Dynamics

According to IDC, cloud-native technologies will be used to develop and deploy over 500 million digital apps and services by 2023. As the number of apps grows, so does the cost of maintaining and administering them. The ongoing Dynamics 365 implementation of legacy systems minimizes IT environment complexity and costs, improves data consistency, facilitates cross-platform collaboration, and increases process flexibility. Businesses face complicated application and data architectures and interconnections, as well as security, culture and skills change, and the requirement for flexibility and vendor choice when modernizing.  They must ensure that they are using the most up-to-date technology while being compliant with their industry's most recent requirements.

Accelerating Transformation Microsoft Dynamics 365

Although customers who have migrated to Microsoft Dynamics 365 understand the benefits of moving to the cloud, if it is not executed well, there are major risks involved, as the transition is not always simple. Such transformations require time, resources, and expertise, and they frequently necessitate buy-in from across an organization. Technology partners are an important extension for providing deployment, implementation, and industry expertise. How do you select the best partner for your company?

Large scale, complex Dynamics 365 implementation experience

Refresh & strategize modernization of your current on-premise ERP systems to the cloud & Microsoft Dynamics 365 with Sonata—a global leader in Modernization. You unlock the true potential of Microsoft Dynamics 365 through Sonata’s proprietary Platformation approach, unique modernization capability, and ecosystem alignment.

Dynamics 365 implementation knowledge

A partner who is established and listed on AppSource and various other Microsoft Dynamics Migration Partner lists for 365 dynamics CRM, ISV Dev, and services partners for modernization who have a 360-Degree Relationship with the MS Dynamics Team, including product engineering, and Fast Track capabilities.
A partner with experience in defining and developing a global core template, global rollout to many countries and geographies, and brand implementations.

Why Dynamics 365 Implementation with Sonata?

We at Sonata are proud to be a Top 1% Global Microsoft Partner and a member of the Microsoft Inner Circle of Business Application solution providers, with 30+ years of experience and a track record of 150+ upgrades across all geographies. Sonata has been an Inner Circle partner over the years. Sonata brings a strong track record and full-stack capability globally. Our deep understanding of the Microsoft Business Applications Full Stack, assets, and tools helps clients get the best out of Dynamics 365.

• 15 years of experience in deploying Dynamics modernization and implementation projects
• A global presence across North America, Europe, Asia, and ANZ.
• Global template development and rollouts

Comprehensive leveraging of complete Dynamics 365 solutions

Business transformation-driven cloud modernization with Microsoft Dynamics 365 begins with developing a digital vision for your firm, specifying desired business results, IT simplification, and a migration route with predictable budgets and reuse of existing investments.

• Platformation-led Modernization Assessments
• Microsoft collaborated on migration assessments
• Migrations of on-premise AX, CRM, GP, and NAV to Dynamics 365 are automated and tool-based
• Global upgrade factory for risk-averse, quick updates

With deep Dynamics 365 solution knowledge, as well as a world-class Dynamics team and a strong workforce with decades of experience in a variety of industries, multiple upgrades across multi-country, multi-geo, and complex migrations have proven them to be veterans. On the vast Biz Apps Stack, they will be able to be a full-stack digital-ready solution.

Automation with purpose-built tools and techniques

Sonata is well known for its co-sell IPs, and alignment to Microsoft industry maps and digital assets. We've got one of the largest Dynamics teams globally and a unique alliance with Microsoft. Sonata is an expert in providing engineering and managed services to some of the world's largest clients.  Regardless of the situation, transitioning from legacy ERP, modernizing from an older version, or a simple implementation. A unique upgrade approach utilizing exclusive and exclusive upgrade tools and IP. Tools and assets are created to automate and deliver one-step migrations. There are automated code migration tools for all versions that enable automatic migrations with 30–60% time savings.

Do they have industry knowledge?

Context is essential. Migrating to Dynamics 365 will ensure that your organization is ready to meet future needs and challenges, but these will differ depending on the organization and industry. 
Consider the partner's Dynamics 365 implementation experience with deployment in your industry. The chosen partner should have successfully implemented Dynamics 365 with your peers and be able to demonstrate it.

