VSLive - New York & Focus on Metro UX

I wanted to bring together in today's post some great cross conference, and cross technology information - that of course applies directly to Microsoft Dynamics AX! To help set the stage, lets reference back to my coverage and promotion of the VSLive Event in Las Vegas.



Based on the feedback from that event in Vegas, there was some really great sessions that apply directly to Microsoft Dynamics AX. Specifically what I was most interested in, and what Kees Hertogh - Director of Product Development for Microsoft Dynamics AX, recently wrote about: Metro UX and it's impact on the future client of Microsoft Dynamics.


Image Provided By Microsoft

The above image, comes from a recent article that Kees wrote, talking about the efforts the product team is making, in the embrace of Windows 8 OS and the Metro UX. I first starting writing about this in Jan., and had an article that was picked myself by ZDNet here.: Microsoft Dynamics AX - The future Client Win8 / HTML5.



Kees' recent article, points and shows off this in action.: Introducing modern business application with Metro style design. In this article, Kees shows off the investments being made by the product team for making use of the Metro UX. Further, he goes on to ask for input and feedback. What does the community think of this effort, being put forth by the product team? This is where we cross now, into the VSLive conference, and specifically to Brian Randell's session "Building Metro Style Apps - Getting the UX Right.



With this focus, I virtually sat down with Brian and asked him a few questions. These were in reference to the article posted by Kees, as well as his own session and focus around the Metro UX design. The following is the result of that interview.:

1.Brian, if you don't mind can you speak a bit to the type of audience and people that you will be targeting with you session "Building Metro Style Apps Getting the UX Right" and some high-value take away's from someone attending?

"The primary target is developers. From there, it’s really any team member who’s concerned with user experience."

2. With the focus on getting the UX right for Metro Style App design, can you comment on the recent story, from Microsoft's Own Kees Hertogh, Director of Product Development for Microsoft Dynamics AX?

"I think the article provides a great concept that Metro style apps are not just for consumers. You can build great LOB Metro style apps that both consume and create/modify data. If you look at the first screen shot in the article, you’ll see a very “digital dashboard” type UX (to dig up an old term from the late 90’) rich information display in a heads up format. Beyond you still can create an immersive experience that lets you create and change data."

3. With the push of Enterprise Apps to the Metro Style design, can you give a few value points as to what metro brings, for people who are use to traditional style Windows UX, that might not be so obvious but for sure add value and increase productivity?

"A key point is having applications laser focused on the user and the data that’s being presented; remove the chrome and have data center stage. With “big data”, we need to have better ways of visualizing data and Metro is a ripe design language to use for that."

4. In talking in terms of app design, in general, can you speak to some of the things you like best about the Metro UI design approach, compared to traditional Windows UX design?

"I think number one is that I get a clean slate. I’m not beholding to a lot of the traditional UI conventions. I own the screen. I can create an experience the draws my user in and lets them get to the point. One type of application that’s shown popularity in the mobile device space are “data snacking” applications. These applications provide a rich view on a narrow band of data. To something simple but do it very well. I like the built-in metro templates that make it easy to create tiles of information. I can use the tile to summarize and then provide a great drill down to more detailed data. I can do all of this with a touch and a swipe. The templates provide structure for the design challenged. Then once you understand the basic structure, you can dig into layout and color theory, so you can go beyond. The key is that there’s a nice baseline. It does mean that folks need to work with a designer and push the limits however."

I would like to take the time to thank Brian for his feedback on the VSLive session, as well as great information around the Metro UX design - and specifically being able to tie this back directly to Microsoft Dynamics AX. I think a critical point here that Brian makes, and that it seems the AX product team is getting right from the start, is a focus on "have data center stage". This is critical for the success of Metro style apps, and specifically applies without a doubt to Microsoft Dynamics AX. Register for Visual Studio Live in New York and save $300 off the standard Best Value Package rate when you use code VSNYTU: http://bit.ly/VSNYiDB

Well that's all for this post, I hope everyone has a great Dynamics day! Make sure to sign up for VSLive event, if you can, and check back soon as more to come. Till Next time!
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Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Learning Plans & The Important 'Solutions Architect' Role

I wanted to take the time and highlight a post from Kevin Machayya, and his blog.: New Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Technical and non-Technical Learning Plans Now Available

Kevin did a great post here, that lists the new roles that should exist when talking about Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 projects.

