areas:
 Setup
 Server
 Services and AIF
 Client
 MorphX
 Visual Studio
 Business process, workflow, and analytics
 Human and capital management
 Financial management
 Sales and marketing
 Project management and accounting
 Supply chain management
 Procurement and sourcing
81

Microsoft Business Solutions Perimeter Network Configuration
Wizard
The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 installation CD includes the Microsoft Business Solutions Perimeter
Network Configuration Wizard. However, this was removed from the installation CD for Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 supports flexible
authentication mechanisms, which eliminate the
need to configure a perimeter network.
Replaced by another feature No. The wizard is no longer included on the
installation CD. Administrators should use flexible
authentication, instead.
Modules affected All
Changes to installation The Microsoft Business Solutions Perimeter
Network Configuration Wizard has been removed
from the installation CD for Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012.
Changes to upgrade This change does not affect application upgrade.
82

Reporting Tools and Microsoft Dynamics AX Enterprise Portal Tools
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions, Reporting Tools and Microsoft Dynamics AX
Enterprise Portal Tools are required components that must be installed for full Microsoft Dynamics AX
functionality.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 eliminates the need
for custom tools and relies on Microsoft Visual
Studio Tools for these functions, instead.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature is no longer available, and
standard Microsoft Visual Studio Tools can be
used, instead.
Changes to installation Reporting Tools and Enterprise Portal Tools have
been combined into Visual Studio Tools.
83

Unsupported platforms
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 provides support for a number of operating systems and tools. Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 does not provide support for certain operating systems and tools that were
previously supported.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Microsoft Dynamics AX cannot run properly using
these operating systems or tools.
Replaced by another feature Yes. Microsoft Dynamics AX provides support for
a number of newer operating systems and tools.
Changes to installation This change does not affect application
installation.
Changes to upgrade This change may affect application upgrade
depending on which features are currently in use
in your environment.
Database
The database server is the computer where the SQL Server software is installed and Dynamics AX
data is stored. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the database server hosts the Dynamics AX 2012
database, the SharePoint databases, and the databases used for reporting and analytics. Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 does not provide support for the following platform:
 SQL Server 2005
Server operating system

The following operating system is no longer supported to host server or database components in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012:
 Windows Server 2003
Client operating system

The following operating system is no longer supported to host the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
client:
 Windows XP
Application Object Server (AOS)

Application Object Server (AOS) is the server component that runs the business logic and handles
communication between the client and the database. The AOS can be hosted on all server
operating systems. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 does not provide support for the following
components:
 Visual C++ 2005 Runtime
 Visual C++ 2008 Runtime
Note: We support only Visual C++ 2008 SP1.
84

Enterprise Portal server
Also referred to as the Dynamics AX Web Server in Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0, the Enterprise
Portal server provides intranet/extranet/internet access to the Dynamics AX system, which is
accessible using a browser. Enterprise Portal can be hosted on supported server operating
systems. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the following components are not supported with
Enterprise Portal:
 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Note: Enterprise Portal can be installed only on 64-bit server operating systems because the
supported versions of SharePoint Server can only be installed on 64-bit computers.
Enterprise Portal client

The following browsers are not supported for Enterprise Portal in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012:
 Windows® Internet Explorer® 6.0
 Windows® Internet Explorer® 7.0
 FireFox 2.0
 FireFox 3.0
 Apple Safari (all versions)
Note: Microsoft Dynamics AX supports all browsers supported by SharePoint, with the exception
of Apple Safari. All restrictions on the level 2 browser support for SharePoint apply to Enterprise
Portal as well.
Analysis services integration

The computer running SQL Server Analysis Services is used for Dynamics AX cubes. The cubes in
Dynamics AX 2012cannot be used with the following version of SQL Server:
 SQL Server 2005
Reporting services integration

The machine running SQL Server Reporting Services is used for Microsoft Dynamics AX reporting.
The reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 cannot be used with the following version of SQL
Server:
 SQL Server 2005
Web services on IIS

Web services on IIS, formerly Application Integration Framework (AIF) Web services, enable
Microsoft Dynamics AX integration with other applications (such as CRM) or processes (such as
sales order submission). The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Web services do not provide support for
the following component:
 .NET Framework 3.5
Synchronization proxy and synchronization service for Microsoft Project Server

The synchronization proxy coordinates data updates between a Project database and the
synchronization service. The synchronization service is a Microsoft Dynamics AX server
component. The synchronization proxy and the synchronization service do not provide support for
the following component:
 Microsoft Project Server 2007
85

Visual Studio Tools
The Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Dynamics AX combine all the developer tools, including the
Enterprise Portal development tools, reporting tools, and the modeling tools, and allows
developers to customize various Microsoft Dynamics AX artifacts using Visual Studio. In earlier
versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, these were split into Enterprise Portal development tools and
reporting tools. The Visual Studio Tools do not provide support for the following component:
 Visual Studio 2008
More information
For more information about system requirements, see the white paper titled System requirements.
86

Oracle database support
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 provides support for the Oracle database platform. Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012 does not provide support for the Oracle database platform.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 does not support the
Oracle database platform. Limiting database
support to specific versions of the Microsoft SQL
Server database platform allows for gains in AOS
performance using Microsoft SQL Server specific
options. The following is a list of the supported
versions of the SQL Server database platform:
 SQL Server 2008 64-Bit Enterprise
 SQL Server 2008 64-Bit Standard
 SQL Server 2008 64-Bit Enterprise SP1
 SQL Server 2008 64-Bit Standard SP1
 SQL Server 2008 64-Bit Enterprise SP2
 SQL Server 2008 64-Bit Standard SP2
 SQL Server 2008 R2 64-Bit Enterprise
 SQL Server 2008 R2 64-Bit Standard
 SQL Server 2008 R2 64-Bit Datacenter
Replaced by another feature No. Support for the Oracle database is no longer
available.
installation.
87

Setup parameters
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and future versions do not provide support for a number of command-
line parameters.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Support for these command line parameters is
being removed because underlying feature
support was removed.
Replaced by another feature No. The feature is no longer available, and there
is no replacement feature.
installation.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and future versions do not provide support for the following command
line parameters:
 Application Region  RemoveReportingServicesExtensions
 AosApplicationPath  ReportingServicesConfigureIIS
 DbServerType  ReportingServicesInstance
 DbOracleSchemaPassword  InstallAnalysisServicesExtensions
 DbOracleHostName  AnalysisServicesInstanceName
 DbOracleConnectService  AnalysisServicesReplaceDatabases
 DbOracleDatabaseId  InstallEnterprisePortalTools
 DbOracleTCPIP  RemoveEnterprisePortalTools
 DbOracleSchema  InstallReportingTools
 InstallWorkflow  RemoveReportingTools
 RemoveWorkflow  InstallComConnector
 WorkflowWebSite  RemoveComConnector
 WorkflowAosAccounts  InstallBizTalkAdapter
 InstallReportingServicesExtensions  RemoveBizTalkAdapter
More information
For more information about command line parameters, see the topic called Setup parameters on
TechNet.
88

Microsoft Dynamics AX domains
A domain in the Microsoft Dynamics AX system is a group of company accounts. You use domains to
set up specific user permissions for a group of company accounts.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Initially, the domain feature was added as a
mechanism to group companies together to grant
permissions to them easily without having to
explicitly grant access to individual companies.
This support was required because Microsoft
Dynamics AX did not have a way to model the
organization structure or a way to base security
on an organization structure. Architectural
changes in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provide
the framework to enforce security controls using
the Organization Model structure, thereby making
the domain feature obsolete.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature has been removed, and a
replacement feature is available. The organization
model and the new extensible data security
framework use the extensible data security to
support hierarchies.
installation.
Changes to upgrade Upgrade scripts are provided that create
hierarchies that are mapped to a domain and
then assign the companies in the domain to a
hierarchy of the same name.
More information
For more information about the organization model and the new extensible data security framework in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, see the product-wide feature topic on Organization model and Data
security.
For more information about the Organization model, see the white paper titled Implementing and
Extending the Organization Model in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
89

Record-level security
Record-level security (RLS) builds on the restrictions enforced by user group permissions. With user
group permissions, you restrict the menus, forms, and reports that members of a group can access.
Record-level security enables you to restrict the information that is shown on reports and in forms.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation This feature will be deprecated in the next version
of Microsoft Dynamics AX. It is still functional in
the current version. A new framework for data
security, called Extensible Data Security, provides
all the functionality that the RLS feature provided,
but provides more security controls and provides
major functionality that is missing from the RLS
feature.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature was replaced by the Extensible
Data Security (XDS) feature, which provides all of
the capabilities that RLS provided. In addition,
with XDS, developers can write more powerful
queries to restrict the data that users can access.
The restrictions are more secure, and they are
applied not only to the UI, but at the server level,
also. The restrictions can be based not only on
the fields in the table that users are accessing,
but on data in other tables, as well. This becomes
increasingly important as the tables become more
normalized in each version.
installation.
Changes to upgrade The existing RLS conditions are not automatically
migrated to the new model because they are
based on user groups and companies, whereas
the new security framework is global. RLS
conditions were very granular, due to the
limitations of the framework. Therefore, it makes
sense to manually convert them to the new
framework because they can now be written more
efficiently.
More information
For more information about data security in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, see the product-wide
feature topic on Data security.
90

Client-side batch framework
The batch framework in Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 and earlier versions required an active client
connection to run batch jobs. End users could submit batch jobs, but the batch jobs were not run until
a batch operator ran a “batch processing form” and left the client running while the job was run.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The functionality provided by this feature was
limited. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, a new
server-bound batch framework was introduced
that enabled batch jobs to run on the server
without requiring a client. This framework is more
stable and has better performance than the client
framework, and it provides a variety of new
features. In addition, batch jobs can be run
without consuming a client license.
Replaced by another feature Yes. A new server-side batch framework was
introduced in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. This
framework provides all the capabilities of the
client-side batch framework but is more stable,
has better performance, and provides much richer
functionality in terms of job scheduling and
execution. The client-side batch framework is still
supported in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, but
support will be removed in the next version.
installation.
91

Security keys and related APIs
Security keys are the permissions that control access to functionality within the application and are set
for individual user groups and users.
Permissions determine who can access menus, forms, reports, and tables.
Developers can call the security key–related APIs to determine whether users have access to a
particular security key and the level of access that they have.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The security model has been changed in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012. The new security model uses
the concept of roles, duties, and privileges.
Developers can create privileges and add various
securable objects to them. This change enables
Microsoft Dynamics AX to move to a standard
role-based security model and provides greater
flexibility and manageability.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature was removed, and a
replacement feature is available. Security keys
have been replaced by role-based security. Role-
based security enables a developer or
administrator to create privileges, duties, and
roles, and assign permissions to various
resources, based on the security requirements.
The framework also automatically identifies the
resources being accessed by some base objects,
such as forms, web controls, service operations,
and reports. Developers are not required to use
security keys to group these related objects. As a
result, the administrator can easily grant access
without having to determine which security keys
were set by the developer. All of the APIs that
were based on security keys were removed
together with the security keys, and were
replaced with APIs that identify access based on
objects.
installation.
Changes to upgrade Any code that calls APIs to check for access to
security keys or for the existence of security keys
must be upgraded to use the new APIs. Objects
that use security key–to–configuration key
mapping for licensing can upgrade the
configuration keys for the objects by running
scripts that are provided.
More information
For more information about role-based security in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, see the product-wide
feature topic on Role-based security.
92

Duplicate company feature
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the Company accounts form contains a duplicate company feature
that enables a user to duplicate the data for the company.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The underlying architecture of Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012 was modified, and these modifications
required the duplicate company feature to be
deprecated.
The organization model represents a paradigm

shift in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. In Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009, most of the application data
was related to the company or DataAreaID
concept, and it was easy to duplicate this data by
traversing all tables where the
SaveDataPerCompany metadata property was set
to True. Because of the changes resulting from
the new organization model, the data is not
purely related to legal entities, and a company is
semantically equivalent to a legal entity. The data
is related to one or more types of organizations,
or to none (shared tables). Therefore, the
duplication of data based on the property is not
valid.
Although there is no replacement duplicate

company feature, a company can still be used as
a template to create other companies. By using
the import and export feature, users can create
duplicate reference, setup, and master data by
copying data between two companies. For demo
data, the import and export feature can be used
to replicate a company from one environment in
another environment, or in the same
environment. Users can also make further
changes to create an appropriate demo scenario
in the new company.
Modules affected None of the modules are directly affected.
installation.
93

RunBase
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions, the formletter class controls the posting form
(RunBase), creates parm table records and journal records, performs the actual posting, and controls
printer settings.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The functionality provided by the RunBase
framework is limited and had to be refactored.
replacement feature is available. The RunBase
framework has been replaced by the Business
Operations Framework, which is more robust and
has significant performance improvements.
Changes to installation There is no effect on application installation.
Changes to upgrade There is no effect on application upgrade.
94

Add Service Reference in the MorphX AOT
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions, the Add Service Reference feature enabled the
consumption of external service references from within X++ code.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The MorphX feature, which consumed external
services, had severe limitations. Because there
has been a strategic shift toward making .NET
development more mainstream for Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012, the consumption of external
services is now done in Visual Studio .NET, by
using the Add Service Reference feature available
in Visual Studio. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
dramatically improves interoperability from .NET
to X++.
Replaced by another feature Yes. Use the Add Service Reference feature in
Visual Studio .NET to consume the external
service via a service proxy in Visual Studio .NET.
The resulting managed project can be added to
the AOT by using the Microsoft Dynamics AX
Application Explorer, and it then becomes
available for consumption in X++.
Changes to installation Any existing service references used in X++ code
may have to be refreshed and recompiled for
consumption by using the Managed Project
artifacts.
Changes to upgrade X++ code that references service proxies added
by using Add Service Reference in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009 MorphX must be revised and
recompiled.
95

AIF endpoints
The concept of AIF endpoints was previously used to group a set of policies and processing options for
XML-formatted integration messages that flow in and out of Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Major conceptual changes in Application
Integration Framework (AIF) have led to a
simplified model for configuring and managing
integrations in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. The
top-level concept counts have been reduced from
about 17 to 2. Additionally, all proprietary
Microsoft Dynamics AX integration concepts have
been removed and replaced by industry-standard
concepts.
Replaced by another feature Yes. This feature has been rolled into the concept
of integration ports. Ports not only subsume the
concept of AIF endpoints, but they also have all of
the address-related settings that were earlier set
on AIF channels.
Changes to installation The AIF configuration that takes place during
installation is easier than the configuration in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. All proprietary
Microsoft Dynamics AX concepts have been
removed in favor of industry-standard concepts.
Detailed documentation is planned for this area.
Changes to upgrade All integration solution applications that were
written to use AIF endpoints no longer function
after upgrade. These applications must be
recompiled after they are configured to point to
the new AIF ports that replace endpoints. After
upgrade, the administrator must also manually
complete the configuration settings on the ports
created by the upgrade.
More information
For more information about Services and AIF, see the product-wide feature topic Services and
Application Integration Framework (AIF).
96

BizTalk Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics AX
The BizTalk adapter enabled BizTalk Server to interface and integrate with Microsoft Dynamics AX
AOS.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The BizTalk adapter is no longer required to
interface and integrate with Microsoft Dynamics
AX AOS. Therefore, the BizTalk adapter is not
shipped with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. All
integrations that currently use this adapter must
be recompiled and reconfigured to use the built-in
WCF adapter that shipped with BizTalk Server
starting with BizTalk Server 2006 R2.
Replaced by another feature This feature was deprecated because it was no
longer necessary. All services in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 are 100 percent WCF-
compliant. Because all services are WCF-
compliant, the BizTalk Server can directly
communicate with Microsoft Dynamics AX by
using the built-in WCF adapter. An external
additional adapter component is no longer
required.
Modules affected Application Integration Framework (AIF)
Changes to installation Any existing integration solutions involving
BizTalk orchestrations through the BizTalk
adapter must be updated to use the WCF adapter
instead. These orchestrations must be recompiled
and redeployed.
Changes to upgrade Existing BizTalk orchestrations that use the
Microsoft Dynamics AX BizTalk adapter generate
errors and fail after upgrade.
More information
For more information about Services and AIF, see the product-wide feature topic Services and
Application Integration Framework (AIF).
97

Data Crawler
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the Data Crawler provided data search capabilities.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The Data Crawler has been deprecated in favor of
a different search mechanism in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The Data Crawler has been replaced by the
Search feature, which enables searching across
data and metadata (forms and reports).
Modules affected Client
installation.
More information
For information about Enterprise Search in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, see the Enterprise Search
content on TechNet.
98

DynamicsAXGeneralLedgerClass Members
The DynamicsAXGeneralLedger class contains methods to enable opening specific forms within the
application. Due to changes in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, two members need to be replaced to
enable access to new functionality. If these members are called on a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
installation they will return failure. This applies to the following members:
 OpenGeneralLedgerBudgetWindow
 OpenGeneralLedgerTransactionWindow
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The data model for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
has significantly changed interaction with certain
forms and classes. The existing members of the
class do not allow for passing the necessary
information to Microsoft Dynamics AX to open
forms with the proper context.
Replaced by another feature Yes. Two new members will be added to the
DynamicsAXGeneralLedger class to replace
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 functionality. The
signature of these members will enable passing
all necessary information to open forms with the
correct context.
installation.
99

.chm Help files
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions, Help content was available in the HTML Help Files
node in the AOT, in the form of .chm files.
Overview
Item Description
limited. A new Help system that provides
improved customization scenarios is replacing the
legacy system.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature is no longer available, and a
replacement feature is available.
The HTML-based Help files are being replaced
with a more robust Help server that provides Help
content to all clients from a centralized location,
in HTML and other formats.
Changes to installation A web service that hosts the Help content is
installed when setup.exe is executed.
To plan for the installation, verify that you have

an IIS server that can host the Help server.
Changes to upgrade Legacy properties and elements in the AOT are
removed during the upgrade.
To plan for the upgrade, verify that you have an

IIS server that can host the Help server.
More information
For more information about the Help Server, see the product-wide feature topic Help server.
100

X++ Reporting Framework
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions supported the X++ reporting framework, which was
used to create custom reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX. The X++ reporting framework is being
deprecated in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and will not be available in future versions.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The functionality provided by the X++ reporting
framework was deprecated for the following
reasons:
 Lack of charting.
 Lack of support of using non-Microsoft
Dynamics AX datasources.
 Lack of support for interactive reports.
 It is a non-industry standard solution.
Replaced by another feature SQL Server Reporting Services is now the primary
reporting platform for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

installation.
Changes to upgrade When you upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012, reports based on the X++ reporting
framework are copied to the Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012 system, but they are not upgraded. We
recommend that you use a Reporting Services
report (provided with Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012) as a template and customize it to meet
your needs.
More information
For more information about reporting changes in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, see the product-wide
feature topic on Reporting.
101

