Article

Empowering Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Users with Personal BI: A New Tool for the Community

by Brandon George
Microsoft MVP, President - America’s Region, Hillstar Business Intelligence, Sunrise Technologies, Inc.

Most Microsoft Dynamics AX customers would agree that giving users better access to the right BI tools and reports is a good thing.  But companies often fall short of their goals when it comes to enabling the right high quality data sources for user to take advantage of and derive real value from their efforts.

Giving AX users access to BI capabilities, or Personal BI, should be the focus for Dynamics AX customers when it comes to building and fostering the creation of a System of Engagement. To that end, I have decided to set out to try and offer a solution to a very specific need for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 customers: the ability to easily identify, throughout their instance, Query Elements from the AOT that are valid candidates to become OData feeds. 

I have just released version 1.0.0 of the AX-OData Queries Project, including the OData Query Utility as a first step in facing down this challenge.

What does an OData feed representation of an AX 2012 Query do for you? What is the value? Simple. It is a key component of enabling Personal BI through Microsoft Excel and PowerPivot. This is a key enabling focus for the BI Semantic Model and one that helps build and foster the creation of a System of Engagement for Dynamics AX customers.

Allowing individual users to access data through OData feeds from Dynamics AX has several critical advantages over other ad hoc approaches to BI and reporting:

  1. Accessing the data through the application layer, not directly from the database.
  2. Inheriting security, including Data Security Policies. This means no need for a secondary ...

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AX 2012 BI and Reporting Dynamics AX OData PowerPivot
About Brandon George

Brandon George is a Microsoft Dynamics AX MVP, and President, America's Region, for Hillstar Business Intelligence. You may recognize him from his retired blog Dynamics-AX.blogspot.com or his new BI focused blog DataPrimes.com. Brandon brings hands-on implementation and customization experience in Software Development, Database Design, and SQL Server and leads a team that is charged with helping clients put their data to work.

He has extensive experience in information systems including X++ programming, systems analysis, systems design, configuration, and project deployment. His diverse background in information and business systems gives him a great capacity to interact with people from various business areas and levels. He has outstanding analytical, problem solving, and communication skills as well as proven ability to help people understand complex issues. 

Brandon has worked on numerous large scale implementation projects for Microsoft Dynamics AX and MicroStrategy BI.

His commonly used skills include, but are not limited to:

  • Microsoft Business Solutions and .NET Framework knowledge
  • Microsoft Dynamics AX and MicroStrategy BI hands-on implementation experience
  • Systems architecture and design
  • Applications development
  • Database design
  • Project Management
  • User Training

You can always feel free to email directly at: brandon@hillstar-bi.com.

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