Getting to know the Warehouse Mobile Device Portal (WMDP) for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

When Microsoft acquired Blue Horseshoe's Warehousing for AX (WAX) and Transportation for AX (TRAX) solutions last year, the Warehouse Mobile Device Portal (WMDP) was included in the deal. WMDP lets Dynamics AX 2012 R3 users complete tasks in a warehouse facility by using mobile devices. Available in real-time and HTML-based, the portal enables material handling support via mobile device and supports receiving, putting, picking, cycle counting, and other functions.

According to Microsoft's TechNet, WMDP includes a website that can be accessed by mobile devices, and therefore must be installed on a server that runs Internet Information Services (IIS). The portal communicates with Microsoft Dynamics AX Application Object Server (AOS) by using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services. André Arnaud de Calavon offers a more detailed look at the architecture and installation process here.

Building on Top

Pawel Kruk, a Microsoft senior software development engineer, says WMDP is part of the company's larger vision of providing advanced mobile warehousing capabilities for Dynamics AX users. Since the portal was born out of Microsoft's partner channel (i.e., Blue Horseshoe), it was "built on top of the solutions that we're already delivering."

In a recent blog post, Kruk explained that the portal is not certified for specific devices, but it requires "that the device can access the Internet and has a web browser that can use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript, and is compatible with jQuery v1.X."

Karina Normann Jakobsen, senior program manager at Microsoft ...