These are very important roles, and when talking with Kees Hertogh, at Convergence this year, he had this to say about the Solutions Architect Role.:
"This new role [Solutions Arhitect] will be key to the success of any new Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 project. No longer will these 'super consultants' be able to take on the project themselves. This role is a must for any Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 project." - Kees Hertogh, Director, Product Management, Microsoft Dynamics AX

If you look at this role, and from the information provided by Microsoft at both Convergence 2011 as well as the Microsoft Dynamics AX Technical Conference 2011, then we see it as truly a new role.

This role, per Microsoft, is involved at the sales cycle level, and carries over as a high level team member on project implementations. The idea, behind this role, is that it's someone that helps with entire solution planning for a customer. This may mean, then that they will integrate into several LOB applications, make use of CRM, AX and PTC's FlexPLM.

The Solutions Architect role is meant to help define this, with the sales team, maybe prove things out technically, and then be involved on the project as either the same role, or moves into the Technical or Application Consultant role, part time.

This role goes beyond technical design, but must also understand the technical design as well, to be able to help put together the full picture.

Microsoft really sees this as a new role, and it's something that should be considered.

With that said, if you go to the learning plans, pointed out in the post, they were last updated on May 2nd of this year, and do not yet include the training plans, for the Solution Architect Role. That's something still be understood and worked out fully.

However it's something to consider and think about. This maybe already be happening for some of you, that these roles already exists and are just not named the same. However, it's important to at least see if this role is covered within your project or org., if you want to align with Microsoft, and their vision for projects, and then role.

That's all for now, comments? Corrections? Feedback on this? Please, all are welcome!

Till next time!



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MSDW Spring Decisions Virtual Conference in full Swing - AX Day

Today, MSDW Spring 2011, Decisions Virtual Conference is underway. This is the virtual conference event, along with it's fall cousin, that everyone should attend.

It's Free, and you can get plenty of great information from it. There are some great speakers, as well as sponsors of the events from ISV's, VAR's, etc.

Microsoft's Kees Hertogh, which was part of yesterdays interview, Interview with Microsoft's Doug Kennedy & Kees Hertogh, will be accepting questions, open range style, starting at 10 AM ET today. So if you have some burning questions, maybe from the interviews I have done, or maybe of your own that I did not ask, now is the time to shoot them his way.

Also, make sure to check out the lounge, and all the great people that make this event, one of the key events every year.



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Interview with Microsoft's Doug Kennedy & Kees Hertogh

Well, as part of the new blog launch, I saved an interview that I recently did with Microsoft's Doug Kennedy and Kees Hertogh, just for today!

In this interview, I talk with both of them, about Microsoft Dynamics AX, the Dynamics Ecosystem, Cloud Computing and of Course Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012!

This is actually my yearly interview with Doug Kennedy, in which you can view last years, here.: Interview with Microsoft's Doug Kennedy (2010)

Without any further delay, here is the result of that interview.:

Doug this year truly is turning into the year of the Dynamics ERP Cloud. I had a chance, while at Convergence 2011, to attend the 'Count Down to the Cloud' event with my company President John Pence. With the information we gathered there, as well as the rest of Convergence it seems that truly Microsoft is going 'All-in' for Dynamics in the Cloud. Can you talk about the vision for Dynamics and Cloud, according to Microsoft's point of view, and how it benefits both Partners and Customers?

Doug K: "The computing deployment models that are being widely discussed in the market today are Public Cloud, Private Cloud and Virtual Machines. All of these deployment paradigms offer advantages for the customer, the partner and the software manufacturer. Virtual Machines have been around for well over two decades and the hardware and software advantages to incorporate technology such as Microsoft’s Hyper-V are well understood in the marketplace.

Technology that enables Private Cloud and Public Cloud deployments is relatively new and the associated workloads that can utilize these two types of Cloud deployments must be better understood by partners and customers. Productivity products such as Microsoft Office 365 and isolated workloads such as CRM can more easily be adopted in Private and Public Clouds. Highly integrated workloads, such as ERP, that can typically tie to legacy and home grown business solutions must involve more planning to shift to the Cloud.

Across Microsoft, we are spending a great deal of time working with customers and partners to ensure they understand the benefits and can incorporate the advantages Cloud computing enables. One example of these efforts is the Microsoft Dynamics Cloud Partner Profitability Guide that is available on PartnerSource. This guide was primarily designed to help CRM on-premise partners understand the business impacts of shifting to a CRM online business model but is also includes ERP examples.

