Chapter 1: Overview

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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW Objectives

The objectives are:

Identify available reporting features in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Explain how reporting features are used in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Explain how Role Centers use other reporting features in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Introduction Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 uses a model-based approach for creating reports by providing project templates and modeling tools that are incorporated into the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment. The reporting features that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provides are tightly integrated with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). Visual Studio reporting projects are incorporated into the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Application Object Tree (AOT).

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 includes several features for developing reports and displaying data. Reports are designed using Visual Studio, and they are deployed using Visual Studio, the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 client, or Windows PowerShell. Additionally, reports are displayed in SQL Server Reporting Services or within Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Data can also be displayed in the Role Center page in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. The Role Center is a home page where users can display reports or graphical data. Data is collected, aggregated, and formatted using SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) and displayed using features in Role Centers. SSRS reports can also be displayed on the Role Center home page.

Earlier versions of Microsoft Dynamics used the MorphX development environment to create and modify reports. The reporting framework in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is improved to take advantage of existing Microsoft technologies such as SQL Server Reporting Services and Visual Studio. Visual Studio includes tools and templates to create new and modify existing reports. All the standard reports that are included with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 are SSRS reports.

Reporting security is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 security. SSRS uses Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 security to control access to the report data. SSAS uses security roles that are independent of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 roles, but can be manually aligned to provide the same security.

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SQL Server Reporting Services Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) delivers web-enabled reporting functionality available across the enterprise, so that you can create reports that draw content from a variety of data sources, publish reports in various formats, and centrally manage security and subscriptions. The Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 database can be one of the data sources from which SSRS draws its content.

SSRS ships as part of Microsoft SQL Server and requires no additional licensing.

SSRS provides a full range of ready-to-use tools and services to help you create, deploy, and manage reports for your organization, in addition to programming features that allow you to extend and customize your reporting functionality.

SSRS is a server-based reporting platform that provides comprehensive reporting functionality for a variety of data sources. SSRS includes a complete set of tools for you to create, manage, and deliver reports, and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that enable developers to integrate or extend data and report processing in custom applications. SSRS tools work within the Microsoft Visual Studio environment and are fully integrated with SQL Server tools and components.

With SSRS, you can create interactive, tabular, graphical, or free-form reports from relational, multidimensional, or XML-based data sources. You can publish reports, schedule report processing, or access reports on-demand. SSRS also allows you to create customized reports that are based on predefined models, and to interactively explore data within the model. You can select from a variety of viewing formats, export reports to other applications, and subscribe to published reports. The reports that you create can be viewed over a web-based connection or as part of a Microsoft Windows application or SharePoint site. SSRS provides the key to your business data.

Reporting Services Components and Tools

SSRS processing is distributed across multiple components. Central and specialized processors are used to retrieve data, process report layout, render presentation formats, and deliver to target destinations. Presentation processing occurs after the data is retrieved and is decoupled from data processing, which allows multiple users to review the same report simultaneously in formats that are designed for different devices. Additionally, users can quickly change the report's viewing format, from HTML to PDF or Microsoft Excel or XML. The modular architecture is designed for extensibility. Developers can include reporting functionality in custom applications or extend reporting functionality to support custom features.

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Developing Reports

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provides a model-based approach for creating reports by providing project templates and modeling tools that are incorporated into the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment. The reporting features that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provides are based on a tight integration with SQL Server Reporting Services.

By using the Microsoft Visual Studio reporting tools with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, you can realize the following benefits:

Creating reports quickly by using the auto design reporting feature. This feature automatically creates a report design that is based on the report data.

Using SQL Report Designer for reports that require a customized design.

Creating a consistent appearance for your reports by using style templates. One style template can be applied to many reports. Style templates allow you to separate the style settings from the actual report definition.

Previewing reports at design time from within the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment.

Reports that are created by using the Microsoft Visual Studio reporting tools can be integrated into Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. They can be displayed as menu items in the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 client and in Enterprise Portal Web parts.

Extending SSRS Reports

Another advantage of SSRS is how it renders reports. SSRS reports can be printed on paper, and rendered in a virtual format, which can then be applied to a variety of publishing formats:

Documents (Microsoft Office Word) Spreadsheets (Microsoft Office Excel) Web components .NET applications Email

Earlier versions of reporting in Microsoft Dynamics AX limited formatting to the size of the paper being used. Printer drivers define the boundaries of the printable space, and the report is formatted line-by-line to fit within those confines. Such paper-driven report formats do not translate well to other publishing outlets such as spreadsheets, email, web components, or NET-connected applications.

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SSRS can be linked to various data sources, allowing data that is external to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to be incorporated on a report that uses internal data involving Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) connections, Common Language Runtime (CLR) Interop, or some other method of accessing external data.

SQL Server Analysis Server Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) delivers online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining functionality for business intelligence applications. SSAS supports OLAP by letting you design, create, and manage multidimensional structures containing data that was aggregated from other data sources, such as relational databases. This includes the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 database. For data mining applications, SSAS lets you design, create, and visualize data mining models that are constructed from other data sources by using a wide variety of industry-standard data mining algorithms.

SSAS ships as part of Microsoft SQL Server and requires no additional licensing.