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 reports
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation SQL Server Reporting Services is now the primary
reporting platform for Microsoft Dynamics AX. The
out-of-the-box reports that are provided with
Microsoft Dynamics AX have been converted so
that they run on the Reporting Services platform.
All reports were evaluated, and some reports are
not being provided in this version, because, for
example, multiple reports were consolidated into
a single Reporting Services report, or the same
data can be printed from a form.
Replaced by another feature SQL Server Reporting Services
installation.
Changes to upgrade Reports are copied but are not upgraded from
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 to Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012.
More information
For information about the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 mapping to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
reports, see Mapping Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Reports to the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
Version.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and future versions will not provide the reports in the table below. This
list of reports is preliminary, based on current expectations, and is subject to change without notice.
Deprecated reports
Deprecated reports Deprecated reports Deprecated reports
ACOWrkCenterCapacity_BR KMActionPlan SalesFreightSlip
AssetBalanceReportColumns KMBSCOverview SalesPackingSlip
AssetBookCompare KMCollection SMAAccrueperiodLineReport
AssetTaxStatistic KMConnectionType SMACustomerSchedule
AxdGenerateAxdQueryHelper KMEPQuestionnaireResultGroupG SMAHourConsumption
raph
BankReconciliation KMEPQuestionnaireResultReport SMARepairByTechnician
BankStatement11 KMEPQuestionnaireStatisticsLineL SMARepairObjectHistory
ist
BOMCostGroupSource KMGamePlan SMAResolutionByDiagnosis
CCStatReport KMGameplanLastNews SMAResolutionBySymptom
Cheque KMKnowledgeAccountSched SMASalesPriceSubscription
Chequelayoutreport_BR KMKnowledgeAccountStatement SMAServiceAgreement
CompositeTestReport KMKnowledgeJournal SMAServiceBOMHistory
102

COSEDSStructure KMKnowledgeOpenTransaction SMAServiceBOMLines
COSHierarchy KMKnowledgeTableIndicator SMAServiceContract
COSLedgerReference_LT_CLT_Rep KMQuestionnaireStatisticsResultP SMAServiceLevelAgreement
rint
COSLineStructure LedgerAccountSum_FR SMAServiceObjects
COSVersion LedgerBalanceSheetDimPrint SMAServiceOrder
CustInPaymNO LedgerBalanceSheetDimPrint SMAServiceOrderCounters
CustInterestNote LedgerBalanceSheetDimPrint_CN SMAServiceStageProgress
CustPhoneList LedgerBalanceSheetPrint SMAServiceTasks
CustReportTransferPrice_BR LedgerBalanceSheetPrint SMASubscriptionCreateReport
CustVendCommunicationReport_IT LedgerBudgetReport SMASubscriptionReport
ReplaceThisText
CustVendOutPaymNL_DisketteLabel LedgerBudgetReportWithRevision SMATemplateBOMLines
s s
DimensionSetRulePerCollection LedgerBudgetTrans smmActivityListDate
DimensionSetRulePerHierarchy LedgerInAccountStatementAT_ED smmActivityNone
IFACT
DispatchDocuement LedgerTransAccountVoucher_FR smmActivityPerQuotation
EPCustRevenue LoTestResult smmActivityTurnover
EPCustRevenue LoTestRLS smmBusRel
EPEmplTableList NewINDRG23APartI smmBusRelActivities
EPInventTableByQty NewINDRG23APartII smmBusRelActivityLast
EPInventTableBySales NonSalaryReturn smmBusRelContacts
EPInventTableByTime NumberSequenceReference smmBusRelTurnover
EPProjJournalTransEmpl PBAPartOf smmCampaignTarget
EPSalesByPerson PBAPrintGraphic smmCampaignTargetResponse
EUSalesListBE PBAPrintGraphicSalesQuotationTa smmPhoneInboundCalls
ble
ForecastPurch PBAPrintGraphicSalesTable smmPhoneOutboundCalls
ForecastPurchActual PBAUserProfiles smmQuotationPrognosisLostCaus
e
ForecastPurchItem Position smmQuotationPrognosisProd
ForecastSales PriceDiscCustExtern smmQuotationPrognosisSales
ForecastSalesActual PriceDiscTable smmQuotationPrognosisWonCaus
e
FreeTextInvoice_BR PriceList smmSalesUnitMembers
HRMCourseCertificate PriceListAll smmTMCallList
HRMDueLoan ProdBalanceAccount smmTMCallListStatus
HRMEducationGroup ProdCalcVarianceTrans smmTMCallListTelemarketingRes
ponse
HRMEmployeeEmploymentDismiss ProdDelay SuppItemTable
HRMEmplResponsibility ProdEfficiencyProcess SysFilePrintout
HRMEPAbsenceEmplDue ProdGroup SysHelpIndexBrokenLinks
HRMEPCourseCalendar ProdInProcessCosting_NA SysHelpIndexNoPages
103

HRMEPCourseSessionTrack ProdJobCard SysHelpIndexPagesWithoutKeyw
ords
HRMEPCourseType ProdJournalBOM SysPrintCode
HRMEPCourseType ProdJournalJob SysRecordLevelSecurity
HRMEPCourseTypeGroup ProdJournalProd SysReportAuto
HRMEPDueLoan ProdJournalRoute SysSecurity
HRMEPEmployeeCV ProdLedgerConciliation SysSQLCheckSetup
HRMEPGoalAlarm ProdParmCostEstimation SysSqlStatus
HRMEPVirtualNetworkDueCertificate ProdParmHistoricalCost SysTestJobTable
HRMEPVirtualNetworkIdByOrganizat ProdParmJobScheduling SysUserLogin
ion
HRMTeamsByOrganization ProdParmOprScheduling TaxDeviation_BE
HRMVirtualNetworkDevelopmentPla ProdParmRelease TaxListDiskReportBE
n
HRMVirtualNetworkGroup ProdParmReportFinished TaxPackagingTaxCust
HRMVirtualNetworkIdByJob ProdParmStartUp TaxPurchaseTaxDetails
INDExciseCENVATCredit ProdTableJour TaxReconciliationReport
INDExciseER ProdTablePostingCosting TaxReport_UK
INDPLARegister ProdVariance TaxReportEdivat
INDReceipt ProjInvoice TaxReporting_TH
INDReport26 ProjListPriceCost TaxWithholdMonthlyReportIT
INDReport27E ProjListPriceHourCost TDSReport27_IN
INDRG23APartI ProjListPriceHourSales TradeBLWIReport
INDRG23APartII ProjListPriceRevenueSales TrvAdvanceReturn
INDRG23APartIIReport ProjListProjConsumptionProjActivi TrvEmplAdvance
ty
INDRG23APartIIReportN ProjListProjCustTable TrvEmplBalance
INDRG23APartINew ProjListProjProfitLossProjActivity TrvExpenseList
INDRG23APartIReportN ProjListProjTransLayout TrvRequisition
INDRG23CPartI ProjListProjWIPProjActivity tutorial_ColourLines
INDRG23CPartII ProjListTransHour tutorial_CustomizedSumDescripti
on
INDRG23CPartIIReportN ProjPriceList tutorial_Date
INDRG23CPartIReportN PurchBlanket tutorial_FontInfo
INDRG23D PurchCollectionLetterList tutorial_HelloWorld
INDTDSCustTrans PurchHeading tutorial_Joins
INDTDSCustTransSum PurchInvoiceNF_BR tutorial_JoinsExtended
InventBatchExpired PurchLinesExtended tutorial_NotesSpanningPages
InventDimAXReportAdapterTest PurchPackingSlip tutorial_Positioning
InventDimPhys PurchPurchaseOrder tutorial_Prompt
InventDimPosted PurchSupplyCapacity tutorial_Properties
InventFiscalLIFOValuation PurchVariencesVendor tutorial_Reset
104

InventGroupPhys RAssetReportInventoryCard tutorial_Resources
InventGroupPosted ReqExplosion tutorial_RunbaseReport
InventJournalTrans ReqPO tutorial_RunbaseReportStd
InventJournalTransTransfer ReqTransOverview tutorial_SectionTemplateCust
InventoryLedger ReturnCycleTime tutorial_SectionTemplateVend
InventPackagingMaterialFeeCalc ReturnStatRanking tutorial_SumPerSubField
InventPackagingMaterialWeights ReturnVolume tutorial_SumPerSubFieldDate
InventPackagingMaterialWeightsPur RFIDInventSerialLabels VENDORINDReport26
ch
InventProdComR2 RFIDPalletLabels VendReportTransferPrice_BR
InventProdComR3 RG23APartI WarrantyCreditNote
InventProdComR4 RG23CPartI WarrantyDebitNote
InventProdComR5 RouteCostCategory WMSShipmentAddresses
InventProdComR6 RouteCostCategoryOverview WMSShipmentAddressesTransfer
Orders
InventSiteActivate RouteOpr WorkCalendar
InventSiteDimensionLinkAccountVal RouteOprPartOfRoute WorkTime
idation
InventSpecPhys RouteOprTable WrkCtrGroups
InventSpecPosted RouteTable WrkCtrGroupsLedger
InventStdCostVariance RouteVersion WrkCtrPartOfOperation
InventTransList SalesBlanket WrkCtrPartOfProdRoute
InventTransList SalesByState WrkCtrPartOfTaskGroup
InventTransOnOrder SalesContractShipment WrkCtrProperty
InventTransOrdered SalesCustItemStatistics WrkCtrTaskGroup
IT_InventFiscalLIFOInternal SalesDeliverySlip_BR XRefNamesReference
Job xRefPathCount
KMAction
KMActionAlarm
105

Application Hierarchy Tree (AHT)
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the Application Hierarchy Tree is used to inspect types and their
hierarchical structure, such as a class that extends another class.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The Application Hierarchy Tree was based on a
Help control that has been deprecated in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The code has been rewritten and the feature
is now called the Type Hierarchy Browser. The
overall user interface remains the same, but the
tool is now hosted inside the MorphX environment
as an MDI child. The tool has also been extended
to support table inheritance and navigation to
listed element members, such as methods.
Furthermore, a dockable variant, called the Type
Hierarchy Context, can be used to provide
contextual hierarchy information when users
navigate the AOT.
Modules affected Developer and Partner Tools
installation.
106

Code Explorer
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the Code Explorer enables code and the components of application
objects to be browsed by using hyperlinks.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The Code Explorer was based on a Help control
that has been deprecated in Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012. Because of the overlap with the
Application Hierarchy Tree and its replacement,
the Code Explorer was not ported.
installation.
107

Print from AOT and Editor
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, users can print AOT nodes as .xpo content and code as a report.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The capability to print relied on non-SSRS
reporting support, which is deprecated in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Because the feature
mainly (except in the case of code) prints .xpo
content, which can be manually printed, and
because the feature is infrequently used, no
investment has been made to implement support
in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
is no replacement feature. As a workaround,
nodes can be exported as .xpo files and then
printed manually.
installation.
108

X++ editor
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the X++ editor is used to write X++ code in MorphX.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The X++ editor had limited capabilities and was
deprecated to make way for a new
implementation of the X++ editor, with new
features.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature has been deprecated, and a new
X++ editor, based on the Visual Studio 2010
editor control, has been introduced. Although the
editor script extension is still supported,
extensions to the legacy editor UI are no longer
supported.
installation.
109

AOD files replaced by SQL Server repository
The layer-based application object files (AOD files) have been replaced by a dedicated SQL Server
database, which is referred to as the model store. All application elements are in the model store. For
developers, the storage is transparent. The Setup program creates the model store by using the
application elements from Microsoft.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The use of a state-of-the-art database back end,
such as SQL Server, made the proprietary
database (the application object database and its
AOD files) a bottleneck in terms of development,
maintenance, and performance.
Replaced by another feature Yes. AOD files and the proprietary database have
been replaced by the SQL Server database. AOD
files from Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and
Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 can be loaded into the
model store during upgrade or later from the
Developer menu in MorphX.
AXUTIL.EXE is a command-line tool for managing
metadata that is “in transit,” such as for
exporting, installing, and even uninstalling
metadata.
Changes to installation The required changes are handled by the Setup
program, which installs the models (the new
logical packaging of metadata) in the model store
in SQL Server. The model store is an integral part
of the application database.
Changes to upgrade The upgrade process is semantically very similar
to the process in previous versions, but a few new
steps are required. The AOD files and directories
are no longer copied from the previous version to
the application directory, but must now be
imported into the model database. In addition, we
recommend that you import them into a
secondary database named the “alternate”
database, which effectively mimics the directory
for code compare.
110

Split layer functionality in the AOT
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, you could view multiple layers in the AOT.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the capability to
view multiple layers in the AOT has been
deprecated because the feature was infrequently
used and tended to cause instability in the
MorphX environment.
Replaced by another feature No. The feature is no longer available. For most of
the known use cases, the Code Compare tool is a
valid replacement and is easily accessible by
pressing CTRL+G.
installation.
111

Team Server
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the ID server, called the Team Server, hosts the allocation of new
object IDs. The Team Server can be shared from multiple Application Object Server (AOS) installations
to provide unique assignment of IDs across multiple project development environments.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation With the introduction of installation-specific IDs,
the IDs of tables, classes, and other ID-based
AOT elements are now assigned at installation
time, not at development time.
Replaced by another feature No. The feature is no longer available because it
has become obsolete. The Team Server can no
longer be installed.
installation.
112

Visual SourceSafe
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions support Microsoft® Visual SourceSafe® as a version
control mechanism.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Support for Visual SourceSafe for version control
is being removed in favor of Microsoft® Visual
Studio® Team Foundation Server 201, because
Team Foundation Server provides enhanced
functionality.
Replaced by another feature Support for Visual SourceSafe remains in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, but will be removed
in the next version of Microsoft Dynamics AX. We
recommend that you now use Visual Studio Team
Foundation Server 2010 instead of Visual
SourceSafe. White papers about upgrade paths
from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation
Server are available on PartnerSource.
Modules affected All, including the development workspace.
installation.
113

Reporting Project
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, a Reporting Project is used when users edit .moxl files, which are
representations of report models in files.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the development
experience is being aligned with repository-centric
development for Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Therefore, all model data is stored in the
repository and directly edited on the repository.
Replaced by another feature Yes. A new project, called Model Project, enables
direct editing of any reporting data on the
repository, without requiring local .moxl files.
Changes to installation None. This feature is installed as a Visual Studio
integration during setup.
114

The X++ Workflow API
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the X++ Workflow API is used to programmatically create workflows.
Overview
Item Description
limited.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature was deprecated, and a
replacement feature is available. The X++
Workflow API was replaced by the managed
workflow API because the following features were
planned for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012:
 Additional workflow features, such as

advanced flow controls
 A new managed workflow editor, which
required a managed programmatic
interface
Therefore, the entire workflow API was refactored
as a managed API, and support for the new
workflow features and workflow editor was added.
Modules affected Business process and workflow
installation.
More information
For more information about workflow, see the Workflow section in the appendix.
115

SQL Server Report Builder integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX
report models
SQL Server Report Builder is a tool distributed with SQL Server Reporting Services. It enables a user
to create simple reports by using Microsoft Dynamics AX data. This feature was introduced in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 4.0 and was also included in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation This feature was very infrequently used, and was
difficult to set up and configure. Reports created
by using this feature performed poorly in real-life
scenarios.
Replaced by another feature This feature is no longer available in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
supports ad-hoc reporting by using OLAP cubes.
Business users can also leverage the capabilities
of Excel PowerPivot to generate ad-hoc business
reports.
installation.
116

Payment services using Authorize.Net
Integration with two payment services was introduced in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009—Authorize.Net
and Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics® ERP. For Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, only Payment
Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP will be supported.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Cybersource has purchased Authorize.Net and we
anticipate that those services will be integrated
into their suite of products at some future date.
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, we are now
offering a single of point of access to Cybersource
through Payment Services for Microsoft
Dynamics® ERP.
Replaced by another feature No. The feature is no longer available and there is
no replacement feature.
Modules affected Accounts payable
Accounts receivable
Changes to installation The installation of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
will not change. However, Authorize.Net will no
longer appear as a valid payment service.
Changes to upgrade A hotfix will be released for Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2009 that will allow customers to switch from
Authorize.Net to Payment Services for Microsoft
Dynamics ERP. After a customer has obtained an
account with Payment Services for Microsoft
Dynamics ERP, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 will
continue to use Authorize.Net to process existing
sales orders with credit cards that have been
authorized using Authorize.Net. All new orders
will be processed using Payment Services for
Microsoft Dynamics ERP.
More information
For more information about payment services in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, see the product-wide
feature Payment Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP.
117

Ledger budget
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, Ledger budget is the name of the form and table where budget
amounts for ledger accounts are captured.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The budget functionality in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012 was rewritten and extended to include
additional functionality, such as budget control.
Replaced by another feature Yes. Ledger budget has been replaced by budget
register entries. Budget register entries enable
budget amounts to be entered by using a
header/line concept.
An organization can do the following:
 Determine which dimensions are available
for budgeting.
 Define budget codes that relate to budget
types for an additional audit trail of
changes to a budget.
 Allocate a budget across periods.
 Allocate a budget across dimensions.
 Replicate budget amounts.
 Use a web service for integrations to
budget register entries.
 Use the budget transaction approval
workflow.
 Use the Budget versus actual inquiry and
report.
 Create budget register entries by using
Project, Demand, Supply, and Fixed asset
budgets.
Note: In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, a user
could also transfer cost accounting budgets to
Ledger budget. This is not supported in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 because the new dimension
framework was not implemented in cost
accounting in a way that enables data to flow
outside of cost accounting.
Modules affected Budgeting
installation.
Changes to upgrade Preprocessing converts Ledger budget records to
budget register entries in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012.
118

More information
For more information about budgeting and budget control, see the product-wide feature topics
Budgeting and budget control and Ledger and subledger lines and distributions.
119

Financial dimensions and LedgerTable
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions, the LedgerTable form and table are used to
create the chart of accounts. Financial dimensions enabled dimensions and dimension codes to be
created and maintained for use on financial transactions.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation A new financial dimension framework has been
implemented.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature is no longer available and has
been replaced with a new financial dimension
framework.
installation.
Changes to upgrade The upgrade process includes pre-upgrade steps
for merging accounts and dimensions that have
conflicts.
More information
For more information about financial dimensions, see the product-wide feature topic Financial
dimensions.
120

EPBookkeeperRoleCenter
In Microsoft Dynamics AX, users are assigned to Role Centers based on user profiles, which are sets of
default information for a specific role in the organization. Each user is assigned to a user profile, and a
Role Center is specified for each profile. The Bookkeeper role is responsible for tasks, such as creating
and paying vendor invoices, creating sales invoices, billing customers, recording customer payments,
depositing payments into bank accounts, reconciling bank statements, printing financial statements,
and closing the books at the end of the month.
 Default user profile: Bookkeeper

 Role Center page name: EPBookkeeperRoleCenter
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation From the perspective of Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012 security roles, there is no Bookkeeper role.
Therefore, the Bookkeeper role has been removed
from BI cubes, and the Bookkeeper Role Center
and the underlying Web parts have also been
removed. In general, Role Centers themselves do
not have security, but the securable items
displayed on a Role Center may. The Accountant
role has been identified as equivalent to the
Bookkeeper role, based on the similarity of duties
and privileges.
Modules affected Business Intelligence
Client
Enterprise Portal
General ledger
installation.
More information
For more information about Role Centers, see: http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/en/us/using/ax-
finance-role-center.aspx
121

ExchangeRates
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the ExchRates table and form are used to create and maintain
currencies and their exchange rates.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation New shared currency and exchange rate
functionality has replaced the ExchRates table.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature is no longer available, and has
been replaced with shared currencies and
exchange rates.
installation.
Changes to upgrade As part of the pre-upgrade process, the user can
fix any conflicts. For example, a conflict occurs if
the same currency is used in multiple companies,
but it is set up differently in each company.
122

