Microsoft has announced that the mainstream support for AX 2009 and AX 2012 will end soon. All Microsoft products have a lifecycle that begins when the product is released and ends it’s no longer supported. Dynamics AX products are normally supported for 10 years from the release date. What are the End Dates?! Dynamics AX 2009 – October 2018. Mainstream support for Dynamics AX 2009 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Dynamics AX 2012, and Dynamics AX 2012 R2 ends on October 9, 2018. After that date, only security hotfixes will continue to be provided for these three versions through the extended support period that continues until October 12, 2021. For more information, see support.microsoft.com. Microsoft has announced that several upcoming support deadlines for Dynamics AX 2009 and AX 2012. All Microsoft products have a lifecycle that begins when the product is released and ends when it's no longer supported. Dynamics AX products are normally supported for 10 years from the release.

Microsoft Dynamics AX is one of Microsoft's enterprise resource planningsoftware products. It is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family.

• 1History
• 2Features (modules)
• 4MorphX and X++

History[edit]

Microsoft Dynamics AX was originally developed as a collaboration between IBM and Danish Damgaard Data as IBM Axapta. Axapta was initially released in March 1998 in the Danish and U.S. markets. IBM returned all rights in the product to Damgaard Data shortly after the release of Version 1.5. Damgaard Data merged with Navision Software A/S in 2000 to form NavisionDamgaard, later named Navision A/S. Microsoft acquired the combined company in July 2002.^[4]

In September 2011, Microsoft released version AX 2012.^[5] It was made available and supported in more than 30 countries and 25 languages. Dynamics AX is used in over 20,000 organizations of all sizes, worldwide.^[6]

The newest version, released in February 2016,^[7] dropped the nomenclature of year and version and was simply called AX, although was widely known as AX7. This update was a major revision with a completely new UI delivered through a browser-based HTML5 client, and initially only available as a cloud-hosted application. This version lasted only a few months, though, as Dynamics AX was rebranded Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations in October 2016, and once more as Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations in July 2017. An additional version is available focusing on Retail branded as Dynamics 365 for Retail. This has a slightly different licensing price than Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations.

Development centers[edit]

MDCC or Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen was once the primary development center for Dynamics AX.^[8] MDCC is now located in Kongens Lyngby and also houses Microsoft Dynamics NAV and several other Microsoft Dynamics family products. Microsoft Denmark is also found in the same building. Microsoft employs about 900 people of around 40 different nationalities in Denmark. In addition to MDCC, Microsoft carries out AX development in Bellevue, Washington, Fargo, North Dakota, USA; Moscow, Russia; Shanghai, China; and Pakistan.

Features (modules)[edit]

Microsoft Dynamics AX contains 19 core modules:^[9]

Traditional core (since Axapta 2.5)[edit]

• General Ledger – ledger, sales tax, currency, and fixed assets features
• Bank Management – receives and pays cash
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – business relations contact and maintenance (customers, vendors, and leads)
• Accounts Receivable – order entry, shipping, and invoicing
• Accounts Payable – purchase orders, goods received into inventory
• Inventory Management – inventory management and valuation^[10]
• Master Planning (resources) – purchase and production planning
• Production – bills of materials, manufacturing tracking
• Product Builder – product mode creation and maintenance
• Human Resources – employee information
• Project Accounting – projects creation and tracking (primarily from an accounting perspective)
• Basic – data configuration
• Administration Module – system configuration
• Procurement and Sourcing
• Sales and Marketing
• Store, manage, and interpret data.^[11]

AX 2012 R3

• Call Center - employees take orders over the phone and are able to create sales orders
• General Ledger - the ability to transfer opening balances in balance sheet accounts to a new fiscal year
• Inventory and Warehouse Management - compare item prices, enhanced posting routine and a new Inventory aging report
• Master Planning - estimate future demand and create demand forecasts based on transaction history
• Procurement and Sourcing - create your own solicitation request for RFQs, and more
• Production Control - a new option to automate material reservations
• Project Management and Accounting - new on-account billing rules and fee transactions that modify invoice proposal sales prices
• Public Sector - now able to publish a request for quotation (RFQ) to the Vendor portal and now have the ability to view details of closed RFQs
• Retail - commerce Data Exchange, updated retail server, new retail hardware station, and more
• Sales and Marketing - register serial numbers during sales processes when preparing the packing slip or the sales order invoice
• Transportation Management - plan transportation for inbound and outbound shipments, configure rating structures and view driver check-in and check-out history
• Trade Allowance Management - define merchandising events, manage trade fund budgets, process customer payments (including deductions, and more
• Warehouse Management - configure inbound and outbound intelligent workflows, use scanners/mobile devices to optimize precision in the picking and put-away processes, and more

