KabirShenvi'sBlog

How to get your free Dynamics 365 Business Central Demo Instance

kabir shenvi — Sat, 05 May 2018 14:19:14 GMT

Dynamics 365 Business Central is an online service by Microsoft - sold vis CSP (Cloud Solution Provider Program) by Microsoft partners on Microsoft Azure. It is an all-in-one business management solution that helps organizations connect their financials, operations, sales and service. Dynamics 365 Business Central brings the product maturity and full power of Dynamics NAV in the cloud, with capabilities spanning financial management, supply chain and inventory management, sales and service management, project management, and operations management. Now, I am sure you are eager to get access to this awesome solution and demo Dynamics 365 Business Central to your prospects. The 4 available options for you to access Dynamics 365 Business Central are:

Option 1: Make use of your work email address and sign up for the 'non-expiring' Dynamics 365 Business Central trial. Option 2: Create a free Office 365, 90 day trial instance to sign up for a 'non-expiring' Dynamics 365 Business Central trial. Option 3: This is the same as option 1, but, after 90 days stop to demo the Office integration. Option 4: Purchase users of Business Central and consider it as a 'cost of goods sold'.

And from the above four options, options 1, 2 and 3 are free, however, for the 4th option you will require to pay a certain amount per user per month. Let me share with you the 10 quick steps with which I set up my FREE Dynamics 365 Business Central demo instance. I made use of Option 2. Step 1: Create an Office 365 Demo Account. Access the Microsoft Demos website - https://demos.microsoft.com/ and login with your credentials -

Step 2 Once you have successfully logged in to the Microsoft Demos website, you need to create a new Office 365 demo tenant -

Step 3 I chose the 'Microsoft 365 Enterprise Demo Content' -

Step 4 In a few minutes Microsoft made the demo tenant available for me and shared the login details with me -

Step 5: Access the Dynamics trials website - https://trials.dynamics.com (Please be aware, to avoid conflict with your local machine, use the “In Private” or “Incognito” browsing option.) -

Step 6 Login with the Office 365 demo tenant username and phone number -

Step 7 Once I clicked on the "Get Started" button, the following message was displayed to me -

Step 8 I clicked on the "Sign In" button and entered the password for the Office 365 demo tenant (Step 4) -

Click on "Yes" in the next message to 'stay signed in'.

Step 9 I was displayed a 'Almost There' message with a 'Start' button. I clicked on the 'Start ' button and waited for a few minutes for Microsoft to spin up the Dynamics 365 Business Central instance and assign it to the trial Office 365 demo tenant -

On the first login, I also get the initial message to access the 'introduction videos', help and assistance to make best use of this amazing solution. Step 10 And there I was, in a few minutes, ready with a Dynamics 365 Business Central demo instance with demo data ! Hope this blog post is informative and of use for you :)

Manage Engineering Change with 'Cases' for Dynamics AX 2012 R3

kabir shenvi — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 00:48:04 GMT

Engineering Change Management controls the design changes released by the engineering department to modify or correct, maybe a bill of material. Usually, an engineering change review committee is assembled by the management which determines the effective date and disposition of existing material.

Engineering Change Management is a logistics function that can be used to change redundant master data and document the changes.
By making the changes become valid on a predefined date, aids the planning process.
The changes take effect at the predefined date in all areas of the logistics process chain.

Why do we usually use Engineering Change Management?

To monitor and document the changes
To be able to execute the change at a specified date

How the process helps in controlling losses: The below examples explain how a loss can be raised:

An unwanted change in the product master for a Item Group can lead to configuration issue for a GL account.
An unwanted or an authorized change in the Cost Group can cause a Costing and Profitability issue.
An unwanted change in the unit of measure can cause an issue everywhere in any transaction of the application.

To name these, are only a few of the losses created by an unwanted change for the master data like product master or Bill of Material. Through controlled changes of the master using the ECM, can improve the margins in a phased manner. Though Engineering Change Management applies to many areas, Bill of Material is one such, which needs to get controlled for the changes as the change applies to many areas of application .The Controlled change through ECM leads to proper documentation of the changes and provides a controlled environment for the changes. With Dynamics AX 2012 CU7 release, a new Case Category type was added, called Product Change. Let us see with steps and easy to follow screenshots, in a scenario where - Scenario: The Engineering Change Review Committee recommends change in a particular Bill of Material for a finished good. Dynamics AX user needs to initiate, document, approve and release changes to the product for the planning and production cycles.

