Which BI Tools Are Most Popular with Users of Microsoft Dynamics AX?

What percentage of Microsoft Dynamics AX users think their business intelligence reporting is under-utilized? And which BI tools are they currently using?

Among a group of 30 company representatives attending an AX User Group session on AX and BI, all said they are under-utilizing BI--no exceptions.

A number of the users are in the process of upgrading to AX 2009, and hope the new version will help them improve their usage of BI.

It's not as if users aren't trying to make BI a more important part of their companies' operations. In a poll of which third-party or Microsoft tools they currently use for BI purposes with Dynamics AX, here is how the results came out:

Targit                         23%

Performance Point         7%

Solver                          0

Other 3^rd party tools     53%

In-house tools              7%

Combination 7%

A number of users hope that Dynamics AX 2009, which they are in the process of implementing, will provide BI tools. But some said they don't fully understand what is available. One said he expects to use its Management Reporter tool.

Another user who is in the process of upgrading to AX 2009 said he expects its Role Centers to be helpful for BI. "It looks like the Role Centers do a lot of the same things as Performance Point Server. But we're having some difficulties getting the role centers to install."

In putting together financial reporting statements for BI purposes, users report using a variety of tools, breaking down as follows:

Excel                     29%

Standard AX           35%

FRx                       17%

Third party tools     11%