Microsoft Dynamics AX and Business Intelligence

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provides a selection of pre-built Business Intelligence (BI) solutions. Featuring built-in content such as Role Centers, Analytic Reports and Analysis Cubes, it provides a solid first crack for your Business Intelligence needs.

The built-in Dynamics AX Business Intelligence tools consist of:

• Role Centers (Dashboards): 32 default home pages for the various users within the organization.
• Analysis cubes: 11 analysis cubes to provide access to finance, supply chain, manufacturing, professional services, and business process data access.
• Analytic reports: Over 150 analytic reports to give you some idea of what data can be used to measure your companies Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Naturally as your business develops or if your business already has existing KPI and reports this progression will require you to cater your reports to provide data in a quick and easy to digest format. Custom formatting and custom data will become key to support this process.

Some Other Options For Business Intelligence with Dynamics AX:

Excel

Many businesses will begin by using the Dynamics AX 2012 R3 feature to export data to excel as a familiar and easy way of manipulating the data to suit their needs for a Cashflow Budgeting Model or Forecast Model, for example. A great thing about this is that it allows for data in their CRM or other systems to be mashed up with the Dynamics AX data to provide a better picture of their business.  Keep in mind though: Excel can only take you so far!

Power Views

Dynamics AX also has embedded SQL Power Views that can be accessed from a button called Analyze data on your ribbon. This will allow you to understand hidden trends behind the data. This will open SQL Power View where the user is presented with an extended set of tables and fields for easier analysis.

Tableau and Dynamics AX

Tableau is a user-oriented dashboarding tool that is easy to use and has a great amount of user community support. Connecting to AX with Tableau and blending data together from other sources is a common practice for businesses. it allows for easy integration and connections between your CRM, financial, and other systems, which can provide you with the visibility to understand your business better.

Unlike the Business Intelligence tools built into Dynamics AX, Tableau has the ability to connect to all sorts of sources and bring it together to produce visually stunning dashboards. These dashboards can tell stories of how your sales pipeline is doing to how your support team is handing issues.

Utilizing what is already provided by Microsoft Dynamics AX (the Microsoft SQL Cubes), we can connect Tableau and your CRM data mart to provide your company with a better and more comprehensive dashboarding solution.