Interview with Microsoft's Lachlan Cash on his new role, AX 2012 and more

While at Conv11 I had the chance to sit down with Microsoft's Lachlan Cash. You may recall Lachlan, as he is very active while at Convergence, helping with the keynotes, doing demo's, and also has been on my blog a few times before. (Interview with Microsoft's Lachlan Cash about Dynamics AX Technical Conference)

This time, I sat down with Lachlan to review a lot of different things, including is move from the Microsoft Dynamics AX Product Team, to becoming a AX Solution Architect working with Sri and Hal Howards R&D teams.

The following is the result of that interview.:



Q1: Lachlan, you recently moved from the AX Product team, to Hal Howards Dynamics Research group. Can you tell us a little bit about this new position, and your influence over AX in this new role?

Lachlan: "Making the move from the Product team, to Hal Howards group, and specifically Sri’s Solutions Architect team, put my focus more on the sales process, as well with implementations for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

In this new role, I will focus on helping fill a need that has been identified with helping with sales support questions from a total Solutions Architecture point of view. This includes working with larger implementations of AX, and driving value helping the total solution for a customer scale.

One of the business values, from this new role, and how that influences AX in general will be around creating lessons learned, which in turn help with the partner channel around readiness efforts.

In my new role then, I focus on more of the execution side for helping deliver Microsoft Dynamics AX implementations, through our Partner Channel, and how the functional depth and use of AX fits into the overall total solution package for a given customer.

As part of this, the R&D team can also take what we learn through helping with customers scale and complete their total solution, and if you will – drive backwards through the R&D, and therefore product development to help shape a better and better ERP platform that is Microsoft Dynamics AX."

Q2: Now that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is in public beta, can you talk to the power of things, like the workflow engine & designer, and it’s impact on such ERP project task, like business process modeling?

Lachlan: "The goal with such items, as the workflow engine is to address the need to bridge the gap between development vs. business process modeling. To take and drive true BP workflows, down to the end user level.

With this in mind, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is really the first true step in this direction. We started the foundation for this concept in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, but really built upon on it AX 2012. Now that we host the Microsoft .Net Workflow engine, and Visual Studio Workflow designer, the gap between the developer world and business process modeling world has gotten a lot smaller.

Take for example, now with workflow in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, you can nest workflows, and have workflow logic that calls upon other workflows. This is truly an empowering step towards a business process modeling world, that leads to a more dynamic and agile ERP platform.

Looking at this from a long term view, the idea would be eventually to drive system configuration away from so much code and parameters, and to more domain specific design, and even language to complete the configuration of a Dynamics AX instance.

The underlying design theme, then is taking and setting up AX, so that this move to decouple modules and sequential code, into more business model concepts then enables in the future the ability to have this ‘lego block’ approach to deploying and even customizing Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Lets look at a real world example, of this decoupling that has already taking a positive affect in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. If you look at the new structure and design for the infinite financial dimensions, we have a great story here. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and before, some code and parameters had to be adjust in order to add a new financial dimension. Now in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, no code or parameters are needed. You model your financial dimensions as needed, and the work load is a business user, vs a technical need.

Another great example of this same decoupling, or abstraction that we are doing is the separation of the Inventory dimensions. Before Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, we had a very tightly created design around inventory dimensions that mixed item attributes along with storage and tracking information. Now we have split these, decoupled them, in a fashion to where the Item Attributes, live abstract from the tracking dimensions, which also both live in an abstract manor, separate from storage dimension.

As we move forward with the development of Microsoft Dynamics AX, more and more of this decoupling will take place, which will help empower and enable customers that choose it as their ERP platform."

Q3: Lachlan, with this new vision, for performing business process modeling via the workflow designer, how much ISV development and also AX 2012 out-of-the-box will be setup using this new approach?

Lachlan: "Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 represents the first step in this direction. With that, we are still not completely at the point in which true business modeling is mostly done with the workflow designer, and with domain specific components.

