Upgrading to AX 2012 - What are the important questions you have?

With the release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 into full swing, the Official Microsoft Dynamics Community site, has started something new, in helping get the community questions that are important front and center, and answered by Partner experts.

The first round of focused questions starts today, and ends this Friday. So you have a week to get your questions in for this round. I've been asked to participate in this new offering from Microsoft, and I think it's a great way to get some Ecosystem / Community questions that mean the most to companies, answered.

This is a great way to interact with the Dynamics Community in a multidimensional manner. These type questions and answers will be facilitated by Microsoft, through the Community blog, and be answered by a panel of selected experts, to help foster knowledge, community awareness and growth.

So please use the following link: Have Questions about Upgrading to Dynamics AX 2012? Get Your Answers Here! Submit your questions between now and Friday on AX 2012 upgrading. Once all the answers are up, for each time we have one of these session, I will reference back the highlight post, as well as when the answers are up.

That's all for now, but I have a whole lot more to cover this week.

thanks,
Brandon

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, Roll Up (RU) 7 has been released

Microsoft has just released hotfix rollup 7 for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Service Pack 1

This is a roll up of all hotfixes created since RU6, and actually contains all hotfixes since SP1 has been released. It's very important to keep up to date with RU information, as I pointed out in my article on the Value of Upgrading.

There are a good bit of kernel, application and country specific fixes that are apart of this roll up, and it's very much worth looking to see if your company can benefit from these. If your doing a new implementation, you need to make sure your partner is taking and working from the RU7.

One thing of note, the following link.: Hot Fixes Released For Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 has not been updated yet to reflect this release.

I expect this will be updated soon, as this is the more "formal", if you will, place on PartnerSource / CustomerSource that such information is managed.

With that, you will need access to CustomerSource or PartnerSource to access RU7.

Check back soon, as more great post are coming on AX 2012, the Cloud, Decision 2011, Advanced Projects, interview with Kees Hertogh and more! Till next time!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

A Case study for the value of upgrading

Last week, I wrote on my guest column for the Microsoft Dynamics Community site, about the value of upgrading. That post can be found here.: The Value of Upgrading

Well not to long after doing that, a brand new case study from Microsoft, featuring Oldcastle was released that specifically targets and show ROI for staying current and upgrading.

A direct link to that online case study can be found here.: Oldcastle Precast - Manufacturer Keeps Current With ERP Software and Realizes Sustained Value

They go as far as showing even staying current on the latest major release, as it happens, vs. skipping a major version does for their bottom line.



And...



With those kinds of results, and known ROI as being shown for staying current, it's easy to see why it's so important to have upgrades and planning for upgrades help maximize your ROI for making the choice of Microsoft Dynamics AX.

This is perfect timing for the article I wrote, and the case study shows the value of upgrading, and benefit for staying current.

Thanks Oldcastle, Microsoft and Fee Nolan for posting this! That's all for now, but check back soon as more to come!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Time to upgrade?

Right now one of the thing that AX 3.0 customers are asking themselves is upgrading, and when should it be done? Well what you have to look at is the gain from doing an upgrade, and then the cost associated with an upgrade. If your up to date on your service fee's, then you get the latest software. That's is part of the need though, next you need a good partner [like Sunrise Technologies, Inc.] to help you plan your upgrade path. The means taking a look at your custom code and modules. Seeing what upgrade paths will need to happen for it. Also taking a look at new out of the box features, and taking the time to further streamline your business processes to make use of more out of the box. Next is committing. This is a Big part to upgrading. An upgrade project should not be taking lightly, and should be planned throughly. If done right, it can go off without a hitch, and you are in the better with the latest software.

So the right time to upgrade is Always up to the business need, and the given current situation you have. What you don't want to get into is Not properly planning for upgrades, and fall to far behind on the latest software. You will find yourself in a much larger upgrade project, that cost much more if than doing it as the software comes out. This is the issue that clients must realize. Sometimes it makes sense not to upgrade right away as the latest comes out, but you should plan to upgrade for every major version release of Dynamics AX. The reason why this is, is because it is actually cheaper to perform such upgrades. It ends up being a much smaller project, than jumping major versions. So you spread the cost of upgrading out over smaller chunk projects, than upgrading and catching up for 2-3 major releases.

So the right time to upgrade is different for each company, but each company should have in it's plan as continued improvement of it's solution a planned upgrade project for every major release of Dynamics AX. In between all the majors would be the service packs. You need to also make sure your keeping up with them as well. This will feed into a smoother upgrade process as well. :-)

Alright check back soon and often!

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