Gaining the Benefits of Routing Information in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 - Part 2

Editor's Note: This article represents an extract from Scott's new book about AX 2012, and extends a previous article about the definition of production resources. 

As a model of the production process for a manufactured item, the routing information within an ERP system can lead to multiple benefits - such as calculating value-added costs, determining capacity requirements, scheduling production activities, reporting actual work performed, and tracking progress through production.  Different ERP systems employ different approaches to routing information.   The approaches can even differ within the same ERP package, or different versions of an ERP package.  Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 supports several approaches to routing information, including one for traditional production orders and one for kanban orders.  In addition, these two approaches within AX 2012 have changed significantly from the previous version of AX 2009.

As the second in a two-part article, I'll review the definition of routing information to support traditional production orders within AX 2012, which builds on the definition of production resources described in a previous article.  A typical business process for defining routing information provides an organizing focus for further explanation. 

A manufactured item can have one or more versions of a routing.  The route versions often reflect differences in producing the same item at different sites, planned changes to the routing (with validity dates), or a different production process for larger order quantities.  Other versions may be used to define an alternate routing or to define the routing for prototypes, production ramp-up or rework.    

A Typical Business ...