LedgerTrans table
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the LedgerTrans table holds the posted General ledger detail, which
includes the vouchers, dates, ledger account, dimension codes, posting layer, and amounts.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Because of architectural changes in the application,
this table had to be refactored to support the new
financial dimension and subledger journal
frameworks.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature has been deprecated, and the
following new tables replace the LedgerTrans table:
 GeneralJournalEntry
 GeneralJournalAccountEntry
 LedgerEntryJournal
 LedgerEntry
 SubledgerVoucherGeneralJournalEntry
 LedgerEntryJournalizing
Changes to installation This change does not affect application installation.
Changes to upgrade The LedgerTrans records are upgraded to the new
data model, except in virtual companies, where the
LedgerTrans table is in a TableCollection. If the
LedgerTrans table is used in a virtual company
setup, the upgrade fails, and you are instructed to
contact your Partner or Support. The records must
be moved out of the virtual company before
upgrade.
More information
For more information about ledger and subledger lines, see the product-wide feature topic Ledger and
subledger lines and distributions.
123

LedgerPeriod
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the LedgerPeriod table and form are used to create and maintain the
fiscal periods for a company.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Global organizations operate as different legal
entities in different geographical areas. However,
they share a lot of data, such as charts of
accounts, currencies, exchange rates, and
calendars. Defining this reference and master
data once and sharing it across legal entities
reduces the cost of maintaining such data across
the organization. However, ledger periods, and
the associated AssetCalendar tables, did not
provide sufficient support for this scenario and
have been replaced with more robust shared
fiscal calendars.
The following tables have been deprecated:
 AssetCalendar
 AssetCalendarPeriod
 AssetCalendarYear
 LedgerPeriod
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature is no longer available and has
been replaced with shared fiscal calendars.
installation.
Changes to upgrade Existing ledger periods and fixed asset calendars
are upgraded to the new fiscal calendars. There is
a pre-upgrade step where the user can rename
the fiscal calendars.
More information
For more information about ledger and sub ledger lines, see the product-wide feature topic Ledger and
subledger lines and distributions.
124

Country/region configuration keys
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and earlier versions, country/region configuration keys are used to
enable and display country/region-specific features.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The country/region configuration keys are
installation-specific, and the real requirement was
for control over the features available to
individual companies in multinational scenarios.
Also, the capability was needed to make features
available based on the company’s location, the
customer’s location, and so on. Country/region
context was introduced to meet this requirement,
and this feature replaces country/region
configuration keys for control over feature
availability.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature remains only for backward
compatibility. Although the feature will not be
removed until the next version of Microsoft
Dynamics AX, a replacement feature is already
available. To control feature availability based on
the location of the legal entity, Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 uses the country/region
associated with the legal entity’s primary address.
For example, if the address of the legal entity is
in Canada, users can see and work with Canada-
specific features.
installation.
More information
For information about how to use country/region configuration keys when you upgrade an existing
version of Microsoft Dynamics AX to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, see the Upgrade Guide.
125

EU sales list transfer (Belgium)
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, there are two EU sales list transfers, the standard EU sales list
transfer and a separate EU sales list transfer for Belgium. The second of these is a country/region-
specific function that enables the transfer of information to the EU sales list form, based on tax
information.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation In 2010, a change in legislation in the European
community required a new transfer function for
the EU sales list. The new EU sales list transfer
function is based on the functionality for Belgium,
and it transfers data to the EU sales list form
based on tax information.
Replaced by another feature Yes. The feature has been removed in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 and replaced by the standard
EU sales list transfer.
Modules affected Financial Management
GDL
installation.
Changes to upgrade Users must check the existing tax code and tax
group configuration. They may be required to set
up new tax codes. In addition, they may be
required either to change the groups assigned to
service items, or to set up new item sales tax
groups and assign them to services and/or
categories. This must be done before any
transactions are posted in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012.
126

Date-effective records
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, Employee/contractor, Job, Position, and Department (Organization)
records are stored as date-effective records.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The functionality provided by the feature was
limited. The feature has been replaced with the
new date-effective framework in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012.
All of the records continue to be date effective,
but they use a new date-effective framework. In
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, both the date and
time elements are exposed in the user interface.
Modules affected Human resources
installation.
Changes to upgrade Existing date-effective records are upgraded to
the new tables that store these records. The
processing of date-effective records is completed
by the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 framework.
Note: The table structure has been normalized in
Human resources. One date-effective record may
be split into multiple records, based on the new
table definitions in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
127

Delete personal information (employee and applicant)
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the Delete personal information feature provides a way to delete
information related to employees and applicants, such as the name, Social Security Number, visa
information, address, and education.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Much of this information is stored in a global
address book that is shared across the enterprise,
and removing it can affect other data.
is no replacement feature. You can still delete
personal information by manually removing
individual records.
Modules affected Human Resources
installation.
128

Human Resources tab in Enterprise Portal
In Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, you can use the Human resources tab to view
questionnaires and other performance management data.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The functionality on this tab was incomplete and
provided limited benefit to human resources
personnel.
is no replacement feature. However, the complete
functionality is available in the client.
installation.
Changes to upgrade This change does not impact affect upgrade.
129

Benefits
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, benefits were set up by using the Benefits setup forms.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The benefits functionality in Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2009 was somewhat limited, and Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012 provides expanded benefits
functionality.
installation.
Changes to upgrade Existing benefits information is upgraded for use
in the new benefits functionality.
130

Employees of the Work Center type
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, employees can be one of three types: Employee, Contractor, or Work
Center.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Architectural changes impacted the employee
type functionality.
is no replacement feature. In Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012, only workers of the Employee and
Contractor types exist.
Supply chain management
installation.
Changes to upgrade Work Center employees are not upgraded to
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Preprocessing
upgrade scripts capture information, and you can
take action on these records before completing
the upgrade.
131

Visio Export for reporting relationships, locations, and organizational
structure views
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, you can export the reporting relationships view, locations view, and
organizational structure view to Visio.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Architectural changes and a new control were
added to all three of the views. The new control
enables more nodes to be displayed in the
hierarchical structure. You can also create and
modify nodes directly from the new control. The
architectural changes would have required
extensive changes to the Visio Export feature.
Replaced by another feature No. The Visio Export feature is no longer
available, and there is no replacement feature.
Changes to installation This change does not impact application
installation.
Changes to upgrade This change does not impact application upgrade.
132

Telemarketing
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, users can use the Telemarketing feature to create call lists that are
based on table queries. Call lists can also be created from Marketing Automation.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation This feature is being removed because the
functionality is limited.
Replaced by another feature No. The Telemarketing feature remains in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, but will be removed
in a future version of the product. In the next
version, telemarketing records will be merged
with call lists, and the call list functionality will be
moved to the Marketing Automation license.
Modules affected Sales and marketing
installation.
133

TAPI integration
In Microsoft Dynamics AX, the Sales and marketing module, also known as the CRM module, includes
functionality for incorporating a CTI (Computer-Telephony Integration) system by using the Microsoft
Telephony API (TAPI) protocol. The CTI system registers and administers incoming and outgoing
telephone communications.
Overview
Item Description
limited.
Replaced by another feature No. The feature remains in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012 but will be removed in a future version of
the product. No replacement feature is available
at this time.
Changes to installation The smmPhone component is longer installed.
134

Management Statistics
The Management statistics feature displays sales management information in graphs.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The addition of SQL Server Reporting Services to
Microsoft Dynamics AX, combined with the
Microsoft Office integration, provides users with
extensive graphing functionality.
2012, but will be removed in a future version of
at this time.
installation.
135

CRM document handling
CRM document handling is an extension of the standard Microsoft Dynamics AX document handling
that enables users to identify the author of a document and send documents as e-mail.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation CRM document handling is being integrated into
standard Microsoft Dynamics AX document
handling.
2012, but will be fully integrated with standard
Microsoft Dynamics AX document handling in the
next version of the product.
installation.
136

Transaction log
The Transaction log tracks table changes, such as who made the changes, and when they were made,
to specific CRM entities and fields.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation CRM uses the database logging available in
Microsoft Dynamics AX.
2012, but will be removed in a future version of
at this time.
installation.
137

Project activity hierarchy
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, users can create a hierarchy of activities that consists of a summary
of tasks (or levels) and their sub-activities in a tree view. This feature is only available in the Microsoft
Dynamics AX client.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Existing functionality in the service industry
solution facilitates the creation of an activity
breakdown structure for a project and provides
additional capabilities related to resource
scheduling. In the Project management and
accounting module, activities can still be
associated with projects, but they cannot be
arranged hierarchically. Project activity
hierarchies maintained through integration with
Microsoft® Project Server 2010 are not affected.
replacement feature is available in the service
industry solution.
Modules affected Project management and accounting
Changes to installation There is no effect on application installation.
Changes to upgrade Customers upgrading from Microsoft Dynamics AX
2009 who do not install the Services Industry
solution cannot see or modify their project
activity hierarchy.
138

Purchase order subscription
Purchase order subscription is an order type that enables one purchase order to be processed multiple
times. The feature works by renewing inventory transactions, thereby enabling new receipts on the
same purchase order.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The way that the subscription order is
implemented is not compliant with the source
document, distributions, and ledger budget.
Modules affected Procurement and sourcing
installation.
Changes to upgrade Code related to subscription order is removed.
Potential customization in this area must also be
removed. A white paper describing how to extend
the new agreement framework to support
recurring orders is forthcoming.
139

Blanket orders
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, blanket orders are contractual obligations with a vendor to purchase a
specific quantity or value of merchandise in exchange for a special discount. By using the blanket
order, you can create purchase orders (release orders) and invoice items, as needed, until the
contract is fulfilled.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The blanket order feature had some limitations.
Structural changes in Microsoft Dynamics AX
required blanket order functionality to be
deprecated.
This feature was replaced by purchase and sales
agreements. Purchase and sales agreements are
used to document the terms and conditions
between a selling party and a buying party. An
agreement expresses payment and delivery terms
for a set of commitments. For example, the
buying party commits to buying a specific volume
of a product or service, such as 200 bikes, for a
specific price. Alternatively, the buying party
commits to buying a specific value, such as USD
1000, of a product or products in a specific
category with a specific price discount. For every
commitment on the agreement, there is a validity
period in which the actual trading must be
completed.
installation.
Changes to upgrade You can upgrade blanket orders by using the
upgrade scripts provided.
140

BOM item type BOM
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, an item must be of the BOM item type for a bill of materials to be
associated with it.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation Architectural changes in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012 have changed the way that items are
defined. Items have become products, and
products require a product definition. The product
definition consists of a few core characteristics
that help identify the product. One of these
characteristics is the product type, which
indicates whether a product is tangible (an item)
or intangible (a service or rights). In Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009, the item type indicated
whether the product was tangible (an item),
intangible (a service), and also the role that the
item could have (BOM). To ensure that
characteristics are product related, not product
role related, the item type attribute was
refactored to product type, and the BOM value
was separated from the item and service values.
Users must still be able to associate a bill of
materials (BOM) with a product of the item type.
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, customers can
associate a BOM with a product of the item type.
After this association is made, users can use the
new default order type on the default order
settings to indicate whether the item that has an
associated BOM must be procured or
manufactured.
Modules affected Inventory management
installation.
Changes to upgrade When upgrading from Microsoft Dynamics AX
2009 to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, users must
map existing items to new product definitions. As
part of this process, they must decide whether
the default order type must be purchase or
production. The association with a BOM is
maintained.
141

Configurable items
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, a check box controls whether an item can be configured.
Overview
Item Description
2012 changed the way products are defined.
As part of the new product definition concept in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the process of
defining a product has been made more explicit.
Users select whether a product is a simple
product or a product master. If a product is a
product master, the user must specify the tool or
method that is used to create product variants for
that particular master.
installation.
Changes to upgrade During the upgrade process from Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009 to Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012, configurable items are upgraded according
to product master rules and are upgraded to
product masters by using dimension-based
configuration.
142

Item dimension group
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, an item dimension encompasses all available item dimensions,
including the following:
 Core item-related dimensions – Color, size, and configuration
 Tracking-related dimensions – Batch and serial number
 Storage-related dimensions – Site, warehouse, location, and pallet ID
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation As part of the new core shared product
definitions, the item dimensions (color, size, and
configuration) had to be associated with the
product, whereas the tracking and storage
dimensions could be set up as either shared
dimensions or legal entity–specific dimensions.
The item dimension group was refactored, and
the old grouping table was removed and
separated into three individual groups. Any
customization in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 that
extends item dimensions must be refactored to
accommodate the new table structure.
replacement feature is available. In Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012, the item-related dimensions
(color, size, and configuration) are defined as
product dimensions, the tracking-related
dimensions (batch and serial number) are defined
as tracking dimensions, and the storage-related
dimensions (site, warehouse, location, and pallet
ID) are defined as storage dimensions.
installation.
Changes to upgrade The upgrade process ensures that the core item
configuration, and tracking and storage dimension
values, are mapped to the new product dimension
framework.
143

Edit dimensions form
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, a user can use the Edit dimensions form to change dimension values
for inventory transactions directly in the database. As a result, the user can introduce inconsistencies
in inventory transaction data.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The feature allowed manual overrides to database
values, which could cause data integrity issues. In
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and future versions,
users cannot make modifications directly to
system-generated data.
installation.
144

Product builder
Users can use Product builder to create product models that can be used in a configure-to-order
scenario.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, Product builder
uses X++ as the tool for writing rules and
restrictions that apply to product models. This
represents a potential elevation of privilege risk.
Additionally, the design of Product builder does
not scale well when the models grow in size,
resulting in long response times for product
configuration on sales order lines.
Replaced by another feature Product builder will still be available for existing
Product builder customers that upgrade to
Microsoft Dynamics AX, but not for new
customers.
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, Product builder
was replaced with the Product configuration
feature, which is constraint-based rather than
rule-based. The Product configuration feature
provides better support for reusability and
multilevel product models. It also performs better
than Product builder and eliminates elevation of
privilege security threats.
Enterprise Portal
Project management and accounting
installation.
Changes to upgrade For existing Product builder customers, upgrade
of the existing Product models will happen as
normal.
It is possible to migrate a Product builder model
to a Product configuration model. To do this, you
must analyze the back-end tree of the Product
builder model to identify the elements that should
be included directly in the Product configuration
model and those that must be implemented by
using the dedicated product configuration API,
PCAdaptor.
145

Product group for Procurement
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, product groups are used on both the buying side and the selling side.
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, product groups are upgraded to procurement catalogs. The product
groups are left as is for consumption on the selling side only.
Overview
Item Description
limited.
Replaced by another feature Yes. For buying-side procurement, the feature
has been removed and replaced by procurement
categories and procurement catalogs.
installation.
Changes to upgrade Any product groups used in Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2009 are upgraded to procurement categories
and procurement catalogs during the upgrade
process.
146

Compare request for quote replies form
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the Compare request for quote replies form (PurchRFQCaseCompare)
lists all requests for quotations (RFQs). The user can select and compare multiple RFQ replies.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The functionality contained in this form already
exists on the RFQ list page and in the RFQ details
forms. Therefore, this form is redundant.
installation.
147

Purchase requisition clean up
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the Delete purchase requisitions menu item is available in Accounts
payable (Accounts Payable > Periodic > Clean up). This tool enabled users to delete purchase
requisitions.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation As a result of architectural changes in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012, purchase requisitions cannot
be hard deleted, which renders the Delete
purchase requisitions tool obsolete.
Replaced by another feature No. Since the release of Microsoft Dynamics AX
2009, the Intelligent Data Management
Framework (IDMF) for Microsoft Dynamics AX has
been developed. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
and future versions, we recommend that
companies use the IDMF to purge and archive
production data that is no longer required in the
production system.
installation.
More information
For more informaiton about the Intelligent Data Management Framework for Microsoft Dynamics AX,
see:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/Cms/Templates/document/General.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUI
D={ECAF89FE-3D52-4FFC-8CCF-
D6E3D192D26F}&NRORIGINALURL=/partnersource/downloads/releases/AX_IDMF.htm&NRCACHEHIN
T=Guest&wa=wsignin1.0
148

Purchase requisition parameters
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, purchase requisition setup is managed on the Purchase requisition tab
of the Setup Parameters form in Accounts Payable.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation All purchasing-related parameters have been
subsumed by Purchasing policy rules.
Replaced by another feature Yes.
The Purchase requisition control policy rule
contains the parameters that define which fields
are required to submit a purchase requisition to
workflow, and also the parameters that define
whether minimum, maximum, and multiple
quantity constraints are enforced.
The Purchase requisition to purchase order
creation policy rule contains the parameters that
define when purchase orders are generated
automatically by the system.
installation.
Changes to upgrade Any product groups used in Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2009 must be upgraded to procurement
categories. Additionally, product and category
catalogs used in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009
must be upgraded to procurement catalogs.
Catalog policy rules and Category access policy
rules can be used to scope the products and
procurement categories that are available in
different legal entities.
149

Approval and spending limits
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 provides basic support for approval and spending limits.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation The approval and spending limits feature in
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 did not provide the
level of granular expense and approval control
required by some companies.
replacement feature is available. The Signing
Limits feature in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
provides advanced configuration and
administration capabilities, which enable
companies to enforce corporate spending and
approval limits at a more granular level.
Additionally, the Signing Limits feature enables
spending and approval limit self-service requests
to be submitted via the employee self-service
portal. Employees can use self-service requests to
request a signing limit for business expenses, and
managers can use them to request an approval
limit for approving employee expenses, thus
automating and simplifying the process for
requesting and approving spending and approval
limits using workflow.
installation.
Changes to upgrade There is an upgrade path from the Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009 feature to the corresponding
feature in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
More information
For more information about employees, see the product-wide feature topic Employees.
150

Task groups
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, task groups are used for specifying alternative work centers that can
perform similar tasks. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, task groups are upgraded to resource
capabilities.
Overview
Item Description
2012 introduced a new resource model and
capability based scheduling, which made the task
group concept obsolete.
Replaced by another feature Yes. Task groups have been replaced by the more
versatile concept of capabilities, which can be
used for specifying resource requirements for
operations. This enables the scheduling engine to
choose between alternative resources that can
perform similar tasks.
Modules affected Manufacturing
Changes to installation This change does not impact application
installation.
Changes to upgrade Any task groups used in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2009 will be upgraded to capabilities during the
upgrade process. Since capabilities are shared
across legal entities in Microsoft Dynamics AX
2012, the upgrade process allows for task groups
to be consolidated across legal entities.
151

Multisite activation wizard
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, the multisite functionality must be activated through the use of the
multisite activation wizard. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the multisite functionality is always active,
and for customers who are upgrading from Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0, the multisite activation logic
has been integrated into the upgrade process.
Overview
Item Description
Reason for deprecation In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 the multisite
functionality is always active, so the multisite
activation wizard is no longer needed.
Replaced by another feature The multisite activation wizard is obsolete and
has been removed. Multisite functionality will be
activated as part of the upgrade process.
Modules affected Manufacturing
installation.
Changes to upgrade When upgrading from Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0,
multisite activation is an integral part of the
upgrade process.
Multisite functionality is also activated for
customers who are upgrading from Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2009 and who have not acquired
the Logistics license.
All other customers who are upgrading from
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 will have to use the
multisite activation wizard to activate the
multisite functionality before upgrading to
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
152

Appendix: Non-product-wide feature descriptions
The following tables provide brief descriptions of features that are not classified as product-wide
features in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. The tables are arranged by area and subarea, if applicable.
Table of Contents
Setup and upgrade ......................................................................................................... 154
Client ............................................................................................................................ 155
Microsoft Dynamics Online ............................................................................................... 155
Workflow ....................................................................................................................... 156
Enterprise Portal ............................................................................................................. 157
Microsoft Office add-ins ................................................................................................... 158
General ledger................................................................................................................ 159
Tax ............................................................................................................................... 163
Bank, budget, compliance, and fixed assets ....................................................................... 163
Accounts payable ............................................................................................................ 168
Accounts receivable ........................................................................................................ 174
Human resources ............................................................................................................ 177
Sales and marketing ....................................................................................................... 178
Compliance and internal controls ...................................................................................... 179
Travel and expense ......................................................................................................... 180
Project accounting .......................................................................................................... 181
Control .......................................................................................................................... 185
Inventory management ................................................................................................... 186
Manufacturing ................................................................................................................ 188
Lean manufacturing ........................................................................................................ 190
Scheduling ..................................................................................................................... 192
Product information management ..................................................................................... 193
Trade and source ............................................................................................................ 193
Procurement and sourcing ............................................................................................... 198
153