Conclusion

Sonata Software has the industry's potential to match your challenges with the appropriate solution. Transform your business processes by utilizing intelligent cloud-based applications that work in tandem. Our Dynamics 365 implementation team consists of more than just technical consultants. We have extensive industry and technology experience and can provide a unique perspective on how to best implement and use D365 to meet the specific needs of your organization. Building full client solutions, generating business growth, and meeting customer needs all require partnerships. Find resources to bring partners together to better serve clients by leveraging each partner's expertise and core capabilities. Have you decided on Dynamics and are seeking an implementation partner who understands your industry and can help you get there faster? Sonata has invested in Dynamics over the years, driving continuous innovation and reusable assets to accelerate your transformation. For a deeper understanding, connect with our Dynamics Team here and learn more about how to accelerate your modernization journey.

FAQs

How can I get ready for the Dynamics 365 rollout?

There is a lot that goes into implementation, but it is critical to review and evaluate your current systems, plan accordingly, and put together the right team.

Why should I think about hiring an implementation partner?

The right implementation partner can provide consulting and implementation expertise, as well as training and support services, all while ensuring quality and best practices.

What is Sonata Dynamics++?

Sonata Dynamics++ helps you unlock the possibilities of Microsoft Business Applications with our three signature methodologies Reimagine, Refresh and Realize. Be it transitioning from legacy ERP, modernizing from an older version, or a simple implementation or beyond - Sonata Dynamics++ guarantees you get much more from your investments on the Microsoft Business Applications stack.  

Businesses, big or small, are entities that live and thrive on seizing the right moment. The golden opportunity stands on your doormat many times but knocks only once. You grab it, you soar high. But in the hullabaloo that is business, opportunities come and go. As conventional practitioners of business, we are programmed to think of the consequences of getting in on a golden opportunity. Nobody in their right mind ever thinks about the repercussions of not answering the door. Return on Investment is how we see things. But what about the cost of passivity?

ROI is crucial. It’s a fairly simple concept. You invest time, money, and/or resources into seizing the right opportunity – In this case Modernization. You factor in the associated risks and the factors influencing the results and put a number to the outcome. But, if you do not prioritize seizing the opportunity. Is there an impact on the business? Many customers do not prioritize modernization and simply put this off for another six months. What is the cost of “doing nothing”?  

Let Me Tell You A Story

Imagine an entrepreneur who started a business a year ago. Lots of stuff to do. The entrepreneur ends up doing most of the work.

The entrepreneur now spends most of the time in the office. There is little to no quality family time. That is understandable when it is in its nascent stage. 

Now we fast forward to the present. Business is booming. The start-up is on the verge of being a unicorn. The Cost of Inaction for this Business is that, not invest in learning, hiring, work delegation on technology investments, and leveraging fully automated systems.

The business and the entrepreneur are suffering in more ways than one.

The cost of Inaction multiplies exponentially over time, hence the early the better to start modernization. In other words, the impact of addressing the issue now will be way bigger than what it would have been 6 months ago. 

The Key Metrics Of Cost Of Inaction (COI)

 Similarly, your business is grown, but your systems are legacy/On-Premise and do not cater to the post-pandemic demands, companies are forced to revisit their ERP strategies. All because the traditional ERP systems aren’t enough to support the major paradigm shifts of business models. So your cost of inaction for 

• Opportunity Lost – The competitive edge of transformation to cloud, being the laggards of Modernizations
• Missed Revenue - Whether it is reimbursable or fixed, an inefficient system leads to missed items, transactions, or progress.
• Frustration Cost -  When your staff is spread thin doing disproportionate work that adds no value.
• Cost of Quality - quality issues with reporting, decision making, and information management.
• Cost increases over time - enterprises face maintaining a double cost: the human resource required to keep these systems up and the lost opportunity for growth with such a large percentage of the IT budget spent on operations and maintenance
• Loose on the opportunity for Continuous Development – With cloud offerings expanding, opportunities for business advantage and cost savings from an on-premise environment
• Cost of Security Risk - Security of the systems need to evolve over time and inaction increases risk

Bottom Line: You Want To Grow – Embrace Change, Embrace Modernization with Dynamics 365

A ton of your competitors are already making their cloud migrations. It sounds challenging and unnecessarily frivolous at first. A closer inspection of companies before and after their migration to the cloud unveils another real difference. Think of it like any other long-term investment. Dynamics 365 cloud would transform your business.

Dynamics 365 gets you ahead of the competition and enables business-driven transformation. Whether it is increased functionality, customized reporting, and real-time insights or pivoting necessary resources to handle the unlikeliest of scenarios, Dynamics 365 and its business applications can be the mast that holds your sail to the winds of change. 