For ISV’s, there exists however a new place in which they can deliver their vertical specific expertise through the creation of workflows, and business modeling elements in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. In doing so, they would be setting themselves for future releases of Microsoft Dynamics that will use this approach.

For Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, out-of-the-box business process modeling workflows still reside mostly around the procurement, and procurement templates. However, these are great examples, and a lot more depth than what came out of the box in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. From these templates, a customer, or ISV can use, to help them create their own templates that govern other processes.

With regard to the out-of-the-box nature, for business process workflow templates, Microsoft’s focus is and will be around the horizontal needs, which include the five focused industry sectors that will be apart of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and beyond. This means, as I stated earlier, that there is a lot of room for ISV’s to bring their vertical expertise to the table with what now exists in the workflow elements."

Q4: Lachlan, as part of the Microsoft Convergence 2011 keynote, Kiril made the official announcement for Microsoft Dynamics ERP Online. As part of that announcement, it was officially released that Microsoft Dynamics AX version 7 will be built for the cloud first. For the Azure PaaS offering. Care to give a little insight on this?

Lachlan: "When looking at the cloud offering, what Microsoft Dynamics AX version 7, or vNext, will offer is around scale as well as flexibility. The idea that is driven us, is around that enabling flexibility and choice to our customers.

Some customers will want to be 100% cloud based, however what we are seeing mostly is customers that will want to live in a hybrid cloud mode. Where parts of their solution will exists in the cloud, while other parts will still exists on-premise.

The architectural changes you now see in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, with the decoupling, unified natural models, abstraction, the move to more .Net all help line up Microsoft Dynamics AX to help offer this eventual true choice for customers.

It is true, that Microsoft Dynamics AX version 7 is being built for the cloud first, however the same code base and offering can still run 100% on-premise, or in a hybrid mode, as well as the partner hosted model that we see geared up now for the Microsoft Dynamics AX cloud story.

The choice is what separates Microsoft Dynamics from the rest of the pack in this regard."

Well I would like to take the time and thank Lachlan for sitting down with me. It's always a pleasure!

As you can see, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 represent true generational shift in the ERP landscape. This includes Microsoft Dynamics Cloud ERP offering, and driving to Microsoft Dynamics AX 7, which will be built for the cloud first.

I agree with Lachlan, that, Microsoft Dynamics flexbility and being designed so the customer has a choice in how and what is running in the cloud and not, helps separate it from the rest of the pack! You can read more on my take for Microsoft Dynamics Cloud Vision here: A Guide to Microsft Dynamics Cloud ERP - Dynamics AX

That's all for now, but check back soon as more to come. Till next time!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Microsoft Convergence 2011 - The Aftermath

Well, we came, we saw and we conquered - Microsoft Convergence 2011. (Conv11)

The we of course, is partners, customers and of course Microsoft. This year's event was the second larget ever Convergence, with over 9,300+ attending. The GWCC in Atlanta is a Huge place. Walking from building A, B & C means you got in a 5k everyday!

Maybe the 5k statement is a little bit of a stretch to the reality, however your feet sure felt like it! I would say, the real complaint I would have with this years session, was the horrible keynote speech seats. Anyone at the event planning team from Microsoft hearing this? I'm not the only one who thought so... go read the tweets!

Beyond that physical, and very personal, lasting affect, the overall conference was a huge hit. So much information, so many points of interest, and so much news to cover. The biggest focus of news, was around what we all expected to the build up of this event, that is:

• Microsoft Dynamics ERP Cloud


• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012


• Microsoft's BI Story

With each of these topics, so many articles, post and details will be coming, and Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 went into public beta.

With that, you have so much content to review already, that was generated as part of the Microsoft Dynamics AX Technical Conference earlier this year.

To start, make sure and read the Technical Whats New, located here.: What's New for Developers in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

With so much to cover, look here as now that we have reached public beta with AX 2012, I can now dive into the product with you as we prepare for the larget launch of any Dynamics product in the Microsoft family this year.

That's all for now, I also have some great interviews with Kees H. and Lachlan C. from Microsoft, some partner reviews, interviews with Doug K. and Hal H. coming up, as well as continued focus on all things Dynamics. So check back often! Till next time!