In this example, we replace the Bill of Material component Sedan Wiring Harness (Item Number M0016) with component Coupe Wiring Harness (Item Number M0015), in Bill of Material for Car Audio System (Item Number D0005). The environment used in this example is Dynamics AX 2012 R3 with demo database.

Step 1: Create a new Case Category - Step 1.1: Go to Organizational administration > Setup > Cases > Case categories. Step 1.2: On the Case categories form, on the Action Pane, click New > Case category. Step 1.3: Enter in the Case category field. Enter description of the new case category in Description field. In the Category type field, select Product change. Step 2: Document Product Change - When we create the product change case, we associate the artifact to the case, identify all those products, bills of materials and routes that may be impacted and associate them with the product change case. Step 2.1: Go to Released products. Step 2.2: Select the D0005 product. Step 2.3: Click the Engineer tab, and then click Create case. Step 2.4: In the Name field, select Contoso Retail Seattle, the organization that is causing the change. Step 2.5: In the Case category field, select the case category created in step 1.3. Step 2.6: In the Description field, enter a short description of the product change case. Step 2.7: Click Create to create the product change case. Step 3: Add the dependent products, Bill of Material and Routes, to the Case - Step 3.1: From the Released Products list, Select the Item D0005, Go to the Engineer tab and Click on All Cases. Step 3.2: Open the case created in step 2.7 Step 3.3: On the Case details page, expand the Associations FastTab. Step 3.4: Select the D0005 item association, and then click Where-used analysis. Step 3.5: On the Where-used analysis form, set the Number of route levels to include field to 2 and set the Number of BOM levels to include field to 2. Step 3.6: Click Run the analysis. Step 3.7: Add a note in the case Log. Step 3.8: Click the Associate all with the case button. Step 4: Associate Bills of Materials with the Product Change Case - Step 4.1: From the Released product details form, click the Engineer tab and click Lines. Step 4.2: Then click Create BOM. Step 4.3: Enter description to name the new BOM. Step 4.4: Select the Copy check box, and select the Site. Step 4.5: In the new BOM, replace component Sedan Wiring Harness (Item M0016) with component Coupe Wiring Harness (Item M0015) Step 4.6: Update the To and From dates to Approve and Activate the BOM. The other option is to Approve and Activate the BOM as explained in step 7 below. However, in this example, I have activated the BOM here to show that we have the flexibility to Approve and Activate the BOM with both these options and to document the changes. Step 4.7: On the Action Pane above the Versions grid, click Product change, and then click Associate with case. Step 4.8: Associate the BOM with the product case created in Step 2.7 Step 4.9: You may also add a note in the case log. Step 5: Associate Routes with the Product Change Case - Step 5.1: From the Released product details form, click the Engineer tab and click Routes. Step 5.2: Then click Create route. Step 5.3: Enter description to name the new Route. Step 5.4: Select the Copy check box, and select the Site. Step 5.5: Add another operation in the new Route. Step 5.6: Approve and Activate the new Route. The other option is to Approve and Activate the Route as explained in step 7 below. However, in this example, I have activated the Route here to show that we have the flexibility to Approve and Activate the Route with both these options and to document the changes. Step 5.7: On the Action Pane above the Versions grid, click Product change, and then click Associate with case. Step 5.8: Associate the Route with the product case created in Step 2.7 Step 5.9: You may also add a note in the case log. Step 6: Verify the Product Changes - Step 6.1: Go to Home > Cases > All cases. Step 6.2: Select the product case created in step 2.7. Step 6.3: On the Action Pane, click Change status and select In process. Step 6.4: On the Action Pane, click Verify completeness. Step 7: Approve and Activate Product Changes - Step 7.1: On the Action Pane, click Approve and activate changes. Step 7.2: On the Action Pane, click Approve and activate changes. Step 7.3: In the upper part of the Approve and activate changes form, select all. Step 7.4: In the Action field, select Expire for the old BOM and Route, you want to expire. Step 7.5: In the Action field, select Approve and activate for the new BOM and Route, you want to use. Step 7.6: Click Validate. Step 7.7: Click Apply actions and select an Approver to release the product changes to production. Step 8: Close the Product Change Case - Step 8.1: On the All cases list page, select the product case created in step 2.7 Step 8.2: Click Change status and select Closed to complete the case. With this example, we can conclude that the Engineering Change managed by 'Cases' with Dynamics AX 2012 R3, the controlled change lead to proper documentation of the changes and provides a controlled environment for the changes. Hope this blog post was of use for you

How I connected the Universal App with Dynamics NAV 2016, for a demo.

kabir shenvi — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 06:18:00 GMT

I am sure you are aware, the Universal App displaying Dynamics NAV Tablet client and Dynamics NAV Phone client is targeted at users in small and medium sized businesses that want to access data from a tablet or a phone. Some of the advantages of offering this solution are portability and flexibility, when the user is away from the desk, traveling, between meetings, passing time and so on. However, for the partners and customers to make use of these benefits, it is vital for them to be able to connect the Universal App with Dynamics NAV 2016.

