Avoid ERP implementation pitfalls, go with AX, and LCS

Prevent ERP Failures

Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS) offers a collaborative Azure-based virtual workspace equipped with a wide array of features and capabilities that organizations can use to prevent costly ERP failures by using AX standardization to create predictability, repeatability, and quality improvement.  LCS is available to any organization that uses Dynamics AX and has a support contract with Microsoft.  LCS also makes future Dynamics AX implementations with updates and upgrades, easier.

Manage Your AX Environment Proficiently with LCS and Azure

Delivering “the right information, at the right time, to the right people,” LCS brings together all the information your organization needs to leverage the true power of AX using Azure for proactive monitoring of Dynamics AX implementations, updates and upgrades, and efficient management of your ERP environment.  

This comprehensive tool set includes 12 services that apply to three distinct phases: Define, Develop and Operate.

Define: The first phase, comprises:

• Methodology Automation – Methodology Automation can help ensure predictable, repeatable results every time, irrespective of the methodology used, be it Microsoft’s Sure Step Agile (an out-of-the-box methodology that allows you to easily track and report on progress) or a customized approach.
• Business Process Modeler – Business Process Modeler lets you: create, modify, standardize and view process flows in AX; align AX with industry standards to ensure regulatory compliance; and identify the gaps between your organization’s needs and built-in AX functionality.
• License Sizing Estimator – A very useful tool, License Sizing Estimator enables an accurate estimation of the number of Client Access Licenses (CAL) your organization needs and the costs associated, based on functional and technical user roles (e.g. project managers, business analysts, IT staff, etc.). 
• Usage Profiler – Usage Profiler allows users to determine the current and future usage of AX implementations. 
• Infrastructure Estimator – With this estimator, you can get a rough quantification of on-premise and/or cloud-based infrastructure needs for the AX environment selected.

Develop is the second phase of Dynamics AX Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and consists of:

• Cloud-Hosted Environments – You can use Cloud-Hosted Environments to deploy AX environments (demo or test environments) on Azure. Based on the environment you choose, this tool provides a number of virtual machines with appropriate features and capabilities pre-installed on them. 
• Configuration Manager – The role of Configuration Manager is to facilitate configuration transfers between two Dynamics AX environments. For transfers to be possible, AX environments must be part of a LCS project.  
• RapidStart – RapidStart provides an interview-style survey that you can use to configure AX according to your business needs. Since this tool also gives control over AX setup design, it can be used to improve the quality of AX implementations, updates and upgrades.  
• Customization Analysis – With Customization Analysis, you can compare model files with Dynamics AX best practices, validate or invalidate the model files selected, and then generate reports.  
• Upgrade Analysis – You can use Upgrade Analysis to plan upgrades to newer versions of AX. This feature also includes a tool that allows you to analyze existing code artifacts for an accurate size estimation of future upgrades. 

Operate is a project-specific phase and includes:

• System Diagnostics – System Diagnostics helps your employees monitor the health of Dynamics AX. Since this tool includes components that can be installed on both local computers and Microsoft Azure, it can collect data from any on-premise or cloud-based AX environment.
• Issue Search – Issue Search is an integrated search feature that allows you to look for documentation, regulatory requirements, issues reported to Microsoft and the progress on them, proactive fixes and hotfixes released.
• Cloud-Powered Support – This feature has been especially developed to allow users manage support incidents. Thanks to this service, you’ll be able to create a virtual machine in Azure and then record incidents and store hotfixes for your on-premise or cloud-based environment on it. 
• Updates – Updates hosts the update installer for Dynamics AX updates relevant for your implementation model.

The most significant advantage of LCS deployed on Azure is that it allows for easy sharing and collaboration on various projects across and outside your organization. If you want to get started with LCS, give us a call at 800-331-8382 or email sales@clientsfirst-tx.com. Once you start using this service, you’ll be able to enjoy AX to its full potential.