Extended core[edit]

The following modules are part of the core of AX 2009 (AX 5.0) and available on a per-license basis in AX 4.0:

• Payroll Management^[12]
• Environmental Management^[13]

External components[edit]

Several external components are also available:

• Enterprise Portal for Dynamics AX (built on Sharepoint Services)
• Microsoft SQL Reporting Services integration
• Microsoft SQL Analysis services (KPIs)
• Project Server Integration
• WorkFlow
• Application Integration Framework (Webservices + Biztalk adapter)
• A .Net Business Connector for third-party software (A COM adapter is also available)
• Microsoft Dynamics Mobile 1.5 development tools
• Microsoft Project Client
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Word
• Office 365

Architecture[edit]

The Microsoft Dynamics AX software comprises four major components:

• The Database Server, a database that stores the Microsoft Dynamics AX data
• The File Server, a folder containing the Microsoft Dynamics AX application files (in AX2012 application files are stored in the database)
• The Application Object Server(s) (AOS), a service that controls all aspects of Microsoft Dynamics AX's operation
• The Client(s), the actual user interface into Microsoft Dynamics AX

MorphX and X++[edit]

Custom AX development and modification is done with its own IDE, MorphX, which resides in the same client application that a normal day-to-day user would access, thus allowing development to take place on any instance of the client. Since the Dynamics AX 2012 version, development can also be performed in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 through a Visual Studio plugin.

MorphX is an integrated development environment in Microsoft Dynamics AX that developers use to graphically design data types, base enumerations, tables, queries, forms, menus and reports. In addition to application object future versions of AX, it provides access to application code by launching the X++ code editor.

MorphX uses referencing to link objects, so changes in—for example—datatypes of field names automatically updates everyplace that uses those field names (such as forms or reports). Furthermore, changes made through MorphX show in the application immediately after compilation.

Microsoft Dynamics AX also offers support for version control systems (VCS) integrated with the IDE, which facilitates development collaboration. Another tool converts table structures and class structures to Visio diagrams. Actual implementation limits the practical use of both these features.

X++ itself is the programming language behind MorphX, and belongs to the curly brackets and .-operator class of programming languages (like C# or Java). It is an object-oriented, class-based, single dispatch language. X++ is derived from C++ (both lack the finally keyword for example) with added garbage collection and language-integrated SQL queries.

Code samples[edit]

X++ integrates SQL queries into standard Java-style code. The following three examples produce the same result, though the first has generally better performance. Samples 2 and 3 hint at an object-like behavior from table buffers.

Sample #1

Sample #2

Sample #3

Future[edit]

On its Partner Source web site, Microsoft publishes a 'Statement of Direction' for Dynamics AX that describes future development plans. It states that future versions of AX will include increased vertical market functionality, cloud computing, and HTML 5.

Presence on the Internet[edit]

One of the most notable sources of information about Axapta (prior to the Microsoft purchase) was technet.navision.com, a proprietary web-based newsgroup, which grew to a considerable number of members and posts before the Microsoft purchase in 2002.

After Microsoft incorporated Axapta into their Business Solution suite, they transferred the newsgroup's content to the Microsoft Business Solutions newsgroup.^[14] The oldest Axapta Technet post that can be found today dates to August 2000.^[15] During the Axapta 3.0 era, this newsgroup in conjunction with secured official Microsoft websites (Partnersource for Microsoft Partners and Axapta resellers and Customersource for licensed Axapta customers) accounted for most of the official documentation sources on Axapta. During this time, freely accessible documentation remained scarce. Following Microsoft's release of Dynamics AX 4.0, Axapta's presence on the World Wide Web greatly improved through heightened interest from professional blogs as well as a continually improving presence on MSDN. Though MSDN contained mostly placeholders immediately following the release, it now contains more detailed information—from a complete SDK, to white papers and code samples.

Community[edit]

The AX community consists primarily of employees of Dynamics Partners, end-users, and MS MVPs (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional).

There are number of organizations dedicated to augmenting information provided by Microsoft.

• The Dynamics AX User Group (AXUG) is a community for users of the software
• The Dynamics User Group (DUG) is an online community for users, partners, and freelancers
• Mibuso (Mibuso) is an online community for users, partners, and freelancers
• The Microsoft Dynamics 365 For Finance and Operations (Sunbridge Software Services) is a community for users of the software

Additionally, Microsoft hosts a forum for the extended community at https://community.dynamics.com/.