Public Cloud should offer customers the ability to lower infrastructure costs and free up IT resources. This will enable CIOs to address their backlog of projects, which should help their company be more competitive and efficient, execute cloud base Proof of Concepts more quickly prior to introducing new business solutions into the company, scale computing power without the latency of asset acquisition and installation, and the give them the ability to rely on third party experts to manage their computing infrastructure.

As ERP adoption for Private and Public Cloud deployments increase, it is critical that the partner who performs the implementation is also the partner that maintains the application’s environment and provides key services such as upgrades, configuration modifications and integrations with adjacent or complementary business solutions.

Also, these partners continue to play the critical role of managing the customer accounts and being the trusted advisor for computing solutions for each customer. These roles are identical to the functions performed today by the Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM partners and partners should not be concerned that Cloud will disrupt these vital partner roles."

Another huge topic, and one dear to my heart, is the release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 into public beta, and also target timeframe of August for GA. Can you talk about the impact this will have as a game changing ERP platform, how it fits into the cloud, and also how it's very much still targeted to be an on-premise install base as well?

Kess H.: "We believe the cloud can provide strong customer benefits, however, customers should not get forced to choose how they provision their ERP solution. They should be able to choose the model that best fits their own IT governance model. This continues to be true with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, which will be made generally available in August of this year. We’ve made great advances across the application lifecycle in this release, making the solution easier to deploy and manage for both the customer’s IT organization as well as service providers if customers choose to use these.

In order to provide a true generational shift in ERP, based on increased customer benefits, we focused on providing a powerfully simple ERP solution. With Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 we intend to provide a powerful ERP solution that can bring more value faster to our customers, provide a rich set of ERP capabilities across different industries, and financial administrative function, like HRM, Financial Management and Supplier Relationship Management, into one common ERP solution.

Secondly, a solution that enables agility within the organization, allowing customers to more easily pursue new business opportunities while reducing the risk of doing so. We want ERP to be an asset in the face of change for customers, not a liability! We continue to invest in the core architecture, for example through Unified Natural Models and our Model Drive Layered Architecture. And lastly, a focus on providing a simple solution that drives adoption of ERP and provides ‘ease of use’ for all roles in the organization and throughout the application lifecycle of the ERP deployment.

Bringing all this customer innovation together in one ERP product we believe allows us to provide this game changing solution you’re referring to."

With Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, you now have five industry sectors that Microsoft is offering. With the past few years of focus for partners to specialize and go vertical, can you talk about those efforts and the build up to AX 2012 in regard to this, as well as beyond AX 2012?

Kees H: "Yes, the connection between our vertical focused partner strategy and our product strategy has been very deliberate. We started to address common industry requirements in our product strategy for Microsoft Dynamics AX about three years ago. By Microsoft full-filling the common requirements in a given industry, partners can spend their time and investments in meeting the unique requirements within a given vertical in that industry. This will allow partners to build more complete, higher quality standardized solutions for each vertical and provide more value to the customer.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is the next iteration in this strategy, where we’ve introduced public sector as a new focus industry and brought together separate industry solution, for example process industry and lean manufacturing, into one common architecture. Our focus now is to bring these capabilities to market with our partners and enabling them to build compelling vertical solutions on this release."

Doug, could you sum up your teams focus for FY12, starting this July, and maybe give some advice to partners in helping them better align themselves with Microsoft vision and changes with the new MPN?

Doug K: "In FY12, the partnering strategy is to ensure partners qualify for the appropriate MPN levels by discipline: ERP or CRM. Additionally, the partner incentives pay for performance model that was announced in October 2011 will take effect on January 1, 2012. It is very important for all partners to understand how we are rewarding partners for new license growth, customer adds, and achieving high BREP revenue recapture.

Both the MPN changes and the new partner incentives are aimed at delineating and rewarding partners for aligning with our objectives to grow the Microsoft Dynamics business. We are certain all partners are striving for the same outcome; to capitalize on ERP and CRM opportunities in the marketplace to grow their business."