Setup and upgrade
Setup and upgrade features

What’s New Heading What’s New Statement
Patchable Setup In previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, the Setup
application and its related DLLs existed only on the DVD, and
could not be updated through standard hotfixes or service
packs. To modify Setup files, the user had to perform manual
workarounds. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the Setup
application is patchable. The application and its DLLs are
installed on the computer as the first step in the installation
process. Because the files are installed on the computer,
service packs or hotfixes can be applied to the Setup files, just
as they can to any other Microsoft Dynamics AX files. When
Setup starts, it checks for a more recent version of the files and
installs them, if they are available.
Verify Microsoft Dynamics AX This version of Microsoft Dynamics AX includes a model and
configurations by using the rule set for the Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer. You
Microsoft Baseline can verify dozens of configuration settings across multiple
Configuration Analyzer features, including the Microsoft Dynamics AX database,
Application Object Server (AOS), Enterprise Portal, and
business intelligence. The tool generates a report with
prescriptive guidance that can help improve the availability,
security, and performance of your Microsoft Dynamics AX
environment.
Manage batch servers, AOS With Microsoft Dynamics AX Management Studio,

clustering, and model administrators can configure AOSs for batch processing, add
database inventories by using AOSs to a cluster, and manage model database inventories.
Microsoft Dynamics AX
Management Studio
Parallelization of bulk copy, The bulk copy of data from your source system to the target
synchronization, and post- system is done in parallel with the running of synchronization
synchronization steps and post-synchronization scripts on the data.
Parallelization transparently merges what used to be three
steps into a single optimized step, which minimizes your total
system downtime for upgrade.
The system prioritizes the bulk copy, synchronization, and post-

synchronization tasks by using an intelligent data-driven
algorithm that you can also use to manually add weight to
specific tasks and customize prioritization.
154

Client
Client features
Document handling You can attach a URL to a transaction and configure a workflow
enhancements definition to route paper-based document files for review. The
document file web service has been added and can be used to
retrieve document file metadata and route the data to the
appropriate parties by using workflow. You can enter document
data, and the document file can be attached to the new
transaction. This creates an audit trail for the original
document. These enhancements can facilitate document
handling for companies that are geographically dispersed and
that want to maintain their paper-based documents in one
location.
Enhanced search This version of Microsoft Dynamics AX includes an enhanced

search experience that enables users to retrieve data, forms,
Help topics, and reports by using simple nouns, such as
"Customer" or "Cash Flow Report," or specific data, such as a
customer name, product ID, or telephone number. The search
interface includes options to help you refine your search
results, and you can also access information from a list of
recent searches.
Microsoft Dynamics Online
Microsoft Dynamics Online Features

Connect Gadget for Role This version of Microsoft Dynamics AX includes the Microsoft
Centers Dynamics Online Connect Gadget Web part for Role Centers.
The Web part hosts a slide deck of links and information
relevant to a user’s role, including links to CustomerSource,
community content, training materials, and Knowledge Base
articles. A system administrator can add the Connect gadget to
the Role Center master page, or users with the appropriate
permissions can add the Web part to their personal Role Center
page.
155

Workflow
Workflow features
Automated tasks You can now add automated tasks to your workflows. An
automated task runs business logic and requires no human
interaction. For example, an automated task can perform a
credit check, run a report, or update a record.
Simplified installation Workflow server components are no longer installed on a web

server running Internet Information Services (IIS). Workflow
server components are now automatically installed when you
install Microsoft Dynamics AX Application Object Server (AOS).
Line item workflow support A workflow can be created to process documents, or the line
items on a document. For example, assume that you’ve created
an approval workflow for timesheets. (We will refer to this
workflow as the document workflow.) You can add a line-item
element to that document workflow. When the line-item
element is executed, each line item on the document is
submitted for processing. You may want all of the line items
processed by the same line-item workflow, or you may want
each line item processed by a different line-item workflow.
Flow-control elements Several new elements have been added to help you design
workflows. These elements enable you to design workflows that
have alternate branches or branches that run concurrently.
These elements include:
 Conditional decision — A point at which a workflow

divides into two branches. The system will decide
which branch to use by evaluating the submitted
document to determine whether it meets a specified
condition.
 Manual decision — A point at which a workflow
divides into two branches. A user must take an action,
and the action taken will determine which branch is
used to process the submitted document.
 Parallel activity — A workflow element that includes
two or more branches that run at the same time.
View work items that are You can view work items for specific document types, such as
based on specific business invoices, purchase orders, and expense reports in one place, so
documents in one location that you can more efficiently process them. The ability to see
all work items for a specific document type is especially
important for high-volume documents. You can see all
documents of a specific type that are assigned to you, to a
work item queue that you belong to, or to a work item queue or
queue group that you administer. You can filter the work items
by date to help prioritize the tasks you have to do.
Workflow editor The workflow editor is a graphical interface that enables you to
create Microsoft Dynamics AX workflows by arranging workflow
elements on a design surface similarly to how you would
graphically model a business process using Microsoft Visio. You
can add, delete, and reposition workflow elements that
represent the tasks and approvals that make up the workflow.
You can also add flow-controls, such as manual and automated
decisions and parallel activities so that you can create complex
workflows that exactly model the business processes you want
to automate.
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Workflow features
View workflow history and You can view workflow history and the status of an active or
tracking data that includes completed workflow and its elements, including data about new
new workflow features workflow features, such as advanced flow controls, automated
tasks, line item approvals, and work item queues. You can view
this data either in the Microsoft Dynamics AX client or in
Enterprise Portal for Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Ability to assign workflow A manual task can be assigned to a work item queue. A work
tasks to work item queues item queue is a collection of documents that require processing.
A queue must have users assigned to it. Those users will be
responsible for monitoring the queue and processing the
documents in it.
Notifications The following changes have been made to improve the

workflow notification system.
 Workflow-specific notifications — Email templates
are used to send workflow notifications. You can now
create and use a specific email template for each
workflow. This enables you to customize the message
so that is appropriate for each workflow.
 Aggregated notifications — With Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012, you can implement workflows for
the line items on a document. Because line-item
workflows may generate more email notifications,
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 now enables workflow
participants to aggregate their notifications for line
items into a single email message.
Workflow performance A workflow online analytical processing (OLAP) cube is included

analysis reports with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Using this cube, you can
generate a report that shows how a workflow performs so that
you can identify bottlenecks in processes. You also can
determine if the workflow is adding efficiency to your business
processes, and provide a means of comparing the automated
workflow to the manual processes it replaced. The analysis
focuses on showing how much work was done using the
workflow and how much time it took to perform the business
tasks that make up the workflow. By using these reports, you
can modify your workflows and optimize their performance.
Enterprise Portal
Enterprise portal features

Enhancements to Enterprise Administrators can deploy Enterprise Portal as part of a
Portal business’s or organization’s parent site, and automatically
adopt the look and feel of the parent site, provided that the
parent site is using a theme that is available in the SharePoint
Theme Gallery. Administrators can apply new themes to
Enterprise Portal pages by using .thmx files from the Microsoft
SharePoint Theme Gallery.
Several lookups on Enterprise Portal pages have been enhanced

for better performance.
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Enterprise portal features
Enterprise Portal security Enterprise Portal automatically grants and denies access to data
and web pages, in accordance with the Microsoft Dynamics AX
role and task security framework. Before users can view data or
Enterprise Portal pages, administrators must configure
Microsoft Dynamics AX security roles and tasks.
New user interface elements FactBoxes display information related to a selected record, or
in Enterprise Portal information displayed in a form or on a list page. You can
customize the type of information that is displayed in
FactBoxes.
Enterprise Portal deployment The following enhancements have been made for Enterprise
and upgrade enhancements Portal setup and deployment:
 Enhanced initial setup and installation that no longer
requires manual compilation of X++ classes
 Capability to deploy changes to a web server by using
the AxUpdatePortal utility or PowerShell commands
 Capability to deploy changes from the Application
Object Tree (AOT) on a 32-bit client to a 64-bit
Windows Server by clicking a button
 Automatic upgrade from Enterprise Portal on Windows
SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint
Server 2007 to Microsoft SharePoint Foundation or
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 (after all other
Microsoft Dynamics AX upgrade tasks are completed)
 Capability to manage remote Enterprise Portal
deployments from a Microsoft Dynamics AX client
Enterprise Portal Administrators can configure Enterprise Portal vendor sites to

enhancements authenticate users based on their Windows Live ID. In this way,
administrators do not have to manage large numbers of
external users in Active Directory.
You also can bookmark a specific URL for a task page.

Developers must note that Enterprise Portal no longer supports
development in the X++ Web framework. Development of
Enterprise Portal pages requires ASP.NET and the Microsoft
.NET Framework.
Microsoft Office add-ins

Microsoft Word integration This new feature enables you to use Microsoft Word to build
supported by Microsoft templates and documents that combine the structured and
Dynamics AX unstructured information from Microsoft Dynamics AX.
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View and update data from You can use the add-in for Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word
Microsoft Office tools to view, analyze, and update information in Microsoft Dynamics
AX.
More enhancements to With the enhancements to this feature, you can update data
Microsoft Excel integration from Microsoft Excel by using AIF Web Services. An opt-in
supported by the Microsoft checklist for built services is also available.
Dynamics AX add-in
General ledger
General ledger features

Print financial statements to You can print financial statements to Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft Excel
Multiple ledgers for multiple Each legal entity has a separate ledger, where you define a
legal entities chart of accounts, the accounting currency, the reporting
currency, and the fiscal calendar for that legal entity.
Finance list pages and In Enterprise Portal, Finance-related list pages are included in
Finance reports changes the Sales and Procurement areas. The following list pages use
standard list page elements, including Action Panes, FactBoxes,
and preview panes: Customer invoices, Unpaid customer
invoices, Latest invoiced items, Interest notes, Collection
letters, and Vendor invoices.
The following details pages use standard detail page elements,

including Action Panes, FactBoxes, and FastTabs: Customer
invoice, Interest note, Collection letter, and Vendor invoice.
A new Finance reports list page provides access to financial

reports in Enterprise Portal.
Shared exchange rates for You can define multiple exchange rates between two
the General ledger currencies, and select a currency rate type for each range of
consolidation process accounts and company accounts that is being consolidated.
Reporting currency The reporting currency is the accounting currency amount

revaluation multiplied by the exchange rate. The reporting currency must
be calculated and revalued, even if the exchange rate to the
accounting currency does not change.
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Financial analysis cube The following changes are included:
enhancements
 Data in the General ledger, Accounts payable, and
Accounts receivable cubes can be analyzed as of a
specific date.
 The currency conversion process that is used to
analyze financial cube data in Microsoft Excel has been
updated.
 The following General ledger KPIs are calculated on
the basis of dates, not periods: Average Days
Delinquent, Accounts Receivable Days Outstanding,
Best Possible Days Sales Outstanding, and Collection
Effectiveness Index.
 Trend calculations for the following General ledger
KPIs have been removed: Average Days Delinquent,
Accounts Receivable Days Outstanding, Best Possible
Days Sales Outstanding, and Collection Effectiveness
Index.
Relieve encumbrances when When you confirm a purchase order that is generated from one
you confirm purchase orders or more pre-encumbered purchase requisition lines, it is posted
to the general ledger. Any pre-encumbrances are also relieved.
Reason codes for purchase You can now add reason codes to the posting transactions for
order transactions purchase orders. Reason codes help explain why transactions
were entered, such as why an order was returned, or why the
amount that was received differs from the amount that was
ordered.
Record purchase order When you confirm a purchase order, you can record the
encumbrances in the general encumbrances in general ledger accounts, often to accrue
ledger liabilities.
Most public sector organizations record encumbrance
transactions to record accruals of liabilities for committed, or
obligated, purchases. In the General ledger parameters form,
you can select the Enable encumbrance processing check box
to activate recording in ledger accounts. The ledger accounts
that you record in are specified by posting definitions, and they
are associated with the purchase order transaction by using the
Transaction posting definitions form.
View and track encumbered When the encumbrance process is enabled, you can view the
amounts on purchase orders encumbered amounts, encumbrances that are relieved through
invoice processing, and encumbered amounts that remain after
invoice processing.
Create reports that display The Open invoice transactions report and the Sales invoice
vendor invoices or customer journal report have been changed. They are now the Vendor
invoices grouped by a invoice transactions report, which is created in Accounts
selected financial dimension payable, and the Customer invoice transactions report, which is
created in Accounts receivable. You can create the reports to
display transactions grouped by a selected financial dimension.
You can select invoices for both reports by using a variety of
criteria. Both reports include options to select invoices by date
or date range, and you can display all invoices, only paid
invoices, or only invoices that are in an open state.
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Create a reconciliation report You can create a reconciliation report that is grouped by the
of purchase order general ledger chart of accounts dimension that you select. This
encumbrances report identifies differences between budget reservations for
encumbrances and the corresponding encumbrances that are
tracked in the general ledger. You can view either a detailed
version of the report or only the differences. The detailed
version shows totals by transaction or document number for all
encumbrances. The version that displays differences shows only
instances where the budget reservation amount for
encumbrances does not balance with the corresponding
encumbrance accounts in the general ledger.
Accounts payable payments You can use posting definitions to record vendor payments for
and payment clearing vendor invoices and promissory notes. For example, you can
record a vendor payment by posting a vendor payment journal.
The vendor payment journal can generate multiple
transactions, using the distributions on the vendor invoice and
the posting definitions to support pooled cash accounting. With
bridged costing enabled on the method of payment, you can
use a clearing account for payments to track checks or
warrants that have been issued, but that have not yet cleared
the bank.
Simplified calendar options You can use the streamlined Fiscal calendars form to create
multiple calendars in Accounts payable, Accounts receivable,
General ledger, Project, and Inventory and warehouse
management. Maintain all calendar types, including fixed asset
and fiscal year calendars, in one form. You can define multiple
closing periods for a specific date, which helps you better track
and report on multiple audit adjustments.
Fiscal period enhancements With the many enhancements to the fiscal period functionality,
you can now use multiple fiscal years, enter multiple closing
periods with the same starting and ending dates, and copy the
setup of periods to the next year. You also can change a
sequence of months more quickly. Multiple fiscal years are
useful if, for example, you have a subsidiary agency that uses a
different fiscal year than the rest of your organization, and you
enter that agency’s transactions in your company because you
do not maintain a separate company for them. To
accommodate these enhancements, the Periods and Fixed asset
calendars forms have been removed and fiscal period
functionality is included in the Fiscal calendars and Ledger
calendar forms.
Create shared fiscal You can create and use calendars that are independent of your
calendars for use by different organization and shared by multiple legal entities. For example,
entities an organization can create one or more calendars that can be
used by different departments, and departments can select
among any of the calendars created by the organization.
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New Treasurer Role Center The Treasurer Role Center is a default home page that provides
an overview of information that pertains to your work, such as
your work list, frequently used links, and key performance
indicator (KPI) information. It includes two new KPI reports:
Treasurer asset analysis and Treasurer liabilities analysis.
The treasurer’s Role Center has the same four KPIs that the
Role Centers for the controller, CFO, accountant, and
accounting manager have, except the reports match the
treasurer title: Treasurer profitability analysis, Treasurer
operational efficiency, Treasurer short-term solvency, and
Treasurer long-term solvency. This Role Center has pie charts
for check information and outstanding debt, and a Fixed asset
replacements list report. This Role Center uses existing General
ledger cube measures and dimensions.
Updates to posting definitions If your organization requires multiple offsetting entries for
transactions, you can set up posting definitions that determine
the balanced set of ledger posting entries that is generated,
based on the originating entry for a transaction. You can set up
posting definition versions that have date-effective ranges, and
the criteria for matching account numbers can include account
structures, dimensions enabled for budgeting, and accounts
generated from account rules. Use transaction posting
definitions to specify the posting definitions that are used, and
to assign them to transaction posting types.
New distributions and You can close purchase orders in the fiscal year that is ending,
budget-related functionality open them in the next fiscal year, and create budget
for year-end processing adjustments and carry-forward budget register entries.
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Tax
Tax features
Sales tax changes for vendor You can use a new parameter to preserve the sales tax
invoices in the Vendor invoice information from the vendor, either through a service or
form through manual entry based on a paper invoice from the
vendor. Otherwise, the calculated sales tax information may
override the actual amounts in some situations.
Bank, budget, compliance, and fixed assets
Bank, budget, compliance and fixed assets features

