Running a depreciation projection in AX

Wish you could project depreciation for the coming year for budget purposes?  While AX doesn't have a formal depreciation projection function, with a little creativity, we can create one.

Step 1 - Create a new Fixed Asset Proposal journal.  Give it a descriptive name and add 'DO NOT POST' to the description, just to be safe.  The last thing we want to post a year or more of depreciation inadvertently.

Step 2 - Click the Lines button, then Proposals>>Depreciation.  Set the 'To date' to the depreciation end date.  You can also filter the proposal by Fixed asset group and/or Value model.  Click OK and sit back and wait for the proposal to generate.

Step 3 - Once the Lines window is populated, press Ctrl-t to transfer the results to Excel.  At this point, you can also enter a Release date way in the future to be extra safe about not posting this journal.

Step 4 - Filter or Pivot the results in Excel to limit the periods in your projection to the desired result set and group the results as desired.

Step 5 - DELETE THE DEPRECIATION PROPOSAL!

Voila - a depreciation projection for your enjoyment.

Using Info Codes in AX 2012 R3 Retail POS

Info Codes (formerly Reason Codes in AX 2012 R2 and prior) can be used in Retail POS as well as AX.  Here's an example illustrating the use of Info Codes to categorize product returns.

The client desired two codes for product returns to differentiate between normal customer returns and returns due to defective product.  Setup is as follows.

Retail>>Setup>>Info Codes

1. Enter an Info code number, Description, Prompt (if desired) and the Input type.  In this case, we're using Subcode buttons as the Input type as we wanted the code to be entered via button selection

2. In the General fast tab, select 'Input required' and set the 'Frequency percent' to 100.00

3. Click on the Subcodes button

4. In the Subcodes form, enter the Subcode number (or text), the Description, Trigger function, Trigger code, and Price type.  If you wish to use a Return price different from the original product price, enter that price or a % off list in the Amount/percent field.

Note: You can nest multiple Info codes in Info code groups (Retail>>Setup>>Info code groups) if desired.  For this example we'll not use this feature.

5. Close the Subcodes and Info codes forms

Go Retail>>Setup>>Return locations

This is where we cross reference the Info codes we just created to the store(s) Return location(s).

1. Enter a Name and Description
2. Select 'Print labels' if you want to print Return labels
3. Select 'Block inventory' if you want the returned items to be blocked from use in other transactions
4. Click the 'Add' button in the 'Map retail info codes' fast tab to map these codes to your store(s)
5. Select the Reason code, Subcode(s), Store, Warehouse and Location.  You can also set the 'Block inventory' selectively here by store and/or Subcode
6. Close the 'Return location' form

Now, run the '1030 - Info code information' Distribution schedule under Retail>>Periodic>>Data distribution>>Distribution schedule to push the changes out to the retail channels.

Enter a return transaction at your POS register.  After selecting the product to return, the following prompt appears. Select the appropriate code to continue.

Once completed, return transactions are saved with the Info code, allowing you to analyze POS returns by Info code to determine what is driving returns at the store level and throughout your retail operation overall.

How does Item Sales Tax work in Dynamics AX?

1.     There are Item Sales Tax Groups, Customer Sales Tax Groups, and POS Store Sales Tax Groups

2.     All items that may be taxable must have an Item Sales Tax Group associated with them

a.     The Item Sales Tax Group should include ALL sales tax codes that are applicable for all Customer or Store sales tax groups

3.    To calculate tax properly, there must be a match between the sales tax codes assigned to the Customer or Store Sales Tax Group, and the sales tax codes assigned to the Item Sales Tax Group – no match, no tax, period.

4.    Within AX, a match between the codes in the Customer Sales Tax Group and the Item Sales Tax Group will calculate tax on a sales transaction

5.    Within POS, a match between codes in the Store Sales Tax Group and the Item Sales Tax Group will calculate tax on a POS transaction

a.     Caveat – you can override the taxation at the Store level by checking the ‘Use Customer-based taxes’ flag on the Store setup to use the sales tax group assigned to customers

6.     The ‘TAXEXEMPT’ sales tax group will prevent taxation for any customer who is designated as such by virtue of the 0% Tax Code associated with the Tax Exempt sales tax group

Dynamics AX Warehouse Management (WMS) 101

I.B.I.S., Inc.

