Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Financial Management Boost your accounting and financial skills with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Mohamed Aamer professional expertise distilled PUBLISHING BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Financial Management Copyright © 2015 Packt Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews. Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book. Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information. First published: November 2013 Second edition: February 2015 Production reference: 1090215 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB, UK. ISBN 978-1-78439-098-3 www.packtpub.com [ FM-2 ] Credits Author Project Coordinator Mohamed Aamer Judie Jose Reviewers Proofreaders Marco Carvalho Simran Bhogal János Molnár Ameesha Green Wendy Rijners Paul Hindle Syed Muhammad Sajid Joanna McMahon Commissioning Editor Indexer Usha Iyer Monica Ajmera Mehta Acquisition Editor Graphics Subho Gupta Sheetal Aute Content Development Editor Production Coordinator Ritika Singh Conidon Miranda Technical Editors Cover Work Krishnaveni Nair Conidon Miranda Rikita Poojari Humera Shaikh Copy Editors Shivangi Chaturvedi Deepa Nambiar Vikrant Phadke [ FM-3 ] About the Author Mohamed Aamer is a Microsoft Dynamics AX Support Engineer for the EMEA region with Microsoft, Egypt. In 2013, he was awarded Microsoft Dynamics AX MVP, and he was the first AX MVP in the Middle East and Africa. His main focus is on implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX to fit customers' needs. He uses his time to help and support Microsoft partners to answer their complex questions and tackle obstacles they might face; he understands customer business cycles and solves customer business problems through a combination of business process reengineering and utilization of Microsoft Dynamics AX functionalities. He is a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) specialized in financial management and supply chain management. In addition to this, he has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) for 5 years. Mohamed has varied consultation experience in dealing with Microsoft Golden Partners and Microsoft customers. He has worked as a consultant in many industries, such as retail fashion, retail electronics, cement manufacturing, trading, and ready mix. He has carried out multiple implementations of Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System and Microsoft Dynamics AX in numerous capacities, such as project manager, solutions architect, and lead consultant. His consulting skills are complemented by his business, management, and interpersonal skills. He is also a columnist of AX Excellence at the MSDynamicsWorld.com community, an official blogger at Microsoft Dynamics Community, and has his own blog www.( blog.mohamedaamer.com). He delivers evangelizing sessions to Microsoft Student Partners (MSPs) to introduce Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step to them. He has been ranked in the top 100 influential people at www. dynamicsworld.co.uk for 2 consecutive years. He has obtained other badges from Microsoft, such as Microsoft Community Contributor (MCC) and Microsoft Dynamics Community Expert. Mohamed authored Microsoft Dynamics 2012 Financial Management and reviewed Customer Success with Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step, both by Packt Publishing. When not working on complex business processes, he attends live Sufi shows and music concerts. [ FM-4 ] Acknowledgments My sincere thanks go to all people who directly/indirectly taught, guided, supported, and advised me to build my personal profile; I am doing my best to improve myself. The following acknowledgments are for people who had a massive impact on my career; I'd like to thank all of them, though I cannot thank them enough. I dedicate this book to the memory of my father and my Uncle, Hamza; both of them invested seed of concepts and beliefs in my brother and me, and now we are harvesting the fruits of this. My father always told me, "I believe in you; when you say you can do, you achieve more than what you target. Just focus." My uncle, Hamza, told me after my graduation, "You just met your lifetime teacher who will guide you through your entire life." My older brother, Ramy, who inspired me, gave me more than his time, efforts, tons of daily advice, coaching, and led me to the right path. He always supports and encourages me. He is my mentor; Ramy put me on the Information Technology track and gave me the chance to choose the right field to pursue. He helped me finish college and convinced me to attend the first e-commerce seminar in the Middle East; this was the first spark. I consider Ramy as my source of energy. I would like to thank my mother for her support and prayers. I would also like to thank my wife, who has given up so much of our personal life during the development of my career; I cannot thank her enough for that. Thanks to Dr. Salah ElKashef, who is a training and e-learning consultant and founder of ElKashef E-Learning University. Salah is my first instructor who introduced e-commerce to me in 2002 and helped me to become a certified e-commerce consultant before my graduation. He helped me by directing my career to Information Technology management. [ FM-5 ] I would like to thank Shaimaa Farid, who is an IT administrator at the Alexandria Trust. I have worked with Shaimaa as an application consultant for Microsoft Dynamics RMS; she is the one who provided me with information about the Microsoft Dynamics AX scholarship in 2008. Shaimaa has given me a lot of support and encouragement to focus on my career as a consultant. She is one of the best customer-oriented people I have worked with. Thanks to Mohamed Samy, who works as a solution architect. He is the one who introduced me to the community as a speaker for Cairo Code Camp; I used to deliver sessions with him as a copresenter, evangelizing Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step to the Egyptian community. He predicted that I will become an AX MVP. Mohamed is a very talented IT geek with unique creative solutions; I enjoy our community activities together. I would also like to thank Ahmed Kazem, cofounder and CTO of Lamartica. Ahmed is an artistic developer; he can learn any technology in a very short time. He develops, maintains, and supports my blog technically. I have never met a smart and gifted developer like him. Thanks to Ahmed Aboulmagd, who is a technical evangelist at Windows Phone Microsoft. Ahmed used to manage and schedule the Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step sessions with Microsoft Student Partner (MSPs); I believe we did a good job, especially when we saw some students joining that field. Thanks to Dr. Nezar Samy, Director at Information Systems Department, Nile University. Nezar was my instructor for Information Technology Management Professional Certificate at American University in Cairo: he taught me the role of IT as a business enabler and gave me a chance to improve my presentation skills. I would also like to thank Chandru Shankar, Manufacturing Industry Director at EMEA MBS Microsoft. Chandru has given me a lot of motivation and support in my career; he is always available to give advice and share ideas; I am very proud to have met a person like him and have him as a family friend. Chandru is my role model. Thanks to Jason Gumpert, who works as an editor at MSDynamicsWorld.com. I have been working with Jason since 2012 as an author for a feature column for the MSDynamicsWorld community. Jason gave me a chance to develop my writing techniques and style from blogs to articles; I believe my pieces reached more people through his community. He is an open-minded person, who is always open to new initiatives. [ FM-6 ] I would also like to thank Ashraf Abusen, Group Chief Financial Officer at ASEC Cement. I consider Abusen as my coach who taught me to utilize logical thinking and understand how to build up a practical solution for complex business requirements and streamline this solution with all business divisions. Abusen is a charismatic leader; he has the best skills to build the road map of the ERP solution. Thanks to Ashraf Aly, Senior Global ERP Director at Ascom. Ashraf is a talented manager who can manage and drive complex ERP implementation; he spotted my skills and gave me the opportunity to utilize my abilities. Ashraf has unique, flexible techniques to deal with stakeholders of any project and achieve the objectives of that project. Thanks to Julie Gale, who works as a project manager with Microsoft. She helped me learn more about Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step. She also supported me in community activities. I would also like to thank Microsoft EMEA Global Business Support (GBS). I am very proud to be part of this world-class team; they have always given me a lot of support. I cannot thank them enough for their ongoing support and guidance from management and colleagues. Special thanks to Eva Del Pino Ramirez, Dynamics AX Support Manager at Microsoft, for her continuous encouragement and feedback, which helped me develop my abilities.