Increasingly, companies and organizations are realizing that looking at their business from the perspective of environmental sustainability reveals opportunities to run their business more efficiently. However, getting a clear view of relevant data can be quite challenging. That is why we are launching software designed to help your company look at your business from a new perspective, identify opportunities for increased efficiency that can deliver bottom-line cost savings, and track progress against initiatives to decrease your impact on the environment.
The Environmental Sustainability Dashboard for Microsoft Dynamics AX is here!
This cost-effective solution is designed to help Microsoft Dynamics AX customers track their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, also known as their carbon footprint, over time allowing them to be more proactive in their approach to environmental issues. The dashboard represents Microsoft's commitment to developing technology that supports environmentally sustainable business practices.
Streamline data collection
To facilitate collection of energy consumption data, business processes such as accounts payable and inventory management have been extended, thus simplifying a previously painful and time-consuming process.
Measure energy use and emissions
A study of 150 companies in March 2007 by AMR Research showed that businesses consider their most important environmental goals to be energy and emissions reduction.1 The Environmental Sustainability Dashboard enables companies to track and report on four environmental performance indicators related to energy and emissions as prescribed by the G3 guidelines from the Global Reporting Initiative, an internationally recognized organization formed to facilitate sustainability reporting.
Knowledge is power
Microsoft Dynamics AX integrates environmental data with business data thereby allowing companies to make decisions that consider their environmental impacts. When businesses understand the resource consumption of their operations, managers can make fiscally and environmentally sound decisions about the way their companies are run.
How to implement software for insight into environmental issues
As part of the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step implementation methodology, the dashboard will be accompanied by detailed guidance to help customers and partners gather the data needed to create a greenhouse gas inventory and setup that information in the dashboard so they can gather accurate, auditable, and actionable environmental data.
This extends our efforts to publish environmental sustainability guidance to help our customers take advantage of the highly configurable nature of Microsoft Dynamics products. At this time we are also announcing the availability of Environmental Management Accounting guidance for Microsoft Dynamics NAV and GP, along with already published guidance for Microsoft Dynamics AX, which outlines additional ways you can setup your system to better track environmental costs and impacts.
To learn more about how the Environmental Management Accounting and Environmental Sustainability Dashboard guidance can benefit your company, read Microsoft Dynamics AX helps businesses track their “green” performance - today and tomorrow (DOC 18.5 KB).
To learn more about Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step implementation methodology, contact your local partner.
Next steps
- Check out our blog: Shades of Blue and Green.
Check out this blog maintained by a passionate group of people who believe it's important to make it easy for companies to become socially and environmentally sustainable. They want to learn as much as they can about "blue/green" issues and will share their thoughts and what they learn in this blog.
- Participate in the Microsoft Dynamics environmental sustainability newsgroup.
Follow the latest dialog on this topic by viewing the newsgroup. Even better, help shape the future by sharing your business goals and needs for environmental sustainability with peers, Microsoft, and technology leaders, industry experts, and others.
- Read a customer case study.
Learn about Seventh Generation—a pioneer in socially responsible business practices—and their selection of Microsoft Dynamics. They chose this solution not only because of its impressively comprehensive ERP functionality, but because it is able to support the company’s core environmental values.
- Contact us.
Learn more about how you can drive environmental sustainability practices with Microsoft Dynamics. Contact us with questions and for help finding a Microsoft partner.
1 http://www.amrresearch.com/Content/View.asp?pmillid=20245