I also asked Doug to give some closing thoughts, to help bring everything into focus.:
"Microsoft continues to be committed to enabling our Microsoft Dynamics partners to be successful. We will continue to invest in technical and non-technical trainings, including cloud-readiness training, which we believe are essential to helping partners succeed. We will continue to invest deeply in R&D to provide what we consider to be the best ERP and CRM products in the marketplace. We will continue to invest in the caliber of the Microsoft Dynamics field resources and we will also continue to invest in field and partner tools that are required to enable our partners to succeed.

We know that we will not be successful without well trained and highly motivated partners that are focused on driving growth for themselves and for Microsoft. Microsoft’s investments, and the changes we have made to the MPN program and partner incentives, reflect our goal of being jointly successful with our partners."

I would like to thank both Doug and Kees for taking the time to sit down, virtually be that, and hash out with me some questions I had floating around in my head. I hope, that maybe some of the questions and answers helps you, and helps place together the vision, thoughts, and information from such Executives as Doug and Kees.

I find this information very valuable and I'm glad they are both always willing, when time permits, to sit and talk about this great passion of ours called "Microsoft Dynamics."

That's all for now, but check back soon and often as I have so much more to come!



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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!

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DAXCONF 2011 - A look towards tomorrow

Well after a long flight, on a older 737 (yes 737 from East to West Coast... most unpleasant), I arrived late at the #DAXCONF last night.

Its tough going from East Coast to West Coast. I can bet, that those European Peers of mine, have it a lot tougher though!

It's finally here though, the week in which the Dynamics Ecosystem can consume and talk more opennly in a public fashion about the next release of Microsoft's flagship ERP package called Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Today is actually a very light schedule, with registration around lunch time, and then a meet and greet later this evening. It's kinda of like the 'deep breath' or quite before the storm of information that will lash about starting tomorrow.

Kicking off tomorrow, is the keynote, in which Kees Hertogh gave us some things to look for, during my interview with his last week.: Official Details about Dynamics AX '6' released, including comments from Microsofts Kees Hertogh.

It should be a great keynote actually, as Hal Howard, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Dynamics, and Crispin Read, General Manager, Dynamics ERP "Highlights the generational shift in technology that Dynamics AX ‘6’ represents"

I think the use of the phrase 'generational shift in technology' will end up being a good way to summarize all the great new improvements, and product stack investments that AX '6' will have and make use of.

From the keynote the day is packed, like every other day will be through Friday, having deeper dives into all the improvements, both technical and functional, that will be apart of the Dynamics AX '6' Official release to the public.

I have my schedule picked already, and so tomorrow I will be attending the following.:

• Opening Keynote


• Architecture: Reviewing What We did and
  Why in the Newest Microsoft Dynamics AX
  Version


• Investments in Global Address Book


• Developing in .NET Managed Code and other
  X++ Enhancements


• Models and the Meta Data Architecture


• Models and Meta Data Architecture Q&A

There are a lot of great sessions and wish I could attend them all. That is, however, impossible. So I will cover as much as I can, while on-site here at the Microsoft campus.

For those that are attending, and make use of Twitter, make sure to use the #DAXCONF hash tag. And for those that are not here, you can follow my twitter account: @DynamicsERP, as well as this blog. Also, feel free to click on the above #DAXCONF links, and you will be taking to see all tweets that are about #DAXCONF.

That's all for now, I hope everyone had safe travels, and those watching and waiting that you get the information needed to help kick off your learning plans for Microsoft Dynamics AX '6'!

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Official Details about Dynamics AX '6' released, including comments from Microsofts Kees Hertogh

Here we are, kicking off 2011 with a bang for Microsoft Dynamics AX! Next week in the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2011 Technical Conference, in which the primary focus in on Microsoft Dynamics AX '6'.

To kick things off, Microsoft today did a press release, in which official details about the Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' product was released. A direct link to the Press Release can be found here.: Microsoft Previews Next-Generation ERP

This press release was well covered by both MSDynamicsWorld.com, here: Microsoft Confirms Details of Upcoming Dynamics AX "6" Version, as well as MaryJo Over at ZDNet, on her 'All About Microsoft' blog, found here.: 2011 to be a big year for Microsoft in ERP


In reading the press release, and extra coverage, I had to many questions that I wanted to get more details about, for the AX '6' news that was released today. So Kees Hertogh, Director, Product Management, Microsoft Dynamics AX agreed to do a phone interview with me.

Below is the result of that interview.:



Q: Kees, one of the highlighted features of AX '6' is the unique model-driven, layered architecture. However this already exists in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Can you share more details about how Dynamics AX '6' improves this area?