This blog explains the steps with easy to follow screenshots, to connect the Universal App Tablet client or Phone client with Dynamics NAV 2016 VM. The purpose is to make it easy for you to be able to demo this awesome feature to prospects.

In this example, I connected the Dynamics NAV 2016 VM in Azure to the Universal App I installed on my tablet.

In brief, I could achieve this in three phases -

Phase1: Find and Install the Universal App from Marketplace
Phase2: Install and configure the Dynamics NAV 2016 VM in Azure
Phase3: Connect the Universal App to the Dynamics NAV 2016 VM in Azure

Described below are the steps taken to complete these three phases.

Phase1: Find and Install the Universal App from Marketplace

Step1.1: Downloaded the Universal App in the Windows Tablet. Located the Universal App in Marketplace and installed the Universal App in the Windows Tablet -

Step 1.2: Installed the App in the Windows Tablet

Phase2: Install and configure the Dynamics NAV 2016 VM in Azure

In this phase, I configured and enabled Dynamics NAV 2016 VM on Azure, to connect with the Universal App.

Step 2.1: Logged-in to Azure from https://manage.windowsazure.com

Step 2.2: Selected most current version of the available Dynamics NAV 2016 Virtual Machine from Gallery.

Step 2.3: Entered a name for this VM and login credentials for the Admin of this VM

Step 2.4: Selected the ‘Affinity Group’ closest to my geographical region.

Step 2.5: Confirmed the information displayed to begin the VM creation process in Azure.

Step 2.6: Observed the VM creation process in Azure

Step 2.7: In a few minutes, the Dynamics NAV 2016 VM is created in Azure and is in a 'running' state, available for use.

Step 2.8: In order to use the Virtual Machine as a demo environment, and to use the demo scripts in the Virtual Machine, added the following public endpoints to the Virtual Machine:

HTTP 80
HTTPS 443
Client 7046
Soap 7047
Odata 7048
Help 49000

I added the endpoints using the Microsoft Azure Management Portal. Clicked on the recently created VM (circled below) -

Step 2.9: Clicked on the 'Endpoints' tab of the VM instance.

Step 2.10: Clicked on the "+" sign to add an endpoint.

Step 2.11: Navigated to the next tab of this wizard.

Step 2.12: Selected the name of this endpoint, the public port and the private port.

Step 2.13: Confirmed the information.

Step 2.14: Observed the endpoint creation process for this VM instance in Azure

Step 2.15: In a few minutes, the endpoint is created.

Step 2.16: Repeated steps 2.10 to step 2.15, to create an endpoint HTTPS port 443

Step 2.17: Clicked on the "+" sign to add another endpoint.

Step 2.18: Navigated to the next tab of this wizard.

Step 2.19: Entered the name of this endpoint as 'Client', the public port and the private port as '7046'. Confirmed the information.

Step 2.20: In a few minutes, the endpoint is created.

Step 2.21: Repeated steps 2.17 to step 2.20 to also create these endpoints -

Soap 7047
Odata 7048
Help 49000

Alternatively, I could have added these endpoints in the Step 2.4, while creating this Virtual Machine.

Step 2.22: Once the endpoints were created and the VM is in a 'running' state, selected the VM and clicked on the 'Connect' button.

Step 2.23: The Azure portal downloaded a .rdp file. Received a prompt to open or save the file.

Step 2.24: Clicked on the .rdp file, and was asked to connect to the remote machine.

Step 2.25: Entered the login credentials for the Admin of this VM, which was entered in step 2.3 while creating the VM. The default domain for the Dynamics NAV 2016 demo environment is 'contoso'.

Step 2.26: Once logged in to the demo VM, and before installing any of the demonstration packages, I initialized the Virtual Machine. I did this by right-clicking the Initialize Virtual Machine.ps1 file and selected Run with Powershell. In the demo VM, the default location of this file is in the 'DEMO' folder in 'C' drive. On a high level, the script is performing these steps.

