Community Article: Project Success: From the As Is, To Be and on to deployment

I hope everyone is having a great Friday! I know it's been a crazy week, and frankly I can't believe that it's already over. I wanted to write this Friday on my monthly column for the Microsoft Dynamics Community Site. The focus for this month for that column, is around Project Success.

You can find a direct link to the article here.: Project Success: From the As Is, To Be and on to deployment

From the article:
"What we must understand, from a higher level, still needs to be clear at this point. This is being able to map correctly, with the customer their 'As-Is' story, to help set where they are and how they achieve their current process. Moving from that Analysis / Discovery set of processes, the next step from a business process modeling point of view, is creating the 'To-Be' story. This 'To-Be' story should align with higher level value points, that the customer lays out, from the single question, of: 'What exactly are you trying to do?'"

I believe, as I stated in my article, this is a worthy topic, and one that I plan on bringing a host of Dynamics Community professionals, for helping shape and talk to the points around project success.

I hope your enjoy the read, and as always please send along your thoughts, information, feedback and even stories that you feel might could help in the telling of such a story as Project Success. If you do, and wish it, you will receive credit of course, and so make sure to include your information, LinkedIn, etc.

That's all for this week, may you all have a great and blessed weekend! Till Next Time!

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Sure Step 2012 has officially Launched!

Well folks, I'm live from #AXUG Summit 2011, getting ready for some great sessions, including the one' I will be leading this afternoon on SSRS and AX. There are some great events that are going to take place, including the Expo's, as well as the keynote speech that includes Microsoft's Kees Hertogh & Sri Srinivasan.

One thing I wanted to point out was the official release of Sure Step 2012. You can access this information via CustomerSource or PartnerSource from the following link: Sure Step 2012 Launch Page.

From the notes:
"Sure Step 2012 is now available with updated content and services, primarily focusing on the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 release. Updated content includes:

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Upgrade – tools and templates to support an Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 upgrade.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Implementation tools and templates including Fit/Gap analysis worksheet, estimator tool, requirements questionnaire, security configuration requirements template, and other valuable templates."



There is also an update for CRM 2011 as well with this release. Prior to this launch, Sure Step was not actually aware of the new AX 2012 upgrade process, or a lot of the other new concepts for new implementations as well. Everyone should dive in and become very familiar with Sure Step 2012. I will try and point out, over the next several weeks, some key differences between it and the last release.

It's very important to note, that Sure Step is the method for implementing Microsoft Dynamics, however it gives a foundation in which projects are shaped from. Not all documents, for example apply the same, to every single project. Like the name implies, Dynamics so projects must be that implement Microsoft Dynamics.

Well that's all for right now, I hope to see some of you out here, and if not keep in mind you can always join AXUG, and look for information about next years Summit.

Till next time!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

PartnerCompete Spotlight and How Not to Annoy Your Consultants

Let me first say I love PartnerCompete, which can be found here.: www.PartnerCompete.com. It is very informative, and targeted at Microsoft Dynamics Partners.

You have to pay to be a member, and I am a "news" member, which means they send me emails, for recaps on recent story's and publishing that have taking place on their site. This site is a must to check out for any Partner that lives and works in the Microsoft Dynamics Ecosystem.

Now with that splotlight said, an area I cover a lot with this blog is actually focused around Microsoft Partners. A lot of the technical post, can be both partners and customer focus, but still I have a lot of content that is focused around partners. One thing that caught my eye, fromt he Recent PartnerCompete newsletter, was this "The Death of Reason" blog.

The top entry right now, actually caught my eye, as it's focused on Partners, specifically consultants that work for, and are a part of Microsoft Partner companies.

The direct link to the blog post I am talking about, can be found here.: How Not to Annoy Your Consultants

The author of this post, is a fellow Dynamics Blogger - Mark Polino, who focuses mostly on the Dynamics GP brand. He recently joined the "Death to Reason" blog, and I believe he has some great insights.

The basis for this blog post he did, was around the book called.: Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun.



In this post, Mark goes on to have Ch. 10 of this book really catch his eyes, in which he believes the topics apply to Consultants for a Microsoft Partner Company. This is a really good list, and I believe Mark is really speaking for the Mind and Heart on this one.

One section, which is just great, can be seen here.:
Waste a consultant’s time

"A consultant’s time is precious, they know exactly what it’s worth. It appears on a bill every week. Most consultants I know only have two types of time, billable and family. Anything that wastes either of those is really annoying. When consultants have to over document because management is over protective, it’s annoying. When there are flip flops on important decisions its annoying. When poor management decisions lead to rework and wasted time, it’s annoying. When consultants have their time wasted in unnecessary meetings, it’s annoying."

I love the fact, that the time split up is so true and to the point. We are either billable or family time marked, that's the split. :-)

The summarized list from his post, can be found here.:

• Assume a consultant is an idiot


• Don’t trust a consultant


• Waste a consultant’s time


• Manage Consultants without respect


• Make consultants listen to or read stupid things

I highly recommend you read the post in full, and I have never read that book, so I will be downloading it to my iPad for reading later.