Kees: It is true that the layered concept already exists in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. However there have been a lot of improvements in this area for AX '6'.

One of the biggest improvements, is around enabling ISV solutions to be installed into the same layer, without issue. Before, even with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, one would have to manually compare the code from two ISV solutions, then import, 'fixing' the objects so they could work together in the same layer. Now with Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' that is no longer a need.

The model-driven development aspect somewhat exist in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, however we have really improved on this, as you and I have talked before. (see: Interview with Microsoft's Kees Hertogh)

With moving the application code, and meta-data of the objects to a SQL Server Database, this opens a whole new world for developers and customers with Dynamics AX '6' around model driven development.

For example, now with a single click, web forms can be generated from rich client forms, with no extra coding needed. This, along with other things will be shown during the keynote of next weeks Dynamics AX 2011 Technical Conference.


Q: Kees, the second listed bullet in the press release, focuses around Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' Pre-built interoperability with products like Office 2010, SharePoint 2010 & Visual 2010. This too though, actually exists 'technically' with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Can you shed some light on how Dynamics AX '6' improves or offers more in this area?


Kees: For us this is a big area of improvement actually. It is true, that at the server level, and some at the client level, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 has interoperability with the above mentioned products. However, not at the level you are going to see next week at the Dynamics AX 2011 Technical Conference.

You see a lot of our compotiers, for example, need middleware to ineract with products like Microsoft Office 2010. This is true at the server and client level. What we have done with Microsoft Dynamics AX '6', is get rid of the need for any such middleware, ineractions through COM, etc.

So for the client interop, we are blurring the lines between Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' client, and Office 2010. By this, I mean for the user experience level. Making the UI's more similar, having functionality within Office, that can more natively interact with Dynamics AX '6' out of the box. This does not mean that Office 2010 can replace the Rich Client of Dynamics AX '6'. However it does mean, that for the user, that loves to Excel - which happens to be the most widely used piece of software in the world - then that seemless experience will now exists, with having to do nothing more than install Dynamics AX '6' and Office 2010.

For developers, a lot of time is typically spent on getting the right hooks, and defined interactions to take place, in order to have this kind of interop we will now be offering with Dynamics AX '6' and Microsoft Office 2010. These kinds of efforts will save developers a lot of time, when customizing and developing solutions for Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' that include Office 2010 and the other Microsoft product stack offerings.

There are also big improvements, for example around Dynamcis AX and SSRS. For more native development, and features that come as part of SSRS, to work more natively, with less headache and setup issues that we have seen before.

These are just two examples, that you will see, along with others at the Tech Conference next week. It's important to note, that this is how we look at interoperability. Both Server and Client. As well as End User and Developer.


Q: Kees, you have mentioned several times in the interview about next weeks Tech Conference, and I know I have been talking about it since last Sept. What do you see as the 'big picture' take away for next week?


Kees: Next weeks Technical Conference should not be seen as a goal, or an end point. It should not be a conference you go to, and then just walk away. It just be viewed as a jump start to you and your companies ramp up plan for Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' release in Q3.

There will be a lot of coverage, with all kinds of great sessions, topics, etc. However, one should walk away and have viewed the conference as the starting point to build their own ramp up for AX '6' with.

This goes for the developer, the implementer and the customer. It's very important that everyone who attends, and is serious about Microsoft Dynamics AX '6' do their homework, and walk away from the conference with a sense of direction for creating their own plans for training, and knowledge sharing within their own companies.


Well once again, I would like to thank Microsoft, and Kees for taking the time to allow me to virtually sit down and pick his brain. I will be attending next weeks, conference - as long as the 7 inches of ice and snow melts away that is currently around me. (Yes that much in Alabama! Roll Ice Roll I guess?)

We have a lot to look forward too next week, and I will be covering the event from my twitter account and this blog.

That's all for now, check back soon as I have a new guest blogger, with his first column appearing at the end of this week. See you then!

Also, for those who are not familiar with Kees Hertogh, below is his bio.:
Kees Hertogh is a director for Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS). He leads the Microsoft Dynamics AX Global Product Management team. In his current role, Hertogh is responsible for developing and driving global product strategy for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

In 1999, Hertogh joined Navision a/s, which was later acquired by Microsoft Corp. Before leading the product management for Microsoft Dynamics AX, he worked in the Microsoft Business Solutions marketing strategy group as director of the group’s competitive strategy, and before that he was a group product manager on Project Green. Before joining Microsoft, he held the position of product director on the MBS management team at Microsoft Netherlands, and was responsible for local product strategy and the local product management and development teams.

