Dynamics Ax 3.0 to 4.0 migration tool released

Hi there

Microsoft have updated an existing migration tool so that it now can assist in migrating from Axapta 3.0 to Dynamics Ax 4.0

Link (requires login to partnersource)

It's called XAL2AX, probably because Dynamics Ax was called Concord XAL many years ago when Damgaard still owned it

In fact Ax has had several different names and owners over the years, but that's another story which I'll explain in a separate post one day

Happy migrating!

Dynamics Ax 2009 VPC available

Hi there

Microsoft have released a Virtual PC image of Dynamics Ax 2009 (the new name for Dynamics Ax version 5)

You can download it and user manuals from here (requires partnersource access)

It's almost 7 GB in total and is designed to work on a single laptop/PC (as opposed to a server)

Enjoy

The difference between t and d

Howdy

When entering the date in a date/time field in Axapta, you can use either t or d as a quick way of entering the current date/time

There is a difference between the two though;

t uses the date/time according to Windows

d uses the Axapta system date/time

Dynamics Ax 3.0 financials exam preparation tips

Hello there

This was the first Axapta exam that I sat and I found it quite tricky

But fear not! For your experience should be much more pleasent with these tips:

Syllabus
As with any exam there is a syllabus available
This narrows down what you need to know
You can download a pdf copy of it here

Sample Questions
There is a set of 5 sample questions for this exam which are available on the Microsoft website
But it's almost impossible to find and even more difficult to download them so I've made them available for you to download here

Rapid Config Tool
The Rapid config tool is free tool developed by an Axapta partner in the US called Avanade
It's available for download from the MS Partnersource website
The document library that comes with it contains the best Axapta Financials documentation, in my opinion
You can download it from here (requires Partnersource login)

The Plan
Revise the topics from the syllabus using the Financials I & II books (you should be able to buy these from an Microsoft Dynamics Training Partner for about £30 each)

When you come across something that doesn't make sense, check what the Rapid Config documents say as the Financials books don't go into enough depth on most topics

Once you're confident, try to answer the sample questions without any reference materials

The Backup Plan
If all else fails and you're in the exam looking at a question without any idea what the answer is, then there's a few useful tips for guessing the right answer mentioned in this article

It's a Unix website but the advice applies to any multiple choice IT certification exam

The "If Everything Goes To Hell" Backup Plan
At the time of writing this article, Interquad (the MS training partner who I was taking the exams with) was offering a free resit if you failed an exam on the first attempt
So just make sure you book your exam with a partner that offers the same deal ;)

Good luck!

P.S. I'll be posting all the exam questions I remember once I've had a chance to convert the notes into something readable, stay tuned!