Read some of our customer success stories and their take on the modernization journey and how Sonata has helped simplify business processes, delivered faster time to market, and meet the goals. 

Don’t look for short-term gains. We are here to look at the bigger picture. IT productivity and an improved business portfolio are just the beginning. We are here for the long haul, i.e., bringing down your legacy system or your on-premises costs permanently.

The Dynamics 365 Migration Program assessment is your friend. Let it help you achieve a lower total cost of ownership. Cost of Inaction is the name of the game. Dynamics 365 is the weapon you need. 

Migration from older versions of AX to the latest Dynamics 365 to the cloud is not a typical “Upgrade” project and comes with its challenges. Read more to understand the top challenges and the expert recommendation for a successful Modernization to Dynamics 365

Why Modernization?
Established companies often struggle to become more dynamic. Modernization helps transition into the digital age. It helps deal the digital age mandates like:

• Digital Transformation in Customer Experience, Operational Process and Business Model 
• Business and IT Integration
• Unified Data and Processes 
• Analytics Capabilities 

Modernization gives Agility to organizations to renew themselves, adapt, change quickly, and succeed in a, ambiguous, turbulent environment. Modernization helps the organizations expand into new markets easily, support new locations, geographies, and industries with minimal IT effort.

Challenges of older versions such as AX 2009, AX 2012 R1, R2, R3

Customers with older on-premises AX versions have challenges which affect business much more than the end-of-life support. These challenges need to be addressed as part of the transition planning 

1. A lot of functional gaps or manual processes 
2. New capabilities that align with Industry practices 
3. Flexibility to easily expand operations in other areas / geos / subsidiaries
4. Complicated Customizations that are like Pandora boxes 
5. Making it easy to unearth business insights from the data available 
6. Simplify the many Integrations, ISV solutions and complex IT systems

How to define your organizations readiness to modernize?

Disruption and cost are generally the biggest worries while executing modernization programs and for a successful migration, we recommend focusing on planning of the migration that will best suit your organization.

​​​Step 1 is to define or determine the best migration path for your organization. While one size does not fit all, migration has been simplified today with tools and automation making direct upgrades a reality. Understand what suits you the best based on your current landscape and usage 

Make sure that the migration plan defined has the plan in place to address the challenges mentioned in the section above. 

How to plan the migration that is best for your organization

Determine a migration plan that will help your organization: 

1. Validate and re-validate the business process that are required for your organization to succeeded in the new digital norm 
2. Leverage more standard functionality that are aligned to today’s Industry standard 
3. Understand customizations done and identify those that are still relevant to business to ensure that you adopt more standard

Is a direct migration from your older version possible?

Understand if direct migration from older version is useful. Direct migrations mean using a tool to reuse current investments of your on-premise systems to reduce the overall effort needed to migrate to Dynamics 365 and its business applications 

A direct migration would mean saving of effort and hence costs as and hence the ability to re-use the current systems should be considered an option. This way, you can leverage the investment of years of business knowledge, processes that gives your organization the competitive edge today instead of throwing them over for lack of investigation into the tools and automation available today. 

A migration assessment is the first step to help you understand the value of and steps to cloud migration

How is Sonata’s Assessment Unique and can help you?

Sonata’s unique approach and purpose-built tools simplify and automate the migration plan to the cloud and Dynamics 365 faster, with significant cost and effort savings!

The main objective of the Sonata’s assessment will be to define the business transformation vision, the business transformation needs and then the migration strategy. 

These will help you 

1. Identify business objectives and tie these into the functionality of Dynamics 365
2. Understand the benefits of moving from an older on-premises solution to the cloud 
3. Determine ways to optimize the migration process with a focus on reducing effort and costs 
4. Detail all the next steps and risks to mitigate with high level effort and schedule

For a deeper understanding connect with our Dynamics Team here and learn more about how to accelerate your modernization journey

While many retailers were forced to shut up shop as COVID-19 lockdowns gripped the nation, Australian pharmacies have remained open. Classed as an essential service, chemists continued to dispense vital medicines, regular flu vaccines and basic protective gear to a grateful nation.
For Chemist Warehouse the extra pressure of a global pandemic couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Australian pharmacy chain had recently planned to expand into Ireland, using its European tilt as a springboard to shift from discrete, on-premise business systems to a globally supported cloud-based platform.
The retail giant chose to work with local provider Sonata Scalable, backed by the resources and expanded capability of the parent company, Sonata Software, to implement Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 software-as-a-service ERP platform (Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain, Commerce (Retail Point of Sale)).