Hertogh has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on management accounting from Haarlem Business School in the Netherlands. He also achieved Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) status from the Association for Operations Management (APICS).

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Sunrise awarded, and new post from Kees Hertogh

I hope that everyone has been doing great, myself with school back in action, I was taking out of action --- first bug from school came rampaging through our home. Seems that everything is mostly back to normal now.

With that, it's been a week since my last last post, and a lot is going on. So let me start off by saying congrats to my fellow Sunrisers for another year of being awarded in the Accounting Technology's 2010 VAR 100 list!



You can see the full press release, at the following location.: Sunrise selected to Accounting Technology's 2010 VAR 100 list

From the PR.:
“The Accounting Today VAR 100 list is comprised of top accounting and ERP software resellers throughout the country, ranked by revenue,” says Seth Fineberg, Technology Editor of Accounting Today. “This select group represents those in the world of accounting software resellers that are truly ahead of the pack and we are pleased to honor them in this special report.”

And...
"We are very pleased to be recognized as one of Accounting Technology's VAR 100 list," states John Pence, President of Sunrise Technologies. "Our continued commitment to Microsoft Dynamics AX, customer service, and technical excellence is proving to be a winning combination in the marketplace."

Again a big congrats to my fellow Sunrisers on another award!

Now moving forward, Microsoft's owns Kees Hertogh, from the Microsoft Dynamics AX Product Group blog, just recently posted about how Making complex things simple is rewarding.

From his recent post.:
"The classic pitfall for a ‘one solution’ approach is the danger of complexity or disparate software often accompanied with a horrendous cost of ownership experiences. However, there are some things we fundamentally do different then our competitors:

- We have a continued focus on something what we often to refer to internally as “innovation from within.” Due to the unique transparent architecture of Microsoft Dynamics AX, we’re able to make fundamental changes or improvements in the application without sacrificing on upgradeability or maintainability. However, you’ll find applications out there which build a lot of redundancy in their data models because they’ve grown over time and the new functionality was literally bolted on.

- We extensively use the application platform capabilities built in the Microsoft application platform and closely work with these teams to continue to improve these offerings for ERP scenarios. Some examples: the Microsoft server OS offers a built-in workflow engine (the Windows Workflow Foundation). Competitors offer their own workflow/BPM stack capabilities that ride on top an OS, adding to integration complexity and cost. Microsoft SQL Server offers great BI and Reporting technology built in to the database, which means there’s no need to attach a separate BI environment to your transactional ERP system.

- Balance on what should be covered in core AX and what should be available in a vertical solution, is determined by us together with our partners and customers. Through different forums like industry advisory boards, we’re continuously working with our partners and customers to ensure we find the right balance between providing ‘business processes integrity’ across common processes, industries and vertical specific features that service unique needs.

“Making complex things simple“ for our customers and partners is hard work… and incredibly rewarding. We are honored by this recognition from Forrester."

You can read the full post here.: Making complex things simple will be rewarded..

Kees is speaking directly about the vision that drives Microsoft innovation with Dynamics ERP product line, and specifically to Dynamics AX. His words are right in line with the thought paths of what we have been talking about for the past few years with Dynamics AX and topics like BI, the Cloud, Extending Dynamics AX to other LOB Applications, etc. etc. Fits right in with my last post, covering this Forrester award, found here.: Microsoft Dynamics Cited as an Order Management Hub Solutions Leader

Well that's all for now! I would like to thank Kees for sharing his thoughts on the recent award for Dynamics AX, and how the work his team has done, and their focus, is what made the Forrester award the reality in which Dynamics AX lives in.

I am also going to take the time here to wish everyone a safe and fun labor day weekend in the U.S. This is College kick off week as well, so I have to say Roll Tide! I will be taking some time off, but be back post second half of next week. There is a lot to talk about over the next 12 months, and I will be covering as much of it all as I possible can. Till next time!

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Interview with Microsoft's Kees Hertogh

While at Convergence 2010 this year, I had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Kees Hertogh, Director, Product Management, Microsoft Dynamics AX, and talk about a lot of different topics around AX that are important to the Customer and Partner level.

