Microsoft Dynamics AX Report Development with SSRS Case Study
The Client
The client is a multinational shipping company that requires on-demand financial reporting.
Reporting is an invaluable competitive advantage to this client helping them gain insight and make better business decisions.
The Challenge
Our client had migrated from JDE to Microsoft Dynamics AX and needed to migrate the reports their business relied upon.
After gathering requirements, we then designed, developed, tested, and deployed the reports into AX and SharePoint.
These reports were critical for the client’s Finance and Accounting (F&A) department. Senior management and other stakeholders relied upon F&A to deliver quality reporting and analysis on a timely basis.
Key Challenges
– Migrating F&A reports from JDE to Microsoft Dynamics AX.
– Customizing AX reports to meet business requirements.
– Pulling report data from multiple sources.
– Deploying customized reports to AX.
The Process
- Understand the business process and function.
- Create test data with the help of test scenarios.
- Validate business logic.
- Build the reports and deploy to Dynamics AX.
How Optimus Helped
Our client used various modules of Dynamics AX, such as Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Expense Management and General Ledger. In addition to recreating the JDE reports for these modules, the business used this opportunity to create new reports.
Since the out-of-the-box reports did not meet the business requirements, the client needed customized reports. Using the Microsoft SSRS platform, we developed new reports with enhanced functionality and improved performance.
One of the shortfalls of the out-of-the-box reports was that they could not pull data from multiple data sources. We leveraged the SSRS functionality to develop reports with multiple data sources, including other MS SQL and Oracle databases.
After developing the first external SSRS report, we tested a proof of concept deployed to a specific Dynamics AX module. In addition to testing the report functionality and performance, we verified that the report was only accessible to the users of that module.
Our on-site manager and technical lead helped coordinate efforts and review reports with the client while ensuring the back-end team was efficient in developing and testing reports. This delivery model benefited the client by increasing speed while maintaining quality.