What's new in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 comes out with new and changed features. Below are the major topic lists of feature changes by module.

S.No	Module	Changes
1	Call center	·         A new retail channel type is added: call center. In a call center, workers take customer orders over the phone and create sales orders. Call centers can be added to organization hierarchies, and can be managed together with online stores and retail stores. ·         You can create catalogs for call centers, and use new catalog features. ·         You can prompt the clerk who enters sales orders to up-sell or cross-sell products.
2	General ledger	·          You can transfer the opening balances for balance sheet accounts to a new fiscal year in multiple companies at the same time. ·          The results of the accounting entries for stocked items on product receipts and vendor invoices are combined into one sub ledger journal entry and voucher.
3	Inventory and warehouse management	·         The Compare item prices report lets you compare the prices in a costing version to the pending prices in another costing version, or to the active prices on an effective date. ·         The Inventory aging report displays the on-hand quantity, the inventory value, and the related aging periods for a selected item or an item group. You can use the report parameters to filter the data that is displayed on the report.
4	Master Planning	Demand forecasting is a set of tools that enable you to estimate future demand and create demand forecasts based on historical transaction data. The demand forecasting process includes the following tasks: ·         Complete the prerequisite setup tasks before you can use demand forecasting. ·         Create a baseline forecast from historical demand data that is gathered and loaded in a Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services cube. ·         Open the demand forecast file, and use the PivotTable tools in Excel to filter and display the forecast data that is stored in the cube. ·         Optional: Make manual adjustments to the forecasted quantities in the demand forecast file. ·         Import a demand forecast to Microsoft Dynamics AX so specific companies and forecast models can use the forecast data as input to master planning.
5	Procurement and sourcing	·         You can create your own solicitation types for requests for quotation (RFQs). This feature lets you match the procurement requirements for your organization. You can filter on those categories to find documents more easily. ·         Each line in an RFQ is assigned a number. You can add items and renumber the list as you require. The numbers appear in all the RFQ-related documents. ·         You can quickly add vendors for your RFQ who are approved for selling at least one of the categories on the RFQ lines. ·         You can publish your RFQ to the public Vendor portal, so that unregistered vendors can see it. All lines on the RFQ are also sent to the vendors that are selected in the RFQ.
6	Production control	·         A new option for automating material reservations has been added to the Reservation field in the Production orders form, where the value is set for a specific production order. A new option has also been added to the Production control parameters form, where the default value is specified. In the Reservation field, if you select Release, all materials are reserved when the production order is released.
7	Project management and accounting	·          You can create an on-account billing rule type that is based on the milestones that you specify in the billing rule. ·          You can create fee transactions and modify the sales price of lines in an invoice proposal.
8	Public Sector	·         You can publish a request for quotation (RFQ) to the public Vendor portal, so that unregistered vendors can view it. ·         Public sector vendors can view all open and closed purchase orders, RFQs, and their details.
9	Retail	·         The call center is a new channel type that you can set up in the Retail module. ·         The Catalogs form contains functionality that is available to users who are associated with a call center. ·         Gift card enhancements are added. KITS functionality has been added. ·         The Retail loyalty program has been completely redesigned.
10	Sales and marketing	·         You can now also register serial numbers during the sales process when you prepare the packing slip or the invoice for a sales order. ·         You can register serial numbers on the packing slip or invoice either by entering them manually or by using a scanner. The following list illustrates some of the scenarios that this feature is intended for: ·         Registering serial numbers for items on sales orders on the packing slip or invoice. ·         Customer pickup of sales orders with serialized items. ·         Partial delivery and invoicing of sales orders with serialized items. ·         Correcting packing slips and invoices with serialized items. ·         Returning serialized items. ·         Tracing the history of orders that include serialized items.
11	Trade allowance management	·         You can define merchandising events, assign a trade allowance to them, and manage customers, invoices, or vendors that are related to the agreement. ·         You can manage your trade fund budgets so that they include specific merchandise, promotion dates, and monetary values. ·         You can process customer payments that include deductions.
12	Transportation management	·         You can plan transportation for inbound and outbound shipments, manage routes, and consolidate shipments. ·         You can configure rating structures and shop for rates, based on charges such as fuel and customs duties. ·         You can view driver check-in and check-out history and driver logs.
13	Warehouse management	·         You can configure inbound and outbound intelligent workflows. ·         You can assign orders to clusters to pick from a single location, and configure profiles to control the validation and packing of items into shipping containers. You can also alternate between picking strategies for batch and non-batch items. ·         You can set up container groups to order the sequence of the packing process and create templates to support packing strategies. ·         You can use scanners or other mobile devices to optimize precision in the picking and put-away processes.