Option: install a specific country version
Install or create SSL Certificate
Add admin user and change to Username/Password auth.
Configure NAV to use SSL
Open ports for Clients
Open ports for Web Services
Open port for Help Server

Step 2.27: The script will ask some questions. I accepted the default option for the first question, to change the execution policy.

Step 2.28: I accepted the default option for the next question, NAV language

Step 2.29: I accepted the default option to restore the database file, for the third question.

Step 2.30: And I accepted the default option for NAV administrator username

Step 2.31: I accepted the default option for NAV administrator password, also.

Step 2.32: I accepted the default option for the cloud service. This answer is the public DNS name for the Virtual Machine.

Step 2.33: I accepted the default option for the certificate file, which is for creating and using a Self Signed Certificate.

Step 2.34: Now, I tested the installation and its configuration by accessing the demonstration environment using the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 Web client. I did this by entering the following URL in the browser -

https://kashenvi252016/NAV/WebClient/

The username and password I agreed for when I initialized the demo VM using the powershell script –

Username: admin

Password: P@ssword1

I was able to login to the demonstration environment using the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 Web client

Phase3: Connect the Universal App to the Dynamics NAV 2016 VM in Azure

Step 3.1: If I had installed the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Universal App on the same VM, I could have entered the following in the Service Name to access NAV from the App -

https://kashenvi252016.cloudapp.net/NAV

And entered the same username and password we had agreed for during initialization –

Username: admin

Password: P@ssword1

However, I installed the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Universal App on another machine (my tablet). So, I had to install the certificate created during initialization of the VM, in the ‘Trusted Root Certification Authorities/Certificates’ folder of my tablet.

Step 3.2: I could have installed this certificated in my tablet by opening the browser to access Dynamics NAV from the Web Client. That is by entering the URL –

https://kashenvi252016.cloudapp.net/NAV/WebClient/

And clicked on the Certificate error > View Certificate > Install Certificate

Step 3.3: I chose to copy the certificate saved in the Virtual Machine’s desktop when I initialized the VM. So, I copied this certificate to the tablet where I installed the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Universal App.

Step 3.4: I saved the certificate on the tablet's desktop and double clicked the certificate. I was prompted with an option to install the certificate.

Step 3.5: I chose 'local machine' for the 'store location'.

Step 3.6: Selected a place for the 'store location'

Step 3.7: Selected the 'Trusted Root Certification Authorities/Certificates’ folder.

Step 3.8: Confirmed the selected settings for this wizard.

Step 3.9: In a few minutes, a pop-up confirmed the successful completion of the certificate import

Step 3.10: Now, I started the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Universal App I had installed on my tablet, in phase1. I entered the following service name -

https://kashenvi252016.cloudapp.net/NAV

Step 3.11: Entered the same username and password agreed for during initialization of the VM –

Username: admin

Password: P@ssword1

Step 3.12: And connected the Universal App installed on my Windows tablet to the Dynamics NAV 2016 VM in Azure.

And the following two pictures display the same NAV instance connected from -

Physical Machine:

Windows Phone:

Thus, I could connect the Universal App installed on my Windows tablet and the Windows phone, to the Dynamics NAV 2016 VM instance in Azure. And, connect the Dynamics NAV 2016 Windows Client from the NAV VM in Azure, to the same NAV instance configured in Azure.

Hope this blog post is informative and of use for you :)

Import a sample file for Bank Reconciliation in Dynamics NAV 2015 W1

kabir shenvi — Thu, 07 May 2015 22:25:00 GMT

Hi, eventually the day has come when I sit down to write my first blog on MSDN. This is the start for a new skill for me, and I hope to improve my blogging skills with time.

Disclaimer: The posts/opinions in this blog are my own and not of my employer.

The purpose of this specific blog post is to guide you in a step-by-step process to import a sample file in Dynamics NAV 2015 W1, for Bank Reconciliation. The sample .CSV file used by me to capture the NAV screens is attached to this blog post and is available for download.

The Dynamics NAV 2015 W1 build used for this is (with the demo database) -

Step 1: Lets go to Posting Exchange Definition page. Here, we need to specify a data exchange setup that enables us to import a specific bank statement file or export a specific bank payment file.

Path: - Departments/Administration/Application Setup/General/Posting Exchange Definitions

Step 2: Click on 'New'

Step 3: The 'Posting Exchange Definition' page will open.