Analysis Services Components and Tools

SSAS is the Business Intelligence part of the Reporting and Business Intelligence cluster, yet the lines between the two are becoming somewhat blurred. SSAS can be used to drill down into data from a high level (for example, Total sales by month) into much earlier levels (for example, Sales by item, by employee, by day, and so on). The blurring occurs with data presentation. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, this kind of data is most frequently displayed on the Role Center or Enterprise Portal, side-by-side with reports that are generated by SSRS.

Reporting formats are moving away from paper-based formatting to more flexible and visual formatting (such as reports and charts that are displayed in the Role Center), and Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) data mining data being displayed in a similar flexible and visual manner. As a result, all data is provided to the user, regardless of its extraction technique, and has a consistent appearance and behavior.

Analysis Services Architecture

Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) uses both server and client components to supply online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining functionality for business intelligence applications:

The server component of Analysis Services is implemented as a Microsoft Windows service. SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services supports multiple instances on the same computer, with each instance of Analysis Services implemented as a separate instance of the Windows service.

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Clients communicate with Analysis Services using the public standard XML for Analysis (XMLA), which is a SOAP-based protocol for issuing commands and receiving responses, and is exposed as a web service. Client object models are also provided over XMLA, and can be accessed either by using a managed provider, such as ADOMD.NET, or a native OLE DB provider.

Query commands can be issued using the following languages o SQL. o Multidimensional Expressions (MDX), an industry standard

query language for analysis. o Data Mining Extensions (DMX), an industry standard query

language oriented toward data mining. o Analysis Services Scripting Language (ASSL) can also be used

to manage Analysis Services database objects.

SSAS also supports a local cube engine that enables applications on disconnected clients to browse locally-stored multidimensional data.

The primary advantage of using SSAS is the ability to drill down into several subgroups and permutations of data. Using the example of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboard, trends can be spotted at a high level (for example, slower than usual production in a certain month), and then by using the power of SSAS, a user can quickly drill into the data to find the underlying cause of the trend. This can either help a user determine a problem or identify an opportunity.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Role Center The Role Center feature in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 acts as a home page or a starting point for a user's session in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. It provides snapshots of information that have specific interest for a user who is performing a certain role in the company. For example, the information that a CEO would be interested in will differ from the information that an Accounts Payable clerk, or Production Manager, would be interested in. The Role Center brings data from different sources into one place for simple analysis of the current business situation.

Role Center Page

The Role Center brings together the power of SSRS and SSAS and displays the customized results for a specific role all in one location. This means that the user does not have to run a collection of reports each day from the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 menu.

A Role Center page can be displayed in the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 client and in the Enterprise Portal. By incorporating the Role Center into the client, all users can now enjoy the benefits that the role-driven Enterprise Portal could bring (using web components), directly in the client that they use at their desk or workstation. The Role Center is essentially an Enterprise Portal webpage being displayed in the rich client.

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The Enterprise Portal can contain Role Center pages for the various roles that users can have in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. If a user is not assigned to a specific role, the default role center page is displayed.

A role center page can contain the following.

Cues: These web parts display a pictorial representation of some activity for a business, such as the number of open sales orders.

Quick Links: These web parts display a collection of links that the Enterprise Portal administrator or user can modify. The links provide quick access to other resources, such as locations in Enterprise Portal or external websites.

Work Lists: Dynamics Unified Worklist web parts display the list of activities, alerts, workflow approvals, and workflow tasks for the user.

KPIs: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Key Performance Indicator web parts are used to display KPIs.

Business Overview: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Business Overview web parts are used to display period comparison information for multiple KPIs.

Dynamics Report Server Report: These web parts display Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reports for Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Role Center Functions

The Role Center is used to display the results of SSRS and SSAS reports and analysis. The resulting presentation can display the critical indicators and data for a specific role that the user needs to make business decisions. The Role Center can also be used as a starting point to display a user's task list and provide visibility to records that require action, all of which is presented in a single page that is created with familiar development tools.

Summary Arguably, reporting can be one of the most important features of any enterprise system. The data that is contained in the system is only valuable to the extent that it is accessible. Report developers must be able to deliver accurate reports quickly. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 helps speed the process by equipping the developer, end-user and decision makers with familiar tools and formats so that they can obtain the data that they need.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 uses familiar tools such as SQL Server Reporting and Analysis Services for developing and deploying reports and analyzing data. Role Centers are used to display the resulting data in a variety of formats.

Additional resources for these Microsoft tools are MSDN, TechNet and the Microsoft Dynamics Community.

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Test Your Knowledge 1. What component is used to develop reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX

2012?

( ) Visual Studio ( ) Application Object Tree ( ) MorphX ( ) Crystal Reports

2. Which reporting option in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 uses Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)?

( ) SQL Server Integration Services ( ) SQL Server Analysis Services ( ) SQL Server MDX Services ( ) SQL Server OLAP Services

3. Which reporting features can be displayed on a Role Center? (Select all that apply)

( ) Cues ( ) KPIs ( ) SQL reports ( ) Work List

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Quick Interaction: Lessons Learned Take a moment and write down three key points you have learned from this chapter

1.

2.

3.

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Solutions Test Your Knowledge

1. What component is used to develop reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012?

() Visual Studio ( ) Application Object Tree ( ) MorphX ( ) Crystal Reports

2. Which reporting option in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 uses Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)?

( ) SQL Server Integration Services () SQL Server Analysis Services ( ) SQL Server MDX Services ( ) SQL Server OLAP Services

3. Which reporting features can be displayed on a Role Center? (Select all that apply)

() Cues () KPIs () SQL reports () Work List

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