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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived) / Upgrading to AX 2012 R...
Microsoft Dynamics AX (Archived)

Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

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Posted on by Siva S 180

Hi,

 Hi All,

We have requirement for Upgrading AX 3.0 to AX 2012 for one of our clients. We are aware that the upgrade process will be more complex. The following are the upgrade steps that we have decided to follow.

Existing System:AX 3.0

Upgrade System:AX 2012 R2

Upgrade Path AX 3.0 to AX 2009 and then to AX 2012 R2

 Upgrade Steps:

1. Code Upgrade from AX 3.0 to AX 2009

2. Data Upgrade from AX 3.0 to AX 2009

3. Code upgrade from AX 2009 to AX 2012 R2.

4. Data Upgrade from AX 3.0 to AX 2012 R2.

5. Repeat the data upgrade steps for AX 3.0 to AX 2009 to bring the delta data after cutover.

6. Repeat the data upgrade steps for AX 2009 to AX 2012 R2 to bring the delta data after cutover.

At this stage we are concerned about the data upgrade steps that we are going to perform for the delta data. By this we will be having a longer cutover period and we have to pre-process the data again starting from AX 3.0.We think it is a pain factor for the Customers and Partners. So, Could anyone please let us know if the above steps are valid or how to go about it.

Thanks in advance.

*This post is locked for comments

  • Suggested answer
    Hossein.K Profile Picture
    Hossein.K 6,642 on at
    RE: Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

    Hi,

    There is a detailed guide for migrate from Dynamics Ax 2012 R3 to Dynamics 365:

    docs.microsoft.com/.../prepare-migration

    www.erpsoftwareblog.com/.../dynamics-2012-r3-dynamics-365-operations-code-migration-process

    There is a detailed guide for migrate from Dynamics Ax 2012 R2 to Dynamics 365:

    docs.microsoft.com/.../upgrade-overview-2012

  • Suggested answer
    Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

    Hi Sivanath

    Data Upgrade from AX2009 will have 2 major stages,

    one is data pre-processing which happens in the source system. Here the data is converted to shadow tables which has same schema as the target tables. Downtime is required only for a short period here while the data is copied to the shadow tables.

    second is Data upgrade in the target system, where  the data is copied from Source to target. You need to have downtime during this stage

    You can plan for 2 days of downtime for completing a data upgrade from AX2009 to AX2012 R2 or R3

  • Muthamizh ilakkiya Profile Picture
    Muthamizh ilakkiya on at
    RE: Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

    Hi siva,

    finally how could you do the upgarde of delta data from Ax 3.0 to AX 2012 to reduce the cut over period?

    we are also planned for AX 3.0 to AX 2012 upgrade via AX 2009.

    you answer will help us to move forward.

  • Kevin Kidder Profile Picture
    Kevin Kidder on at
    RE: Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

    You would need to repeat the whole data upgrade process (steps 2 and 4) when you are ready to do the live upgrade. Absolutely you would already have the code upgrade completed at that point, and as others have stated on the intermediate version (which I would recommend as AX 4.0 for the reasons I mentioned previously) the only code upgrade required would be your table definitions and making sure the database can synchronize and the upgrade cockpit can be launched.

  • Siva S Profile Picture
    Siva S 180 on at
    RE: Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

    Thanks Steve and Kevin for your valuable suggestion.

    Kevin,

    Small correction in my above statement,

    Step 4: Data upgrade from AX 2009 to AX 2012 R2 (from AX 3.0 to AX 2012 R2 was typo mistake).

    As per your input If we are going to bring forward all data, I have other questions related to data upgrade from Ax 3.0 to AX 2009 to AX 2012 R2.

    For example, Consider if we are taking till July 31st AX 3.0 production data in to Test environment and continuing & complete the above steps 1 to 4, by the time it takes Dec’31.

    After testing in Test environment Now if we are planning cut over period, Can we repeat the entire data upgrade process again (ie step 2 and 4 alone) on top of upgraded Code environment (both AX 2009 and AX 2012 versions). Will that lead more down time and any complexity in data upgrade.

    OR Any suggestion for minimizing the down time to achieve this data upgrade process from AX 3.0 to AX 2009 to AX 2012 R2 on production.

    Please suggest.

  • Suggested answer
    Kevin Kidder Profile Picture
    Kevin Kidder on at
    RE: Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

    The upgrade code provided by Microsoft does not allow you to have any delta period when going from AX 3.0 to AX 2012 R2 - the only option for any type of delta period is if you actually go live on AX 4.0 or AX 2009 for a period of time prior to doing the upgrade to AX 2012 R2, but that is not an option that is very realistic.

    The recommendations from a Microsoft perspective on making the jump from AX 3.0 to AX 2012 R2 would be to seriously consider the approach of implementing a new AX 2012 R2 install and using a tool such as the Data Import Export Framework or other integration tool to migrate in beginning balances, master data, etc. and to setup your business to take advantage of the new features of AX 2012 rather than to try and push all the data from 3.0 in its same format into AX 2012. This would require keeping alive either a virtualized or reporting environment for your 3.0 historical data.

    If you do want to bring forward all data - the recommended way to do that from Microsoft is to upgrade to AX 4.0 as your intermediate step rather than AX 2009, but you have to basically have your system down during the entire timeframe of going from AX3  to AX 4 to AX 2012 which can be unrealistic for many customers with any sizeable amount of data. The main reasons for going to AX 4 in between are to avoid having to activate multi-site in AX 2009 between the two steps and also to avoid an intermediate data conversion for address records that was done with AX 2009.

    There is no level of delta processing in the built in tools that can be done to accomplish your steps 5 and 6 above when upgrading from AX 3.

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member Microsoft Employee on at
    RE: Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

    I don't think you should make this upgrade path from AX 3 to AX 2012 R2 via AX2009.    The products are similar in name only and I would think the effort doing code upgrades simply not worth it.

    An approach is to treat AX 2012 R2 as a totally new implementation, a chance to clean up and redesign to take advantages of what the product now does (compared to AX3) and what's changed in your business over the last 10 years - since AX3 was implemented.    

    With technical ( eg SSRS for all reports being a huge difference) and architectural ( Financial Dimensions and the Inventory module are completely new) you have a lot of change management issues to face without having to do x++ code changes also.

    A plug (of course)..use Atlas to get your AX3 data into a workbook and then use Atlas to upload into AX2012 R2.

    Regards

    Steve

  • Dick Wenning Profile Picture
    Dick Wenning 8,705 on at
    RE: Upgrading to AX 2012 R2 from AX 3.0

    use AX 2009 with the latest SP +CU, there are a lot of additional fixes in it.

    for AX 2009, only upgrade the tables and code of classes, there is no need for froms and reports.

    something else clean up your data. any logging, Parm table etc, can be cleaned up.

    but an other thing. act like an new implementation, and upgrade only main data, no transactions.

    I'm 100% sure, that a lot of changes in 3.0 are obsolete in ax 2012.

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