P.S. Conv12 = Houston, TX!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Microsoft Dynamics ERP Online - and other conv11 news

Well we are into full swing with day two at conv11the key note had some great details in it, and as expected, Dynamics Cloud ERP, as well as AX 2012 where the majority of the focus. Along with BI, specifically showing off Microsoft Project Crescent, which is the next version, or next generation of report builder.

As part of the keynote, and as the title suggests, Microsoft today announced Microsoft Dynamics ERP Online.. This has been a building up for years, and if you have been reading my blog for any extended amount of time, you will have seen I have been talking about the cloud and it's impact on Dynamics, specifically Dynamics AX for a while. Over four years now!

Well with conv11 Microsoft now has an official stance on cloud computing, for Dynamics ERP. In looking at this, and as I covered in my session on cloud computing for AX, as part of AXUG dayone session, IaaS clouding offering, with AX installed on it is what the cloud story for Dynamics AX is today.

This is done either via Partner Hosting, and a new type of license that is based on per user, per month, or through a typical purchase of an AX license, with the customer making the choice to deploy AX to an IaaS cloud offering from the likes of an Amazon or even with Microsoft Azure VM role.

This cloud story continues to unfold however, as it was stated today, the next release of AX, version 7, will be developed to run on Azure First!

From early readings of the tea leaves, it would seem as though this would be around the 2014 calendar year time frame. That would fit into the product lifecycle we have seen so far with the AX product line.

There are so many great sessions now that the day into full swing, and I will be taking time put sit down today and talk with Kees H. and Lachlan C., both from Microsoft, and both I have interviewed on this blog before. So look for those interviews coming soon, as well as a slew of AX 2012, detailed articles and post, as today is Puboic Beta of AX 2012!



"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Conv11 kicks into full gear

Well, conv11 is in full gear now. Just had a great pre-game event for Microsoft Dynamics AX partners hosted by Frank V. And AXUG. A lot of great content, including information from Doug K. For partners on AX 2012 and the MPN changes.

One of the biggest, or strongest statements made by Doug, for AX 2012 is the fact that a partner must have a SharePoint practice as part of them, in order to sale and implement AX 2012 correctly. BI is also another must, with CRM mixed in as part of the total rounded offering.

A lot of focus still for partners to specialize and become more and more vertically focused. Also, not just the partner or solution level for specialization, but the same vision exists for consultants. With AX 2012, the 2-3 man AX shop is just not going to cut it.

Also, great review and AX 2012 highlights by Yvonne Haarloev, Microsoft Dynamics AX Product Manager. She reports dire lt to Kees H. Director of Product Development for AX, and who I will be interview tomorrow afternoon, along with Lachlan.

Yvonne, really gave a good high level overview of AX 2012, which leads into all the deeper dives and sessions that will be going on throughout conv11. It's a very interesting stat, that Frank V from AXUG gave, with Yvonne. First conv with AX included had two sessions. Now over 70+! That my friends is a huge sign of how the market and ecosystem has grown for AX along, much less the rest of the Dynamics family.

As part of the great presentation that Yvonne did, she made sure to go over the three pillars of AX 2012. Those are powerful, agile and simple.

Well that's all for now, so great stuff taking place and we are just mow getting started really! Welcome to Conv11 everyone! Make sure to come visit me at my sessions later today, as well at the Sunrise Booth through conv11 at booth #406

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Making the most of Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2011

I wanted to take the time, and tell you about my latest community article. Since CONV11 will be starting in just a few days, I thought it was good to point out some of the highlights to look for, and other topics, and general Convergence advice.

A direct link to the article can be found here.: Making the most of Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2011

I hope you enjoy, and look forward to seeing people there. Keep in mind, you can follow me on Twitter as I do live coverage while at Convergence, here.: www.twitter.com/DynamicsERP

I will have a slew of post, interviews, and post convergence topics I will be writing about, so make sure to keep an eye here after CONV11 closes up next week.

