Merging global address book records – Book details and promotion

Last week I published my first book on Microsoft Dynamics AX. This post will provide some details what to expect in this book, as well as a limited promotion offer. The book will explore details related to merging global address book records and managing duplicates. Functional tips are provided and also workarounds when the merge is not supported. The book will also inform about possible issues (also performance) and how to solve or prevent them.

The contents of this book

The global address book in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is an entity where party records are stored. The party records are shared and contains information about all organizations and contacts in your Microsoft Dynamics AX environment. Due to large number of parties it might be indivertible to have duplicate parties or parties with similar names. Probably having duplicate records is desired for several reasons.

The Merge feature for global address book records in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 will help you joining the duplicates. This book will explain this feature and many related tasks. While reading the book you may discover some useful tips. Some of the tips can also be applied to other parts of the application in a similar way. The book will also describe the exceptions when you can’t merge global address book records. When possible, the workaround is also provided.

In addition a deep dive has been performed to do some troubleshooting on (possible) performance problems and how to solve or prevent them when you use the merge feature. This is based on experiences at customers with common use of the application, but also scenarios with huge number of records in various tables.

The book is intended for both functional and technical persons. The functional and technical parts are described in such a way that it would be understandable even if you do not have the appropriate skills.

Table of contents

Introduction
Merging global address book records
Merge parties
Result of merging parties
Causes of duplicate records
Security roles
Functional tips
Merging parties with 3 duplicates or more
Search for duplicates
Prevent duplicates
Merge required or obsolete
Delete parties with no role automatically
Check for duplicates using the DUNS number
Find party record based on DUNS number
Enterprise search
Split party records
Restrictions and workarounds
Same party role in the same legal entity
Internal party organizations
Different type
Persons with HRM roles
Error due to same location
Issues and solutions
Hotfixes available
Performance issue: missing index on related tables
Performance issue: large number of legal entities
Appendix A: List of tables evaluated during merge
Appendix B: Save size “Check for duplicates” form
Appendix C: Create searchable query
Appendix D: Merging master data records

Details

The book describes a lot of functionality related to merging global address book records and managing duplicate parties. All functionality is explained with step-by-step instructions and screenshots.

The first chapter will tell you how to perform the merge and the results of doing so. Do you know the relation between merging party records and the inventory transactions? The second chapter is rich in functional tips. Some of them can also be applied to other functionality in AX 2012. If the system e.g. tells you a DUNS number has been entered already, how can you find the duplicate in your global address book? Did you know how to create a searchable query? This is also explained in this book. The chapter Restrictions and workaround tells you about standard restrictions and how to deal with them. Also a script is provided to merge e.g. vendors in the same legal entity. The chapter issues and solutions will inform you mainly about possible performance issues and how to prevent or solve them. Coding is provided with also step-by-step instructions to apply it in your environments.

Note that all information provided in this book is “as is”. Coding should be thoroughly tested in a test and/or staging environment before applying it in to your live environment. Although some coding is in use at customers, there is no guarantee from me it is free of errors.

Promotion

To promote the book, I decided to offer a limited period where you are able to get the Kindle edition for free. This will start at September 16, 2015 and will end September 18, 2015. The start and end times of the promotion will be approximately midnight Pacific Standard Time on the day it starts and midnight Pacific Standard Time on the day it ends. So get your copy during these promotion days! You can use the next link for a copy.

http://www.amazon.com/AXploring-Dynamics-AX-2012-duplicate-ebook/dp/B01521F4W0/

That’s all for now. Till next time!