How going offshore led to going off-premises

Despite the disruptions of the past year, Chemist Warehouse CIO Jules Cardinale says the group’s expansion into the European market remained the right time to overhaul business and operating systems.
"This transformation will ensure all of our international franchises will operate on one platform, solving a lot of operational barriers,” Cardinale says.
"It will allow us to consistently manage and maintain various systems across the world using best practice infrastructure with greater availability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness than our on-prem solution could afford us."
Chemist Warehouse is Australia's largest pharmacy retailer generating more than $5 billion a year in sales across its 500-store franchise network. It’s a big business with high volume turnover and substantial IT demands.
Scalable founder and Director Brett Crew credits an astute executive for the decision to transition to a cloud-based platform. “By choosing to adopt a modern, cloud-based approach, the company must either rewrite their applications or adopt a new standard and deploy that,” Crew says. “Running with Dynamics 365 is a long-term strategic initiative which demonstrates enormous trust in Microsoft and Sonata Scalable."

Borders no barrier to an integrated system

Dynamics 365 will operate the same way in Ireland as it does in Australia – with local currency and tax coding requirements met by Microsoft’s international capabilities.
Dispensing systems specific to each jurisdiction are able to be readily integrated into the one, unified system.
Dynamics 365 will also manage B2B interactions, streamlining supply chain logistics, Chemist Warehouse corporate billing and the individual billing of franchises.

Cloud and PowerApps combine to unleash creativity

For the Chemist Warehouse technical team, shifting to the cloud frees them up to focus on the company’s expansion plans. “If I go into a new country, the last thing I need to do is purchase hardware, set-up servers and provide services with that way. I can just consume them,” Cardinale says.
Instead of troubleshooting on-premises challenges, the Chemist Warehouse team will focus on developing bespoke solutions for customers, including applications built with Microsoft’s Power Apps platform.

Why Sonata Scalable?

Microsoft recommended Sonata Scalable as a potential provider to Chemist Warehouse, but winning the deal meant winning against strong competition locally.
With a confidence born from experience in the sector, Sonata Scalable responded quickly with a simple but compelling pitch; local experience backed by the capability and resources of an international patent.
Sonata Scalable has runs on the board with retail in Australia, having worked with other large players such as Spotlight and Lorna Jane. Sonata Scalable’s Brick and Click retail solution and Modern Distribution platform for e-commerce also gave them an advantage over competitors, as did their position as a top tier Microsoft partner. When Chemist Warehouse wanted to discuss additional needs around the Microsoft retail solution, Sonata could draw on its strong relationship with Microsoft, working with the R&D team in Redmond to discuss their requirements. 
"It's not typical for an Australian partner to have the connections that reach into the back end of the Microsoft's product team to have that conversation," Crew says. "It's been a very collaborative process."

Customer first

While there was a compelling business case for embracing digital transformation, Cardinale says the group’s main reason for leveraging the Dynamics 365 platform is to provide a better experience for their customers. That means offering a true omnichannel retail experience.
The new integrated platform will give Chemist Warehouse transparency on which products are on order, who is delivering it and when.
That will help streamline the delivery and pave the way for Chemist Warehouse to expand its online customer offering so the customer’s purchasing experience (whether in-store or online) is made as simple as possible.
“Omnichannel is about receiving or buying goods from us in any way you want,” Cardinale says. “That could mean click and collect or click and deliver, and a number of other initiatives that we’re looking at.”

Perfect timing

Being able to offer robust e-commerce solutions is more important than ever, and harnessing cloud services will enable Chemist Warehouse to provide safe and secure retail for customers and staff around the world.
“Sonata Scalable is starting them on their journey to an integrated cloud platform for retail, finance and supply chain,” Crew says. “It is a collaborative partnership and just the start of an exciting enablement journey.”

For a deeper understanding write to our Dynamics Team

Learn more on how to accelerate your modernization journey.

Digital technologies and digital platforms have been instrumental in enabling the world to operate in 2020, in a period of unprecedented disruption to our traditional business operating models. The use of digital technologies and digital platforms has introduced new engagement and operating models which will continue to operate and evolve and drive many aspects of your business in the future.

How does this new world impact the consideration of your current ERP system?

