(For more resources related to this topic, see here.)
The financial reporting is one of the basic implementation corner stone. The main principles for reporting are reliability of business information and the ability to get the right information at the right time for the right person. Reports that analyze ERP data in an expressive way represent the output of the ERP implementation; it is considered the cream of the implementation, the next level of value that solution stakeholders should target for. This ultimate outcome results from building all reports based on a single point of information.
Planning reporting needs for ERP
The Microsoft Dynamics AX implementation teamwork should challenge the management’s reporting needs in the analysis phase of the implementation, with a particular focus on exploring the data required to build reports. These data requirements should then be cross-checked with the real data entry activities that end users will execute to ensure that business users will get vital information from the reports. The reporting levels are as follows:
- Operational Management
- Middle Management
- Top Management
Understanding the information technology value chain
The model of a management information system is most applicable to a businesses’ Information Technology (IT) manager or Chief Information Officer (CIO). Business owners likely don’t care as much about the specifics as long as these aspects of the solution deliver the required results. The basic layers of the value chain are as follows:
- Infrastructure
- Database Management
- Business Processes
- Business Intelligence
- Frontend
Understanding Microsoft Dynamics AX information source blocks
In this section, we will explore the information sources that eventually determine the strategic value of BI reporting and analytics. These are divided into three blocks:
- Detailed Transactions Block
- Business Intelligence Block
- Executive Dashboard Block
Discovering Microsoft Dynamics AX reporting options
The reporting options offered by Microsoft Dynamics AX are as follows:
- Inquiry Forms
- SQL Reporting Services (SSRS) Reports
- Original Transaction
- Original Document
- Audit Trail
Reporting Currency
Companies report their transactions in a specific currency that is known as accounting currency or local currency. It is normal to post transactions in a different currency, and this amount of money is translated to the home currency using the current exchange rate.
Autoreports
The autoreport wizard is a user-friendly tool. The end user can easily generate a report starting from every form in Microsoft Dynamics AX. The autoreport wizard helps the user to create a report based on the information in the form and save this report.
Summary
In this article, we have covered financial reporting from planning to consideration of reporting levels. We also covered important points that affect reporting quality.
Resources for Article:
Further resources on this subject:
- Types of services in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 [Article]
- Integrating with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 using BizTalk Adapter [Article]
- Working with Microsoft Dynamics AX and .NET: Part 1 [Article]
