The release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, is scheduled for September 8, 2011. Dynamics AX 2012 will launch at the Global Virtual Launch Event.

As a comprehensive ERP (enterprise resource planning) application, Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta) is a solution for midsize and larger companies and makes it easy to operate across locations and countries by standardizing processes, providing visibility across your organization, and helping to simplify compliance.. It enables businesses to work effectively, manage change, and compete globally.

The 2012 version of AX provides hundreds of enhancements to help customers improve productivity, manage change and growth and compete globally.

• Microsoft Office add-ins to use Microsoft Word and Excel to build templates and documents that combine structured and unstructured information from Dynamics AX.
• Model organizational structures more address book access, selectively enforce policies by address book, and create applicant records directly from application forms.

• Global Address Book: create multiple address books,
• A faster order entry process limits the amount of information to be entered. This permits easier access to Sales order process enhancements allows users to place orders in sales order header or line details as well as expert features allowing users to modify default settings and customize sales orders
• Transfer and view employee records easily, and reduce manual process steps in recruiting, onboarding, development, transfer, and termination.
• In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, the Expense Management application for the Enterprise Portal is improved in many areas to help streamline processes and improve productivity. This includes the expense entry, cash advance request, credit card dispute, travel requisition, and expense report delegation. In addition, the approval experience for expense reports, travel requisitions, and cash advances are improved or introduced.
• Time zone enhancements: easily set and change time zone preferences, support multiple time zones, synchronize time zone preferences with local time zones, and view different time zone information for transactions.
• Policies management: utilize this new capability to help implement a unified procurement strategy across employees, purchasing agents, and vendors.

• Manage Product information create and maintain product definitions and master definitions for sets of products across the entire organization, and share these across companies to maintain centralized product repository control.
• New Help system allowing you to customize topics, enabling others in the organization to create Help documentation, promptly applying and distributing updates and using Search and Help viewer to find help on your network or the web.
• RoleTailored user interface including FactBoxes, Fast Tabs, and Preview Panes that let you view data from multiple sources without leaving the current form.
• Time zone improvements including editing time zones, supporting multiple time zones, and synchronizing time zone preferences
• Unified procurement strategy across employees, purchasing agents, and vendors
• Auto-generated SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) reports and basic reports creation using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Charting Control
• Global operations support through development of a report in one language and the reporting framework products for the report in multiple languages
• Ability to create complex workflows and separate workflows for each line associated with a header, even automated workflows requiring no human intervention
• Graphical Workflow Editor enables drag-and-drop functionality for workflow creation and Work Item Queues help users control what they work on and load balance across the team when necessary.
• Environmental Sustainability Dashboard to track energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions to proactively monitor your organization’s environmental impact plus the new associated data cube to keep track of energy consumption, carbon footprint and KPIs for waste and water usage.
• Improve supply chain planning capabilities across your organization, using new views that display all intercompany supply and demand.
• Planned intercompany demand is visible for upstream companies within the organization, and can be considered in master planning.
• Planning and management are also supported with a full view of intercompany order-pegging using a multilevel pegging form.

• Quickly create unlimited, form-based financial dimensions that can be shared across legal entities for a complete business view, audit trail transparency, and detailed analyses.
• Transform budget information into precise, workflow-driven management tools with multiple, variable, and hierarchical budgetary controls that allow you to define how you want to manage expenditures and achieve greater control of the procurement process.
• Set up, view, and manage encumbrances, including purchase order commitments, in the general ledger, and manage workflow items with respect to year-end processing and encumbrances.
• Streamline the cash-to-collections process to save time, engage efficiently with customers, and improve cash flow.
• Simplify and help ensure accurate processing of requisitions, orders, invoices, and other key transactions by defining accounting distributions and viewing subledger journal entries before journalizing source documents.
• Improve accounts payable operational efficiency with new capabilities to match invoices, allocate charges, process and track purchase order prepayments, add lines to invoices, and more.

• Increase productivity and accuracy as you leverage architectural advances to share key financial data among legal entities – enhancements that include purchase order rollover and budget carry-forward options. Sharply reduce time and effort for year-end closing
• Empower workers to order day-to-day goods and services from searchable online catalogs.
• Help vendors operate more efficiently by enabling them to perform a variety of tasks online, such as updating profile data, requesting additional users, requesting the scope of their offering be expanded, uploading catalog content, submitting invoices, reviewing payments, and more.
• Import, create, edit, stage, publish, and search catalogs of items for internal consumption on an internal shopping site. Or punch out directly to your vendor catalog.
• Create a virtual workplace where category managers can manage overall spending by category.
• Utilize requisition aggregation, work queue management, category management, and other procurement functionality through procurement-based Role Center.
• Establish a centralized procurement desk capability across your organization to support procurement policies and processes.

• Easily set up and maintain one or more different purchasing policies and apply those to different sets of requisitioners across the organization.
• Easily convert a purchase order line or sales order into a delivery schedule and maintain total order discount eligibility even when multiple deliveries result.
• Support quality management with a new inventory blocking feature that works manually or on an automated basis to enjoy greater flexibility and granularity in quality order specification, and more.
• Improve your ability to report the value of goods in transit between companies, using two new reports in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.
• Touch Screen capabilities in Manufacturing Execution System

• View a summary as the project budget is created, compare against funding, and make corrections before submission.
• Create and manage projects in Enterprise Portal to enable remote access and reduce software installation and update issues.
• Make time sheet entries more efficiently with enhanced time entry capabilities and user experiences from a web browser or the client application.
• Allocate and post revenue based on internal sales prices for workers, categories, and dimensions, enabling profitability monitoring by allocation area.
• Improve management of complex portfolios of projects and next-level optimization of resource schedules through enhanced integration with Microsoft Project Server 2010.

• Improve individual productivity by referring to Role Centers for data, alerts, task lists, and reports pertinent to specific job functions; more than two dozen predefined Role Centers can be accessed from the Enterprise Portal or Microsoft Dynamics AX Windows client.
• Use the Employee Portal and workflow tools to enforce spending and approval policies at a more granular level, and to enable employee self-service for performance goal management