I would like you to take a moment and consider it is not just the ERP system to consider. There are other aspects to it like

• What digital platform is your ERP running on?
• Is the digital platform open and interconnected?
• Is the digital platform intelligent (Analytics and AI)?
• Is the digital platform leveraging current technology?
• Is the digital platform scalable, agile, and flexible?
• Is your ERP part of your digital platform ecosystem or just hosted?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a digital platform for business that is by design connected, open, scalable, and intelligent. These attributes are considered key enablers for business and essential for businesses to be able to adapt to the fast-changing circumstances and demands of customers in the digital age.

Why Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is an apt choice?

Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is the digital iteration and advance on your current Dynamics AX version. It is more than just an ERP system, it an ecosystem of interconnected applications from the Microsoft technology stack that assist users in the day to day operations.

• A browser interface to access from multiple devices
• User-defined workspaces for common functions and dashboards
• Build Power Apps mobile applications to enable users
• Native CRM Sales integration to Finance and Operations
• Microsoft 365 (Office) integration by design in the one platform
• Embedded Power BI Analytics spaces for business visualization and insights

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is a digital-ready ERP available to you now with an upgrade path from your existing Dynamics AX application.

The All-round Benefits of Dynamics 365

1. Become more agile – move from reactive analysis to proactive actionable insights with embedded Power BI.
2. Single source of the truth - connected data across applications using Azure data services
3. Microsoft managed production environment – always current infrastructure.
4. Locked codebase – to allow continuous update – always current application.
5. Extensible development to support custom functions 
6. No impact on core application
7. Supports continuous update
8. Removes conflicts between custom functions
9. Extensions migrate through updates with minimal effort
10. Secure – Microsoft managed security and disaster recovery.
11. Scalable as you expand or contract.
12. Microsoft enabled digital technology platform.
13. Extensive functionality out of the box.
14. Leverage new functionality and apps in phased workloads to manage capacity, budget, and resources.
15. Leverage the deep and continuous investment of an industry giant.

Sonata upgrade enablement

Sonata offers tools and programs to provide simple, direct, and automated upgrades from any older version of AX, to Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations. The complexity is now simplified with Sonata’s Unique migration approach and toolsets. 

The Sonata upgrade tool can save between 30-60% on the standard time and cost to upgrade, which is a huge benefit when planning your next move. Assessment to define the path forward.

1. Code uplift automation to migrate customizations to the new extensible framework. Eliminates the double lift from Dynamics AX 2009 to Dynamics 365.
2. To help businesses manage the decision of upgrading, Sonata has a tried and tested assessment methodology that can help co-create a digital transformation vision supported by critical data to plan this key strategic initiative.  

Things to avoid

1. The end of support for Dynamics AX 2012 R3 in October 2021.
2. Core component failure on older versions as new operating systems and servers evolve.
3. Investing in an ERP system that is not built on a modern digital platform.
4. Investing in old technology.

For a deeper understanding write to me and my Dynamics Team

Learn more on how to accelerate your modernization journey.

Introduction

Location directives in Warehouse Management are user-defined rules that help identify pick and put locations for inventory movement. For example, in a sales order transaction, a location directive determines from where the items are to be picked and where they should be placed.

You can use location directives to do the following:

• Put away incoming items.
• Pick and stage items for outbound transactions
• Pick and put raw materials for production
• Replenish locations

D365 has some built-in strategies for purchase put, sale pick and replenishment pick. Using these strategies, Warehouse and stock management can be carried out effectively.

For Purchase Put, we have to Consolidate and Empty location with no incoming work. Consolidate strategy helps in using the storage effectively and reduce the work time at the time of picking for outbound operation. This strategy checks for the item availability in warehouse locations and assigns the same location for the work.

Empty location with no incoming work helps to avoid having same put location for two different works. This strategy helps by not assigning the location for any other work until the pending work is completed.

For Sale Pick, we have Match Packing Quantity and FEFO Batch reservation. Match Packing Quantity helps in having minimal pick work item rather than having many Pick work items. This helps in reducing the time consumption to do a work by avoiding picking of items from different locations for a certain order. It checks the shipment quantity with the location quantities and if it is sufficient to fulfill the requirement, system will assign that location as a pick location for that work.

FEFO batch Reservation helps in Sell/Use the item which has an earlier expiry date.

For Replenishment Pick, we have roundedup a Full LP and Round up a Full LP with FEFO Batch Reservation. Replenishment work is created when there is a shortage of stock in location to fulfill the sales requirement. To avoid repeated replenishment work in future, this strategy can be used so that work is created to shift the entire LP quantity. from Bulk location to Pick Location.