We enter the following details In the General Tab for our sample:-

Code= TEST BANK IMPORT
Name= TEST BANK IMPORT
File Type= Variable Text
Type= Bank Statement Import
Reading/Writing Xml Port= 1220
Ext Data Handling Codeunit= 1240
File Encoding = WINDOWS
Column Separator = Comma

And the following details in the Posting Line Definitions Tab:-

Code = Test
Name = TEST BANK IMPORT
Column Count= 3

And the following details in the Posting Column Definitions Tab for the three three columns from the .CSV bank statement file, which we need to map in Dynamics NAV:-

Column No= 1, Name= Date, Data Type=Date, Data Format= dd/MM/yyyy, Data Formatting Culture= en-US.
Column No= 2, Name= Description, Data Type= Text
Column No= 3, Name= Amount, Data Type= Decimal, Data Formatting Culture= en-US.

Step 4: Now we click on the 'Field Mapping' button in the'Posting Line Definition' tab:-

Step 5: Now the 'Posting Exchange Mapping' window will open, and we click on NEW:-

Now we need to enter the following details to map the posting exchange with the Bank Reconciliation Line Table, through which we will import the Bank Statement.

General Tab:-

Table= 274,

Name = Test CSV for Bank Reco

Mapping Codeunit = 1248.

Field Mapping Tab:-

In Column No. click on the drop down, then select the first line i.e. Date, it will point to the Posting column Definition from the posting exchange definition page. Then, we will go to Field Id column, click the drop down.

Fields Lookup will opens. Select the 'Transaction date' (Row No = 5), then click on 'OK'.

For the second line, similar to what we did for the first line in the previous step, we click in Column No. on the drop down, then select the second line i.e. Description. Then, go to Field Id column, click the drop down Fields Lookup will open, Select the 'Description' (Row No = 6), then click on OK.

For the third line, again in Column No. click on the drop down, then select the third line i.e. Amount. Then, we will go to Field Id column, click the drop down. Select the 'Statement Amount' (Row No = 7), then click on OK.

Now the Mapping Window will look something like this:-

Step 6: Now we need to go to Bank Export-Import Setup:-

Path: - Departments/Administration/Application Setup/General/Task/Bank Export-Import Setup

Click on New.

For our sample, we enter the following details:-

Code = TEST BANK IMPORT

Name = Test for Bank Reco

Direction = Import

Processing Codeunit Id= 1270

Processing Codeunit Name= Exp. Launcher Gen. Jnl.

In the Posting exchange Definition Code, Click the drop down & Select = TEST BANK IMPORT

Click OK

Step 7: Now, we go to the Bank Account Card:-

Path: - Departments/Financial Management/Cash Management/Bank Accounts

Select the Bank 'WWD-EUR' and click on 'Edit'

Step 8: In the Bank Account Card, In the Transfer Tab, Bank Statement Import Format, Click drop down and select 'TEST BANK IMPORT':-

Click Ok.

Step 8: Now, we go to the Bank Account Reconciliation Page:-

Path: - Departments/Financial Management/Cash Management/List/Select- Bank Account Reconciliation

Click New.

Step 9: The Bank Reconciliation page will open:-

In the Bank Account No field, click the drop down and select 'WWB-EUR'
Enter a Statement No, say '004'
Statement Date= (Current date)

Step 10: Click on Import Bank Statement under Home tab:-

Step 11: Sometimes, you may need to edit the bank statement prior to importing, because, Dynamics NAV 2015 Bank Reconciliation requires a single ‘Amount’ column with -

The positive amounts representing money coming in i.e. deposits from customers, etc. .... and the negative amounts for payments coming out of the bank, i.e. fee deductions & payments to Vendors, etc.

For some of the bank statement .CSV files received, the banks may use the opposite way to represent the transactions. so, the bank statement may show -

“Debit” columns as money going out & “Credit” as money coming in.

Therefore, we may need to scrub the .CSV file and convert the two columns into a single ‘Amount’ Column. And for the amounts with a value in the ‘Debit’ column, we could multiply by minus one (-1), to ensure a negative number is used when the file is imported to Dynamics NAV 2015.

The sample file attached to this blog post needs to be unzipped and you may save the file in the desktop.

Select the .CSV File to be imported from the destination folder. And click open.

Step 12: The transaction will be imported as below -

Thus, we could import a sample .CSV file in Dynamics NAV 2015 for the Bank Reconciliation purpose.

Hope this blog post is informative and of use for you :)

Sample CSV file for Import.zip