The following is the result of that interview.:



Q: In your position Kees, how is Microsoft research and innovation across the rest of the stack evaluated for use to help solve business domain issues in the Dynamics AX product?

Kees: “When we look at the innovation and research being done across the Microsoft stack, as a whole, we look at technologies, to see what makes sense for solving business issues.

Take unified communications for example. If you look at UC separately, the parts that make up UC, like IM, presence, social aspects, etc. These are all interesting technologies, but when some businesses look at these separately they could be considered, or have been considered distractions.

If we bring these technologies, this unified communications umbrella, into the realm of Dynamics AX, then we can start to see how these separate technologies form a valid use for increasing productivity, they become productive elements, for the context of a given users work.

We can see how these technologies then enable true collaboration, in the context of work, and help drive context aware business software.

Moving on to the stack level, let’s look at the SQL Team for example. We, the Dynamics AX team at Microsoft, are an internal customer to the SQL Team. They treat us as such, and therefore we work closely with them to help make SQL Server tuned specifically for the needs of the Dynamics ERP line, including Dynamics AX. Because of this close relationship we have, the leveraged research done on SQL Server is used to help push Dynamics AX to a better product overall.

This is true, as well for the rest of the stack, including .NET Teams, Office Teams., etc. Since we can work this close, all the research that goes into these other stack products, can be leveraged, down to the Windows OS level, and all the way back up the stack.

Something that helps enable this, are people like Microsoft Distinguished Engineer, Mike Ehrenberg. In his role, he helps facilitate and ensure products like Dynamics AX are leveraging and making use of the other Microsoft products, so that customers get the full benefits of what all those other technologies can do to help Dynamics AX continue to be a market leader in the ERP space.”

Q: Continuing on this topic, how does your team stay focused on current AX Technology, while also focusing on the need for ramp up of skills sets for upcoming technology? Also what you recommend for customers and partners to help balance this need as well? For execution, planning and vision?

Kees: “The way our team stays focused is by investing in readiness and documentation for customers and partners. The output of this, is how our team trains, and also will be how customers and partners alike will gain needed information. The medium for delivery of content targeted at the Developer community is the AX Developers center on MSDN. We are investing a lot of time on documentation.

We saw this effort really starting in Dynamics AX 4.0, and now in Dynamics AX 2009, a wealth of information exists on MSDN. With Dynamics AX ‘6’, and beyond, documentation, along with video’s, walk-through’s, etc. will exist and be delivered on a timely manner, targeted in a role specific way.

For example ISV’s need specific access to early documentation that is different than other types of Microsoft Partners. Also, on the role specific focus of training and documentation, there were no longer be a sense of second and first class citizens. Product Information, both functional and technical, will be published to MSDN and CustomerSource. Now, still there will be specific marketing information targeted to Partner Roles that will only be available on PartnerSoruce, that do not apply to customer roles. Again role specific being the focus and target of information, delivered in a timely fashion.

Moving forward with this, and looking at vision, the statement of direction (SOD) for Dynamics AX is the best place to keep current on soon to be released technical aspects, as well as future looking vision. This is not a marketing tool, but a true guideline that we follow. It’s updated every six months, and the six months timeline is the most concrete set of times and delivery around technology, functionality and use. The further out you look with the SOD, the higher the level of focus gets. As time passes, those area’s that were listed with general information, start to get filled in with more and more specifics.”

Q: For Dynamics AX vNext, and beyond what are some important skill sets that customers and partners should be investing in, to best align themselves with Microsoft’s vision for Dynamics AX ?

Kees: “As talked about at Convergence, ‘The Cloud’ is going to be a big focus now and in the not to distant future. Look at the example for product compliance, where our partner Atrion will offer content for global product compliancy in regulated environments through ‘the cloud’ and integrate directly with a customer MS Dynamics AX implementation. In this we show off how the cloud is solving a problem that is hard to solve otherwise, providing compliancy information which is subject to frequent change aggregated through the cloud and delivered in a more timely manner, directly integrated in the customers’ business processes. That’s the point of how the cloud has focus for a skill set that should be invested in by both customers and partners.

The idea of the cloud is not just about the technology, but the business case of why? What business domain problem does it solve, or can it solve? That’s the driving factors for what the current cloud offerings are, and the driving force for the cloud offerings in the future.