Prerequisite:

            Basic Knowledge about below topic helps in understanding the blog better

• Purchase order
• Sale order
• Warehouse Operation
• Location Directive
• Work template

Location Directive Strategy:

In D365, we have some strategies based on which location for Pick and Put location is defined for a work. Strategy should be defined under “Location Directive Actions”.

When Fixed Location Usage been selected as “Fixed and Non-fixed Location” then D365 will check all locations which meet the criteria in edit Query else it checks only fixed location which meets the criteria.

Let us now understand how this works in the below scenario

Fixed location can be defined under Warehouse management -> Setup -> Warehouse -> Fixed Locations

• Fixed location has been defined for the Item R0003.

  

• In-stock of the item R0003

  

• When Strategy is None, D365 defines the put location by sorting the location in ascending order which meets the criteria in edit query.
• Since Location is in alpha-nuumeric column when sorting in ascending order, the order will be in the order: special character, Numeric and then alphabet.

Purchase Put:

        Under Purchase Put the only strategy that can be used is:

1. Consolidate
2. Empty location with no incoming work

1. Consolidate

   Fixed and Non Fixed Location

   • When strategy is changed to consolidate, D365 checks which location has the same item already and defines the same location as Put Location.
   • Item R0003has in-stock of
     • 10 quantity. in “1A1R2S01B” and 10 quantity. in “2A1R1S02B”
     • Fixed location is “2A1R1S01B”,“2A1R1S02B”

       Location Directive

       

       Work Line

       

       Fixed Location

       Location Directive

       

       Work Details

       

2. Empty location with no incoming Work
   • When this strategy is being used, D365 defines the location ‘Empty location’ physically and ‘no Put work’ gets assigned to the location.

Sale – Pick

• Match packing quantity
  • This Strategy checks whether a pick location has the specified packing/Shipment quantity. If there is no LP matching the packing/shipment quantity., then system checks next line under “location directive Action”.
  • Item R0004 has 35 has in-stock in 3 different location as below

    

  • We have a sale order for 15 quantity.

    Location Directive - Pick

    

  • When strategy is “None”, D365 defines the location when in stock is greater than 0 and orders the location in ascending order.

    

  • When Strategy is “Match Packing Quantity”, D365 checks the location where any LP matches the Shipment quantity.

    

  • Since location “2A1R2S03B” has a LP with 15 quantity., D365 define this field has Pick location for the shipment.

    

• FEFO batch Reservation
  • This strategy checks the location directive and defines the pick location if there is any batch available with an earlier expiry date.
  • “FEFO Date-Controlled” under Item model group needs to be enabled.
  • Reservation Hierarchy should have batch below location.
  • Item “R0006” has 25 stock in direct location.

    

    

  • When Strategy is “None”, D365 defines the first location which has stock.

    

    Work Line

    

  • When Strategy is “FEFO batch reservation”, then D365 suggests the location in which earlier expiry date batch is available.

    Location Directive

    

    Work Line

    

Replenishment – Pick

• Round up to full LP
  • This Strategy is used to round up the inventory quantity to match the license plate (LP) quantity that is assigned to the items to be picked.
  • When a replenishment wave is created, work will be generated for the entire LP available in bulk locationwith no break of quantity.
  • Sale order for item REP002 – 25 quantity.

    

  • When using replenishment in Wave, the system creates separate Work for shift stock from bulk location to picking location.

    

  • Since we have 15 in pick location, D365 creates a work for 10 quantity. from Bulk01 to 1A1R1S01B.
  • And another order for Sale pick as below

    

  • When strategy is changed to “Round up to full LP”. D365 checksthe available LP in bulk location which has sufficient quantity to fulfill the need and does not break the LP. Entire LP quantity. will be moved.
  • LP quantity. is selected based on FIFO methodology by default.
  • If there are two LPs with 70 quantity. in one LP and 30 quantity. in another LP. System will select LP which is in-warded first.
    • If 70qty. is in-warded first then work quantity. for replenishment will be 70. If 30qty. is in-warded first then work quantity. for replenishment will be 30.
  • Replenishment Work

    

  • Sale order Work

    

• Round up to full LP and FEFO batch
  • Round up to full LP and FEFO batch is similar to the Round up to full LP when generating Replenishment work, D365 checks the LP which is of the earlier Expiry date batch. It can be used only for replenishment.

