Dynamics AX 2012 R2 – Missing features

When a new version of software is released, you like to have some answers to the following questions. What are the new features? Can it help your daily business? I guess you all looked at what is new. But… are you aware of changed and even removed features? Will that have an impact on your daily business?

Before continuing reading, I like to point out that there is a clue at the end of this document.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 was released and it continues expanding in countries and functionality. Since Dynamics AX2012 it is already known that some features have been changed, replaced, and so on. For example: The product builder will be removed in the next major release. There is a new constrained-based configurator. In the current AX2012 version, both product configurators are available if you upgrade from the previous version. If it is not possible to transfer the product models directly with this version, it can be done while AX2012 is already live. So there is time enough to prepare for future releases.

Also, be aware of removed features. Not even from previous versions AX4.0 and AX2009, but also from AX2012 to AX2012 R2. Yes, it is true… from AX2012 to AX2012 R2 some functionality has been removed.

So, are you interested in what functionality is removed? For a few persons, it will not be a shock as they did not know the removed functionality was available since AX2009. I’m talking about the Fill Utility. This utility enables mass updates of records in Dynamics AX.

You have not seen this feature? Check out the configuration keys in AX2009 or the License configuration in AX 2012 (prior to R2). The Fill utility is not enabled by default. You had to enable this ‘hidden’ feature.

AX2012 feature pack	AX 2012 R2

It was great to have a tool where you could easily change the value of a field in multiple records with just a few mouse clicks. It was a bit tricky when you had the wrong selection or a non-existing value in a reference field.

So now back to AX2012 R2…. The fill utility configuration is not available. Well, is the functionality now basically enabled by default? The right-click menu on a form field does not show the menu option… So new thought: Is the configuration key relocated in the configuration tree? As this functionality is named in the training AX2012 Financials I, it must be somewhere…

We must have overlooked something, so a check was done in the AOT. Where is the configuration key? Gone…

What other AOT elements were used in the AX2012 feature pack? Do they still exist? No! is the answer. It’s gone as well… What happened? Why? What do I have to do in the future? What’s new in AX2012 R2 does not help me out.

Documentation?

Maybe I can find something on Technet about the fill utility. There is documentation about the fill utility available. This topic has an important note:

“Applies To: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Feature Pack, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012”

It does not apply to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2! No word, no reason. So now I’m really lost….

Documentation!

When you read the document “New, Changed and Deprecated Features for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012”, you will find out the functionality is depreciated in AX 2012 R2. See below the reason and the replacement feature:

Reason for deprecation	The Fill Utility is being deprecated for several reasons: The tool does not run any validation checks prior to executing commands. This can result in data corruption. SQL can be used to update multiple records much more efficiently and accurately. Putting this power in the hands of an SQL database administrator will help ensure data integrity.
Replaced by another feature	Yes. The feature has been removed and replaced by the use of standard SQL updates.

So from now on we have to deal with the SQL database administrator. These are great guys with a lot of knowledge. I only wonder if this will work well in all scenarios listed below:

• Where/who is the SQL database administrator in a hosted environment?
• Does the SQL database administrator know the field- and table names when we want to have an update on a field of the employees? Mostly he does not have access to AX itself, so who is going to tell him?
• If updates are done without knowing AX 2012 will it really help ensure data integrity?
• Can we disturb an SQL database administrator and have a field changed on 476 (maybe more) lines of a vendor payment journal? The payments must be sent within 6 minutes…

In the meantime you are reading the document “New, Changed and Deprecated Features for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012”, I will look for options to have the functionality back in AX 2012 R2…

I do hope you liked this post and will add value for you in your daily work as a professional. If you have related questions or feedback, don’t hesitate to use the Comment feature below.


That’s all for now. Till next time!