Warehouse Management and Distribution

Master data synchronization using ColumbusSync

2013-04-29T18:45:49Z

I wanted to share a nice tool I’m working on for Dynamics AX 2012. It is called ColumbusSync, and solves some requirements we often see at larger enterprises. The ability to quick and easy distribute master data from a master company to a set of “client” companies. In this way a large set of companies can act as a single enterprise, even though it actually are a set of unique companies. What makes this tool great, it that is generic and uses all known relations defined in Dynamics AX 2012. This...(read more)

Changing the query for an existing CUE

2013-04-19T10:34:39Z

In AX 2009 we could change the query behind a personalized CUE. This seams to have been removed from AX 2012. But we that can develop, still have a chance, using X++. Run the following job script, and you will get the query up, so that you can change the query. This will bring up the normal query form, where you can make your changes, and then press OK to save the new query in you Cue. Take care and happy Daxing....(read more)

AX2012 : Use queries as criteria

2013-04-02T11:25:58Z

In Dynamics AX 2012 the relation between different records is often defined as a “table-group-all” relation. One example of this is the setup of supplementary items, where you can define the relation as a Table-Group-All relation. Even though this approach … Continue reading →...(read more)

Reservation sequence in AX 2012

2013-03-11T19:55:27Z

I have received some questions on how does Dynamics AX 2012 decide what on-hand to select when reserving. Some thinks it is the inventory model (FIFO etc), but it is not. Some times it can seam like AX 2012 has … Continue reading →...(read more)

Can Dynamics AX 2012 talk ?

2013-02-11T09:06:02Z

I was playing around on some with some of the classes, and I found a small thing that I wanted to share with the community. How to enable the speech synthesizer in Dynamics AX 2012. (This is the core essence of the “virtual burger” demo) Here is the code that makes Dynamics AX speak: You also need to add the System.Speech to the references in AX: Making Dynamics AX 2012 talk in a demo is great, but the functional value is normally low. Happy Daxing...(read more)

Dynamics AX 2012 and BarTender Commander

2013-02-01T17:08:00Z

I have previously blogged on the BarTender integration to Dynamics AX 2012 . In this blog post I want to take the integration one step further. Sometimes it is not possible to have a BarTender client on each machine. Also in a Terminal Server scenario often local label printers are mapped into the RDP session, and you suddenly see that you are using up all the printer licenses you have purchased for BarTender. There is a way around this, and that is to use BarTender Commander instead of the...(read more)

How to be rich on your Dynamics AX add-ons

2013-01-15T20:42:24Z

First I need to say I’m sorry for the trick headlines. This quick answer is that it is very unlikely to get rich on money by developing Dynamics AX add-ons , and especially if you try to this alone. However, what you will be is much richer in experience and I guarantee you will have fun . Also a warning; if you are not internally motivated to share and learn more, than do not go down this path. I wanted to share with you some own experience in how to create, promote and sell your great ideas. Step...(read more)

Receipt status arrived: The forgotten jewel

2012-12-31T12:37:59Z

There are two ways to learn how Dynamics AX is working. Users can do courses, read manuals, self-training, “try and fail”, blogs etc. Professionals can also read code. Each time Microsoft is releasing a new version I try to read the code for better understanding new features and possibilities. I then often find traces of functionality that exists, but that Microsoft never took the “last mile” and created the front-end functionality. This code is often made by the best developers in the industry...(read more)

How to use dynamic date ranges in RoleCenter Cue’s

2012-12-18T00:20:53Z

In Dynamics AX 2012 (and 2009) we have the possibility to add Cue’s to the role center. However, sometimes we would like to have Cue’s that reflect a dynamic time dimension. This is like: Orders today, Orders yesterday etc. What we then can do is to use query values as today(), day(-1), LessThanDate(), RateRage() etc. Like in the following example fetching sales order lines created today. Here I use the greaterThanDate(-1). Pay attention to the extra parentheses to make it work. In AX 2012...(read more)

PDA tools for retail stores

2012-12-04T15:50:54Z

I have several customers with retail stores. So I wanted to create some PDA applications that can be used in the stores, that focuses on supply chain. It actually turned out to be a small module in the PDA solution. The retail menu is optimized for scenario’s where a central distribution center is doing automatic replenishment using transfer orders of the stores, and the stores are within the same company as the central distribution center. In scenarios where the stores is buying directly from...(read more)

Price : PDA and BarTender integration

2012-11-27T10:33:02Z

Hi. I normally do not want to get too commercial on this blog, but I do get a lot of questions related to price of the PDA and BarTender integration. So instead of filling the “replies” with prices here we go: This is a example of 10 PDA users and 5 label printers. Seagull BarTender licenses is included in this example. In addition you need some hardware, Dynamics AX licenses (Task/Functional) and server to run it on. If you want to know more, contact us at www.columbusglobal.com . Take...(read more)

AX2012–GS1-128–delivery labels

2012-10-18T14:13:24Z

My BarTender integration and PDA solution now supports full GS1-128 labels and application identifiers. Pick, ship and send directly from a PDA. Now also available with a overview screen of shipped SSCC : And use the Microsoft Bing to visualize the Transport route by a single click: You can even try it out your self, by clicking here . Take care, and happy Daxing...(read more)