• License plate guided
  • License plate guided is used in cross dock

“A Budget register entry is a document where the details of approved budget for a legal entity are maintained.The lines in a budget register entry document are known as budget account entries, and contain financial dimension information, dates, and the amounts of the approved budget. The budget register entry document is integrated with basic financial reports and inquiry pages where ledger actual amounts are compared to budget amounts”.

In order to process a budget register entry without hindrance, user would need to refer the Basic Budgeting part 1 wherein I have listed down the processes of configuring required elements which are a key for a budget register entry to work.

Illustration:

We will create a sample budget register entry for Advertising expenses for the year 2020 for the amount 50000 USD incorporating all the above components. We will try to show the different types of budget allocations across a fiscal year. Below is how it’s done:

1. Login into Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O application
2. Select your desired entity. E.g., USMF
3. Follow the navigation path to open Budget register entries page. Budgeting->Budget register entries
4. Click New. A page will open to input the budget details

   

   

5. Enter date. Remember Budget model and Budget code fields are mandatory
6. System will not allow to proceed without entering the mandatory details
7. Select Budget model from the drop-down list. You can select the one which you created
8. Similarly select the Budget code as well

   

9. In the Budget account entries section, select the desired date. If not selected, system will pick the date defined at the header level
10. Select the appropriate account structure in the respective field
11. If you are creating an operating budget then it is viable to select the P&L account structure. Likewise for Capex budget, it is viable to select the Balance sheet account structure
12. If you are creating an operating budget then it is viable to select the P&L account structure. Likewise for Capex budget, it is viable to select the Balance sheet account structure
13. In this scenario, a budget for Advertising expenses (Account#601300) is created
14. I have selected business unit as Home, department as Sales & marketing, Cost center as Trade shows and Product as Services
15. Account type and Currency fields are auto populated
16. Enter the budgeted amount. Here an amount of 50000 USD has been entered
17. Now click on ‘Save’ button. Once this is clicked, ‘Update budget balances’ button gets enabled on the top
18. Now click on ‘Update budget balances’ button. A window gets opened for the final confirmation with ‘Update’ and ‘Cancel’ button at the bottom. When ‘update’ button is clicked, a new budget will be created for Advertising expenses. As shown in the figure below

    

    

With the collaborative and process-driven nature of the budget planning functionality of Dynamics 365 Finance, you can make your budget process more efficient and include more people in the process, all while reducing the redundant manual entry. click here to go to part 1

Budgeting is the process of creating a plan to spend the money that one has. A plan that is created is called a budget. Budgeting helps in estimating whether the funds available are sufficient to meet the expenses incurred over a period of time. In short, budgeting is balancing the expenses with the income.

Basic budgeting is the initial phase of budgeting module as the name suggests. This blog is aimed at enabling a user to configure basic budgeting and would equip the user to post budget register entries which is the manual way of creating budgets in Dynamics 365 F&O

Pre-requisites for Budgeting configuration in Dynamics 365 F&O:

Below are a few terminologies to aid you in the budgeting configuration process going ahead:

1. Organizational Hierarchy in terms of locations or departments or cost centers etc. Organization Administration->Organizations->Organization hierarchies.
2. Chart of Accounts and Fiscal calendars created. General Ledger->Chart of Accounts->Accounts->Chart of accounts and General Ledger->Calendars->Fiscal calendars.
3. Financial dimensions. General Ledger->Chart of Accounts->Dimensions->Financial dimensions.
4. Account structures to be created and linked to the ledger form. General ledger->chart of accounts->structure->configure account structure and General Ledger->Ledger Setup->Ledger.
5. Currency exchange rate to be setup before entering any data.General ledger->currencies->currency exchange rate.
6. A budget journal type (journal type should be selected as budget) has to be created for posting budget journals. General Ledger->Journal Setup->Journal names

Key Definitions and Configurations:

Let us have a look at the various components and the process that’s involved in the configuration of Basic Budgeting.

Below is the process to be followed in enabling the budget cycle:

1. Budget Cycle: Budget Cycle is nothing but the time frame defined in the system for budgeting purposes. Typically, this would be a fiscal year but it’s not a specific range of dates. This can be set according to the business requirements. E.g., 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, quarterly, bi annually etc. 