Export Letters of Credit You can now mark a sales order for payment by using a Letter
of Credit or an Import collection. You can update Letter of
Credit and Import collection details, post a corresponding
packing slip, and assign a shipment number. You can also
indicate that the documents have been submitted, apply a
payment, and generate a cash flow forecast for a sales order.
Letter of Guarantee A Letter of Guarantee is an undertaking by a financial

institution (the guarantor), such as a bank, to pay an agreed-
upon amount of money to another person (the beneficiary) if
the financial institution’s customer (the principal) defaults on a
debt or on its obligation to the beneficiary. The beneficiary
must claim the guaranteed amount from the guarantor before
the expiration of the Letter of Guarantee. To liquidate the
agreement, the beneficiary submits the original Letter of
Guarantee to the bank before the letter’s expiration date. The
Letter of Guarantee is nontransferable and applies only to the
beneficiary whose name is included in the guarantee
agreement. It helps customers do the following:
 Create correct ledger entries and eliminate manual
entry.
 Generate a report that includes the bank facilities and
utilization of those facilities.
 Record the monetary and nonmonetary transactions
involved and track the Letter of Guarantee balances.
 Record the Letter of Guarantee cycle and track its
expiration date and status.
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Import Letters of Credit and You can now mark a purchase order for payment by using a
Import collections Letter of Credit or an Import collection. You can then do the
following:
 Create, extend, or delete a bank facility agreement.
 Update and amend Letter of Credit or Import collection
details and insurance advice.
 Print requests for banks to issue Letters of Credit, and
retrieve shipment information.
 Send insurance request notes to vendors.
 Record Letter of Credit or Import collection
amendments and insurance invoices.
 Record and allocate Letter of Credit margins.
 Receive shipments, update bank advice, and indicate
shipping guarantees.
 Register packing slips, and post and pay invoices.
 View Letter of Credit reports.
Set a company bank as You can set a company bank as inactive for all transactions or
inactive for new transactions. Optionally, you can set the date when a
company bank becomes inactive for new transactions, and
when it becomes active again. When a bank is inactive for all
transactions, no transactions are permitted for that bank.
Budget control integrated If you are using budget control, you can validate spending
with general journal entry based on approved limits. You can specify that each purchase
or planned purchase is validated during processing to ensure
that it does not exceed the budget funds that are available. You
can use budget control for daily, allocation, and project
expense account journal types. The vendor invoice recording
journal and the vendor invoice approval journal can also be
included in budget control. If you are using budget control for
expense accounts, authorized users can override the available
budget by transferring budget funds from other accounts.
Those users can also reject purchases.
Enhanced budgeting Customize how budget entries are transferred from other
modules. Use new check boxes on the Budget parameters form
to specify whether budget register entries that are created from
a cross-module transfer have a draft or completed status when
they are first created. You also can more easily identify newly
transferred budget register entries in the Budget register entry
form because they have a budget type that is similar to their
origin. For example, budget register entries that are created
from a fixed asset budget transfer have a budget type of Fixed
assets.
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Ensure that purchases do not Budget control enables you to validate spending based on
exceed approved budgets approved limits. You can specify that each purchase or planned
purchase must be validated during processing to ensure that it
does not exceed the budget funds that are available. Budget
verifications can be performed automatically, either when the
purchase order lines are entered or when the purchase order is
confirmed.
New reports to view and filter The Budget detail report shows all budget register entry by
budget information budget type, with totals by type. You can filter the report by
budget model, date range, dimension, and status. The Budget
funds available report displays the sum of each budget category
for the selected dimensions and time period. You can filter the
report by budget model, date range, and dimension focus. The
Actual versus budget report compares budget amounts with
actual balances. You can filter the report by budget model,
dimension, date range, and dimension focus.
Transition from ledger Ledger budgets have been replaced with budget register
budgets to budget register entries. You can use budget register entries to enter budget
entries amounts for dimensions that are defined for budgeting. You can
categorize budget register entries by budget types, such as
revisions, transfers, and original budget, so that you can more
quickly understand how a budget changed. Ledger budget
records are automatically converted to budget register entries.
Budget control integrated If you are using budget control, each purchase or planned
with accounts payable purchase is validated during processing to ensure that it does
not exceed the budget funds that are available. When a
purchase is made with a vendor invoice, any budget
reservations are relieved for the budget of the distribution
accounts on the purchase order. The vendor invoice distribution
accounts and amounts are validated to determine whether
budget funds are available. If the budget check is successful,
budget tracking records with a category of actual expenditure
are created. The entire cost of the vendor invoice line is
evaluated, including any taxes or charges. The date on the
vendor invoice line is associated with the appropriate fiscal
period and budget interval to determine the budget period for
validation.
Budgeting workflows When you set up a review workflow, you can associate the
workflow with a budget code to require budget register entries
to use a review process. When a specified budget code is used
on a budget register entry, a review process is required. You
can define conditional statements for the review process to
determine whether budget register entries are manually or
automatically reviewed and approved. If you are using budget
control, you can set up workflows so that a budget manager
can approve budget register entries. Each budget account entry
on a budget register entry can have its own review process.
You can also set up rules that are independent of any review
processes. For example, you can set up budget transfer rules to
allow the transfer of budget funds among only a subset of
departments. If budget transfer rules are violated, budget
register entries can be assigned to a specific user for approval.
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Budgeting and budget control You can set up budgets and configure budget control based on
the ledger for a legal entity. The ledger provides the chart of
accounts, accounting and reporting currencies, and fiscal
calendar. You can specify which dimensions from the chart of
accounts are available for budgeting and budget control. You
can configure budget intervals, budget cycle time spans, budget
thresholds, budget managers, budget groups, and the
calculation used to check for available budget funds. The
available budget funds can be verified when source document
line items and accounting journals are entered.
Use posting definitions for You can create posting definitions for budget register entries,
budget register entries and use those posting definitions to create ledger entries when
budget register entries are posted. This helps make posting
faster and more efficient because you can post to multiple
accounts without making additional manual account entries.
Import and Mapping Wizard You can use the Import and Mapping Wizard to import your
for the Compliance Center internal controls into the Compliance Center from an existing,
preformatted control matrix spreadsheet that your company
uses.
Default control library for the A workbook that contains more than 120 common compliance
Compliance site controls is now available on the Compliance site in Enterprise
Portal. You can refer to this library when you manually enter
controls on the Compliance site, or you can use the library as
the source file for importing controls into the Compliance site.
Removed Compliance site The following links have been removed from the Compliance
links to reports that require site:
input parameters
 Alert tracking
 Alert setup
 Database log setup
 Object permissions
 User permissions
 Workflow tracking
 Workflow instance by status
Internal Control page A number of usability enhancements have been added to the
usability enhancements Internal Controls page in Enterprise Portal. For example,
preview information is displayed in FactBoxes for each
document that is selected. You can change the page view to
highlight documents that meet specific criteria, such as
documents that are assigned only to you, or documents that
have not been started. Icons are displayed next to each
document to help identify the template that was used to create
each document. Also, the new context menu makes it easier to
add, modify, and delete documents in the Internal Controls tree
view.
Action Pane on Compliance The Internal controls and Database log pages on the
site pages Compliance site are updated to use standard Microsoft
Dynamics AX Action Panes.
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Automatically review You can now automatically review business documents for
business documents for policy violations that trigger a review or audit. As a result, you
policy violations can more efficiently manage adherence to policy and prevent
fraud.
Transfer fixed assets between You can transfer fixed assets between financial dimensions,
locations, funds, programs, such as locations, funds, programs, and departments. For each
and departments transfer, an historical record is created that includes the
transaction (transfer) date and the amount at the time of the
transfer. You can view the historical information in the Fixed
assets form. This form provides a clear record of asset
transfers, which is required for high-value assets.
You can instead use this tracking method, and also modify
financial dimensions, in the Value models form to modify the
financial dimensions for a fixed asset, where you do not have to
keep an historical record of the changes when no record of the
transfer details is needed.
Asset activity code, property Some organizations must track fixed assets at a very detailed
group, and organization unit level, either for specialized business needs or to comply with
attributes available for fixed governmental regulations. You can track fixed assets by using
assets three new attributes: asset activity code, property group, and
organization unit. After you create these attributes in their
setup forms, you can assign them to fixed assets in the Fixed
assets form.
New SQL Server Reporting You can use Physical inventory worksheets as checklists to
Services reports for Fixed identify and list assets. The Fixed asset due for replacement
assets report lists assets that are due to be replaced, based on the
asset replacement dates.
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Accounts payable
Accounts payable features

Invoice quantity sign must The sign of the invoice quantity on a vendor invoice must
match ordered quantity sign match the sign of the ordered quantity on the purchase order.
In previous versions, you could enter a negative invoice
quantity to record the return of a product. To provide better
accounting control, this is no longer possible. Instead, you can
issue a credit note for the purchase order line as a separate
purchase order line (in other words, a purchase order line with
a negative quantity).
A unit price based on an The unit price on an intercompany purchase order and
inventory cost price is intercompany sales order is updated for changes only when the
updated only once for a first customer invoice for the intercompany sales order is
customer invoice entered. The update occurs only if there is a change in the unit
cost price in Inventory management, and it occurs
automatically. If a subsequent customer invoice is entered, the
unit price for that customer invoice does not come from the
cost of the item. Instead, it comes from the intercompany
purchase order.
Accounts payable invoice In previous versions, unposted purchase order invoices that
table changes were entered in the Posting invoice form were stored in the
same tables as information about updating purchase orders,
receipts lists, and packing slips. In this version, unposted
purchase order invoices, which are now called vendor invoices,
are stored in a separate set of tables.
Invoice matching changes for You can match an invoice line that is identified by a description
line items that are identified and a category to its corresponding purchase order line and
by descriptions and product receipt line. This feature is based on the functionality
categories that you use to enter lines that are identified by a description
and a category on a purchase order, product receipt, and
invoice. Additionally, you can use this feature with purchasing
policies that are assigned to line items that are identified by
descriptions and categories.
Create vendor invoices and A new Application Integration Framework (AIF) service,
credit notes from electronic VendVendInvoiceService, creates vendor invoices and credit
invoices notes from invoices that are received electronically. The service
also enables vendors to request and retrieve unposted invoice
information in Accounts payable.
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Enter vendor invoice lines in You can enter vendor invoice lines in the Vendor invoice form,
the Vendor invoice form that even if the lines are not related to a purchase order. The same
are not related to a purchase vendor invoice can include a combination of lines that are
order related to purchase orders and lines that are not related to
purchase orders. The following are examples of vendor invoice
lines that are not related to a purchase order:
 Subscription dues
 Conference event registrations
 Catering services
 Cleaning services
You can enter vendor invoice lines that are not related to a
purchase order, and that do not create inventory transactions.
However, inventoried or stocked lines are not supported on
vendor invoice lines that are not related to a purchase order.
Invoice matching: Price total If the parameter that enables price total matching to be used in
matching the Accounts payable parameters form is selected, the net
amount of an invoice line plus the net amount of any pending
invoice lines and previously posted invoice lines is compared
with the purchase order line. If the variance amount in the
accounting currency exceeds the tolerance percentage, the
amount, or the percentage and amount for price total
matching, a matching discrepancy warning is displayed. This
type of variance can occur in situations where partial invoices
individually meet quantity and price tolerances, but when
combined, they exceed a specified percentage or currency
value as defined by the legal entity. Price total matching
tolerances can be set up per legal entity.
Invoice matching: Charge If the option to use charges matching is selected in the
matching enhancements Accounts payable parameters form, charges on a vendor
invoice can be compared with the expected charges from the
purchase order. If the variance exceeds the tolerance
percentage for charges, a matching discrepancy indicator is
displayed. Charge tolerances can be set up per company or for
individual charges codes.
Invoice matching: Invoice Invoice totals on a vendor invoice are compared with the
total matching expected totals, based on the purchase order information. If
the variance exceeds the tolerance percentage for invoice total
matching, a matching discrepancy indicator is displayed.
Invoice total matching tolerances can be set up per legal entity
or for individual vendor.
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Vendor invoice processing By using two new workflow types, VendProcessInvoice and
workflow VendProcessInvoiceLine, users can create user-defined
workflows for vendor invoices that are typically entered in the
Vendor invoice form and other forms that have the InvoiceInfo*
tables as their data source. The workflow process operates on
data that is imported into the InvoiceInfo* tables, and can be
used to model the processing steps for the vendor invoices. The
workflow type contains the following elements:
 Approval elements for creating approval tasks.
 A task element for use in completing and correcting
vendor invoices.
 Automated tasks that can be run programmatically
without user intervention, to perform selected
validations and post the vendor invoices.
Vendor invoice validations, including matching, are performed

programmatically when the workflow is run. The validations use
relevant Accounts payable parameter settings.
Security is used to determine the behaviors that are supported

while the vendor invoice has an active workflow instance
associated with it.
The standard Microsoft Dynamics AX workflow infrastructure for

the creation of workflows by users, the run-time behaviors of
the associated workflow instances, and the creation of workflow
history is used.
Invoice matching: Line The line matching policy can be set to three-way (matching
matching policy (two-way compares the invoice, purchase order, and product receipt),
and three-way) two-way (matching compares the invoice and purchase order),
or not required (unit price matching and price totals matching
are not performed). The line matching policy can be set up per
legal entity, and for items, vendors, or item and vendor
combinations.
Invoice matching task for Invoice matching is now available as a workflow task that can
workflow be performed without user intervention. The workflow can be
started based on a Microsoft Dynamics AX business event, such
as when new records are created by using the vendor invoice
service.
Vendor portal scenarios and import scenarios in which vendor

invoices are processed without user intervention are supported.
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, invoice matching was
performed automatically through the user interface when an
invoice was created, modified, or retrieved. The new tasks use
the same underlying logic that the user interface uses to
perform invoice matching.
Enter vendor invoices that Invoice header fields have been added to the Vendor invoice
are not for a purchase order form, so that you can use this form to enter a category-based
in the Vendor invoice form invoice line that is not related to a purchase order on an
invoice.
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Postdated checks You can issue and receive checks with a check date in the
future, also known as postdated checks. This is a common
business practice in Asia, Africa, and many other parts of the
world. Many businesses use checks as the primary means of
making and receiving payments.
You can create postdated checks in payment journals in both
Accounts receivable and Accounts payable. Postdated checks
use standard Microsoft Dynamics AX functionality, including
payment journals, financial dimensions, check printing,
centralized payments, settlements, and banking.
Postdated checks are not considered legal in certain parts of
the world, including Southeast Asia, Australia, and New
Zealand, but are sometimes still used in those
countries/regions as a business practice. To accommodate this
business practice while complying with applicable laws, you can
choose whether the check amount will be reflected in your
accounting books until the time of maturity. If financial posting
for postdated checks is turned off, the checks are documented
for record-keeping purposes, and the financial transaction takes
place only when the maturity date of the check is reached.
Improved forms for creating The forms for creating and posting invoices are easier to
and posting invoices understand and use, and you can now enter all of the required
information in one form.
Verify the receipt of W-9 Before posting a document, you can verify whether a vendor
forms from vendors has provided a W-9 form. If the vendor has not provided a W-9
form, you can hold the document while you wait for the form
from the vendor.
Advance payments on vendor When you need to pay a vendor before goods are delivered or a
invoices service is performed, you can create a vendor invoice line that
includes a category and the amount that must be paid in
advance. You can validate the amount of the advance payment
that is listed on the vendor invoice against the amount listed on
the purchase order. You can also apply the vendor invoice for
the advance payment against the vendor invoice for the items
or service.
Vendor self-service Vendors can create and edit their invoices directly from the
vendor self-service portal in Enterprise Portal. Vendors can
create an invoice from a purchase order, or they can create an
invoice and add a purchase order to it.
Add open purchase orders You can use the Retrieve purchase orders form to create one
and purchase order lines to invoice for selected purchase orders and purchase order lines.
an invoice In a list on the Retrieve purchase orders form, you can select
the open purchase orders and lines that you want to combine
on the same invoice.
Improved forms to create The forms for creating and posting invoices, purchase orders,
and post invoices, purchase receipt lists, and packing slips are easier to understand and
orders, receipt lists, and use. For each document type, you can now enter all of the
packing slips required information in one form.
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Create payment invoice You can group invoices by a common code, so that if one
groups and pay a group of invoice in the payment group is paid, the other invoices in the
invoices by using the same group are included in the same payment.
payment
Print copies of payments as You can print copies of payments, including checks, promissory
nonnegotiable checks notes, and electronic payments. The payment copies are
printed as nonnegotiable checks.
Set up prenotes to validate You can now set up prenotes for customer and vendor bank
customer and vendor bank accounts for electronic funds transfer (EFT). For electronic
accounts for EFT payments, banks use prenotes to verify the accuracy of account
data, such as routing numbers and account numbers.
Place Accounts payable You can put Accounts payable payments on hold until a
payments on hold specified release date, or you can put them on hold indefinitely
by not specifying a release date. You can use holds to stop
Accounts payable payments either by holding all payments for a
vendor or by holding the payment of any selected invoice.
When you put a payment on hold, you can prevent an approved
invoice from generating a payment until the release date, if one
is specified.
Organize invoices in groups You can now group invoices by a common code, so that you do
for simpler retrieval and not have to use an exact query to retrieve a set of similar
handling invoices. After you have retrieved the invoice group, you can
easily post all of the invoices at the same time.
Add open purchase orders You can use the Retrieve purchase orders form to create one
and purchase order lines to invoice for selected purchase orders and purchase order lines.
an invoice In a list on the Retrieve purchase orders form, you can select
the open purchase orders and lines that you want to combine
on the same invoice.
Create a confirming purchase In an emergency or special circumstance, you can create an

order for unplanned vendor order that circumvents the typical purchasing process. For
purchases (Public sector) example, you can authorize an order with only a purchase order
number instead of a printed purchase order document. You can
use the Confirming PO field to track these unplanned
purchases.
Select from multiple You can select from multiple remittance addresses for your
remittance addresses organization. You can use a default remittance address for
specific invoices, or a different address that you selected for an
invoice or payment.
Approve or reject vendor You can use the Workforce services site in Enterprise Portal to
invoices from the Workforce approve or reject invoices that were submitted through the
services site vendor self-service portal.
Create invoices from the Vendors can create and edit their invoices directly from the
vendor self-service portal vendor self-service portal in Enterprise Portal. Vendors can
create an invoice from a purchase order or packing slip, or they
can create an invoice and add a purchase order to it.
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Transfer purchase order If you encumber purchase orders, you can process year-end
encumbrance entries from closing entries to the general ledger and against budget
the closing fiscal year to the reserves at the end of each fiscal year. When a new fiscal year
new fiscal year is created, a new set of adjusting entries is made to correctly
reflect the encumbrances in the new fiscal year. These entries
ensure that the purchase orders are correctly represented on
the year-end financial statements.
Create flexible rules for Business rules for vendor invoices are now more flexible. You
vendor invoices can enforce your business rules across all operating legal
entities, but still allow local variations based on other criteria,
such as currency and country/region.
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Accounts receivable
Accounts receivable features

