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Dynamics AX

Use Shorthand to Enter Dates

November 26, 2013
Dynamics AX
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Use shorthand to enter dates

Use shorthand to enter dates

Dynamics AX has a lot of shortcut keys that you can use to navigate around the system and save you from clicking the mouse too much, but in addition there are some shorthand annotations that you can use in the fields to help you with your day to day data entry.

One example of this is that you don’t have to specify the full date (i.e. 12/25/2013) when you enter them in.  You can use tokens for the current date and also partial dates (i.e. 1225) that will be translated into the full date.  When you are trying to get information in as quickly as possible, then this is incredibly useful.

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Using the Query Dialog to Create More Advanced Filters

November 25, 2013
Dynamics AX
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Using the Query Dialog to create more advanced filters

Using the Query Dialog to create more advanced filters

There are a lot of different ways that you can filter out the information in Dynamics AX, but the most flexible one is the Query Dialog.  You are probably familiar with this because it shows up a lot when you run updates and reports as the selection box.  But you can also access it any time that you are on a list page by pressing CTRL+F3.

This allows you to quickly create custom filters on your data on that is both on the form, and also any additional fields that you may want to add to the query, without having to add additional fields to the form through the personalization.  This makes it an incredibly useful way to refine your searches.

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Create PowerView Dashboards directly from Dynamics AX

November 22, 2013
Business Intelligence, Dynamics AX, PowerBI, PowerView
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Create PowerView Dashboards directly from Dynamics AX

Create PowerView Dashboards directly from Dynamics AX

If you pay attention to your Dynamics AX screens, you may notice a new button has shown up with an Analyze This label.  When you see it, click on it as soon as you can because it will open up a PowerView reporting dashboard that allows you to create your own reports on the fly.

With this new tool you can create your own dashboards and reports without having to bother your IT department.

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Export to Excel when there is no Ribbon Bar

November 21, 2013
Dynamics AX, Excel, Office
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Export to Excel when there is no Ribbon Bar

Export to Excel when there is no Ribbon Bar

Not all of the forms within Dynamics AX have the ribbon bar enabled with the Export to Excel icon handy for you to use when you want to gram a copy of the data, but that doesn’t mean that there is no way to quickly get your data moved over to a linked worksheet.

All you need to do is select the Export to Microsoft Excel menu item from the Files menu, or for those of you that love shortcut keys, just press CTRL+T and Dynamics AX will create an Excel Workbook with all of the data from the form populated in it.

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How to Not Find Something in Dynamics AX

November 20, 2013
Dynamics AX
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How to not find something in Dynamics AX

How to not find something in Dynamics AX

The filtering within Dynamics AX is great and it’s easy to use to find just the records that you are interested in.  But what if you want to filter particular pieces of information out of the query rather than search for particular information.

You can easily do this with the special filter operator “!” (also known as Not) – all you have to do is put this in front of the values that you don’t want to return and those records will be filtered out for you.

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Filter Your Favorites Menu Items

November 19, 2013
Dynamics AX
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Filter your favorites menu item

Filter your favorites menu item

You all probably know that you can add any menu item link to your own personal favorites menu, but you don’t have to stop there.  You can personalize those favorites also to automatically apply a filter so that you get just the records back that you need.

By doing this, you can create multiple favorite links to the same menu item that returns different sets of data depending on what you are working on, saving you a few extra steps.

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Have Dynamics AX Calculate the Last Day of the Month

November 18, 2013
Dynamics AX
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Have Dynamics AX calculate the last day of the month

Have Dynamics AX calculate the last day of the month

There are a lot of small features within Dynamics AX that can save you time and energy of trying to mentally calculate what you should do.  One example of this is to do with entering in dates.  If you have ever had to type in a date for the end of a month, and then had to pause to work out of the month has 28, 29, 30, or 31 days.  Next time, just use the date of 31, and Dynamics AX will convert the date to the right value.

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Perform What-If Analysis Within Excel using PowerBI

November 15, 2013
Business Intelligence, Dynamics AX, PowerBI, PowerPivot, PowerView
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Perform What-If Analysis Within Excel using PowerBI

Perform What-If Analysis Within Excel using PowerBI

Sometimes you want to have a way to juggle numbers a little to perform quick what-if analysis, but you are not committed to the change at the time so you really don’t want to be changing the codes within Dynamics AX just yet, and would rather have the changes remain off-line until some time in the future.

In this example we will show you how to use an off-line worksheet that contains all of the changes that you want to make along with PowerPivot and PowerView to create a simple dashboard to track the impact that changes would have on your data.

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Add Additional Dynamics AX Fields to Worksheets After Exporting to Excel

November 14, 2013
Dynamics AX, Excel
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Add additional Dynamics AX fields to worksheets after exporting to Excel

Add additional Dynamics AX fields to worksheets after exporting to Excel

Exporting to Excel from Dynamics AX is probably one of the most used features for all of the do-it-yourselfers out there because once the data is in Excel you can create your own reports, dashboards, and analysis in a tool that we are all very familiar with.

But just because Dynamics AX exports the fields that are showing on the form does not mean that you have to settle for that data.  Using the Dynamics AX Add-In for Excel, you can see all of the fields that are available within the table or query from Excel and add in new columns on the fly, making your Excel queries even more useful.

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Synchronize Dynamics AX with Microsoft Outlook

November 13, 2013
Dynamics AX, Office, Outlook
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Synchronize Dynamics AX with Microsoft Outlook

Synchronize Dynamics AX with Microsoft Outlook

Although we would like to be sitting in front of Dynamics AX all the time, it’s usually just not the case because we’re travelling, or just away from our desks.  All that time, people may be setting up meetings for you, assigning critical tasks, or updating contact information that maybe you will need.

You don’t have to miss a beat though because you can set up your Dynamics AX client so that it synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook, and then all of the tasks, appointments, and contacts that you use will travel with you on your laptop, tablet, and even your phone.

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