This article discusses data warehousing as a solution for Professional Services organizations trying to streamline and expand Microsoft Dynamics AX analytical tasks.
Data continues to become more and more important in the modern business realm, maybe particularly for Professional Services organizations. Because data drives decision-making across the organization as Professional Services teams work to stay on budget and on track with clients, projects, vendors, and so on, data warehousing can be really effective in producing Business Intelligence (BI) analytics. If you’re not that familiar with data warehouse solutions, you probably have questions. This article will answer your questions about how a data warehouse can support a Professional Services organization utilizing Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Let’s define it. Data warehouses are multi-dimensional databases. A data warehouse is a virtual storage repository or a database staged on a stand-alone or shared server. To compare, an external hard drive is a place where you can store a variety of files and software while a modern data warehouse provides you space to house diverse sets of both operational and transactional data. Another way to think about it: a three-dimensionalized Excel spreadsheet where you can organize your operational and transactional data into streamlined, consolidated, and efficacious ways, which is precisely what data warehouses do, so you can avoid error with business user friendly technology. Today’s commercial data warehouses are managed with a technical database management program, like Microsoft SQL Server Visual Studio or Solver’s own offering, the BI360 Data Warehouse Manager, with an easy-to-use interface that is part of the BI360 Suite.
Installation. When it comes to deploying and automating, commercial data warehouses usually come “out of the box,” which means you can expect a simple implementation. Next, you’ll replicate your organizational information from Dynamics AX and additional data sources. A consultant who specializes in extracting, transforming, and loading (ETL) your data will deploy your data warehouse and automate the ETL process(es) from your database(s). If you’d like your solution to be seamless (who wouldn’t?), you should opt for a data warehouse that can boast a pre-built integration directly to Dynamics AX. Then, a consultant with expertise in streamlining and turbo-charging financial reporting, budgeting, and dashboard tasks will teach your team how to query information from the warehouse for financial statements, budgets and forecasts, and data visualizations you rely on to make better decisions about the direction your Professional Services organization will take. After your warehouse is set up and your staff receives training, business end users at all levels of the organization can utilize the tool without getting the IT team involved.
To continue learning more about data warehousing for Professional Services organizations using Microsoft Dynamics AX, read the rest of this article here.
by Solver, Inc