Giro footer information is Six reports that can have variable footer information can now
printed on a separate page include the footer information on a separate page. These reports
include the Customer account statement - external, Customer
collection letter, Customer interest note, Free text invoice,
Customer invoice, and Project invoice.
Credit card processing Credit card processing terminology has changed to follow industry
enhancements standards. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, you could
preauthorize a credit card to reserve the amount with the bank,
and then authorize it to collect the payment. Now, the term
“authorize” is used for reserving the amount, and “capture” is
used for collecting the payment.
The following enhancements are included for credit card
processing:
 You can use any valid currency that your payment
service supports.
 Refunds can be processed for credit notes.
 Authorizations (previously known as preauthorizations)
occur automatically for the remaining amount of the
order when a partial shipment is processed.
 The card verification value (CVV) can be validated.
 Address verification is now supported. Data support is
provided for Level-2 (order header) and Level-3 (order
line) data.
 You can process a sales order that contains a credit card,
without storing the credit card number in Microsoft
Dynamics AX.
 You can send tax codes, customer tax groups, and item
tax groups to an external application by using a web
service.
Multiple customer invoice You can now specify different formats for customer invoices in the
formats for print Print management setup form. For example, you can use one
management format for most of your customers, but a custom format for a
specific customer. The custom report format must be created by a
developer and added to the AOT before it is available for selection
in the Print management setup form.
Manage collections and Credit and collection managers can use a new central view to
collection agents manage collections and collection agents. Collection agents can
begin the collection process from customer lists that are
generated by using predefined collection criteria. Collection
agents can use the Collections form to organize work related to a
specific customer in an orderly fashion to produce measurable
results. They can also track activities, such as making phone
calls, sending email correspondence, and writing off transactions,
and manage groups of transactions and activities by assigning
them to a case.
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Define enhanced interest Expanded options for calculating interest give you the flexibility to
calculations handle interest charges that are unique to your organization. You
can use the enhanced Interest form to define the specific
calculations that are used when collecting interest and paying
interest for a variety of scenarios that your organization
encounters. In previous versions, interest could be calculated only
by using a fixed percentage formula with a simple per-day or per-
month frequency. With the addition of the Interest earnings and
Interest payments tabs, you can base an interest calculation on
either a percentage or an amount. On the new Ranges tab, you
can derive interest percentages or amounts by defining an
increasing series of these values in day, month, or amount
intervals. For example, you can charge an interest amount of USD
5.00 every 15 days, five percent every three months, or two
percent for every USD 1000.00 of the balance of an invoice.
Create different interest You can create interest code ranges that are effective for a
terms for different date specified date range. You also can define changes in interest
ranges attributes, such as the days in a grace period, the amount, the
ledger account, or the calculation method for a future date. This
ensures that the correct set of interest attributes is used when
interest is calculated on transactions. You can also view historical
information for interest attributes, including a timeline.
Correct free text invoices You can quickly correct posted invoices, review free text invoice
after they have been history, and audit free text invoice correction history.
posted
Select invoice lines for When you use the Enter customer payments form or the Open
settlement customer transaction editing form, you can now apply a customer
payment to selected invoice lines. You can use the new Mark
invoice lines form to select individual lines for settlement and
adjust the settlement amount for these lines. You also can view a
history of the settled line amounts on a new Lines tab in the
Customer settlement form. These features are activated by
selecting a check box on the Settlement tab of the Accounts
receivable parameters form.
Calculate interest based on You can calculate the interest for transactions by using the
the terms specified for interest code that is specified for the posting profile that is
individual transactions associated with the individual transactions. Interest ledger
accounts, and the corresponding offset or summary accounts, are
also obtained from the posting profile that is associated with the
individual transactions when the interest note is posted.
Quickly view customer When customers ask about their most recent invoice totals and
invoice details and create interest charges, you can now find this information in one
new interest notes location, rather than looking in multiple forms. Use the Open
Customer Invoices list page to view essential invoice details by
customer, including posted and unposted interest and total
payments made. You can click the Calculate Interest and New
Interest Note buttons to calculate interest and create new interest
notes by customer or by invoice. You also can click the Invoice,
Transactions, Payments, Interest Notes, and Collection Letters
buttons to view original transaction documents.
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View, print, or send You can use the Free Text Invoices list page to view, print, or
individual invoices or send individual invoices or groups of invoices, or copies of those
ranges of invoices from the invoices. You can use this feature to consolidate invoicing mailing
Free Text Invoices list page batches, which can decrease mailing costs. You can select
invoices by invoice date, invoice due date, or account number.
Generate recurring invoices You can set up, create, and generate recurring free text invoices
for customers for customers.
Select from multiple remit- You can select from multiple remit-to addresses for customers so
to addresses for customer that you can send refunds to an address that is different from the
refunds primary customer address.
New quantity and unit price You can use the new Quantity and Unit price fields to determine
fields on the free text the billing amount for a free text invoice line. These fields enable
invoice line you to use a single invoice line to bill customers for more than
one instance of a specific charge.
Specify how debit You now can specify the order in which transactions are settled in
transactions are prioritized Accounts receivable. You can use a new parameter to prioritize
during Accounts receivable settlement by debit transaction type. You can create an ordered
settlement list of transaction types that determines the priority of settlement
when no specific transactions are selected. If you are selecting
transactions for settlement, you can click the Mark transactions
button in the Enter customer payments and Open transaction
editing forms to automatically select the prioritized transactions,
and to easily see them and make any changes before they are
settled.
Use print management for You can use the expanded print management features when
Accounts receivable reports generating customer account statements, collection letter notes,
and interest notes.
Make adjustments to You can waive interest notes, or interest on transactions or fees
waive, reinstate, or reverse that are part of interest notes when you make adjustments to an
interest notes, interest on outstanding balance that is owed by a customer. Waived charges
transactions, or fees are forgiven, and the amounts are reversed to the same revenue
accounts. If necessary, you can later reinstate waived interest or
fees so that the amounts are due again. You can also reverse
waived interest notes or interest on transactions, which removes
those amounts from account balances so that interest can be
recalculated for the transactions.
Enhanced settlement You can enable the settlement priority by debit transaction type,
priority options transaction amount, cash discount date, or due date, and set the
sorting order, where applicable. The user can then determine
which charges must be paid first when a payment is received. In
addition, you can choose to use only the defined order for
marking transactions for settlement, and exclude automatic
settlement from being affected by the specified marking order.
Improved free text invoice The form for creating and posting free text invoices is easier to
form to create and post understand and use. All of the actions have been moved to an
free text invoices Action Pane and are displayed on activity-based tabs, so that you
can access commonly used features and subsequent tasks by
clicking a button.
Add original invoice You can add the original invoice number and correction reason to
information to corrected a corrected free text invoice.
invoices
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Create different interest You can create interest code ranges that are effective for a
terms for different date specified date range. You also can define changes in interest
ranges attributes, such as the days in a grace period, the amount, the
ledger account, or the calculation method for a future date. This
ensures that the correct set of interest attributes is used when
interest is calculated on transactions. You can also view historical
information for interest attributes, including a timeline.
Human resources
Human resources features

Terminating workers You can easily modify a worker’s employment status to indicate
employment termination, and you can specify the last date that
the worker was employed and the final pay period date.
Track and manage work- You can track and manage work-related injuries, accidents, and
related injury and illness illness incidents.
incidents
Number sequences for You can set up number sequence codes for employees, positions,
employees, positions, and and applicants.
applicants
Maintain a list of You can maintain a list of dependents and beneficiaries.

dependents and
beneficiaries
Hiring workers By using information that was entered in an applicant record, you
can more easily create a worker record.
Access employee goals in Employees and managers can create and manage employee
Enterprise Portal goals. For example, they can create new goals, update the status
of goals and activities associated with those goals, and enter
comments.
Benefits setup You have more flexibility to set up and define worker benefits,
such as health or investment benefits. You can create and assign
workers to current and future benefits with customized plans and
coverage levels.
Transfer workers from one Previously, you had to update multiple forms when a worker
position to a different switched positions within your organization. Now, you can use the
position Transfer workers form to record transfer-related information
when a worker transfers to a different position.
Questionnaire configuration The Questionnaire I and II configuration keys are no longer

key updates available. The questionnaire functionality is available when the
Basic configuration key is selected.
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Human resources features
Create and manage teams You can now create and manage teams of people who collaborate
of people to perform work with Microsoft Dynamics AX. These people can be
Microsoft Dynamics AX users, employees, contractors, vendors,
customers, or contacts. Teams can include people from different
locations and entities, such as organizations, legal entities, and
departments.
Applicant list page A new list page that lists applicants is available, so that you can
quickly find and maintain your applicant records.
List of benefits and You can use a new list page to view which workers are enrolled in
enrollments a specific benefit. You also can filter the list and export it to
Microsoft Excel for further analysis.
Mass benefits enrollment You can enroll multiple workers in a benefit at the same time.
Track worker certification Generate an individual or batch report for certifications that are
expirations near expiration or that have already expired.
Enhanced benefit setup for You can assign benefits to dependents and beneficiaries, based on
dependents and your organization’s eligibility rules. The Personal contacts form
beneficiaries also has additional fields that you can use to include more
information about dependents and beneficiaries.
Onboard workers from You can now create a worker record by using information that
application records was entered in an applicant record.
Anonymous questionnaires You now can create questionnaires in which users can answer
questions anonymously.
Sales and marketing
Sales and marketing features

Case management in You can use case management in Enterprise Portal to access a list
Enterprise Portal of current cases and create new cases. You can access the case
information that you need, whether you are an internal employee
or an external worker for the company.
Associate contacts with To expand your network, and obtain new customers and vendors,
multiple parties in the you can now associate contacts with multiple parties in the same
same organization organization.
Knowledge articles and With the addition of case management, you can create knowledge
case management articles in what was formerly known as the encyclopedia. These
knowledge articles can help customer service representatives solve
specific cases. Access to documents, links, and other information
can be grouped logically into case categories for the accumulated
organizational knowledge of the company. The knowledge articles
can also be ranked or scored to indicate how valuable the
information is for helping users quickly find the most common
solution to an issue.
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Sales and marketing features
Case management in the Case management can help you track cases that are brought
Microsoft Dynamics AX forward by customers to resolve problems, answer questions, or
client replace purchased items. You can create, assign, plan, resolve,
follow up on, and analyze cases.
Updates to the address Updates to the address book include enhanced contact
book synchronization with Microsoft Outlook.
You can now define multiple purposes for multiple addresses.
Compliance and internal controls
Compliance and internal controls features

Data is available to help The data that the Environment dashboard provides can show your
you reduce your carbon organization what its carbon footprint is. With the new features
footprint included in the dashboard, your company can now formulate ways
to reduce its carbon footprint.
Enter substance flow You can now enter substance flow information in Enterprise Portal,
information in Enterprise which improves access to the information across your organization
Portal to help you better understand and evaluate your organization’s
carbon footprint and discover ways to reduce that footprint.
Resource and waste stream The Environmental sustainability dashboard can help you and your
management organization monitor, track, and report your environmental impact.
Your company can also report on the acquisition and emission of
these substances through reporting frameworks, like the Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG).
Feature updates have been Updates made to the Environment area offer a better experience
made to the Environmental for use, more functionality, and allow for a better Environmental
sustainability dashboard management system.
Graphical views of With the process flow map, you can view substance flows and
substance flow and key other data in graphical form.
sets of data
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Travel and expense
Travel and expense features

Tighter integration You can now filter by project, category, or employee validation,
between Expense set up default dimensions, and budget for projects in Expense
management and Projects management. In addition, expense entry has been optimized for
project expenses.
Expense report posting can You can now post expense reports as part of the expense report
be added to workflow workflow process.
Expense budget control You can now have better control over budgets by monitoring and
controlling actual spending.
Receipts management with Because business organizations are not required to pay taxes on
expense reports legitimate business travel and entertainment expenses in some
countries/regions, a legitimate record must be created and
submitted to the proper tax authorities. Receipts management
offers users a way to provide transaction receipt records with a
submitted expense report.
Enhanced Level-3 data in You can more closely control and monitor the company money
expense reports that is being spent by employees. Level-3 data requires that
employees provide more information about the expenses that
they incur when traveling for work. This information can show
when policies are violated and when employees are being
overcharged.
Value-added tax (VAT) Value-added tax (VAT) can be recovered from certain expenses
recovery incurred in specific countries/regions. In Microsoft Dynamics AX
2009, you could calculate and recover a portion of taxes by using
the sales tax code configuration. Now, you can calculate VAT and
potentially recover even more money.
Define travel and expense By using Level-2 and Level-3 data, you can create more detailed
policies policies for travel and expenses and also create more detailed
pre-travel policies.
The expense report The Expense management workflow that is based on line-level
workflow is now integrated reviews of expense reports has been integrated with the workflow
into workflow framework. This integration enables more efficient customization.
Credit card disputes on When you reconcile an expense report that contains a credit card
expense reports transaction with inaccurate information, you can create and
submit a transaction dispute. However, these disputes can only
be submitted to the credit card company, not to the merchant
where the transaction took place.
Expense management You can create work item queues for Expense management
workflows workflows. Expense reports can be routed to a queue of users,
and a user in that queue can complete tasks for the expense
report, such as verifying that receipts have been attached.
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Project accounting
Project accounting features

Display project budget You can now display the project budget status in purchase
status in purchasing forms requisition forms, purchase order forms, and vendor invoice
forms. This makes it easy to monitor the remaining available
budget for projects, and also supports budget control and the
evaluation of proposed purchases during management review or
workflow approval.
Changes to the Project Several nonessential fields have been removed from the Project
accounting cube cube perspective, leaving the fields related to measures and
attributes. These changes make the cube easier to work with and
maintain, and less likely to be negatively affected by schema
changes.
Project contract ID Legal entities now have the option of having project contract ID
numbers can now be numbers assigned automatically through a number sequence
assigned automatically when a new project contract is created in the Project contracts
form.
Associate any sales order, You can assign a project ID to any sales order, purchase order,
purchase order, or service- service agreement, service order, or service subscription.
related document with a Previously, these types of documents could be associated with a
project project ID only if they were created from within Project
management and accounting.
Grant management for You can easily enter and track grants and define relationships to
projects new or existing projects and project contracts. Grant information
is stored in a centralized location in Project, so that you can
quickly and easily find the information you need for reporting and
informational purposes.
Evaluate vendor invoices Vendor invoices can now be evaluated against project budgets.
against project budgets
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Enhancements to the Project budget capabilities have been enhanced as follows:
budget functionality in
projects  Project budgeting is now possible at the activity level.
 An original project budget can be created to define a
budget at various levels in the project hierarchy.
 An original budget can be submitted for review and
approval.
 An original project budget can be allocated over a period
of time.
 Project budget revisions can be created to revise a
budget at various levels in the project hierarchy.
 Revisions to a budget can be submitted for review and
approval.
 Approval of a proposed budget revision causes an
immediate change to the overall project budget.
 A history, or audit trail, of proposed, accepted, and
rejected budget revisions is available for review.
 The Project balances inquiry and the Project financial
status report include a detailed presentation of the
project budget.
 A project budget revision can be allocated over a period
of time.
Enhancements to Project Project managers can already schedule and manage project
integration with Microsoft activities and resources by using Microsoft Project Server, and
Project Server they can synchronize activity, costs, and revenue with Microsoft
Dynamics AX to support additional analysis of data.
Enhancements support the synchronization of resource
assignments and the project hierarchy with Microsoft Project
Server 2010.
In addition, custom code enables Microsoft Dynamics AX custom
fields can be integrated with Microsoft Project Server at the table
level.
Upgrades for item charges Item charges on lines for purchase orders, sales orders, and
on lines for purchase invoices are now recognized in Project. The ledger account and
orders, sales orders, and the posting type for the charge are derived from the primary line
invoices amount. In addition, any taxes for item charges are reflected in
an expense account. The item charges and their related taxes are
also recorded in the project commitments and budget.
Enhancements to project Building on existing support for project timesheets, the forms and
timesheets pages that are used for timesheet-related tasks now provide a
more user-friendly experience. The timesheet line-level approvals
now use support from the workflow framework for lines to achieve
consistency with other tasks. The way that comments and period
starting and ending dates are used has also changed. In addition,
timesheet support in Enterprise Portal includes the capability to
manage favorites, and to quickly create a new timesheet based
on either a previous timesheet or favorites.
182

Project budgeting Significant improvements to project budgeting simplify the
enhancements financial management of projects. By using the new budget
control method, you can do the following:
 Allocate project budget amounts to multiple fiscal
periods and fiscal years.
 Revise budgets.
 Control whether the budget is verified, and whether
transactions that exceed the budget balance are allowed
with a warning to the user, or blocked.
 Extend committed costs to purchase requisitions.
 Apply budget control to all project transactions, including
revenue transactions, purchase requisitions, and
purchase orders.
Carry forward project If you are working with a multiple-year project, at the end of the
budget amounts at year year, you can carry forward any remaining budget to future years
end and make the necessary changes to the associated general ledger
accounts.
Multiple funding source In previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, you could invoice
support only one customer per project or contract project. Now the
funding for a single project or project contract can be shared by
any number of internal and external parties, either with or
without funding limits for a profit or a nonprofit organization. In
addition, by configuring a funding scheme, you can set up funding
limits for one or more customers per category, category group, or
transaction type, or for all transaction types.
Collaboration Workspaces You can now create collaboration workspaces where teams can
quickly organize and share information about projects, marketing
campaigns, and opportunities. Because collaboration workspaces
are built on features in Microsoft SharePoint Services and
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, they include familiar elements,
such as document libraries, announcement lists, calendar items,
tasks, and discussion boards. You can add collaboration
workspaces to existing projects, campaigns, and opportunities,
and you can configure your Microsoft Dynamics AX options so that
new collaboration workspaces are automatically created for them.
Create and manage Project managers can create and maintain projects in the web-
projects in Enterprise based Enterprise Portal. Previously, time and expense entry was
Portal the only Project-related feature available. Web-based support
makes it easier for project managers to work remotely, and frees
them from having to deal with software installations, upgrades,
and patches.
Enter and approve worker Enterprise Portal includes a timesheet page where workers can
timesheets in Enterprise enter the hours they worked each day on one or more projects.
Portal Additionally, project managers can review and approve worker
timesheets in Enterprise Portal.
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Enter a beginning balance You can now enter a beginning balance for a new or existing
for a project project. By specifying a beginning balance, you can transfer
projects to Microsoft Dynamics AX without affecting the general
ledger. For example, if you have been tracking a project in
another program, but recording project costs and revenues in
Microsoft Dynamics AX, you can transfer the project to Microsoft
Dynamics AX, specify a beginning balance, and then track the
project information in one place only.
Enter and track detailed You can enter and track grants, and you can define relationships
information about grants between grants and new or existing projects and project
contracts. Grant information is stored in a centralized location in
Project, so that you can quickly and easily find information that
you can use for reporting and informational purposes.
Track project revenue from Revenue that is billed by using a free text invoice can now be
a free text invoice tracked to a project.
Enhancements to Adjustment capabilities have been enhanced as follows:

adjustments
 Invoiced and estimated transactions can be adjusted.
Previously, only transactions that were not invoiced or
calculated in an estimate could be adjusted.
 The adjustment date can be used as the project date for
transactions, instead of the original transaction date.
 The relationship between an original transaction, its
reversal, and a new replacement transaction can be
traced, including information about what user made each
adjustment.
 With the new Adjustment cash flow trace feature, if an
item transaction that is created from a purchase order is
adjusted to a new project before the vendor is paid, you
can report “Expected” and “Paid” from the new project.
Support for progress When you migrate data from one Enterprise Resource Planning
billing, estimates, and (ERP) system to another, one challenge is bringing existing data
revenue recognition when into the estimation system so that revenue can continue to be
migrating data from other recognized for fixed-price projects that are already underway.
ERP systems Because revenue recognition is based on a completed percentage,
the data must be migrated so that both the percentage of work
already completed (actual cost) and the amount of work
remaining on the project (estimated cost to complete) are
reflected in the proper accounts.
Because some fixed-price projects can span multiple years, the
actual cost to date can also be derived from several years of
transactions. Therefore, the key challenge in an ERP migration is
posting a lump sum transaction in the beginning balance journal
and connecting it correctly to the estimate system.
To address these data migration issues, the new beginning
balance and progress billing features integrate with the existing
estimation system to provide support for revenue recognition for
fixed-price projects.
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Miscellaneous Project A series of minor feature changes have been implemented for
feature updates Project:
 The Employee ID field is no longer required for hourly
transactions in Project, so that route operations can be
assigned to work center groups, not only to individual
work centers.
 Several references to period tables in Project have been
replaced with fiscal calendar objects, relations, and
methods.
 The capability to copy a project ID to a purchase order
when the purchase order was made from an item
requirement has been restored. This functionality is
necessary so that users can view a full list of the
purchase orders that are related to a project.
Funding sources for project If you use multiple funding sources with project contracts, you
ledger posting can configure ledger posting based on funding source by project,
project group, category, category group, or all of these options.
For each posting type, you can associate projects and funding
sources with specific accounts.
Control
Control features
New report to identify A new report, Potential conflicts - Inventory and General ledger,
potential conflicts in validates whether transactions from Inventory management and
transactions General ledger match the parameter settings in Accounts payable,
Accounts receivable, Production information management, and
Inventory. The report can be used to view a list of any
transactions that violate one or more rules. For each violation, a
corrective action is suggested.
Report framework for Reports to track inventory movements or reconcile inventories

configuring inventory value with General ledger can now be configured and saved.
reports
The reports are created in a new report framework that you can
use to save a set of unique report configurations. After a report
configuration is created, the report can be run at any time
without further configuration.
Reports can be configured for the following purposes:
 Internal auditing – The report shows the inventory value
by physical quantity, financial quantity, and value.
 External auditing – The report shows the inventory value
by quantity and value, with no distinction between
physical and financial values.
 Reconciliation with General ledger – The report shows
the current WIP inventory, including the resource types
of material, labor, and indirect costs.
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Inventory management
Inventory management features