Till next time!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

MSDW: Getting Ready for Development with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 – Part Two: Training

Well as we approach CONV11, my latest article for MSDW, in meries on Getting Ready for Development with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has been released. A direct link to that article can be found here.: Getting Ready for Development with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 – Part Two: Training

In this article, I address the training aspect, creating a training plan or journey if you will, and look at the training aspect from a Partner vs. a Customer perspective.

I hope you enjoy, and I will be doing part three in the series sometime after Convergence, around the end of April / May timeframe.

That's all for now, check back as more to come. Till next time!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Sunrise Over Convergence 2011

Well we are officially less than one week away from Convergence 2011 (CONV11). I have heard it's a totally sold out event, and this year is going to be packed with all kinds of information.

To kick off the pre-convergence events, I like to pick the brain of Sunrise President and Owner, John Pence. (He happens to be my boss as well!)

Below is the result of me, virtually, sitting down with John to talk about Convergence 2011.:



Q1: What topics do you think will be most covered at this years Convergence in Atlanta?

"I think the hot topics at this year’s Convergence will be the evolution of the Cloud into ERP and CRM, Dynamics AX2012, and Microsoft’s approach to mobile computing. I think SAAS will get the most attention this year by far. It is the dominant platform in CRM, and the ERP businesses will be seeing much more of an impact than in the past. AX2012 is a major new product that deserves to get a lot of attention this year, and mobility continues to be a huge topic."

Q2: What will Sunrise being talking about at it's booth this year?


"First, we are making a significant investment in making sure all of our applications are upgraded and ready on the day AX2012 is launched. We want to make sure our customers know that we will be ready with products that support Microsoft’s investment in this great new product, and that our applications will be tuned to take full advantage of the new features. Second, we have added new capabilities around BI to our offerings for Dynamics AX that will be showing at Convergence."

Q3: What topics do you think are worth noting, that might not get headline coverage while at Convergence this year?


"I think that Microsoft’s BI for Everyone strategy is being lost in the attention of Cloud Computing. This is a fantastic value, with rich functionality, and it is being drowned out in the discussions around Cloud and mobility computing."

Q4: What are you most excited, or eager to hear about while at Convergence?


"Like every year, the chance to network with our Dynamics ecosystem of customers and partners is the number one draw of Convergence. I always learn a great deal from all the interaction and it is of tremendous benefit to myself and Sunrise. In addition, I am looking forward to learning more about Microsoft’s specific product direction, and the hosting strategy for ERP in the Cloud."

I would like to thank John for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about Convergence 2011. For sure this is going to be a year with information overload about AX 2012, the Cloud, Device or Mobile Computing, and much more.

Make sure to stop by the Sunrise Booth 406! I will be working the booth at different times Sunday-Tues myself.

Also, I will be covering the event, through my twitter account.: www.twitter.com/DynamicsERP So make sure to follow me, and look for others covering #CONV11.

For reference, here is John's Bio:
John has spent the last 29 years tackling large scale IT and supply chain projects for a wide range of corporations. John spent the first 15 years of his career working his way up from programmer trainee to CIO at Sara Lee Corporation. Along the way he held numerous IT and non-IT jobs, including Director of Planning and Distribution for Sara Lee’s 400+ retail stores, serving as the logistics partner to Wal-Mart, and CIO of Champion Products. In 1994 John left Sara Lee to found Sunrise Technologies, a company focused on bringing advanced supply chain solutions to the apparel and textile industries. Sunrise Technologies has grown into a Gold Certified Microsoft partner specializing in the Dynamics AX ERP solution. Sunrise is headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, with offices in Dallas, TX, Los Angeles, CA, and Xi’an China.

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Kees Hertogh: The Benefits of a Model Driven Layered Architecture

Yesterday evening, Kees Hertogh, who I have interviewed several times on this blog, did a post of his own in his continued series about Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. A direct link to the latest post can be found here.: The Benefits of a Model Driven Layered Architecture

From the post.:
"In this post I would like to spend a bit more time on the customer benefits of our Model Driven Layered Architecture (MDLA) which got introduced in the previous post. Although this architecture at first sight might seem beneficial for developers, there are some clear customer benefits to this architecture."



