Conv12 - Here we come!

I hope everyone has had a great week so far. Personally I've been super busy, and getting ready for next weeks Conv12! It's packed with a host of great sessions, materials, speakers, training & network opportunities. You can get full access to all the sessions, and tracks by going to the following resource.: Convergence 2012 - Session Catalog, Content, Tracks and more!



One of the great parts about Convergence, specifically for me, is the involvement of AXUG, and it's DayOne Events. These are always some really great sessions, round tables, panels and the like. Specifically I will be involved in leading, or help leading in the following session at Convergence.

UBAX03 - AXUG Special Interest Group (SIG) Roundtable Discussion: Software Architects
"Join fellow Microsoft Dynamics AX technical gurus who share the need to better understand how development and infrastructure in Microsoft Dynamics AX can be administered and utilized to support your company's needs. Listen, learn, and share your experiences around maintaining the environment, delivering quality X++ solutions, and how best to manage the Microsoft Dynamics AX performance with your database."

This event already has a good amount of people registered, and I will be helping host this session, along with some other great, and very active AXUG community contributors, including: Mike Simms, Joel Pietrantozzi, Jason Thorpe & Christian Fordham.

Right after that, we have the next section I will be involved in.:
UBAX14 - AXUG Special Interest Group (SIG) Roundtable Discussion: Business Intelligence & Reporting
" In this exciting session, join fellow Microsoft Dynamics AX users who share the need to better understand how best to utilize Microsoft Dynamics AX reporting to meet user needs. This AXUG SIG breakout session will discuss the various approaches and techniques that users are utilizing to meet reporting requirements, including both standard Dynamics AX and SSRS approaches."

This event should be a great one as well, and once again I will be joining with other community giants, to help make this a wonderful event like: Mike Simms, Joel Pietrantozzi & Jason Thorpe

Directly related to the above session, keep your eye open, and sign up for my upcoming three part series I'm putting on through the AXUG Academy BI with Dynamics AX 2012: Options, Development, and Delivery I will cover more about that series, right after Convergence. So if your attending the BI & Reporting SIG at AXUG DayOne, then joining us for the three part series will carry over and help you create a true BI story for your company, using AX 2012. Further, I will dive into the upcoming SQL Server 2012 BI abilities & AX 2012 RC2



Moving right along into the week at Conv12, and along these same topic lines, for both Monday and Tuesday, I will facilitate two "Birds of a Feather: Microsoft Dynamics AX" sessions. These will be open discussions, specifically focused around BI & Reporting for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you understand that BI is one of my expertise, and specifically a topic in which I believe a lot of customers never fully get the full benefit of. There is a lot of value that can be added through understanding the BI as it relates to Dynamics AX 2012. Having the knowledge of working with the right tools, for the right job, is critical is driving that value, through BI concepts.

Further, I will continue to post and dive into real world BI examples, and needs, with the goal, once again of driving the most value out of your existing AX investment.

Finally, I will close with there is going to be a lot going on at Convergence 2012, so make sure you have used your schedule builder, and get the most out of your visit. You can follow my tweets as I do live event coverage while at Conv12 at: @DynamicsERP. Well that's all for this post, I will have one more tomorrow, and then it's off to see everyone at Conv12. Further there will be plenty of blog post during, as well as post Convergence as we continue this Dynamics AX journey together. Till Next Time!
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"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Coverage of AXUG Software Architect SIG at Convergence 2010

One of the sessions that I was lucky enough to attend at this years Convergence was the AXUG Software Architects SIG (Special Interest Group) for Dynamics AX.

This was a very, very interesting session that spanned a lot of different topics. This session was headed by John Smith and Jason Thorpe. Both AXUG members that are actively involved with helping promote and foster the AX community.

This was not a typical session in which you had a single speaker or two driving the whole time, but more of a round table session. Jason and John help keep the session going, and help start it, however allowed plenty of driving by the many people that attended this.

This SIG's focus is about AX Architecture, development, and being able to allow fellow Architects to share and build upon past exp. and current facing needs to help one another.

Some of the top topics discussed in this SIG were.:

• Change Management / Version Control. (A topic I have wrote about recently.: Using the Version Control Integration with Microsoft Team Foundation Server and Integrating Third party VCS with Dynamics AX 2009)


• Code Promotion


• AX Upgrades: Time for upgrades, estimating upgrade length, Functional Testing scripts and tools


• Agile development methodology, including project estimation


• Optimizing AX, SQL Server Performance, DMV's, IDM, use of SAX XML Processor vs. MSXML (XMLDOM)


• AIF, Integrations with AX, .Net BC vs. AIF - where and when

These were some of the hot and major topics covered in this session. There was some great points, and interesting things that customers were facing, and it seemed more than just one customer was facing some similar questions, and answering these questions in similar fashions.

It does seem to be that, from the techical Architect's side, either large or small companies, that similar trends and needs, along with upgrades, performance, change management with version control, integration seem to be the highest of priority.

With this post, I would like to kick off a series that covers these topics. To help dig deeper into these subjects, talk about what is being done now, what can be done, and what in AX 6 and beyond will help with these areas.

Check back soon, and feel free to leave comments, questions, and your own thoughts into this. If you were at the session, I would love to hear from you as well.

I would also like to thank Jason and John for thier time in hosting this SIG session. It was well worth the effort, and time attending this event.

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"