Updated Inventory The existing Inventory pages in Enterprise Portal have been
management pages for redesigned with a new look and feel that aligns with the new
Enterprise Portal features in the Microsoft Dynamics AX client, including Action
Panes, preview panes, and FactBoxes. The following pages have
been updated:
 EPInventOnhand
 EPInventOnhandInfo
 EPInventTableInfo
 EPInventTableList
Quality management Quality management has been enhanced as follows:

enhancements
 Updates can now be blocked for an order while the
related items are going through quality inspection.
 The quality inspection process can be initiated
automatically when items are registered in a warehouse.
A higher level of differentiation can now be applied to items going
through quality inspection. Therefore, individual batches of items
and items with different dimension combinations can be inspected
separately.
Handling the arrival of Even if unstocked products are not accounted for in inventory,
products that are not arrivals can be listed and processed in the Arrival overview form,
stocked and registered in the Registration form.
Incoming orders for stocked items are identified by InventTrans
transactions, but products that are not stocked do not generate
InventTrans transactions, and they cannot be tracked in
inventory. Ordered quantities of products that are not stocked are
identified by a signal for expected receipts, the inbound order.
The inbound order covers both inventory transactions for stocked
items that have an Ordered status and orders for products that
are not stocked.
The following changes are also introduced:
 Support for intercompany trade of products that are not
stocked
 Support for sales and purchase returns of products that
are not stocked
 Update of various reports to properly handle order lines
without reference to products
More detailed information about changes to the InventTrans table
can be found in the white paper titled Implementing InventTrans
Refactoring for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Applications.
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Inventory management features
QMS enhancements in The inventory-based aspects of the existing quality management
Inventory management feature has been enhanced.
With the existing quality management feature, users can only
register data, and the goal is a process-oriented approach to
quality management.
Inventory blocking
Inventory blocking enables automatic blocking of inventory in an

inbound quality management process, and also manual blocking
of on-hand inventory.
Quality test area enhancements
Operators can associate an inspection area with the existing

warehouse layout, so that they can identify a location for
inventory in the quality management process.
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Manufacturing
Manufacturing features
User interface updates and Workflow for worker registrations – A new workflow approval
new functionality for process is used for the approval of worker registrations. The
manufacturing execution workflow determines who can approve registrations and
and time and attendance whether automatic approval of registrations is allowed. A new
features calculation engine for calculating time registrations has also
been implemented.
 The previous Employee form is obsolete – The Employee
form, which was used in Shop floor control in previous
versions, is obsolete. The data from that form is now
incorporated into the Worker form in Human resources.
 Updated pay engine – The pay engine has been
redesigned so that time registrations are posted on a
daily basis by using a standard cost price. When a
production order or project is completed, the real cost
price is calculated if a supervisor or a manager selects to
use real cost price calculation. This approach enables
real costs to be calculated at the end of a production
order or project, based on the payroll transactions
generated continuously through the duration of that
production order or project.
Production and sales Use the Supply schedule form to see an overview of the current
schedule demand and supply situation for a product or product family. In
the Supply schedule form, you can do the following:
 View product supply information that is filtered according
to location, master plan, and time period.
 Monitor and analyze the supply situation.
 Make changes to the planned supply.
New view component on A Windows Presentation Foundation (WFP) view component has
the Locations view list page been applied to the Locations view list page in Inventory and
warehouse management, and the presentation layer of the list
page has been changed. The changes include new ways to
navigate and an option to locate nodes.
Forecast items on any level You can now forecast items not only at the final product level, but
in the product structure also at the subassembly level. This flexibility enables you to
produce subassemblies based on forecasts, and the final product
assembly based on customer orders. Forecast reduction also
occurs at the appropriate level in the product.
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Manufacturing features
Shop floor control module The Shop floor control (SFC) module has changed considerably in
is divided into two new Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. It is no longer called Shop floor
feature sets control, and has been divided into the following feature areas:
 Time and attendance - Time and attendance features
contain all previous SFC functionality for registering work
time, such as clock-in and clock-out and registration on
indirect activities, and attendance registration, such as
absence registration. Time and attendance includes
features to generate payroll information that a payroll
system can use to calculate pay for workers. These
features are available from the Human resources menu.
 Manufacturing execution - Workers can create and
transfer time registrations for specific production jobs or
projects by using a job list registration form. Registration
features for time, item consumption, and projects are
available from the Production information management
and Project management and accounting menus.
Features for time and attendance and manufacturing execution
can be used separately. However, using both sets of features
provides the full functionality of the previous SFC module, level 3,
including various extensions and updates for Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012.
The layout of the Registration form in manufacturing execution
has been updated, and you can also use it to do the following:
 View the daily balance and logbook.
 View attachments connected to a job or an operation.
 View and print current activities.
Use the Period template to You can set up a new period template that filters and displays
define schedules data in user-defined time buckets. The template can give
structure to large volumes of data, such as sales orders and
forecast plans, by grouping the data in a time frame. The period
template is introduced to display the master scheduling
requirements. You can also use the template to create any type of
schedule, such as a production, purchase, sales, and final
assembly schedule.
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Lean manufacturing
Lean manufacturing features

Upgrade from Lean The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 lean manufacturing architecture
manufacturing for Microsoft has fundamentally changed from Lean manufacturing for
Dynamics AX 2009 Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and previous versions. The code is
new, so there is no code upgrade task. If you have an earlier
version of lean manufacturing, you can migrate your current
version data when you upgrade. However, you must perform
several pre-upgrade tasks. These include the following:
 Create the new lean manufacturing setup data. The
setup data includes production flows and activities,
which are used to create kanbans and kanban rules.
 Map your current version data to the new setup data, so
that it can be converted during the upgrade.
Use production flows and  Identify your company’s basic business processes and
activities to model a lean product families, and map them as production flows.
manufacturing foundation
 Describe each production flow as a sequence of
activities. A transfer activity defines a movement of
material. A process activity defines a value-added
operation that is applied to a product.
 Set up work cells as resource groups that can run
process activities.
 Set up production flow models to define the capacity
settings for each work cell.
More detailed information about production flows can be found in
the whitepaper titled Lean Manufacturing: Production Flows and
Activities.
Implement a lean You can use kanbans to plan, track, and run production and
replenishment system by replenishment operations that are based on pull signals. To
using kanbans to signal create a kanban framework, set up kanban rules that govern
demand requirements when a kanban requirement is created, what is replenished, and
how the replenishment is fulfilled. When a kanban is created, one
or more kanban jobs are generated, based on the kanban flow
activities that are defined in the kanban rule. The kanban jobs are
scheduled for the assigned work cell, based on the production
flow model.
Set up kanban rules to  Set up fixed-quantity kanban rules to replenish material

implement different handling units that are consumed from inventory.
replenishment strategies
 Set up scheduled kanban rules to replenish requirements
that are generated from master planning.
 Set up event kanban rules to replenish requirements
that are generated from sales order lines, production
BOM lines, kanban lines, and minimum inventory
settings.
Plan kanban quantities to When you use fixed-quantity kanbans, you can calculate kanban
replenish target inventory quantities that are based on the product demand during a specific
levels period. The kanban quantity calculation can take into account the
forecasted demand, the demand from open orders, the historical
demand, and safety stock requirements.
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Lean manufacturing features
Use the Kanban boards to  Kanban board for transfer jobs – Provides an overview of
view, plan, and run kanban the current transfer jobs. You can perform tasks, such as
jobs that are scheduled for updating and registering picking lists, and starting and
a work cell completing transfer jobs.
 Kanban board for process jobs – Provides an overview of
the current production situation for a work cell. The
information is grouped and displayed by tab to support
different production-related roles and their main tasks,
such as scheduling upcoming jobs, preparing picking
lists, monitoring kanban levels in supermarkets, and
registering kanban job status.
 Kanban schedule board – Provides an overview of the
kanban jobs that are scheduled for a work cell. The
kanban jobs and status are displayed in planning periods
that are defined in the production flow model. The
capacity percentage per planning period is also
displayed, so that you can monitor the scheduled load.
You can complete tasks such as changing the status of
kanban jobs and rescheduling kanban jobs to different
planning periods.
Integrate the kanban  Print kanban cards, circulating cards, and picking lists to
framework with Microsoft support the use of kanbans. These documents are used
Dynamics AX inventory to represent, track, and register kanban jobs in the
transaction processes warehouse and on the production floor. You can set up
the parameters for printing these documents in the
kanban rules.
 Replenish material that is used to fulfill kanban job
requirements. Picking activities that support kanban
process jobs and kanban transfer jobs are fully
integrated with existing Microsoft Dynamics AX inventory
transaction processes. In addition, you can use barcode
scanning to register picking and transfer activities in
inventory.
 Use the capable to promise (CTP) feature to obtain
accurate ship date information when you enter a sales
order. When you register a sales order line, the ship
date is calculated based on the availability of the
products, material, and resources that are needed to
fulfill a specific customer demand.
Lean manufacturing You can set up production flow activities that are subcontracted,
supports purchasing and assign purchase agreement lines and services to subcontracted
invoicing processes for activities, and create periodic purchase orders and receipt advices
services that are related to to support purchasing and invoicing the services.
production flow activities
that are subcontracted
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Scheduling
Scheduling features
New operations resource The way that resources are grouped for the purpose of
model for planning managing capacity has been separated from the way resource
operations and managing requirements are specified for manufacturing activities.
work center capabilities
This separation enables resources to be used at multiple
locations, and it removes the need to define resources multiple
times, depending on how they are used or what they are used
for. In addition, available capacity can be viewed by resource
capability, which simplifies manual scheduling and exception
handling.
As a result, the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 manufacturing
“work center” concept has been redefined and is now called
“resource.”
Because the way production capacity is managed is now
separate from the way manufacturing requirements are
specified, you can do the following:
 Use the same equipment at multiple locations. For
example, you can move equipment and operators to
different production locations, as needed, thereby
sharing production equipment and production
operators across sites.
 More easily reschedule an operation and find a suitable
replacement resource that can complete the required
operation, thereby minimizing production delays.
 Define capabilities to an operation resource (previously
known as a work center) and match any requirements
of an operation with the capabilities of any particular
resource, thereby facilitating the identification of
available production resources.
More detailed information about the Operations Resource Model
can be found in the white paper titled Implementing the
Operations Resource Model for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
applications.
Operations resource model: In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, you could use task groups
capability-based production could to specify alternative work centers, but only when using
scheduling job scheduling. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, resources can
be allocated to jobs and operations by matching the capabilities
of the resources with the requirements of the operation.
In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, alternative resources with the
same capabilities are taken into consideration. This applies,
regardless of whether you run job scheduling or operations
scheduling. The selection process is the same, and consists of
matching the requirements of the operation with the capabilities
of the resources. Other constraints, such as location, resource
working time, and resource type, are also considered when the
production is planned.
As a result, task groups have become obsolete in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012, and they have been removed.
More detailed information about the Operations Resource Model
can be found in the white paper titled Implementing the
Operations Resource Model for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
applications.
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Product information management features

Product configuration An Application programming interface (API) is available to help
Application Programming existing customers who are using Product builder to migrate
Interface their existing product builder models to new product
configuration models. The API will also provide a tool for
developers to extend new product configuration model
functionality.
Product configurator New Product configuration functionality

The Product configurator is a constraint-based product
configuration tool that leverages the Microsoft Solver
Foundation product. You can use the Product configurator to
create and maintain product models, and to reuse product
models, components, and attributes. You also can use the
Product configurator to configure items on a sales order and use
configuration templates to preset frequently used configuration
selections.
Product configurator and Enterprise Portal
You can access Product configurator through Enterprise Portal,
and you can configure constraint-based product configuration
models, as well as modify existing configurations through
Enterprise Portal.
Trade and source
Trade and source features

Decouple order management The pain point of the tight integration between order handling
from inventory control and the inventory subsystem in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009
has been addressed. While this integration is convenient for
organizations with many transaction types that naturally
involve the inventory and costing, it is inappropriate for
organizations where an inventory may not be used at all for
inbound receipts. It is also less essential for professional service
organizations where the outbound services or deliveries do not
involve inventory at all.
For purchase, the current tight integration with the inventory
subsystem becomes flexible through the introduction of:
 The ability to ensure that purchase order lines for
service type products do not create inventory
transactions, and that physical inventory or financial
ledgers are not updated during receipt and invoice
updates.
 The ability to ensure that, when required, purchase
order lines for item type products do not create
inventory transactions. This will typically be a scenario
for indirect material expensed directly.
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 The ability to purchase items not defined in the item
table—essentially a “free text” order.
 The introduction of a category relation on purchase
order lines to govern posting profiles and statistics.
For sales, the current tight integration with the inventory
subsystem becomes flexible through the introduction of:
 The ability to ensure that sales order and sales
quotation lines for service type products do not create
inventory transactions.
 The ability to ensure that, when required, sales order
and sales quotation lines item type products do not
create inventory transactions. This will typically be a
scenario for selling a used fixed asset.
 The ability to sell items not defined in the item table—
essentially a “free text” order.
The introduction of a category relation on sales order and sales
quotation lines to govern posting profiles and statistics.
Stocked inventory policy A new method to set up a stocked inventory policy for an item
is introduced. The inventory policy is determined by the
Stocked item model group attribute. You can now convert
existing or upgraded service products to use the "not stocked”
inventory policy. The process for changing the inventory policy
can be run for one or more service products in one or more
legal entities, and can be run multiple times for different
products. You can run the conversion immediately after
upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, or at any time after
the upgrade.
Corrections to a product The approach to correcting or reversing a product receipt in

receipt (previously purchase previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX had a number of
packing slip) issues. It required the user to post a new, negative product
receipt with a new product receipt number, and it would
arbitrarily pick any one of the posted product receipts for
reversal.
A new, dedicated process is introduced for purchase receipt
corrections, which allows you to correct or to partially or fully
reverse a specific, posted product receipt. When you correct or
reverse a product receipt, the product receipt does not
introduce a new product receipt number, but rather, introduces
a new version of the product receipt.
Sales and purchase When confirming a sales or purchase agreement, you can print
agreement report the confirmation, and send a copy to the customer or vendor.
You can view or print any version of a sales or purchase
agreement in the Confirmation history form. You also can print
a status report that provides information about the fulfillment
of a sales or purchase agreement.
Confirmation of product The requester of products can confirm product receipts. This is
receipts especially useful to organizations where employees carry out a
large volume of indirect material procurement.
The feature provides a simple user interface in Enterprise
Portal. The user interface enables the user to carry out the
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following tasks:
 Confirm full and partial receipt of requested products.
 Reject a fully or partial quantity of requested products
with the possibility to add comments to explain a
rejection of receipt.
 Change the delivery date on selected line items.
 Create fixed asset entries in relation to the
confirmation of product receipt action.
The feature also provides the following types of notification
workflows:
 Notifies the requester that products are due to arrive.
 Notifies the requester that the invoice of ordered
products is registered, but the confirmation of product
receipt action has not yet been carried out.
 Notifies a specific client user that line items have been
rejected by the requester of products.
 Notifies a specific client user that the confirmation of
product receipt action, performed by the requester of
goods, has failed.
Line numbers in purchase A line number has been introduced on the purchase order form.
orders The main purpose of the new line number is to:
 Identify line items within a purchase order.
 Sort purchase order lines according to the line
number.
When an order line is created, the line number is assigned to
the line with an increment that is set in a global parameter. A
user can change the assigned number manually, if needed.
The feature also provides a renumbering function that reassigns
line numbers to the purchase order lines according to a globally
set increment.
Trade agreement The creation and maintenance of trade agreements has been
enhancements moved to journals for better control, usability, and
transparency. Microsoft Dynamics AX now supports one view
that includes all trade agreements for a selected set of items,
customers, and vendors. It also supports separate roles for
creating or maintaining trade agreements and for approving,
bulk updating, and controlling date types in trade agreements.
In earlier versions of Microsoft Dynamics AX, changes to an
order or an order line could indirectly cause the trade
agreements to be re-evaluated, which could overwrite values
that had been entered manually or entered by an external
source. External sources include sales quotations, project
quotations, purchase requisitions, request for quotes, purchase
or sales agreements, projects, AIF, or Enterprise Portal. Now,
configuration settings can prevent unintended re-evaluation of
trade agreements.
The smart rounding concept has also been introduced. Smart
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rounding is a type of psychological pricing or price ending based
on the marketing theory that prices have a psychological
impact on people. It pertains to prices expressed as odd prices
that are a little less than a round number, such as USD 19.99.
Smart rounding can be applied after a bulk adjustment of trade
agreements, or it can be applied automatically after a unit price
has been calculated, based on a generic currency and on an
exchange rate. Date type control enables trade agreements to
be evaluated, based not only on the entry dates, but also on
the requested dates.
Delivery schedule A user can split an order line into multiple deliveries, while
retaining the price and other order conditions from the original
order line.
The feature is implemented on the following documents:
 Sales quotation
 Sales order
 Purchase order
Delivery schedules introduce the following features:
 Simple interface for creating and maintaining delivery
schedule lines
 All main processes enabled for delivery lines
 Ability to allocate charges to the delivery lines
 Ability to override default prices and conditions on
delivery lines
Enhanced purchase The blanket purchase order functionality has been redesigned
agreement functionality and renamed “purchase agreement.” Whereas blanket purchase
orders were previously handled in the Purchase order details
form, purchase agreements now have their own simplified
form. The changes include the following:
 Microsoft Dynamics AX supports both value-based and
quantity-based purchase agreements.
 You can order certain products and procurement
categories directly by using the new Purchase
agreement details form.
 You can apply the terms and conditions of a purchase
agreement, such as the prices and discounts, when
you create an order by using the Purchase order
details form.
 You can control whether you want to search for
purchase agreements when purchase order lines are
created indirectly, such as when planned orders are
firmed.
 You can define a validity period for a purchase
agreement. The delivery date of a purchase must be
within the validity period.
 You can put purchase agreements on hold to control
whether they are available to the purchasing agent
during ordering.
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Improvements to the You can allocate charges to specific lines on a purchase order or
allocation of charges an invoice. For example, if some items on a purchase order
were picked up at the vendor’s location, and some were
delivered, you can allocate the delivery charges only to the
items that were delivered.
Purchase orders and change Change management enables you to request changes to
management purchase orders. Change management includes Workflow
integration, which must be set up to manage the approval
process for change requests. When workflow has been
configured, it determines the route of the purchase order, the
tasks that must be completed, by whom and under what
circumstances tasks must be completed, and whether tasks
require user interaction or take place automatically.
When a change is requested, the purchase order is set to a
draft state until it is approved. Only an approved purchase
order can be confirmed. Even if change management is not
enabled, confirmation of purchase orders is mandatory, so that
orders cannot be received and invoiced until the purchase order
has been confirmed.
If change management is enabled, purchase orders cannot be
deleted. Instead, they become obsolete and are replaced by the
most recent purchase order for which a change request has
been approved. Previously approved purchase orders are stored
in a separate form.
Even if change management is enabled on a global level,
change management can be inactivated for individual vendors
and purchase orders if, for example, orders from a particular
vendor do not require approval.
Enhanced sales agreement The blanket sales order functionality has been redesigned and
functionality renamed “sales agreement.” Whereas blank sales orders were
previously handled in the Sales order details form, sales
agreements now have their own simplified form. The changes
include the following:
 Microsoft Dynamics AX supports both value-based and
quantity-based sales agreements.
 You can order certain products and procurement
categories directly by using the new Sales agreement
details form.
 You can apply the terms and conditions of a sales
agreement, such as the prices and discounts, when
you create an order by using the Sales order details
form.
 You can control whether you want to search for sales
agreements when sales order lines are created
indirectly, such as by intercompany orders.
 You can define a validity period for a sales agreement.
The requested ship date of a sale must be within the
validity period.
 You can put sales agreements on hold to control
whether they are available to the sales agent during
ordering.
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Changes to intercompany Intercompany relations and policies are set up in a new form
setup that contains the same content as the form used in previous
versions. The new setup form can be accessed from a button on
the customer and vendor pages. The setup in this form is
shared for the vendor and the customer in the trading
relationship, and only has to be defined once. In previous
versions, the setup was not shared and had to take place in
both the vendor company account and in the customer
company account. There are no functional changes because of
this change.
Finalize purchase orders and You can finalize purchase order lines that have been completed,
purchase order lines which means that for each line, the ordered quantity has been
received in full and matched to vendor invoices. The whole
purchase order can be finalized if all its lines have been
completed or canceled.
Procurement and sourcing features