In this free education session, I.B.I.S. Solutions Architect and Microsoft MVP, Murray Fife, will show you how you can easily configure the Warehouse Management module so that you can start using it. Register Now! http://bit.ly/1H0Zd8O

What's New in AX 2012 R3 CU8 Point of Sale

Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Point of Sale introduces a number of enhancements to create a modern shopping experience for your customers.  In this writer's opinion, the introduction of Modern POS (MPOS) was one of the most significant enhancements for the AX 2012 Retail solution.  Sales staff can process sales transactions, customer orders, and perform daily operations and inventory management with mobile devices (PCs, Windows 8 tablets and phones) from anywhere in the store, as well as on a PC-based register.

MPOS on a Tablet

CU8 brings these enhancements to MPOS functionality:

• Shared shifts can be used in Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail and Modern POS
• Role-based screen layouts can be created for Modern POS on Windows phones
• Filters can be applied to product searches on any Modern point-of-sale device 
• Columns can be resized on the Modern POS transaction screen
• Product searches by product category or from within a retail product catalog can be made on any Modern point-of-sale device
• Side-by-side product details comparison and an enhanced product details view can be made on any Modern point-of-sale device

These are just a few of the myriad enhancements made recently  to Dynamics AX 2012 Retail Point of Sale.  If you need point of sale and are contemplating an AX upgrade or a new AX implementation, AX 2012 R3 CU8 provides a compelling case for doing so sooner rather than later.

Considering an Upgrade from Dynamics GP to Dynamics AX?

Recently I’ve delivered Dynamics GP training to new users who came from a company using Dynamics AX.  In my own experience, other than the additional features that Dynamics AX offers over Dynamics GP (which are considerable) and getting accustomed to the ability to post a transaction initiated in the General Ledger back to a subsidiary module in AX, there is a lot of commonality in the User Interface (UI) between the two applications.  This is particularly important for companies that have perhaps outgrown Dynamics GP and are considering a move to a more full-featured ERP system such as AX.  Microsoft has done a commendable job of unifying their ERP system UI’s, which offers the client the benefit of quicker and easier user adoption when moving from one application to another.

Additionally, both applications are tightly integrated with Microsoft Office tools, further easing the transition to a new system.

The first image below is of the Dynamics GP 2015 Financial module, with the menu items arranged in basically the same sequence as the Dynamics AX 2012 R3 General Ledger module image below it.  Notice how the menus and the Navigation Pane layout are quite similar in both applications, albeit the AX UI is cleaner, in my opinion.  Maybe the GP development team can get together with the AX dev team on that one.

Based on their comments, my recent trainees report the same experience.  They’ve indicated that adapting to Dynamics GP from AX has been much quicker than they thought it would be, primarily because of the similarities between the two UI’s.

In considering an upgrade from Dynamics GP to Dynamics AX, user adoption and performance ramp-up can be relegated to the bottom of the list of concerns.

AX FasTrAX Training in Fargo - Classmates

Whew!  We finished two weeks of intensive training on Finance and Trade & Logistics modules.  What a workout but what a learning experience, led by our super-competent instructor, Soheil Azagadeh of Guide To Learn, Inc.

The four corners of the U.S. were represented as well as New Zealand!  What a great time it was getting to know these fine professionals.

Next week - on to AX Retail!

My Very First AX2TheMAX Blog Post

Yesterday was the 1st of 15 days of FasTrAX training at the Microsoft Campus in Fargo, ND, dontcha know. Thought I'd share the experience as I learn about Dynamics AX Finance, Supply Chain, & Retail.

 Looking out the front windows of the Horizon Building

 The Vista Building

 Outside the Horizon Building

 The Commons - great food!

Fire pit in The Commons