Microsoft Dynamics AX works with Microsoft SharePoint
Make collaboration easier by providing your people and partners with one point of data in a shared virtual work space
Are multiple versions of information, files, and documents causing confusion and rework? Are your people wasting time looking for documents in their overflowing e-mail inboxes? Are they trying to manage collaboration and share information via huge attachments on an overflowing e-mail server? Integration between Microsoft Dynamic AX (formerly Microsoft Axapta) and Microsoft SharePoint products and technologies can help. Microsoft SharePoint enables users to create, access, and modify documents and data (including business data from Microsoft Dynamics AX) stored in shared team workspaces.
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Integration with Microsoft SharePoint enables your team members—and even approved business partners—to collaborate on information and documents that includes business data from Microsoft Dynamics AX. Users can create department and team sites that enable authorized team members to easily read and share documents from a central location on your intranet. And if you use Enterprise Portal as well, you can control access to sensitive material and work in-process through RoleTailored restrictions.
More efficient document sharing saves time
The combination of Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server helps people work together more efficiently.
Keep team members updated and informed
Using built-in alert capabilities, users can be notified when information is added, modified, or deleted on a particular topic. Announcements, surveys, and discussion boards keep team members informed. And they can create shared meeting workspaces to manage agenda items and follow-up actions. Users can also track meeting attendance from within the Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 messaging and collaboration client. Article: See how Microsoft Dynamics AX integrates with Microsoft Office System.
Provide users with document storage, creation, and review capabilities
Users can more easily and efficiently create and review any type of document using built-in document versioning and check-in and check-out capabilities integrated into team workspaces.
Reduce costs with self service
After workspace startup, the self-service tools of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services enables users to create site templates, share them with one another, and reuse customized site solutions. Users can easily adapt team workspaces to fit the needs of specific projects and communities by using built-in and extensible templates, Web parts, views, and custom lists. Because teams handle day-to-day site functionality and administration, users rely less on the IT staff. And IT support costs decrease.
Personalized Web access inspires productivity
Personalized information helps people stay focused on their tasks and work more productively. It also helps managers deliver relevant merchandising information to those who need it.
Case in point: One of the world's most successful football/soccer clubs located in Spain supports diversification with Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft SharePoint. Every manager in every department across the organization has a personalized scorecard where financial information can be integrated and viewed. Read the case study.
Relevant information on users' desktops
Microsoft SharePoint can be combined with Enterprise Portal to control access to sensitive material. Enterprise Portal provides a straightforward way to offer RoleTailored Web access to information and self-service functions from within Microsoft Dynamics AX. Each user has a personal Web site that helps them focus on their role and needs. They can use it any time, from any location.
Easy to find content
Enterprise Portal enables users to search Microsoft SharePoint team workspaces, the corporate intranet, and the Microsoft Dynamics AX database. You can offer direct access to the products, customers, and company information people need to do their jobs—all from a familiar Microsoft product interface—without having to train your people in Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Straightforward integration to existing portal solutions
Microsoft Dynamics AX Web parts can be used directly in any existing portal solution that supports hosting of SharePoint Web parts. If a customer already has a portal solution (such as a portal based on ASP.NET, Windows SharePoint Services, or SharePoint Portal Server), integrating Microsoft Dynamics AX into that portal solution is as simple as using Microsoft Dynamics AX Web parts for quick links to Web forms and Web reports.
Flexible platform reduces administrative costs
The flexibility and familiarity of Microsoft standard technology helps reduce costs. For example, you can tap your IT team’s familiarity of Microsoft technology to customize your system in house, or add on one of thousands of industry-specific solutions created by independent developers to customize a system that caters to your processes.
Case in point: See how a major European telecommunications carrier enhanced management decision making, gained business insight, strengthened security enhancements, and improved IT management. This was done by bringing together previously disparate information and making it accessible with connected technologies. Read the case study.
Automation and self service
Automated load balancing reduces system administration
By detecting host failures and redistributing traffic to operational hosts automatically, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system load balancing helps to ensure that team sites and mission-critical services based on Windows SharePoint Services are available when and where users need them.
Easy-to-build .NET-based scripts lower site management and support costs
IT professionals can use the Microsoft .NET object model to create custom scripts that automate common site management functions, and to build custom programs on the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services platform. IT administrators can use browser-based administration tools or the command line to manage workspace sites and site collections.
Industry standard tools
Cost-effective scale-up
Using Microsoft systems and ASP.NET, system administrators can set up Windows SharePoint Services configurations with multiple, stateless, front-end Web servers that support large numbers of user connections. These Web servers can support as many database servers as required—even in very large environments.
Faster configuration and reduced development costs
IT professionals can use the development tools of the Microsoft .NET Framework, standard data formats such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), and common tools. They can also use standardized site-design templates and easy-to-use site operations tools to provide team workspaces quickly and with minimal IT effort and site-provisioning costs.
Lower operational costs and total cost of ownership
Using the underlying management technologies and tools of the Windows Server 2003 operating system, IT professionals can monitor and troubleshoot Windows SharePoint Services team sites using less time and effort. IT professionals can configure Windows SharePoint Services sites from a centralized location by using Group Policy and the familiar Microsoft Management Console (MMC) graphical user interface. IT professionals can also monitor sites with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and administer the sites remotely with scripts and command-line tools.
Next steps
To learn more about how integration with Microsoft SharePoint products and technologies can help your people work together more productively, contact your local Microsoft partner. Or contact Microsoft, to request more information.