Evaluate vendors based on You can rate vendors based on criteria that you define for each
their ability to provide category of item or service that the vendors provide. You can
products and services evaluate a vendor for each transaction with the vendor.
Support for multiple You can create one procurement catalog that can be viewed in
languages for procurement multiple languages, based on the Microsoft Dynamics AX user
catalogs profile language and locale setting. Purchasing managers can
define the translated text that appears on the procurement site.
Rate and provide feedback Workers can rate products that they have ordered and vendors
about products and vendors with whom they have done business, and provide feedback
on the procurement site about their experiences. The feedback is compiled and displayed
on the procurement site, so that all users can make informed
decisions when ordering products or doing business with a
particular vendor. The purchasing manager can control whether
ratings and comments are allowed on the procurement site, and
whether all comments must be reviewed before they appear on
the procurement site.
New Employee service page The Employee services site in Enterprise Portal has been
completely updated to improve usability. You can now view all
available tasks in one place. Related tasks are grouped under a
task heading, and when you click the heading for a task group, a
new activity site or list page opens, where you can quickly and
easily complete tasks.
Import commodity codes Vendors can generate catalogs that include standard commodity
and minimum or maximum codes, and those codes can be automatically mapped to
order quantities into vendor procurement categories in Microsoft Dynamics AX. Vendors must
catalogs comply with the Microsoft Dynamics AX customer’s unit of
measure for quantities. Vendors can specify minimum,
maximum, and standard order quantities for products in the
vendor catalog, and they can also specify the number of days
that they require between the order date and the shipment date
(lead time).
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Enhancements to the The catalog import schema has been updated so that vendors
catalog import schema can more easily modify an existing catalog or overwrite an
existing catalog with a new catalog. When a vendor uploads a
new catalog to replace an existing catalog, the matching items
and services are replaced with the new data. Any new items and
services that are not in the existing catalog are added, and any
items and services in the existing catalog that do not match the
items and services in the new catalog are deleted. When the
vendor modifies selected items in an existing catalog, only the
modifications that are included in the catalog schema are applied
to the existing catalog products. Any new items and services
that are not in the existing catalog, but that are included in the
modified catalog file, are added.
Consolidate the navigation When you set up a catalog, you define the catalog navigation
categories on the hierarchy that appears on the procurement site. The catalog
procurement site navigation hierarchy can contain multiple levels of detail for each
procurement category. You can define the level of granularity for
the catalog navigation categories that you want to display on
your procurement site. By consolidating the category levels, you
can limit the levels of detail that workers have to sort through to
find the product they want to order.
Enhancements to the The following changes have been made to improve usability on
navigation and usability of the Order products site:
the procurement site
 Simplified the navigation, so that you can search for products by
category, item, vendor, and vendor catalog. The filters have
been moved to the top of the web page.
 Improved visibility into the status of orders that have been
entered. A single list displays all orders that were entered and
the status of each order, from the creation and approval of the
purchase requisition, to the generation and fulfillment of a
purchase order. You can also view the details for a selected
order.
 Added the capability to add selected products to the shopping
cart directly from the product list page. The product details page
is only displayed if product order details must be entered.
 Added the capability to configure the data that is displayed for
each procurement category. For example, if you only order office
supplies directly from a vendor, you can configure the category
to display only links to vendor catalogs.
 Improved visibility for ordering from a vendor.
 Improved the usability of the shopping cart. For example, you
can now select all items in the cart for checkout.
 Reduced the number of steps that you must complete when
using the Checkout Wizard to create a purchase requisition.
 Added additional details about existing purchase requisitions, to
improve the capability to add items from a shopping cart to an
existing purchase requisition during checkout.
 Made purchase requisitions accessible from the Employee
services site.
Enhancements to Enterprise New Web part reports can be added to the Role Centers for the
Portal Role Centers for purchasing agent and purchasing manager. The Web part data
includes metrics and reporting that provide visibility into vendor
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purchasing professionals and procurement spending, additional cues for purchasing
professionals, and an expanded work list that shows alerts or
workflow notifications. You can click a report to view the details
for the reported data.
Policy Framework You can create rules and apply them to different parts of the
enterprise. These rules help the organization enforce standard
internal business controls for processes, such as requisitions,
submission of corporate expenses, and enforcement of corporate
audits. For more information about the policy framework, see
the whitepaper titled Using the Policy Framework in Microsoft
Dynamics AX 2012.
Set up spending and You can define spending and approval limits, including default
approval limits limits based on job or compensation level, and then apply them
based on your organization’s needs. For example, two legal
entities can have different limits for employees with the job of
Purchasing manager.
Manage internal catalogs You can set up and maintain catalogs for ordering the items or
services employees require to perform their daily activities. You
can set up the catalog navigation structure, import vendor
catalog data, associate products with catalog categories, and
design the welcome message that is displayed on the
procurement site for the catalog. After the catalog is set up, you
can publish the catalog to make it available to your employees.
Add items and services to a When you select items or services from a procurement catalog
shopping cart or a vendor catalog, you can add those items to a shopping cart.
You can view the items in your shopping cart at any time, delete
items that you no longer want, modify any configurable product
attributes, or modify the quantity of the items that you want to
purchase. When you are ready to check out, you can create a
purchase requisition directly from the shopping cart and submit
it for processing. You can then return to the procurement order
site to continue searching for items or services, or you can exit
the procurement order site when you have finished.
Manage externally hosted Catalog managers can now set up a direct link to an external
catalogs vendor catalog that is hosted on the vendor’s web site. The
vendor manages the product data and metadata. Users are
directed to the vendor’s web site to select products, and then,
based on the configurations defined by the purchasing manager
or purchasing agent, they can either check out directly from the
vendor’s web site or return to the Microsoft Dynamics AX
procurement order site to check out.
Search for items or services Use the procurement site search functionality to search for items
in a procurement catalog or services by category, or by using key words. You can search
both procurement catalogs and vendor catalogs, and filter the
search results to quickly find the exact item or service that you
are looking for.
Import catalog data Purchasing managers or purchasing agents can import catalog
data from vendors by using a delivered XML schema. They can
then review and modify product data before passing it to the
procurement order site.
200

Set up a procurement site You can set up a procurement site that employees can use to
order items and services that they require for daily work
activities. You can create a procurement catalog, post the
catalog to the procurement site in Enterprise Portal, and create a
welcome message that the employees see when they first open
the site. User access to the procurement catalog is through the
Employee Services site, and access can be controlled by using
purchasing polices.
Catalog data import You can use the catalog import feature to import catalog
processing maintenance request (CMR) files that are received from your
vendors, and that contain the products, product images, and
services that you offer to your employees for purchase. From
Microsoft Dynamics AX, purchasing managers can review,
approve, or reject any or all of the products or product change
requests that are contained in the file.
Any products that are approved are automatically uploaded to
the product master in Microsoft Dynamics AX, and can display in
the procurement catalog.
Create purchasing policy You can define complex purchasing rules and apply those rules
rules to control spending in to your organizational entities in various ways to control the
your organization spending behavior of your organizations. These rules help ensure
that your employees are buying from the correct purchasing
catalogs and the appropriate preferred vendors, and that they
are spending within the prescribed limits for their organizations.
Import vendor catalogs Authorized vendors can use the vendor self-service portal to
upload their most recent catalog by using a delivered XML
catalog template, and they can view the status of the import
process. This feature provides tools and support processes so
that vendors can manage catalog integration tasks by using web
services and the vendor self-service portal.
View the details for a You can view preferred vendors, links, and other information
procurement category about a procurement category. The category manager can add
customized text and links to intranet and extranet sites.
Define category hierarchies You can define various category hierarchies that are independent
of, but still related to, commodity codes or catalog and item
hierarchies. The following are some of the ways you can manage
categories on a day-to-day basis:
 Add attributes, such as a category that is used on a
global or local level.
 Define approval processes for new and existing
categories.
 Define categories on a global level.
 Define permissions for category users to make changes.
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Enhancements to purchase You can import purchase requisitions created in a third-party
requisition creation methods application into Microsoft Dynamics AX by using web services
and an XML schema. This feature validates the purchase
requisition data that is received from the third-party application,
and then sends a status back to the external source application.
Further processing of the purchase requisition in Microsoft
Dynamics AX follows the existing application pattern.
The copy functionality has also been enhanced so that you can
copy purchase requisition header and line data to create a new
purchase requisition in the same organization and legal entity.
The Enterprise Portal copy functionality has been expanded so
that you can copy requisition lines from an existing purchase
requisition that is in the same legal entity or organization.
Track change history for Any changes made to a purchase requisition from its creation to
purchase requisitions its completion are tracked as versions, and these can be
compared as the purchase requisition moves through the review
process. The entire purchase requisition is copied to the history
record when the purchase requisition is first submitted for
review. Any changes that are made during the review process
are also saved to the history record for the data row that is
affected by the change.
Identify fixed assets based You can define organization-wide business rules, which can be
on monetary thresholds overridden at the legal entity level for fixed asset determination.
Configure rules for creating You can define the following configuration options for creating
purchase orders for purchase orders:
purchase requisitions
 Determine how requisition lines are combined into
purchase orders.
 Determine which purchase requisition lines are held so
that manual purchase orders can be created, and which
ones are automatically converted into purchase orders.
 Determine which purchase requisitions are eligible for
requisition consolidation.
 Determine the price increase tolerance for purchase
requisition lines from approval to purchase order
creation.
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Purchase requisition Enhancements to the purchase requisition process and form
enhancements include the following changes:
 Purchase requisition lines can be created for different
requesters, legal entities, and operating units in one
purchase requisition.
 Purchase requisitions can be created by and for contract
workers.
 Permissions can be configured to enable a requester to
enter requests on behalf of someone else across legal
entities.
 Purchase requisitions can be created for requesters who
are not Microsoft Dynamics AX users.
 Requisition header and line data can be copied into a
new requisition that is created in the same organization
and legal entity, both in Microsoft Dynamics AX and in
Enterprise Portal.
 Purchase requisitions can be created for items that are
not found in a catalog, without having to create a false
item in the item master.
 Statutory and operational purchasing policies have been
applied to the purchase requisition process.
 Optional fields have been added to capture information
if the requester negotiated a prepayment with a vendor.
Enhancements to the The Purchase requisition form has been modified to provide an
Purchase requisition form intuitive user experience for both the novice or casual requester
and the power user, making the requisitioning process both
efficient and effective.
The Purchase requisition form is now dynamic, and includes only
the fields that are important in the context of the purchase
request.
Manage categories on a View details about a category hierarchy and commodity codes in
daily basis a new report.
Commodity codes for You can create and support multiple global and proprietary
classifying and mapping commodity code classification systems for classifying items,
entities services, and vendors, and for mapping items to product
categories.
Create a purchase When you order items or services for indirect procurement, and
requisition directly from add those items or services to a shopping cart, you can now
your procurement order site automatically create a purchase requisition during the checkout
or through the use of a process.
requisition wizard
You have two options when creating a purchase requisition. You
can either add items directly to a purchase requisition from the
shopping cart, or use a wizard that guides you through the
process for creating a requisition. You can select your purchase
requisition creation option at the time of checkout, from your
shopping cart.
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Consolidate requisitions to The purchasing manager or purchasing agent can now
minimize procurement costs consolidate requisition line items. Users with these roles can
identify which approved purchase requisitions must be processed
manually, and whether those purchase requisitions are eligible
for demand consolidation. Purchase requisition lines that are
eligible for demand consolidation can be grouped together and
the vendor, price, requested date or quotation data can be
modified to achieve the best pricing.
Enhancements to the review The overall process for reviewing purchase requisitions has been
process for purchase improved. When a purchase requisition is submitted for review,
requisitions the individual purchase requisition lines can now be routed to
the appropriate reviewers independently of one another.
Therefore, reviewers can take action only on purchase requests
that are in their area of responsibility, which reduces the
processing time for purchase requisitions that have multiple line
items.
Reviewers can be identified based on the individual purchase line
requests, distribution data, or even the budgets that the
expenditure is eventually charged to.
You can define a workflow for purchase requisition review that
routes whole purchase requisitions or individual lines. Project-
related purchase requests can use this same review workflow for
processing.
Business rules for fixed You can now define business rules at the global level, and then
assets based on monetary override the rules at the local level for fixed asset determination.
thresholds
Perform a check of the You can require a check of the budget balance for purchase
budget for purchase requisitions.
requisitions
Record transaction dates on Purchase requisition headers and lines now contain a transaction
purchase requisitions date field. The transaction date is used to determine the fiscal
period for budget control and for posting purchase requisitions.
Archive closed purchase Due to the introduction of budget control and pre-encumbrances
requisitions by using the on purchase requisitions, you can no longer delete approved
Intelligent Data purchase requisitions that you do not have to store in your
Management Framework for production system. To archive or purge the records for approved
Microsoft Dynamics AX purchase requisitions, you must use the Intelligent Data
(IDMF) Management Framework for Dynamics AX (IDMF). For more
information about the Intelligent Data Management Framework
for Microsoft Dynamics AX, see:
https://mbs.microsoft.com/Cms/Templates/document/General.a
spx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID={ECAF89FE-3D52-
4FFC-8CCF-
D6E3D192D26F}&NRORIGINALURL=/partnersource/downloads/r
eleases/AX_IDMF.htm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest&wa=wsignin1.0
Search for vendors across You can search for active vendors, prospective vendors, and
your organization unsolicited vendors. If a vendor is not yet approved by your
organization, you can create a request to consider the vendor for
approval.
204

Work item queues for If you use either internal teams or external partner organizations
processing transaction to process business transaction documents, such as purchase
documents requisitions, purchase orders, or new vendor justifications, you
may have to set up work item queues so that these teams can
manage the flow of the transactions as they come in from your
company and are processed by the appropriate organization. The
work item queue provides the necessary infrastructure for the
following:
 Users belonging to a queue can claim work items that are not
assigned to anyone else and perform the configured workflow
actions on the work items in the queue.
 Users can reassign work items from one work item queue to
another work item queue in the same work item queue group.
 Queue owners can reassign work items from one queue user to
another queue user in the same work item queue group.
Enhancements to support Enhancements have been made to the vendor profile, including
vendors the following:
 The capability to define the industries that a vendor operates in.
 The capability to define diversity criteria for the owner of the
vendor company, such as whether the owner is a service
veteran.
The capability to define the procurement categories that the
vendor provides items and services in. Categorizing vendors
helps with spending analysis and it improves strategic sourcing.
It also helps provide critical information, such as the following:
 The number of suppliers by category
 The total value of spending per year by category
 The top 10 suppliers by value per category
 The number of vendors that are minority-owned
businesses
 The number of vendors that are female-owned
businesses
You can also place vendors on hold so that purchasing
transactions cannot continue toward completion. Vendors that
you no longer do business with must be inactivated and removed
from the view that purchasing agents and employees use to find
vendors.
Reason codes for RFQ You can now use the same reason codes in requests for
replies quotation (RFQ) replies that you use in other vendor
transactions. Reason codes help explain why transactions were
entered, such as why a request for quotation was rejected.
Displayed and required You can define the visible and required fields that are displayed
fields and data validations to employees, prospective vendors, and vendors for each of the
for vendor-related requests different vendor-related requests submitted via Enterprise
Portal. You can also define the data validation checks required
for each request type. These setup tasks are completed in the
Microsoft Dynamics AX client.
205

Allow vendor registration for External vendors, or vendors in Microsoft Dynamics AX who are
unsolicited vendors interested in becoming approved vendors, can register through
an anonymous external portal. This provides an efficient source
of potential new vendors and supports a competitive
procurement process.
Maintain vendor data The vendor self-service portal has two new Role Centers, Vendor
through the vendor self- and Vendor portal administrator.
service portal
Users with the Vendor role can complete the following tasks on
the vendor self-service portal:
 Maintain the vendor profile.
 Update invoices.
 Submit requests to be allowed to do business in
additional procurement categories.
 Submit confirmations that they can do business in the
additional procurement categories outlined in an
employee-submitted vendor category extension
request.
 Reply to requests for quotations.
 Respond to purchase orders (sales orders on the vendor
side).
 View purchase order confirmations.
 View product receipt journals.
Users with the Vendor portal administrator role can complete the
following tasks on the vendor self-service portal:
 View the vendor profile.
 Create requests to add or delete users.
 Maintain procurement catalogs.
 View purchase orders and requests for quotations.
Authorize employees to Employees can use the new Vendor form on the employee portal
request approval for new to request that a vendor be added to the vendor list. Vendors
vendors are added to the vendor list after they are approved, and they
are then available for transaction processing.
Spend analytics for Several preconfigured reports have been added that purchasing
Purchasing agents and purchasing managers can use to analyze spending
trends for their organization, based on dimensions such as the
vendor, procurement category, and location.
Vendor extension request After vendors have been approved, they can request to be added
to additional procurement categories. The category extension
request process makes it easy for approved vendors to expand
their business opportunities in your organization, but also puts
controls in place to ensure proper oversight.
206

Employee vendor requests Employees can submit new vendor requests in Enterprise Portal.
A new vendor request is an internal request that you submit to
your purchasing department to request that a specified vendor
be allowed to do business in your company, selling items or
services in specific procurement categories. There are several
different kinds of vendor requests:
 Request that a vendor that is not a vendor for any legal
entity in the organization be allowed to do business with
your legal entity.
 Request that an existing vendor that is allowed to do
business with other legal entities in the organization be
added as a vendor for your legal entity.
 Request that a vendor be allowed to provide goods and
services in additional procurement categories.
 Request for a change to a vendor’s hold status.
In the Microsoft Dynamics AX client, an enhancement has been
made so that procurement professionals can do the following:
 Expand the vendor scope beyond the original requested
scope (either for categories or companies).
 Reject prospective vendors that reside in an embargoed
country.
 Configure questionnaires for employees and vendors to
complete as part of the request process.
Vendors can view and reply Approved vendors can respond to requests for quotations
to requests for quotations directly from the vendor self-service portal. You can view the
on the vendor self-service reply in the list of request for quotation replies in the Microsoft
portal Dynamics AX client.
Support for flexible Microsoft SharePoint flexible authentication mechanisms, such as

authentication on customer, form-based and Windows Live® ID authentication, are supported
employee, and vendor self- as authentication mechanisms for Microsoft Dynamics AX users.
service portals The vendor onboarding process and vendor self-service portal
incorporate support for flexible authentication.
The user request process supports the onboarding of all
Microsoft Dynamics AX users by using pluggable authentication
in the following areas: customers on the customer self-service
portal, employees on the employee self-service portal, and
vendors on the vendor self-service portal.
207

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Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

New, Changed, and Deprecated Features for

Date: April 7, 2011

Disclaimer: This document provides a summary of the product-wide features

U.S. and Canada Toll-Free 1-888-477-7989

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Product-wide features ................................................................................ 7

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Appendix A: Non-product-wide feature descriptions ............................... 153

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

 TechNet Library for System administrators

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Query development aspects

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

SQL server queries on inactive tables

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

Commerce services integration

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

 Site Services for Microsoft Dynamics ERP integration

Sites Services integration

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

Payment services integration

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Automatically refresh Data had to be Data is refreshed The information on list

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Run the Upgrade Users are guided Upgrade issues are

View a list of upgrade A report is generated Upgrade issues are

Use a wizard to Users had to All scripts related to a Upgrade script

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Simplified administration and configuration

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Import and export data

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Comparison with Dynamics AX 2009

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

Perform remote Not available Administrators can The administration

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012

View information The same KPIs are Information is

NEW, CHANGED, AND DEPRECATED FEATURES FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS AX 2012