For Partners, along with staying up on the latest technology trends, the focus should actually be to have industry focus. Be experts in specific verticals, and do not try to be a generalist. Focusing in on, for example Retail, which is a very vertically focused area. Doing such investments will be of great benefit for partners, and help the Dynamics AX partners fit with the Vision Microsoft has of the future with Dynamics AX.”

Q: How much of an impact will model driven development, with SQL Server Modeling and WF Designer, have on future releases of Microsoft Dynamics AX?

Kees: “ When we speak in terms of models, for Dynamics AX there will be two focuses. One the aspect of Model Driven Development, in which SQL Server Modeling will serve a key role in enabling. This is focused around the development of custom code, and modules, and therefore focused more at the technical side of things.

The second area of model development, is business process models. This is driven with WF, and the WF designer within Dynamics AX of the future. This is a quest a lot of people have been at for years. For business software, like Dynamics AX, it’s never really been successfully deployed. The way we are going about model driven development, we realize that you can’t ever get rid of the need for code creation.

The idea is going to be, for empowering businesses, partners and users to map the workflows of their business process, and in the creation of those maps, actually build out the execution of the processes themselves.

Therefore, model driven development and business process modeling, are not an end points we are trying to reach. It is a continuum that will grow and grow as more and more releases of Dynamics AX take place. Also, this is not going to be a big flip of the switch either. The next versions of Dynamics AX will be planned steps into enabling model driven development & business process modeling, for allowing businesses to speak in their own domain specific languages, to address their business domain problems.

The focus for the upcoming versions of AX, in the business process modeling area will be around putting methodology into business workflows, and mapping workflows to actual business processes. For sure I want to make it should be clearly understood that this is a gradual move, with the idea of enabling flexibility, to increase the speed of go lives, to decrease upgrade headaches, and to help enable our customers to be truly dynamic.”

Q: If you could talk with customers and partners about one trend with technology that will offer a vast improvement in AX of the future, what would that be?

Kees: “There are many great things taking place for the future of Dynamics AX, but one area I think will help really improve productivity, therefore offer a vast improvement in the sense of the question, will be around context aware BI.

When you think about traditional BI, what we have seen is a handful of people at a given company having access to BI base data and reporting. With context aware BI, we will enable the software to become more task aware, in the context of the user and their role in the system. That means, for the purchaser, or shop floor manager, the information that they need, will start coming to them, instead of them having to find it.

You can take the example done during the keynote speech for Convergence this year, showing off how UC, works with Dynamics ERP. In that demo, we saw a quality control issue. A company purchaser was made aware of the quality issue, saw through presence that the vendor for that given issue was online. He then started a video chat session from within Dynamics, to find out more information. While looking at the options for that vendor the most common functions done typically for that vendor, by the given user showed up. The top function, or creating a return order was highlighted and used."

This is a good example of context aware being used to help productivity, and context aware data, or BI focuses for the future.”

Closing Statement from Kees Hertogh.:
"Microsoft will continue to invest in delivering innovation for our customers and partners through the execution of our roadmap. However, since the launch of MS Dynamics AX 2009, I’ve seen a slew of examples where customers implementing this release where able to achieve concrete business benefit by increasing their ERP footprint in their organization and dramatic growth in productivity. I would urge our customers to continue to look at opportunities available today with MS Dynamics AX2009 to help them achieve their business goals."

I would like to thank Mr. Kees Hertogh for taking the time to sit down and talk about Dynamics AX, including Dynamics AX of the future. I look forward to future interviews with Kees, and the rest of his team at Microsoft!

That's all for now, and I will leave you with Kees' bio.:

Kees Hertogh is a director for Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS). He leads the Microsoft Dynamics AX Global Product Management team. In his current role, Hertogh is responsible for developing and driving global product strategy for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

In 1999, Hertogh joined Navision a/s, which was later acquired by Microsoft Corp. Before leading the product management for Microsoft Dynamics AX, he worked in the Microsoft Business Solutions marketing strategy group as director of the group’s competitive strategy, and before that he was a group product manager on Project Green. Before joining Microsoft, he held the position of product director on the MBS management team at Microsoft Netherlands, and was responsible for local product strategy and the local product management and development teams.

Hertogh has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on management accounting from Haarlem Business School in the Netherlands. He also achieved Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) status from the Association for Operations Management (APICS).

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