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Home / Insights / Case Study / Migration of Microsoft Dynamics AX Ecosystem to the Cloud Using Sure Step Methodology Reduces Cost by 17%
Services: Microsoft Dynamics AX data migration
Business Need
The client had implemented Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 ERP, and now wanted to migrate their entire Dynamics AX ecosystem to the cloud to handle backup as well as a disaster recovery mechanism. They did not want to maintain the data center, as it required heavy maintenance cost and 24×7 staff availability. Through this effort, they hoped to reduce cost and time.
Solution and Approach
The client required migration of the initially implemented Dynamics AX 2012 ERP system to the cloud to handle backup and disaster recovery. Synoptek (formerly Indusa) performed the migration/cloning the execution process, which comprised of an installation and setup phase, database and application configuration phase, as well as database restoration and compilation phase.
The Sure Step methodology, along with Microsoft Dynamics implementation accelerators, were used to execute this project. With the use of Sure Step methodology, the client received an improved quality of services, along with the cost effective approach to Dynamics AX implementations and usage.
Project work was organized into six distinct phases: Diagnostic, Analysis, Design, Development, Deployment, and Operation. Diagnostic is a pre-implementation phase designed to assist the customer in the proper system selection. The analysis, design, development and deployment phases represent the five implementation phases of the Sure Step methodology. Operation, the last phase, also includes the activities aimed at smooth transition from implementation to post-implementation support.
Microsoft Dynamics ERP Best Practice Configuration Accelerator services allowed a fast and easy way to configure and deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX business processes and scenarios. It offered complete control over the design of the setup and improved the overall quality of the AX implementation. The accelerator offered various benefits, such as fewer errors due to a questionnaire-based approach, improvement in the implementation quality, consistency from ‘Proof of Concept’ to ‘Go Live,’ leveraged domain expertise, and standardized the business processes.
The implementation accelerator provided a cloud-based collaborative workspace that was used to manage Microsoft Dynamics AX projects from presales to implementation and operations. Various frameworks were used under the implementation accelerator for different phases of the project execution such as:
1. Code Optimization Framework which offers an automated tool that validates model files against Microsoft Dynamics AX best-practice rules for tables,classes, forms, etc., and then generates reports, including a summary report display on the site, and a detailed Microsoft Excel report that lists all issues.
2. System Performance Tuning Framework is a cloud-based tool that has a locally-installed component that is configured to perform tasks such as discovering on-premises Microsoft Dynamics AX environments, collecting data from the discovered environments, running rules on the collected data, reporting rule violations on a dashboard, providing reports, etc.
3. System Performance Tuning Framework helps to plan the upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 by analyzing code artifacts (AOD files) from Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 or Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009.
Business Results
By moving the system from on-premises to data center, the client was able to gain deeper insight into critical business data across the organization with relevant performance indicators based on flexible analytical tools.
The migrated system provided enhanced functionality, out-of-the-box reporting with SSRS, increased productivity through process and task automation, and reduced data center maintenance cost by 17%.