   Below is the process to be followed in enabling the budget cycle:

   • Budgeting->Setup->Budget planning/Budget Control->Budget cycles
   • Click New
   • Enter a name in the budget cycle time span field.
   • In Fiscal calendar field, select the calendar from the drop down list.
   • In Length of budget cycles field – If ‘specify number of periods’ is selected, ‘Number of fiscal periods’ field is enabled which means you can specify the number of periods for which a budget plan is run. If ‘map to fiscal year’ is selected, ‘Number of fiscal periods’ field is disabled which means the fiscal periods created at the calendar level are mapped here.

     

     

     ‘Budget cycle’ is defined above

2. Budget Code: Budget codes are used to categorize the budget data entered in the system. There are different types of budget codes available in the system. ‘Original budget’ is used when creating an initial budget. ‘Revision budget’ is used when the original budget is created and is going through some changes. This helps in tracking the changes made to a budget. ‘Expense or Revenue budget, is used to create a budget plan for expenses to be incurred or revenue to be generated. By clicking ‘new’ button, one can create a new budget code according to the business requirements.

   Below is the process to define the budget code:

   Budgeting->Setup->Basic budgeting->Budget codes

   

   ‘Budget code’ is defined as per the requirement/time frame

3. Budget Model: Budget model is a bucket where the different types of budget codes are entered. This is used to determine the classification of budgets created based on their type, geographical location etc. E.g., Operating budget model – This holds the data of the budget codes created for operating expenses or operating income. US budget model – This holds the budget data created for a certain US legal entity.

   Below is the process to define the different codes in the budget model:

   Budgeting->Setup->Basic budgeting->Budget Models

   

   In the above budget model ‘budget code’ is defined

4. Budget Dimensions:These are not regular financial dimensions which we set up in the GL module. These are set up in the Budgeting module for budget reporting. However, the list is connected to the dimensions selected in the account structures created for budgeting. These can be added up or deleted from the list by checking the boxes on the left and clicking the arrow symbols. Below is the process to assign budget dimensions:

   Budgeting->Setup->Basic budgeting->Dimensions for budgeting

   

   The ‘budget dimension’ is defined for use

5. Budget Allocation terms: These are the rules created in order to segregate the budgeted amount among various financial dimensions. Whenever, a budget register entry (which will be covered in upcoming blog) is created and in the ‘allocate to dimensions’ tab at the line level is clicked, a list is opened from which one can select the budget allocation terms which will segregate the budget automatically in the percentage values defined in the allocation terms.

   Below is the process to define the budget allocation terms:

   Budgeting->Setup->Basic budgeting/Budget planning->Budget Allocation terms

   

   

   In the above picture, you will see a budget allocation terms with name ‘2019FY’ has been created. There are percentage values defined for each department dimension. The total should be 100 and any number of percentage values summing up to 100 can be defined as per the picture, Sales & Marketing department has been assigned 55% of the budget amount.

6. Budgeting Parameters: This page helps a user to configure the settings like budget journal, time period for budget balances, number sequences for budget register entries, budget plans etc.

   To understand the time period for budget balances parameter, let us consider a realistic scenario: Imagine you have a budget for the account of $ 6000 for the year 2018 divided into $ 500 per month. So your budget entries: Jan 2018: $ 500, Feb 2018: $ 500, etc.

   You have posted an invoice with the amount $ 400 in January.

   It is now February. You want to create a new transaction (amount $ 550). The options will do the next:

   Fiscal period: Your budget space is not enough. It is only $ 500

   Fiscal year: The remaining budget is now $ 6000-$ 400 = $ 5600. So enough budget to proceed.

   Fiscal year to date: The remaining budget is: (2 * $ 500) - $ 400 = $ 600.

   Below is the process of how various parameters pertaining to budget are assigned:

   Budgeting->Setup->Basic budgeting/Budget planning->Budgeting Parameters

   

   Various parameters are set as per the user objective. In part 2 of the Basic budgeting, I have mentioned a step wise process to create a budget register entry in MS Dynamics 365 F&O using these configurations. click here to go to part 2

Thought of sharing a small yet tricky way to add a web service reference directly from AX 2012 without using proxy DLL, for consuming the same.

Normally, when we right click on AOT "References", we can add only the DLL references from there. (Figure 1)

But if we create a project, and add a "Reference" group, and then right click on it, we will get both the options; of adding the DLL reference as well as adding the web service reference. (Figure 2)

Once we click on "Service Reference", the following form opens, which helps us inputting the WSDL URL along with the Namespace and other details. (Figure 3)

Figure 2

Figure 3