I want to leave with Answering Mark's question, in that.: "Can your firm say the same thing about your consultants?"

His question was the fact that his current employer, I.B.I.S treats him with respect, and is not one of those firms that fits into the "bad" partner category.

Now let me answer Marks questions with a big, and bold YES! And that yes to to Sunrise Technologies, (www.sunriseconsult.com). Like Mark, I have worked for and with some bad Microsoft Partners. I will not name, names, however there are some out there. That have sales people who will flat out lie, and then place everything on the implementation team to "make true", in order to salvage a failed project, which failed before is even started. Also these same partners don't treat their company, which is made up of the people / consultants, correctly.

I have seen some of these "bad" partners goes away, and some still around somehow. The bottomline however, when I found Sunrise, I finally felt like I was a part of it. Sunrise is not just a company that employees me. It's My Company! Now granted John Pence is the actual owner, but I treat it as if I own it. And the people that make it up, our my work family.

There is always ups and down, but we strive to be honest, kind, and focused on our customers. I see this every day I work as a part of Sunrise, and I have to be honest, it's the first company I have ever been apart of. The rest, I was just employed.

Thanks again Mark for a great post, and look back here, as more post coming soon!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

ARP for Dynamics AX

Visit Hillstar Business Intelligence (www.HillstarBI.com) in order to truly unlock your data trapped in your Microsoft Dynamics investment. With our value driven business intelligence strategy Hillstar help you transform into a data informed company.





Update: For the latest information, around ARP and how it now lives as Advanced Projects from Adeaca, please visit the product website at www.Adeaca.com or check out the following blog entry check out the following blog entry: Adeaca Announces the Release of Advanced Projects 4.0 for Microsoft Dynamics AX.





SoftEnigma, this past sprind launched a new product / module for Dynamics AX 4.0 SP2 & Dynamics AX 2009, called ARP. This stands for Advanced Resource Planning, and let me tell you the word Advanced is the right one to describe what this module offers.



I took some time to review ARP with Daniel Bevort, President and Owner of SoftEnigma, Inc. In this review, I really was given a great look into what ARP really is, and what it can do for customers. The target of this software module is customers that are in the Project Based Manufacturing vertical, as well as Professional Services Vertical.

These two verticals are for sure worlds apart when it comes to what they produce typically, but when it comes to projects and managing resources on those projects, that were these two verticals have similar needs, and therefore why ARP makes sense for them.

Lets take a step inside ARP for a little bit. During the review, one of the first things that I was shown, was ARP's ability to import from a MS Project file, and start resource planning from that point. This is not the only way to start, but for those familiar with MS Project interface, terms, and data layouts this is a great way to transition into using ARP for DAX.

Now, let me add, not only does ARP have the ability to import from Project, but also, it has user interface elements, data setup and project setup abilites similar to that of MS Project. Again this is yet another advantage for those that use project or have used project in the past to manage with.



Now with the MS Project references in mind, there are some setup items of course that need to take place. And the resources assigned to a given task in MS Project actually need to map what are called Roles inside ARP. These roles are different that the Role Center roles, and also different than the Roles in, say the IEM vertical offering from To-Increase. However once setup is done, which must be done for any module, your ready to integrate with MS Project and import into ARP.

Now this is the start, and lets move into actual ARP functional area's that go beyond what MS Project can offer you. Let's move to capactiy planning, which is basically what ARP will shine for, espcially for project based manufacturing clients. This is were the rubber meets the road, if you want to look at it in a certain way.



With capacity planning, and different ways of doing so, like Infinite, Finite and Capacity itself, this becomes a primer for Master Planning and Proudction Orders. For project based manufacturing, this becomes most crtical for resources to build the production orders, to servicing, installing, sourcing, any number of area's that could make up a large project that spans months and even years to complete.

Because of the design of ARP, it sits on to of the project modules inside DAX, and does not destory them but actually uses them as they are intended to be used. Therefore, all accounting, ledgers, sales order, purchase orders, production orders, all works like it's suppose to out of the box. Again making ARP a perfect primer for capacity planning and allowing project based manufacturing to really have a very detailed hold and plan for their production processes.

Now the capacity planning being a primer for a project based manufacturing client is different than say a Demand Planner use. You would use a Demand Planning Application, to source and keep your Textile flowing, or small parts flowing in order to build your widgets to the forecasted demand of your produts. Capacity planning, in more of a client has a project that could build many products, and also span large one that cover many months to create. Therefore demand is more stable and static and capacity is more the focus.

Professional Services again is another vertical area in which this module can be used. Allowing the ability of a project manager and team members to create task, track task, and product allows the team members to update, accept and complete task through a 'My Assignments' form, which then Dynamically updates the project itself. Allowing for the project to be Dynamic, vs. static and freeing up the project manager to reports and tracking and not having to update a single file.



