Business Situation
IPC uses an IBM AS400 system coupled with a Microsoft SQL Server to manage purchasing and order fulfillment. The system works well, but it’s not perfect. Because IPC doesn’t own the code on its AS400, even minor enhancements get expensive. What’s more, the system doesn’t interface well with others, so updates in the AS400 require additional changes in other systems to keep everything running smooth. The company has been eyeballing Microsoft Dynamics AX as a more flexible, cost affordable solution. Although it has a strong team of software developers to do the job, the company lacks the experience to take on a full Dynamics AX implementation all on its own.

Solution
Avanade is acting as a guide and mentor to show IPC personnel how to implement a Dynamics AX environment. In order to introduce business functions gradually, the team is breaking down the work into two phases. The first phase converts Account Payable functions (such as general ledger, inventory, purchasing, receiving) in AS400 to Dynamics AX. The second phase focuses on converting accounts receivable functions (sales orders, pick-and-ship integration, customer billing). Avanade also is guiding the IPC team on how to use Application Interface Framework (a module in Dynamics AX) to write the various interfaces to the backend systems.

Results
Some of the benefits of the Dynamics AX installation include:

• IPC owns the code so modifications are faster and less costly.
• Dynamics AX is easier to modify and customize.
• IPC is “on board” with AX and it can now upgrade more easily to the future version of AX