DIY Dynamics AX document management with SharePoint: New options in AX 2012 R2

"With the R2 release of Dynamics AX 2012, a new feature was quietly snuck into the product that allows you to store document attachments from Dynamics AX within SharePoint rather than within an archive location, or within the database. This opens up a whole slew of possibilities when it comes to document management within SharePoint."

So says AX MVP Murray Fife in a scenario he has just written up for the AX community.  And we're lucky enough to be hosting a live webcast on Thursday at 12pm ET with Murray where he will walk through this very case, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of rolling your own document management solution, and take audience questions about the approach.

A SharePoint library view in an AX 2012 R2 form | Source

As you can see in Murray's write up, this DIY approach uses SharePoint libraries, and from AX it relies on the new SharePoint option for document attachments. He then goes on to create new columns in the Document Libraries for indexing, embed the libraries into AX forms, customize the views of those libraries for AX users, and even define and index different types of documents for organizing and viewing them within a single library.

Murray's write up, while thorough, is just a starting point, he acknowledges.  He hasn't even waded into areas like workflow, version control, scanning, ...