So a consulting company / firm can take huge advantage of the abilities of ARP module, to track projects, project tasks, make use of EVM or Earned Value Management, see resouce hours hit GL accounts, and be used to create Sales orders and then invoices for clients that the projects related too. This also give the ability to company management to rank resouces by skill, skill level and see who is free for what projects and really have insight into open abilities for future and current capacity.

All in all ARP for Dynamics AX is something that Project Based Manufacturing and Professional Services should really give a look at for helping improving the overall bottom line and insight into production / resource capacity planning. As of today there are over 15 some Microsoft Partners that are using ARP in some form or fashion to help manage their own Professional Services, and their was a recent successful pilot done for GM by MIcrosoft that involved the use of ARP as the primer for GM's plant production.

To find out more visit the web site here: Softenigma, Inc. Web site And you can also download the latest brochure here: ARP Brochure

As always check back soon!



Visit Hillstar Business Intelligence (www.HillstarBI.com) in order to truly unlock your data trapped in your Microsoft Dynamics investment. With our value driven business intelligence strategy Hillstar help you transform into a data informed company.





"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Dynamics AX project success - Performance Tuning the system

Now that I talked about some key project management level area's of success I wanted to jump to something that I don't think a lot Dynamics AX projects think about, until it's a problem. That is Performance Tuning!

What this means, for me, is starting at the SQL Server level and working your way out. Use the tools at hand for analysis of SQL Query plans, adjust clustered indexes that may not be correct for even out of the box tables, and make sure for your custom add-on's correct index creation exist for reducing table scans, and making more use of Index seeks.

So performance tuning is a big part, and should be a part of the project plan. If your a customer and do not see this, demand it happen. It will be an added action item for a technical level person, but it's Well worth the time and money it takes to do this for a customer. The reason why, in doing so, the tuning might really speed up a lot of processes. If that is the case, well just think about it and add up the time saved to do a task, several thousand times over, and the equates to performance gains for every other thing done, because SQL Server can complete job X faster, jobs Y, Z will be faster as well!

So please as part of projects, to make them a success, have performance tuning as part of it. This does not just apply to custom modules, code, and tables, this applies to all functional area's that wil be used for the customer.

Well check back soon as I continue to post!

Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com

Dynamics AX project success - Customer Ownership & Expectations

I would like to take some time and talk about some success factors for a Dynamics AX project. Of course some of this can apply to other projects as well, but I believe it's important to understand what makes a complex, or simple implementation of Dynamics AX a success.

So with that said, two of the area's I want to start off with for having a successful Dynamics AX project is Customer Ownership, and customer expectations. These two are for sure key elements in having a successful Dynamics AX project. First let's take a look at customer expectations, since really this is set during the sales cycle of a project.
You see customer expectations are based on what we tell them, and their assumptions from what we tell them. Making sure you do a great walk through, and functionality worksheet with them can really make or break the implementation teams life on the project. Make sure the customer understands what parts are estimated to be mods to fulfill their business needs, what is offered out of the box, and even setting the customers expectations that the real scope of the project can only be done during the discovery phase of the given project. Doing this, the customer expects to have their business processes heavily analyzed, and will expect they have a lot to do in the start of project. Having a customer not understand this, and thinking DAX can do everything they need in 3 months, with hardly no coding means you have an ignorant timeline, wrong expectations, and a very un-happy customer in the end when discovery is actually done and it really took 6 months instead of 3. Now let me break here and say, working out a project budget from past experience with a customer is something very acceptable. Just setting that as a budget awarness, help puts constraints on what the customer might request for the given project, and what the customer will decide as a possible later phase. Also I would like to point out that customer expectations are continued to be developed well into the project. It's not just on the sales & marketing team, but also on the implementation team to keep setting and meeting customer expectations. The proper management of such expectations lead to better understood deliverables for the project, and a happier customer, which translates into a happier project team.

The next part is customer ownership, and just as important as the expectations, can be something that will make or break a project for being considered a success. If a customer takes ownership of the project, then they are involved, understand throughout the process, and when you go live a more prepared solution. This means the solution has had it's new owners hands on it more, understood by the new owner, and again translate to a more successful project. If a customer does not take ownership, then the project suffers from lack of input, and the end result is a solution the customer does not fully understand, and possibly does not even like when going live. Of all the important elements for a successful project, this is sometimes the hardest to work on. The customers attitude towards the change, the user base, the management, all are part of this element. It's up to the project management and entire project team to get and keep the customer engaged enough in the project to where they are taking ownership, and therefore having input.

So there is the first two topics that I wanted to talk a bit about. Of course you can go on and on, show examples, etc. but I believe the point is made. Customer expectations and taking ownership are keys to a successful project.

Well check back soon as I continue to post!

Find a job at: www.DynamicsAXJobs.com