Kees goes on to cover three main points in his post.:

• Acceleration of application development
• Higher quality solutions that meets customer unique needs
• Simplify the application lifecycle

This is a very nice article, and fits really well with all the AX 2012 post's I have done myself.:

• Modeling the world, with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
• SCOM Me this, PowerShell Me that! (Dynamics AX 2012)
  
• Dynamics AX 2012 - Table & Type Hierarchies
  
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, OData and EDM
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and Eventing
• MSDW: Getting Ready for Development with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 – Part One: The Vision
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and the importance of PowerPivot
• New Community Article: To Upgrade or Not To Upgrade. Is that the Question?

I am set to interview Kees again this year while at Convergence, and all of this is building up to a lot of coverage of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 while at Convergence. As I mentioned earlier I also have my next article in the series I am doing for MSDynamicsWorld.com coming out soon for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Development.

That's all for now, a big thanks to Kees and the rest of the Microsoft team that are putting together great information so we can continue our path of learning all the great things that will come with the release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

PartnerSource: Get Ready for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

I wanted to take the time and point out that Microsoft has released, for Partner's, the "Get Ready for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012" Whitepaper.

"Review the latest Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 readiness guide for preliminary details of the training content that is planned, including topic areas, proposed audience, duration, and type (self-study or instructor-led).

This guide also details the Microsoft application platform skills required. The training content will be made available on one of the following websites, depending on the primary audience: Microsoft Partner Network, PartnerSource, MSDN, TechNet or Microsoft Learning."

Please keep in mind that you need access to PartnerSource for this whitepaper. This is the continued plan, in which Microsoft is putting together, that was talked about at DAXCONF11 this year.

As we progress towards Convergence 2011 next month, we will start to see more and more information about training for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2011 for Partners, and I would expect the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Launch Portal to be highlighted at this years Convegrence, along with a slew of tracks for Dynamics AX 2012.

That's all for now, but check back soon as more to come! Till next time!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

The Microsoft Dynamics Community Site Wants to talk with you!

I wanted to make sure and pass along that the folks at Microsoft who run the Official Microsoft Dynamics Community site want to talk with you!

We Want to Talk to You @ Convergence....

"If you are attending Convergence next month and have leveraged Ask the Community (forums), to help solve a problem you had with your solution, we would like to talk with you. We know how much there is to do while at Convergence and don't want to take away from sessions, networking, Hands on Labs, etc......so we are only looking for 10 to 15 minutes of your time to talk about your experience with the community.

If you are interested in talking with us and setting up a quick chat please send an email to Andy, Tweet us @ MSDYNCOMM, Facebook us or leave a comment in this blog."

- Andy Leapaldt | Microsoft Dynamics Community Team

Andy, Nick, Shane and the rest of the team do a great job in helping foster the grow of the overall Dynamics Ecosystem, and would like to find out how this great resource can be improved, how you use it to solve real world problems, and would like to sit down with you if you planning on being at Convergence in Atlanta this year.

Please do let them know if you can talk and share with them while you there!

Also, I do have more post coming, just been killed for time this week. Running out of hours in the day. I will be back, with more on AX 2012, Convergence, and other great topics!

Till next time!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

The Value of Conferences like DAXCONF

Today I wrote my lastest column on the official Microsoft Dynamics Community site. You can find that article here.: When to introduce Convergence, AXUG & MSDW Decisions to a new Client

Being here at #DAXCONF, I thought it was a nice point to be made.

Being in the Partner Community, and being focused mostly on the implementation side of things, it's easy to get into the "focus of the project".

So not only is it important for Customers to maximize thier ROI for AX, but also for Partners, that both types of focuses take a part in these Community "gears" or drivers.

I hope the point comes across, because I think it's a very important statement to the customer, and important they think about these resources early on, so the stage can be set for them to take full advantage of all the resources that are around them.

So make sure Partners and tell your Customers about these great resources, and events, and the value of being involved!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"