A Sunrise over Convergence 2013

Well it's a fine sunny, near spring day where I am. The birds and trees are starting to awaken, beckoning on the warmth as our world for the northern hemisphere tilts towards our solar system's star. This also is the time of year in which a lot of us within the Dynamics Solar system collide with one another at the annual Microsoft Dynamics Convergence Conference. This year it's being held in beautiful New Orleans!



While there will be plenty of chances for bonified beignets & beads - the real focus and value is around the connections and networking that is gained from attending this grand event. Thus beings another annual tradition of mine, an interview with President & Owner of Sunrise Technologies, John Pence.



Like all traditions, things are meant to adapt, change, and grow giving new life to new projects. This tradition is no different, and so for the first time this interview was captured on our company blog .: Implementing Great Ideas (Sunrise Technologies Company Blog).

To read the full interview, please make use of the following resource.: Brandon George Interviews Sunrise Technologies President, John Pence, about the Upcoming Microsoft Convergence Event.

There are some great nuggets of information contained within this interview, looking at this event from one of the leading VARs and from its President & Owners perspective. For example, I asked John to share about what he is looking forward to attending from a session point of view. John list a few great one's, but then finally states.: "The most important session is of course 'general networking' which I will be doing all day, every day. That is really the best reason to attend Convergence"

Some further tidbits of information are around Sunrise's efforts in hosting live demo's of the retail functionality that now comes as part of Dynamics AX 2012 R2. Further what is near and dear to my heart, John's take on what to look for around Business Intelligence.

It's a great read, and I hope it get you into the mood and ready to Geaux Dynamics Style at Convergence 2013. Make sure to stay tuned and follow my tweets and blog post. This year enlist the MVP's that are attending in a more formal way for coverage of the event. So there will be more than you can handle in one day. If your attending great, if not - you should be able to keep up and stay excited still.

Well that's all for this post, I hope each and every one of you have a blessed Dynamics filled day! Til Next Time!
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Understanding the natural flow of the BI Semantic Model

Today, I wanted to spend time talking through the natural flow that the BI semantic model, when followed, lays out for a customer. This is a very important topic to understand, and one that helps build out a System of Engagement for clients. In a recent post, I talked to the important point of Data Ownership. Now taking that into consideration, we can start to shape a real BI story for customers with the BI Semantic model approach.



In the past, IT departments would be tasked with Report Development that created a seemingly never ending loop. This undesired loop, would create scope and scope creep for reporting needs that never seemed to get truly fulfilled. The users where unhappy with this, as well as the IT pro's trying to solve the business needs. The major issue in that caused the process to mature into a true dilemma, was that the report definition, the questions to be asked, was unavoidably placed in the wrong hands. This goes back to the point of data ownership, and further giving the ability of the users that own and know the data, secure access to form the questions and creating the reporting elements to empower their business.

This is where Personal BI, from the BISM, comes into play. You see, when the questions are well known and report execution needs scale then we have great candidates for Organizational BI artifacts. That is, the data elements are well known for what should be measured and how such data elements should be sliced & diced for user consumption. Getting to that point however, is the goal and beauty of true Personal BI processes and artifacts.



Enter PowerPivot! It's ability to consume mass amounts of data, and truly help create star like schema's with ease, enabling power users to work with the data they own is unmatched. It's simplicity and power, help enable elegant BI artifact creation, through a similar look and feel via Office & Excel. This is where users can easily be truly empowered to securely work with their data from Microsoft Dynamics AX as well as other LOB application data. IT departments give this secure access to users, which helps address concerns of data integrity, while users can then form the questions that should be asked, that drive true business insight.



Having this starting point, users can further be enabled to engage their team via SharePoint for true collaboration, or Team BI. PowerPivot and office are not the tools that can be used to generate valid & valuable personal BI artifacts. Other outputs can be produced, scheduled and consumed via SharePoint. This in turn helps feed into the Role Centers that engage the user based, and starts the flow from Personal to Organizational BI within an organization.

Once published to SharePoint, teams can start sharing and collaborating on BI artifacts that drive critical business decision. Further, this is the intersection to where the IT department, via SharePoint tools, can become aware of Team BI artifacts that need to scale for the entire company. These Team BI artifacts, that have now been vetted and in full use, give the IT department known questions that need to be answered, and give them insight into how the business is needing to use their data.



Here we enter into the Organizational BI artifact creation, that is fueled by Personal BI artifacts. Through the use of SharePoint technology, IT Departments can be given insights into the use of such collaborative BI needs and use such artifacts as the starting point and guide for scaling out such data needs. This is where true cube creation, for analytical reporting can start from a PowerPivot artifact. Where IT departments and end users are no longer caught in a viscous cycle of report development madness. Instead they are both empowered through the adoption and use of the BI Semantic Model, and it's natural flow from Personal, to Team and through to Organizational BI needs.