Dynamics AX 2012 architecture for carton, packages and pallets

2012-10-08T19:54:41Z

When shipping goods, there are many requirements that needs to be fulfilled. You have the ability to have correct addresses, customer requirements, freight forwarder requirements and legal requirements. To solve this we have many different “systems” in Dynamics AX 2012 (and earlier versions) to solve each of these requirements. Some of these systems are: Sales Shipping Stats – Print the std. AX delivery label, and get volumetric information on the packingslip/invocie. Bill of Lading – A document...(read more)

Shipping Container Labeling guide

2012-10-08T19:37:50Z

Major retailers have identified incorrect logistic unit (pallet) labeling as a major emerging supply chain issue. A recent sample audit found that approximately 44% of pallet labels are not meeting agreed upon industry requirements. The issues they face include: No label has been applied Label is in the wrong location Information on the label does not match what is on the pallet Multiple labels with different Serial Shipping Container Codes (SSCC) been applied Pallet label will not scan...(read more)

Inventory counting humor

2012-10-05T11:00:15Z

I received the following from one of my customers. Funny Happy friday and happy Daxing...(read more)

AX2012–Search and you shall find….

2012-10-01T07:44:23Z

I wanted my customers to experience the search powers of Dynamics AX 2012 and Microsoft SQL, and decided to create a very small generic tool for finding items and products. Suppose a user wishes to find an item, and it does not know its item number but knows few word of description and also has a small information about class, default supplier, location etc…… He can enter this info and at very next moment he would see the list displaying all the items having the various values similar to information...(read more)

AX 2012–Kitting revisited

2012-09-25T20:56:00Z

I wanted to revist the blogpost I created on kitting, since the kitting is now built also for AX 2012. It is a simple and easy to use customization that many of our customers appriciate, spesially since it is included in the same model as the Centralized product information form . I must excuse the picture quality in this post, but I’m a DAX expert and not a perfect blog stylist. Kitting is a great alternative for companies that are not equipped with finished goods warehouse facilities or cannot...(read more)

How to unit test PDA/Handheld and barcode printing

2012-09-20T17:18:21Z

At a customer implementing my PDA and BarTender add-ons, are currently doing a lot of testing. The following picture shows how one of the implementation consultants are testing this out in “real-life” : All is barcoded and the barcodes is available in Dynamics AX. Happy Daxing....(read more)

AX 2012 – Negative discounts–Charges for split box delivery ?

2012-09-12T08:36:08Z

In standard AX 2012 it is not possible to have negative discounts. But it is a very small change to actually make it work. Just change the extended data type DiscPct. But why would any allow negative discounts ? In many industries they have specialized on full ballet/box delivery. If a customer needs less than a pallet/box, then a extra charge should be put on the invoice. Then it is possible to create a line discount that increases the line amount. But there are some aspects that you...(read more)

AX2012 : Centralize product information

2012-09-10T16:32:23Z

At as Dynamics AX consultant I get the chance to work with many customers, and see good idea’s in action. At one particular customer in Norway, that are implementing Dynamics AX 2012 we have been asked to replicate some functionality from their old system. A normal response from a Dynamics AX consultant would be that with Dynamics AX we do things differently. We use role-centers, fact boxes, fast-tabs, buttons, go-to-main table, and Excel to give a complete picture. But this customer was persistent...(read more)

Dynamics AX 2012 SCM: Micro improvements #6

2012-08-28T21:52:48Z

In Dynamics AX 2012(and 2009) it is possible to have delivery addresses on both the sales order header, and on the sales order line. But it is also possible to disable the use of delivery addresses per sales order line, by disable the configuration key, like this: If you disable this, then you will not have delivery addresses per delivery sales line. But is you do this, and you also do do consolidated delivery/picking, then there is another issue that will appear. The picking routes will miss...(read more)

Dynamics AX 2012 SCM: Micro improvements #5

2012-08-28T21:40:48Z

When working with output orders I see some customer struggling with deleting open output orders. They typically have open output like this: When deleting it, they get the following error: The reason for this, it that deleting a output order will also trigger a delete on the inventory order transaction (WMSOrderTrans). And this delete will again try to delete the original output order(WMSOrder). To avoid this error is to disable the OCC (Optimistic Concurrency Control) for the WMSOrder...(read more)

Dynamics AX 2012 PDA devices in Production

2012-08-13T08:53:47Z

Changing from a paper process to input on a PDA with automatic wireless transmission to the main computer can dramatically boost worker productivity. Any process that involves collecting data using paper documents is potentially a candidate for a mobile solution to reduce data entry errors and speed up the reporting process. In my crusade to simplify and PDA enable AX 2012 functionallity I have taken a look into production, and created some easy to use PDA forms. Most manufactured items move through...(read more)

Create PDA – Kinder Surprise II (for sales and purchase)

2012-07-11T10:46:56Z

In my previous post I wrote about compressing standard location, movement and counting into a single process in Dynamics AX 2012. Today I wanted to show that the my PDA solution also can save time in purchase and sales scenario’s. If there is one thing we all like so save, it is time. So to save time, some PDA features has been implemented to speed up processes, but still maintaining on hands accurately. So this post is about making life easier for those companies, that don’t need or want to have...(read more)

Create PDA – Kinder Surprise

2012-07-02T09:30:41Z

Kinder Surprise, (or Kinder Egg’s that is also called) is something that most kids loves. Why ? It contains 3 positive elements, and that are (normally) a surprise, chocolate and a toy. I wanted to create a Kinder Egg function on the PDA, that simplifies 3 tasks into one task. The tasks of my choice was: 1. Set the default issue/receipt warehouse location for an item, 2. Move all on hand of this item into the new location. 3. Adjust/count the new location. So I created the following PDA screen...(read more)