Events[edit]

AXUG Summit

AXUG Summit is held each fall and is an independent, user-led conference.

Extreme Conferences

extreme365 is a conference for the Dynamics 365 Partner Community which now includes Dynamics AX, featuring an Executive Forum.^[16]

Personalization and predictive analytics[edit]

At the National Retail Federation (NRF) Conference 2016 in New York, Microsoft unveiled its partnership with Infinite Analytics, a Cambridge-based predictive analytics and personalization company.^[17]

References[edit]

1. ^Dynamics Lifecycle Services Communication (2016-05-27). 'May 2016 release notes'. Microsoft. Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services Engineering Blog. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
2. ^ ^ab'Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 System Requirements'. Download Center. Microsoft. 6 June 2017.
3. ^'Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations: Product availability, localization, and translation guide'(PDF). Microsoft. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
4. ^'Microsoft acquires Navision (2002)'Microsoft website
5. ^''Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Launches Worldwide''. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
6. ^What is Microsoft Dynamics AX?, randgroup.com
7. ^'Microsoft delivers enterprise-class ERP to the cloud - Stories'. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
8. ^'Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen'Microsoft website
9. ^'Microsoft Dynamics AX Business Ready Licensing editions'Microsoft website
10. ^'Inventory management in Dynamics AX'Dynamics AX Training
11. ^https://www.jetglobal.com/blog/microsoft-dynamics-ax-feature-list/ Microsoft Dynamics AX Feature List
12. ^'Payroll Management - Microsoft Dynamics AX'Microsoft website
13. ^'The Environmental Sustainability Dashboard'Microsoft website
14. ^'Microsoft Dynamics AX Community'Microsoft website
15. ^'26.1 Any input to the benchmarking tool in Damgaard Axapta??'. Newsgroup: Microsoft.com. 2000-08-04. Archived from the original on 2005-04-25.
16. ^'eXtreme365 celebrates record attendance, diverse learning opportunities at Lisbon conference'. Extreme365. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
17. ^Infinite Analytics' Cutting-Edge Personalization Engine now on Microsoft Dynamics AX Platform 'PR Newswire'

External links[edit]

Mainstream support for Dynamics AX 2009 and AX 2012 will end soon. All Microsoft products have a lifecycle that begins when the product is released and ends it’s no longer supported. Dynamics AX products are normally supported for 10 years from the release date. Here is what you need to know:

What are the end dates?

Dynamics AX 2009 – October 2018

Dynamics AX 2012 – 10/09/18

Dynamics AX 2012 R2 – 10/09/18

Dynamics AX 2012 R3 – 10/12/21

What do I get with mainstream support again?

Mainstream support includes the following:

• Ability to purchase a paid support agreement
• Security update support
• Non-security hotfix support
• No charge incident support
• Warranty claims
• Design changes and feature requests
• Self service support (Microsoft Knowledge Base & Microsoft Help & Support Site)

What does the end of mainstream support mean for me?

The end of mainstream support means that Microsoft will no longer enhance that product. Security updates and non-security hotfixes will no longer be supplied, and the warranty claims will end.

So, what are my options?

• Purchase an extended support agreement
• Pay for a custom support contract
• Consider upgrading now to Dynamics 365
• Do nothing and hope for the best

Upgrade to Dynamics 365

We realize that it is a common dilemma to choose between an upgrade to a newer version or face the fact that you won’t be able to count on Microsoft anymore for fixing issues, security, and their resources. So how do you decide what to do?

• Start talking to your partner to determine if an upgrade to Dynamics 365 makes sense for you
• Make sure you are up to date on your Microsoft Enhancement plan to take advantage of the 40% discount on upgrading to Dynamics 365
• Take advantage of Arbela’s FREE upgrade assessment

Why would I spend the money to upgrade to Dynamics 365?

We’d like to help you see the ROI for considering the upgrade path. Choosing to go upgrade to Dynamics 365 will help you:

• Reduce infrastructure costs by moving to the cloud
• The cloud model offers monthly subscription fees vs the large up-front cost
• New features and functionality, including embedded business intelligence (BI) and availability on mobile devices
• Moving to the cloud allows for scalability and growth at your own rate
• Reduce customizations by around 40% (especially if you’ve made customizations around BI, manufacturing or retail)
• Stability and security of Azure, including disaster recovery
• New user interface that will boost productivity
• Never budget for an upgrade or implementation again
• Leverage the capabilities of Power Apps and Flow to enable business workflows that were not possible in AX or CRM

Arbela Technologies is here to help you understand your options. Please reach out to us for more information on what this means to you.

Microsoft Ax 2009 End Of Support

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