This then allows a cycle for the users that own the data, to help form the questions, that ultimately power Organizational business insight and eventual scale for the company. Allowing a satisfied user base, and an IT department that helps put a companies data to work for them. This is all very possible for Microsoft Dynamics AX customers. If your interested in finding out more, let me show you how my team at Sunrise Technologies, Inc can help turn your users into fans, and create a true System of Engagement for your company!

That's all I have for this post, and this week. Check back soon as more to come, and as I make my move starting today as Director of Business Intelligence for Sunrise Technologies! Till Next Time!
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Happy New Year - The Force is Strong with Dynamics AX

Happy New Year Everyone! Wow, what a year 2012 was and already it's come and gone. It was a year filled with all kinds of important releases for the Microsoft Dynamics Ecosystem, including closing out the year with the release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2!



Now the above is just great, Hal Howard, Fred Studer & Jedi Master Mike Ehrenberg. "The Force is strong with Microsoft Dynamics AX".

I thought having this highlight as the kick off post for 2013 would be just perfect. It's time to close out the old, complex ways of the dark side. It's time to focus on powerfully simple software - It's time for Microsoft Dynamics AX!

Check back here, as I continue my specific focuses around Dynamics AX, including a heavy focus on true BI, and more ways to battle the forces of evil! Happy New Year --- and Till Next Time!
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Why all the fuss around BI? - Data Ownership

I wanted to write today, and address a question that I think needs to be well understood. That is, Why all the fuss around BI? I mean, what is the big deal about business intelligence anyway? To start, there is a real need, for true business & enterprise intelligence that empowers users in their jobs. This goes from the Day-to-Day roles, through middle management & all the way to C-level executives.



To many people however, equate business intelligence to a tool-set, when in reality business intelligence is all about putting your data to work for you! The tool-set is not as important, is understanding the data model, understanding the business, and creating things like learning loops based on lag & lead data that can help drive companies through to their corporate strategy.



There are two big problems that customers face today with most ERP implementations, and relating to business intelligence. First, perceived overload of data. Second, the right tool for the right representation of data in order to glean intelligence from. With that said, there are a number of other specific issues & myths that cloud the path to true business insight - all which should be addressed when thinking about creating a BI story for a company. Ultimately however, these two questions seem to pop-up whenever thinking in terms of BI, from big data, to the personal self-service landscape.

These issues exist for companies small and large, and further what adds dimensions - excuse the pun - to these issues are how companies & their culture perceive BI. So in order to help address some of this, we need to understand a few fundamentals.

1. Data Ownership & Stewardship

If you don't think this topic is the most important to grasp, then your not understanding the goal of business intelligence. It's important for those users who need business insights, to understand who really own's said data, and who are stewards of that data. To many times, customers believe that IT owns the data, which is not reality at all. In fact your IT department, at most classify's as stewards of data. IT is not a cost center, blocking you from your data needs. Instead your IT department is meant to empower you, the user, with secure access to one version of the truth, for your reporting needs.

Users are the true owners of data, with different levels of responsibilities for that ownership. Further some users are data stewards, just like your IT, but with different roles and focus. This must be clearly understood, to help start down the path of addressing the perceive overload of data issue I mention above. The way to address this, is having users feel like they do own their data. This is, of course from the processes that create it, but also from the power in reporting on it. Giving them true Personal BI tools, that allow them access to help form the questions that lead to business insights.

Other myths, and issues that help lead to this confusion - and over worked, stretched IT budgets on report creation and never ending change request is that BI is a separate tool, than that of your ERP system. With out-dated ERP design's this use to be the case, however now exists only as a myth for those customers of Microsoft Dynamics AX.



With Microsoft Dynamics AX, and the stack that it lives on, full BI capabilities exist from the Personal, on to Team and straight through to Organizational BI needs. To help get people talking the same vocabulary, and language, we have the BI Semantic Model or BISM, that helps put some semantics in how we reference and talk about BI artifacts.

Going back to the point now, we have the ability to give users the power to fully grasp their roles as owners of their data - and understand the point of IT and IS departments as being the stewards of the systems, and data that lives within them. Having this clearly understood, means that Users can be turned into fans and a System of Engagement can start to form. Ultimately helping address one of the major issues we see with all this BI fuss, that of perceived data overload. It starts with owning the data, and therefore owning the processes that feed such data. Further, this means understanding the impacts of things like Master Data Management concepts for correct modeling of global data attributes, organization wide.

In order for users to own, and becomes fan's of their data, solid functional modeling & design must exist during the implementation process. Finally, understanding that real business insights, that create things like learning loops, starts with data ownership.

That's all for now, but check back soon as I continue this series and we can turn this BI fuss, into value added business & enterprise insights. Next we will continue our focus, with looking into wading through the onslaught of choices, and help end with classification of BI artifacts for those Usersfans of your organization or customers! Till Next Time!

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